One With a Paper

For much of the nineteenth century, Cincinnati was the center of culture and learning in Ohio and throughout the Midwest. During this period, the residents of the city often founded organizations to sponsor cultural and educational activities. The Literary Club is one such organization. It was chartered on October 29, 1849, and is the oldest such club in the United States.

Since its founding, The Club has had no more than one hundred regular members at any given time. Members have included many prominent Cincinnati residents, including two U. S. presidents -- William Howard Taft and Rutherford Hayes -- as well as Salmon P. Chase, Frank Duveneck, Henry Farny, and Murray Seasongood. Today, membership is drawn from a cross-section of business, many of the professions, plus academics, published authors. Members present papers at Club meetings, and occasionally famous writers have spoken to The Club's membership, as well. Among the guests have been Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Frost, Mark Twain, Booker T. Washington and Oscar Wilde.

The selected work collected in this volume includes remembrance, history, diary, essays, fiction and humor.