The following paragraphs are transcriptions of the information presented on page 15 of the College’s 25th anniversary history University of Cincinnati Clermont College: The First 25 Years, 1972-1997 as compiled and edited by former College Librarian Fred Marcotte.
In May 1973 Mrs. Velma Woodward Newhouse donated to Clermont College a buggy lantern owned by her paternal grandfather Dr. Josiah Woodward, who had owned some of the property on which the college is built. Over the years since, the lantern has been used by the college in various publicity materials, including the college’s 25th anniversary. Some of the information disseminated about the lantern is myth. When Mrs. Newhouse donated the lantern to Clermont College, she was under the impression that it had been used by her grandfather on his buggy as he made house calls. In 1987, local historian Alma Aicholtz Smith did some research on the property for the college and discovered that Dr. Woodward “…did not practice medicine here.” (History of Perintown, 1804-1965, p.15). That information was shared with Mrs. Newhouse in late 1987, and she was surprised about the statement about her grandfather not practicing medicine in Clermont County in the Perintown history but she accepted it as she had no other information to refute it.
Some publicity over the years has also stated that the lantern was found when the property was excavated for construction. This is not true and it is not known how this myth was originated. The fact the Mrs. Velma Newhouse donated the lantern to the college was verified in a telephone interview with Dean Emerita Edith Peters Jones in 1997 since she was the person who accepted the lantern from Mrs. Newhouse. The actual connection of the lantern to the college and its property is thus tenuous, in that some of the property was owned by the Woodward family, but no houses actually stood on the plots purchased by the University for construction of Clermont College and the lantern’s original owner, Dr. Josiah Woodward, actually lived almost ten miles away in Perintown. Regardless of this, the lantern is now inextricably associated with Clermont College and remains a vital part of Clermont College’s connection to the history of Clermont County.
