for the creation of state archives. Professional societies Ames served as corresponding secretary of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and was elected to the American Antiquarian Society. He also served as president of the History Teachers' Association of the Middle States and Maryland. In 1918 he was appointed—along with John Bach McMaster, Hampton Carson, William Cameron Sproul, and others—to the Pennsylvania War History Commission, which was formed to preserve records related to Pennsylvania's participation in World War I. Death Ames had planned his retirement for 1936, and was intending to spend his final year at Pennsylvania laying the groundwork for two new research projects: a biography of Robert J. Walker, and a study of the presidential veto power. Neither of Ames' two planned projects bore fruit; he died at his home at 203 St. Mark's Square in Philadelphia on February 7, 1935, from a cerebral hemorrhage following a stroke. Funeral services were held at the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, with Thomas Sovereign Gates, Roland S. Morris, Emory Richard Johnson, Conyers Read, Roy Franklin Nichols, Lewis M. Stevens, Julian P. Boyd, H. Lamar Crosby, and Edward Cheyney serving as honorary pallbearers. On May 7, 1935, three months after his death, a memorial meeting was held at Houston Hall in which Ames was eulogized by his colleagues and former students. A record of these speeches, along with letters contributed by those who could not attend—including his doctoral supervisor Albert Bushnell Hart—was compiled and edited by Edward Cheyney and Roy Franklin Nichols. The compilation was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 1936 as the 31-page Memorial: Herman Vandenburg Ames. Personal life Ames was unmarried. He had an older sister, Ella Elizabeth, who resided with him at the time of his death. His older brother, Marcus Judson, died in childhood. In his personal mannerisms, it was said that Ames had a keen sense of humor and a relaxed disposition. Ames' personal interests included music and travel. He was a member of the Order of the Founders and Patriots of America, serving as the society's Governor-General from 1919 to 1921, and the Society of Mayflower Descendants. He served, for a time, as president of the Delta Upsilon Club of Philadelphia and as the international historian of Delta Upsilon. Ames was also a member of the Presbyterian polity. Recognition Honors Justin Winsor Prize, American Historical Association (1897) Honorary Doctor of Letters (Litt.D.), University