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MAGAZINE ^/HISTORY Published Quarterly by the TORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN June 1946 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE of HISTORY G. C. SELLERY, Acting Editor LILLIAN KRUEGER, Associate Editor CONTENTS Clifford Lee Lord G. C. Sellery 385 Chats with the Editor G. C. Sellery 387 Pendarvis, Trelawny, and Polperro: Shake Rag's Cornish Houses Robert: M. Neal 391 Two Wisconsin Map Makers Alice E. Smith 402 Carl Gustaf Mellberg, Koshkonong Pioneer Albert (3. Barton 407 Indian Farm Institutes in Wisconsin J- F. Wojta 423 Bernhard Domschcke: II. The Editor and the Man JJ- Schlicher 435 BOOK NOTES 457 THE SOCIETY AND THE STATE 474 PROCEEDINGS OF THE WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY: NINETY-NINTH ANNUAL MEETING 490 The WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY is published quarterly by the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN, 816 State Street, Madison, 6. Distributed to members as part of their dues (Annual membership, $3.00; Life, $50). Yearly subscription, $3.00; single number, 75 cents. Communications should be addressed to the editor. The Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by contributors. Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Madison, Wisconsin, under the act of August 24, 1912. Copyright 1946 by the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN. Paid for by the Maria L. and Simeon Mills Editorial Fund and by the George B. Burrows Fund. THE COVER PENDARVIS AND TRELAWNY AT MINERAL POINT. The one-story structure, Pendarvis, initiated the restoration project of the Neal-Hellum Cornish houses. Its near neighbor is Trelawny. Wet skies and lilac time add to the pictured beauty of these Shake Rag's old stone houses. Polperro is shown with the story of these early-day houses, written by Robert M. Neal for this issue. CLIFFORD LEE LORD WISCONSIN MAGAZINE of HISTORY j|pii»^ Volume 29 June 1946 Number 4 Clifford Lee Lord HE APPOINTMENT of Dr. Clifford Lee Lord, director of the New York Historical Association, to succeed Dr. Edward TP. Alexander as director of the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN, has met with widespread approval. Mr. Lord was born in Mount Vernon, New York, September 4, 1912; he was married to Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Crescens Hubbard of White Plains, New York, in 1937, and they have a young son. Mr. Lord took his A.B. and A.M. at Amherst and his doctorate at Columbia, all with major in American history. He was instructor in Columbia for five years prior to his appointment, in 1941, as director at Cooperstown, and he served as consultant to New York and New Jersey historical surveys in W.P.A. days. In 1944 he became a historian in the Bureau of Aeronautics and Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations with the rank of lieutenant (j.g.), then of lieutenant, and latterly of lieutenant-commander. Here he drew up the program for the administrative history of naval aviation, and in September, 1945, was appointed head of the Naval Aviation History Unit with a staff of forty-two men, and with the special duty of writing a history of naval aviation, 1908-39. This history is to appear shortly. Dr. Lord's publications include a Historical Atlas of the United States (1944) and a List and Index of Presidential Executive Orders (3 vols., 1942-43). He prepared the Handbook to the Museums and Art Gallery of the New York Historical Associa- 385 386 G.C.SELLERY tion. He edited the quarterly journal, New York History. By far his most extensive project is an Atlas of Congressional Roll Calls, of which one large volume has been published, with eighty-eight to come. Most of the work, performed by W.P.A. assistants, has already been completed, at a cost of about a million dollars. As director of the New York Association he began with a staff of one at Ticonderoga and three at Cooperstown, and within his period of service increased it to two and eleven respectively. It was he who conceived the idea of a Farmer's Museum, which re- cently became an actuality, with a $250,000 plant and 6,000 tools and implements of the pre-machine age; and it was he who devised a state-wide school program with a monthly magazine for children of seventh-grade level, junior memberships, and junior chapters. Comparisons with Dr. Alexander are inevitable. Dr. Alexander became our director at the age of thirty-four; Dr. Lord is thirty- three. Dr. Alexander secured his experience at Cooperstown and Ticonderoga; Dr. Lord, who was chosen to succeed him there, did the same. And now again Lord succeeds Alexander. How will he get along? "It is high praise," writes the chairman of the department of history at Columbia, a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York Association, " to say that the Lords are as well-liked and as highly respected by the members of the Association as were the Alexanders." We hope, however, that Dr. Lord will not be invited to succeed Dr. Alexander again. We want to keep him in Wisconsin, where his youth, energy, ad- ministrative skill, experience, and imagination will, we trust, enjoy ample scope. He is to take office at Wisconsin about the first of June. G.C.S. Chats with the Editor T is only fair to let the reader know with whom he is invited to chat. Chatting with unknowns has certain advantages, but I they are not reaped by those on the receiving end. And so your editor for the June number introduces himself. He is G. C. Sellery, long-time dean of the College of Letters and Science and professor of history in the University, now retired. e A . He was "dug out" by the other members of the Execu- V3't **ve Committee of the Curators, Dr. Alexander included, to carry on as Acting Director, pending the arrival of Dr. Alexander's successor, on the ground that he knew a good deal about the Society's work and was—however busily engaged on his historical masterpiece—as an emeritus, technically unem- ployed. The circumstance that Miss Krueger, the Associate Editor of the Magazine, is at her post, should reassure the dubious. THE farewell party for the Alexanders was held in the Georgian Grill of the Memorial Union on the afternoon of January 23. It . was given by the Executive Committee of the The Presentation ^ r , . ,, r , Curators for their colleagues or the entire to the Alexanders -n J i r i_t/jrij Board and for the heads or the departments of the Historical Library. The occasion was not devoted to re- pining: the Board had wanted the Alexanders to remain and they had not wanted to go. Rather was it the idea, developed by one of the entertaining curators, that the opportunity should be used to express the gratitude of the Society for the stimulation which Dr. Alexander had given to its work and to the activities of the local historical societies, and for the cooperative aid which Mrs. Alex- ander, " with intelligence, tact, and understanding," had given him in his work. 387 388 CHATS WITH THE EDITOR [June The Curators presented the guests of honor with a sterling tray bearing the inscription: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin to Edward and Alice Alexander 1946 There were two surprises. Naturally enough the Alexanders had learned that the tray was coming. But they did not know that the Brown County Historical Society, Harold T. I. Shannon, presi- dent, perhaps the most active of the local societies, had insisted on expressing its special obligation to the Alexanders by the pre- sentation of a beautiful sterling bowl, suitably inscribed. The other surprise was the absence of Mrs. Alexander, who was occupied with a young daughter, Mary Sheron by name, born on the morn- ing of the farewell party. Dr. Alexander left Madison, early in February, to take up his new duties as educational director at Colonial Williamsburg, Wil- liamsburg, Virginia. Mrs. Alexander and the children followed a few weeks later—after the house was finally secured. THE vein of rich ore tapped by Curator Fred L. Holmes in his Old World Wisconsin: Around Europe in the Badger State (Eau Claire, 1944) is still in production. Robert E. Gard, , ', specialist in dramatics at the University, a member Folk Plays , « ^ . ^ .-. , ,T . ,. J or the Committee on Peoples and Nationalities, one of the many groups organized by the State Centennial Committee, forecasts the plans of his committee for the Y)Al-A& celebration: The Committee on Peoples and Nationalities has made definite plans for the celebration of the Wisconsin Centennial year. The work of this committee is widespread and will reach into almost every community in the entire state. In order to insure adequate response from the people of Wisconsin, subcommittees of this group are being set up in each Congressional District. 1946] CHATS WITH THE EDITOR 389 The work program of the Committee on Peoples and Nationalities includes a local plan and a Milwaukee plan. Under the local plan the subcommittees will arrange festivals at suitable points in each district. These festivals will be held in May, June, or July of 1948 and will feature folk dancing, singing, drama, and sports, as well as an exhibit of handicrafts and specially prepared foods typical of each participating nationality. An educational program will also be carried on in each district with the purpose of stimu- lating the collection of more of the folklore and customs of the Wisconsin Nationalities. It is hoped, too, that a playwriting con- test may be sponsored by the Centennial Committee for the sub- mission of plays based on Wisconsin Nationalities life and themes.