Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/424

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414
Detroit and Ann Arbor Meeting of the

the presiding officers of the two associations read their addresses, was held in the First Methodist Church of Detroit. That all the arrangements were carried out so smoothly, and resulted in so much pleasure to those who attended, is due to the faithful preparatory work of the local committee of arrangements, and primarily to its chairman. Professor Earle W. Dow, of the University of Michigan. It is the more proper to record the obligations of the Association to him because he was not seen at any of the sessions, owing to illness largely caused by his devotion to this very task. For the skillful construction of the programme, composed of elements unusually varied yet so associated as to avoid all appearance of scrappiness, the Association is mainly indebted to the chairman of its committee on the programme. Professor Andrew C. McLaughlin of the same university, who was assisted in this work by Professors Robinson, Turner, E. G. Bourne and Judson, and Mr. A. Howard Clark.

The great success of the meeting was the more remarkable when it is remembered how many were ill of those upon whom the Association and the committee had relied as officers and speakers. The President, Dr. Edward Eggleston, was unexpectedly prevented by illness from appearing; and the Second Vice-President was then unable to take his place. The First Vice-President, Professor Moses Coit Tyler, died at Ithaca during the time of the sessions. Expressions of sorrow over his loss were frequent and genuine. Much of the best of his work had been done at Ann Arbor. He was one of the founders of the Association, one of its chief ornaments, and one who worthily filled the place of an elder brother in a profession still young in our country. Many of the members of the Association had had occasion to appreciate not only his learning, the grace of his style and the charm of his conversation, but his personal tact and friendly courtesy, and the kindness and warmth of his heart. Continued ill-health caused the resignation, at this meeting, of Professor Herbert B. Adams of Baltimore, Secretary of the Association from the time of its foundation in 1884. He had had a most important, and indeed probably the leading share in its organization, and had borne the principal part in the arrangement of its first eleven meetings. His constant and devoted services to the Association were gratefully noted in private, and publicly commemorated by a formal minute of the Association and by his election to the office of First Vice-President. Illness prevented two or three of the speakers from appearing, though in one case the paper was read by a friend. The duty of presiding was acceptably performed by two ex-presidents, Dr. James Ford