Hopewell Culture Administrative History

CHAPTER TWO
Preservation of the Mound City Group (continued)

The National Park Service Assumes Control

Although a bitter pill to swallow, officials at the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society bowed to the inevitable. On September 21, 1945, the society's board of trustees passed a formal resolution concurring that Mound City Group National Monument should be returned to the federal government. Further, the board pledged its support to help the Ross County Historical Society achieve the goal. [52] However, the society realized Ross County citizens advocated return of the Mound City Group artifacts gathered in 1920 and 1921, and few on the board supported such a move. Little did board members realize that NPS officials were already investigating the question of who owned that collection, the federal or state government. On September 5, 1945, the Department of the Interior requested a War Department review and report on the matter. The answer came on April 19, 1946, in a letter from Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson:

A search of the records of this Department and a study of files pertinent thereto discloses no grant of authority from the United States to the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society to excavate in the Mound City Group, Camp Sherman, Ohio. A study of the records indicates that the license granted said society on 27 March 1923 was the only license properly granted. This license provided that no excavation of the mounds would be allowed except upon permission granted by the Secretary of War. There is no evidence available that such permission was ever granted. It, therefore, appears that the artifacts excavated by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society in the Mound City Group and removed therefrom were taken without right. Accordingly, it is the opinion of this Department that the subject artifacts remain the property of the United States. [53]

NPS officials determined not to make an issue over its ownership of the 1920-1921 Mound City Group artifact collection. Because there were not adequate curatorial facilities at Mound City Group or in Chillicothe, particularly at the Ross County Historical Society and Museum, NPS officials were no doubt content to maintain the status quo and not antagonize their state counterparts unnecessarily. For the time being, the collection would remain in Columbus.

Notice that the 1923 Mound City Group management license with the War Department would be revoked as of August 1, 1946, came from Interior in early 1946 when it became clear Congress would include Mound City Group in the fiscal 1947 NPS budget. The revocation notice came in a letter to society director Henry C. Shetrone. Interior recognized the society's role in saving Mound City Group from destruction, and guiding its development program. [54]

Regional Archeologist J. C. Harrington arrived at Mound City Group on July 30, 1946, to make last-minute arrangements for the transfer. William W. Luckett accompanied Harrington from Richmond to Chillicothe. Luckett, who served as custodian at Shiloh National Military Park (Tennessee), Ocmulgee National Monument (Georgia) and Salem Maritime National Historic Site (Massachusetts), entered on duty as acting custodian of Mound City Group on his way to his next permanent assignment at Fort Pulaski National Monument (Georgia).

On the morning of August 1, Harrington accepted responsibility for the park from Richard S. Fatig, curator of state memorials for the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. Harrington reported the park to be in good physical condition, "mowed and every part of it was neat and clean." However, the temporary museum was stripped bare. The society had withdrawn its exhibits, as had Albert C. Spetnagel, who probably did so to spur federal park officials into approving long hoped for developments. The society also removed its equipment and signage from the Chillicothe park.

With the agency's position on retaining Mound City Group National Monument within its system of federal parks remaining unclear, the National Park Service faced the daunting task of "starting from scratch." [55]

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