THE local historical work of the Northwest has been done in part under the auspices of various State and sectional historical societies. The Ohio Society, organized in 1831, became later inanimate, but was revived in 1868, and ought to hold a more important position among kindred bodies than it does. Mr. Baldwin has given an account of the historical and pioneer societies of Ohio in the Western Reserve and Northern Ohio Historical Society’s _Tracts_, no. 27; and this latter Society, organized in 1867, with the Licking County Pioneer Historical Society, organized the same year, and the Firelands Historical Society, organized in 1857, have increased the historical literature of the State by various publications elucidating in the main the settlements of the last century. The youngest of the kindred associations, the Historical and Geographical Society of Toledo, was begun in 1871. The State, however, is fortunate in having an excellent _Bibliography of Ohio_ (1880), embracing fourteen hundred titles, exclusive of public documents, which was compiled by Peter G. Thomson; while the _Americana_ Catalogues of Robert Clarke & Co., of Cincinnati, are the completest booksellers’ lists of that kind which are published in America. The _Ohio Valley Historical Series_, published by the same house, has not as yet included any publication relating to the period of the French claims to its territory. The earliest _History of Ohio_ is by Caleb Atwater, published in 1838; but the _History_ by James W. Taylor—“First Period, 1650-1787”—is wholly confined to the Jesuits’ missions, the wars of the Eries and Iroquois, and the later border warfare. (Field, _Indian Bibliography_, no. 1,535.) Henry Howe’s _Historical Collections of Ohio_, originally issued in 1848, and again in 1875, is a repository of facts pertaining for the most part to later times. * * * * * The Historical Society of Indiana, founded in 1831, hardly justifies its name, so far as appears from any publications. The chief _History of Indiana_ is that by John B. Dillon, which, as originally issued in 1843, came down to 1816; but the edition of 1859 continues the record to 1856. The first three chapters are given to the French missionaries and the natives. (Field, _Indian Bibliography_, nos. 429, 430; Sabin, vol. v. no. 20,172.) A popular conglomerate work is _The Illustrated History of Indiana_, 1876, by Goodrich and Tuttle. A few local histories touch the early period, like John Law’s _Colonial History of Vincennes_, 1858; Wallace A. Brice’s _History of Fort Wayne_, 1868; H. L. Hosmer’s _Early History of the Maumee Valley_, Toledo, 1858; and H. S. Knapp’s _History of the Maumee Valley from 1680_, Toledo, 1872, which is, however, very scant on the early history. * * * * *