Charles Merz, Editor of the New York Times, 1938-1961

Charles Merz was born in Erie County, Ohio on February 23, 1893, to Dr. Charles H. Merz and Sakie (Prout) Merz. While at Sandusky High School, Charles Merz worked on the school’s yearbook, the Fram. During the summers, he was a cub reporter for the Sandusky Register and the Star Journal. He graduated from Sandusky High School in 1911. The younger Charles Merz is pictured below with the Debating Team at Sandusky High School.

Charles Merz graduated from Yale in 1915 and moved to New York to work at Harper’s Weekly, eventually being named editor of the magazine. In 1916, he became the Washington correspondent for the New Republic, with a brief hiatus during World War I, when he worked in military intelligence. He and Walter Lippmann compiled a survey on the press coverage of the Russian Revolution, and were very critical of the coverage by the New York Times.  

In 1931 Charles Merz went to work for the New York Times, where he served as editor from 1938 to 1961.  During the McCarthy era, Merz was known for his opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy in his editorials. He also wrote several books, including: The Great American Bandwagon, The Dry Decade, And Then Came Ford, and Centerville, U.S.A.  It is believed that Centerville, U.S.A. was based primarily on Merz’s upbringing in Sandusky, Ohio. 

Charles Merz passed away on August 31, 1977. He is still remembered for his long career in journalism and his devotion to the principles of American democracy.

“Speaking Of” Columns by Harry Van Stack

From 1945 to 1963, Harry Van Stack wrote a column for the Sandusky Register entitled “Speaking Of.” He penned dozens of articles about local history, politics, and social issues. Mr. Van Stack, the son of missionaries, grew up in South Africa. During the 1920s to the 1940s, he lectured aboard the prison ship Success. In this column from the January 28, 1950 issue of the Sandusky Register, Mr. Van Stack discussed the 1869 Sandusky City Directory, and its information about the city of Sandusky and its banks and railroads.

In his column from June 21, 1958, he praised the floral designs in Washington Park. He pointed out that approximately 100,000 hand-set plants and floral units were included in the many displays in the park that summer, including a cupid, which was appropriate for the area’s many June weddings.

On October 19, 1963, Harry Van Stack died unexpectedly. After his death, his wife, the former Louise Beaulieu, donated several items to the Sandusky Library, including five notebooks containing copies of the “Speaking Of” columns from 1945 to 1963. Visit the Sandusky Library to view these interesting articles which may have been read by your grandparents or great grandparents.

This picture of Mr. and Mrs. Van Stack is located in the back of Notebook Five, taken in October 1956 at the Mound Studio in Sandusky, Ohio.

Dr. Charles Hope Merz, Physician, Historian and Author

Dr. Charles Hope Merz was a leading physician in Sandusky, beginning his practice in Sandusky in 1899. He was the son of Karl Merz, well known music educator who taught at Oxford Female College and Wooster College. Charles Hope Merz was born in Oxford, Ohio on November 7, 1861. He graduated from the Western Reserve College of Medicine in 1885. An article in the November 26, 1900 issue of the Sandusky Daily Star reported that Dr. Merz had just placed an X-Ray machine in his office. At the time, it was the only apparatus of its kind in Sandusky. The machine was powered by six storage batteries. Sandusky residents were amazed that the doctor could see through one’s flesh to view their bones. The x-ray machine was expected to be helpful in surgical operations, and in locating foreign objects in patients.

In 1911, Dr. Merz was instrumental in arranging for Harry Atwood making a landing in his airplane in Erie County. Besides being an aviation enthusiast, he was very fond of driving his automobile. The September 16, 1936 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that Dr. Merz had purchased his first automobile on June 7, 1904, and he had been driving for 32 years. The Erie County Auto Club believed that Dr. Merz held the record for the number of years of automobile driving in Erie County, Ohio in 1936.

Dr. Merz also was an outstanding Masonic scholar who wrote several books on that and other subjects, and served as editor of the Masonic Bulletin in Sandusky for nearly 28 years. He was a charter member of the National Masonic Research Society of Iowa, and an honorary life member of the Cincinnati Masonic Library Association. In 1892 Dr. Merz wrote a book about the history, etiology, diagnosis and treatment of influenza.  He also was a member of the National Association of Railway Surgeons. Dr. Merz married Sakie Emeline Prout, a longtime member of the Board of Trustees of the Sandusky Library, in 1892. Dr. Charles H. Merz died on October 14, 1947. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery.

The son of Dr. and Mrs. Merz, also named Charles Merz, was editor of the New York Times from 1938 until 1961. His editorials against American neutrality in the years prior to World War II and in opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s affected the way many Americans viewed current events of the time. Charles Merz also authored three books: Centerville, U.S.A., The Great American Bandwagon, and The Dry Decade.  Charles Merz, the author and editor, died in New York City on August 31, 1977.

James A. Ryan: Journalist, Author, Postmaster

James A. Ryan was born in Sandusky in 1870, the son of Irish immigrants James and Ann Ryan. He began working in the composing room of the Sandusky Register when he was only eleven years old. By the time he was 21, he was a reporter for the Register. Mr. Ryan wrote a number of articles about the history of Sandusky and Erie County during the 1920’s and 1930’s for the Sandusky Register, the Star Journal, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. On June 23, 1911, James A. Ryan wrote an article for the Register about his experience as a passenger in the Hydro-Aeroplane of aviator Glenn H. Curtiss.

In April of 1900, James A. Ryan became the press agent for Cedar Point. He assisted Manager G.A. Boeckling with both the Cedar Point resort and the Nielson Opera House. For about a year, Mr. Ryan was in the theatrical business in Michigan and Indiana, but he returned to Sandusky in 1903. On September 1, 1914, Mr. Ryan was appointed to be Sandusky’s postmaster. Serving in this position during the Great War, Mr. Ryan was one of the organizers of the Erie County Welfare League. He also handled publicity for the Liberty Loan Drive and the Red Cross during the wartime years.

Below is a page from James A. Ryan’s book entitled The Town of Milan. He dedicated this copy of his book to the Sandusky Library Association on May 10, 1928.

James A. Ryan passed away on September 16, 1939. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery. An obituary for Mr. Ryan is found in the 1939 Obituary Notebook, housed with the genealogical books at the Sandusky Library. A scrapbook compiled by James A. Ryan was bequeathed to the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, letters, telegrams, photographs, and historical brochures which chronicle the life and career of Mr. Ryan. A very sad item in the scrapbook is the obituary for Wilson Ryan, the son of James and Caroline Ryan, who died at the age of two in 1897. An undated news article describes how James Ryan earned his first dollar. He saved money from his earnings at his first job with the Sandusky Register, in order to purchase a piece of furniture for his mother. It was a very happy event for young James when the furniture was finally delivered to his parents’ home.

To read some of the writings of James A. Ryan, visit the Sandusky Library. Over sixty local newspaper articles related to Mr. Ryan have been indexed in the Charles E. Frohman Index to the Sandusky Register and Star Journal, located on microfilm in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. Mr. Ryan wrote articles for the Firelands Pioneer, which is also available at the Sandusky Library. See the index to the Firelands Pioneer for references to James A. Ryan. A newspaper tribute to James A. Ryan reads in part, “Editor, historian, postmaster, Board of Elections clerk and a public spirited citizen. That well describes James A. Ryan, whose death Sandusky mourns. Few men have played a more prominent part in this community than Mr. Ryan. He was honored on many occasions by the citizens of his home city and always carried his honors well.”