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By Fred Landon

Inland Seas, Volume XXI, #1, 1965

With this issue Inland Seas begins its twenty-first volume. The occasion properly calls for some comment. The Great Lakes Historical Society was formally instituted at a meeting held in the office of Clarence S. Metcalf, Chief Librarian of the Cleveland Public Library, on April 27, 1944. Present at this meeting were men of industrial, professional and naval circles prominent in Great Lakes affairs in the Cleveland area. All had pledged their enthusiastic support. The enterprise was planned to include at an early date trustees representative of the whole Great Lakes area of the United States and Canada.

The objectives of the Society as set forth at this founding meeting were to promote interest in discovering and preserving material on the Great Lakes and the Great Lakes area, to centralize such information through the cooperation of local historical societies and libraries throughout the area, to sponsor an inclusive bibliography or finding list of materials on Great Lakes history and “to publish a magazine or bulletin which would contain articles and memoranda pertinent to the interests of the Great Lakes Historical Society and those interested in the history and commerce of the Great Lakes.”

Anyone who examines the periodical racks in a public library will invariably find magazines and journals with which he has had no previous acquaintance. Moreover, a second examination of the same rack six months or a year later will reveal that some of its contents have already ceased publication. It is risky business setting up a new journal or magazine and the founders of the Great Lakes Historical Society probably thought of this when they made it one of the objectives of the Society. The financial provision then made was that the membership fees should be used for this purpose.

I had not been present at the inaugural meeting on April 27th; indeed I am not aware that any Canadian representative had been invited to that conference. However, I had soon learned of it and probably had expressed interest. In any case, Mr. Metcalf wrote to me on May 11, 1944, with an opening greeting: “We are now on our way,” asking if he could count on me as a Trustee and member of the Editorial Committee. He closed his letter with the question “Will you help us launch the new ship?” This letter was written just two weeks after the founding meeting.

Further organization of the Society carried on during the next four months brought in many members throughout the Great Lakes region and made the matter of publishing policy vital for the future growth of the Society. On September 19th, Mr. Metcalf wired asking me to attend a conference in Cleveland on the following Saturday to discuss the publication of a journal. This meeting was held in his office and, as I remember it, consisted of a quite small group made up of Mr. Metcalf himself, Jewell Dean, marine reporter of the Cleveland Plain Dealer; Louis Baus, photographer of the same newspaper; Miss Donna L. Root, head of the History Department of the Cleveland Public Library, and myself as a representative from Canada. If there were others there they have escaped my memory. I recall that Louis Baus brought along several of his beautiful albums of photographs of Great Lakes vessels.

The question of publication policy was discussed at the morning session while actual business details were gone into more carefully in the afternoon. When lunchtime came Mr. Metcalf suggested that the men present at the meeting adjourn to a sailor’s restaurant near the harbor and on the way thither pick up “Gene” Herman, the well-known editor of The Great Lakes News, a periodical read everywhere around the Great Lakes. I have never forgotten the menu set before us that day a—huge platter of pork hocks and cabbage, a large coffee pot on the table, and two big apple pies. With that we launched Inland Seas!

At the afternoon session we named Miss Donna L. Root as the first editor of the new journal and decided on the name “Inland Seas.” It was agreed that the title should include the additional words “Quarterly Bulletin of the Great Lakes Historical Society.” (In 1952 “Bulletin” was changed to “Journal.”)

On my way back to London, Ontario, I met the late Milo M. Quaife in Detroit and told him of what had been done at Cleveland. Mr. Quaife was a man highly experienced in publication matters and he thought that the name “Inland Seas” was admirable and a most happy choice.

Volume I, Number 1 of Inland Seas appeared in January 1945. Members then had their first opportunity to sample the new 48-page journal with its bright blue cover bearing a striking silhouette of the Great Lakes. Opening with greetings from President Alva Bradley there were four main articles: “Sixty Years of the C.P.R. Great Lakes Fleet,” by the writer of this article, “The Old Lake Triplets” (China, Japan, India), by Dana T. Bowen; “Recovery of the Steamer Humphrey,” by Jewell R. Dean; and “Early Disasters on Lake Erie,” signed anonymously I.S.M., who was Isaac S. Metcalf. (We are saddened to announce the recent death of Mr. Metcalf in this issue of Inland Seas.) There was also a poem “Sam Ward,” by Marie E. Gilchrist, together with a variety of notes, and questions and answers. As a matter of publishing policy the centre eight pages were devoted to pictures mainly illustrating the articles appearing in the issue.

Miss Root most modestly submerged her name as Editor with those of her Assistant Editors in early issues. These first assistants were the writer of this article and Mr. Gordon Thayer, Curator of the John G. White Collection in the Cleveland Public Library.

With the first issue of Volume V (1949), Miss Root was properly described as Managing Editor of Inland Seas and Miss Janet Coe Sanborn, Curator of the Cleveland Picture Collection, in the Cleveland Public Library, was added as Picture Editor. Difficulties in publishing during 1949 brought an announcement at the Annual Meeting of the Society on April 14, 1950, that all memberships were being extended for a period of six months and that each member would receive four issues during an 18-month period. The next annual index covered the two years 1949-50 as Volumes V and VI. This is the sole interruption in publication that has occurred in the twenty years of Inland Seas. The size of the journal had by now been increased to 76 pages.

With the spring issue of Volume XIII (1957), Miss Janet Coe Sanborn became Editor of Inland Seas. Miss Root, compelled by other duties to retire, continued as Advisory Editor. Two additional Assistant Editors were also appointed at this time in the persons of Mr. Clarence S. Metcalf, by now Curator of the Great Lakes Historical Society Museum at Vermilion, Ohio, and Mr. Herbert W. Dosey, a sales engineer of Cleveland. Mr. Metcalf died on November 17, 1961, and his place on the Editorial Board was filled by Mr Lawrence A. Pomeroy, an administrative manager of National Castings Company, Cleveland. Mr. William A. McDonald, a retired industrial engineer of Detroit, was added to the Editorial Board in 1962. In addition to its Editor and Assistant Editors, Inland Seas has always had an Advisory Committee on which other members of the Society have served.

In 1957 several new sections were added to the journal and its size was increased to 84 pages. In Fall 1963 four more pages were added, bringing the total to 88, its present number. Unfortunately it is not possible within the space allowed to make any adequate survey of the contents of the twenty volumes of Inland Seas already in publication. Each individual number has had from six to eight articles related to Great Lakes history, past and present, together with a centre section of illustrations, and numerous individual notes and briefer articles, including book reviews. An index to the journal is published annually, providing a greater store of accessible Great Lakes history and lore than can be found anywhere else today.

The Great Lakes Round Table section provides a survey of the activities of other historical groups in the Great Lakes area, and in Letters to the Editor, readers of the journal have an opportunity to share experiences and knowledge with those who believe in the importance of preserving the history of this region. One might say that Inland Seas functions both as exponent and depository of Great Lakes historical activities by embodying the Society’s original objectives in permanent form between its bright blue covers.

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.

Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors occur.

A cover was created for this ebook which is placed in the public domain.

[End of The Great Lakes Historical Society: Twentieth Anniversary, by Fred Landon]