EDITORIAL AND HISTORICAL NOTES.
The present (November) number of the Magazine of Western History, which is the first number of the new volume (Vol. XV) appears under a new name which will more adequately describe its present character.
The title chosen—“THE NATIONAL MAGAZINE—A Journal Devoted to American History—” is in keeping with the enlarged scope and purpose of the publication. When it first came into existence, its proposed mission was to gather and preserve the history of that great West which lies beyond the Alleghanies, and while that labor has been pursued with results that have enriched American history, the boundaries have been gradually enlarged until the whole country has become its field of research, and readers and contributors are found in every State and territory.
The Magazine has becomeNational, and it is believed that the present name will be accepted as more appropriate than the one that has been outgrown.
The new name defines, perhaps with sufficient fullness, both scope and purpose, but for the sake of clearness we add that it is proposed to confine our interest exclusively to the field of American History, and whatever directly illustrates it. By this we mean not alone or chiefly the history of our remote past with its discoveries, its early settlers, and its struggling colonies, but the history as well of the present century—the planting of colonies by railroads, the evolution of States, the founding of cities, the building up of a literature, the history of politics, and of all that unexampled material progress that makes America the wonder and admiration of the world.
The great civil war has served necessarily as an extraordinary stimulus to historical writing and research concerning its antecedent causes, the tremendous conflict itself, and its far reaching and still potent consequences. It is plain however, that the history of the war has yet been written only in outline. The historical material which when gathered and sifted would give it completeness and fullness is as yet largely unwritten. This exists in the recollections of men yet living—actors and witnesses—in their letters, journals and other written memoranda, and in the traditions carefully cherished by families and friends of those that are gone. We propose to collect such material as far as possible, and give it a permanent record in our pages.
One of the interesting features of our national life is the growth of societies for the encouragement of historical studies as well as the preservation of valuable historical material which would otherwise be lost. The historical societies having permanent homes, number nearly or quite two hundred and fifty, and while some of the largest support intermittent publications of their own, we believe there is no general organ devoted to their interests and furnishing a medium of intercourse between them. The National Magazine proposes, as far as possible, to supply this want and will conduct a separate department giving all notes of interestregarding the Historical Societies of the United States which we may be able to obtain.
It is believed that a large amount of historical material of great interest both to the general reader and the historical student exists in the shape of papers prepared by members of these various Historical Societies for the interest and instruction of their particular organizations.
Such papers as we refer to are prepared for the most part by members who have both leisure and taste for historical research, or who find in such work a grateful relief from the exacting cares of successful professional and business careers, and although addressed to a limited circle, have frequently a value and interest that entitles them to a larger audience and to preservation in more permanent form.
It is proposed to present in the pages of the Magazine, in pursuance of our general purpose to broaden the field of its interest and usefulness, a selection from such papers. It is believed that the literature of American History would be greatly enriched from this source. Papers of even local interest are not without value to the student of history in any portion of the country, and all these various efforts at writing history are building up that great body of historical material from which American History at least in the nineteenth century is to be exhaustively and philosophically written.
“In lighter vein” we propose to touch on the picturesque side of historical research, and to seek material in the legends and traditions that attach to certain localities. The very fact that a certain headland, valley, mountain or river has a legendary interest is not undeserving the attention of the scholar and is a matter of legitimate historical interest if not value. A country as new as ours can well afford to jealously preserve whatever of such legendary and historical lore it may have. It at least serves to “adorn the tale” which has a more solid basis. Other changes are contemplated that will add value, and interest to the pages of the Magazine.
The present number contains the first installment of a series of articles from the advance sheets of the forthcoming Memorial History of New York, edited by Gen. James Grant Wilson. It is the intention to select for publication in the Magazine such parts of this work as will in our judgment be of great interest to its readers, and as far as possible present a continuous narrative. These articles will be amply illustrated from the plates prepared and selected for the original work with great care. The exhaustive character of the work, the time given to its preparation, the staff of contributors each pre-eminent in his special field, are fully set forth on the cover of the present number.
In the August number of this Magazine we remarked upon the fact that the historic property of Valley Forge was in danger of being sold and divided among individual purchasers and that in this event the ancient ramparts of Fort Washington, the site of the forge, the cold spring, and the Headquarters of Washington, Lafayette and Knox would be obliterated. It is a pleasure to learn that the march of such “improvement” will probably be arrested. A meeting of the members of the National Society of the Daughters of the Revolution residing in Washington was held on Oct. 13th, and a plan was considered for purchasing and preserving this property. The Illinois chapter of the same organization has also held a meeting to advance the same cause. With the patriotic ardor of women thoroughly awakened there should be no question aboutpreserving to the nation the field of Valley Forge with all its “visible history.”
A monument to the great Indian Chief Red Jacket, Chief of the Senecas and the renowned orator of the six nations was dedicated at Waterloo, N. Y. on Oct. 14th. President Welles of the Waterloo Historical Society under whose auspices the monument is erected presided. The Hon. W. C. Bryant of Buffalo delivered an historical address. The monument is unique in design, being carved from a block of granite to represent the trunk of an oak tree, and stands on the west shore of Cayuga Lake near the spot where Red Jacket was born. The base bears four descriptive bronze tablets, and around the base are clustered six small bowlders bearing the names of the six nations of the Iroquois. Red Jacket was one of the unique figures of his time, his character a peculiar mixture of the noble and the ignoble, a sagacious statesman, a cunning demagogue, but always an Indian.
A gathering both important and unique was held in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, on the 12th of October. The occasion was the reunion of a committee which has undertaken to organize a Pan-Republic Congress and Human Freedom League, and to arrange an international meeting in connection with the anniversary ceremonies of 1892. The leaders of the movement claim that their ideas have been gradually disseminated through organized societies in all civilized countries. Their meaning and purpose they broadly state to be: That the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of this continent should be celebrated by a convocation, first of the representatives of all governments based on an acknowledgment of the rights of man, and secondly, of representatives of the people of high purpose everywhere, independent of the form of government under which they live. That these two bodies acting in concert on the soil of the greatest of the governments founded upon freedom, should consult together on the means of widening the domain in which the earth’s dwellers may enjoy the rights claimed for us by our immortal Declaration of Independence.
Youngest among the sisterhood of the States of our Union stands Washington, on the borders of the far Pacific. It is very gratifying to observe the citizens of a community of such regent origin, amid the eager competitions of life and the pressure of material interests, turning aside from these practical pursuits to secure for future generations a record not only of their own achievements, but of the humbler and more heroic doings of the pioneers of their State. Such is the aim and purpose of the Washington State Historical Society, organized during the present month in the city of Tacoma, and the latest to join the ever widening circle of these societies. In the words of its president, the Hon. Elwood Evans, “the State of Washington has reached a time when the need of collecting original historical material has become imperative since the history of the State and Territory runs back 38 years, and most of the early settlers are dead. The hardships and heroism of the pioneers should be handed down and recorded as material for the historian of later years.”