Viewing page 54 of 57

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[page from newspaper]]
[[three columns annotated 7 and 8]]
8 (40)  THE INDEPENDENT  [January 9, 1890.

but their present place of deposit is not known.  The Richmond newspapers contained full reports of public proceedings, but much business was transacted in secret and is little known.  The historical material actually existing is widely scattered among the public and private libraries of the country, and there is as yet no systematic bibliography of what has been published.  The most important manuscript collection was that purchased by the United States Government and is now preserved in the Treasury Department.  It comprises a large portion of the correspondence of the Confederate Government with its agents abroad and at the North.  Other Confederate documents are in the custody of the State Department, and there are several small collections in private hands.  The publications of the War Records Office include Confederate documents;  but the series thus far has been devoted to military history.  The newspapers of the South in war time are a mine of history which has been but little exploited.  Various magazines were published at the South, and two or three illustrated papers appeared at Richmond during the War, among them a Southern Punch.  A noteworthy enterprise of the Confederate Government was the publication in London of The Index, a weekly review established for the cultivation of friendly relations between Europe and the South.  Mr. Sumner suggested the organization of inquiry with regard to the existence of materials for Confederate history.
The Hon. Wm. Wirt Henry, of Richmond, said that the library of the Southern Historical Society in his city was the chief Southern repository of collections relating to the Civil War and the Confederate States.  Dr. J.R. Brackett expressed the hope that Mr. Sumner would print, in connection with his paper, a full bibliography of the materials which he had discovered.  Prof. Wm. P. Trent, of the University of the South, then read some interesting Notes on the Outlook for Historical Studies in the Southern States.  He called attention to the collection of materials for Southern history now being made in New York City.  He sketched the condition of the various State Historical Societies in the South, and regretted the great lack of public enthusiasm for historical work.  He described the existing historical collection at Richmond and other places, and gave some account of the leading publications and monographs now in preparation.  Mr. Trent urged that Southern history should be more earnestly studied by scholars in all parts of the country, and recommended a report of historical progress from the State societies to the American Historical Association.  Dr. Justin Winsor, library of Harvard University, paid a merited tribute to the historical work of Mr. Hannis Taylor, of Mobile, Alabama, who, isolated from libraries and historical associations, had produced a valuable constitutional history of England.  Dr. H.B. Adams emphasized Mr. Trent's idea of the importance of an annal report of the work done by State Historical Societies to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution through the medium of the American Historical Association.
The morning session was concluded by a brief and interesting paper on the Relations of History to Ethnology, by Prof. O.T. Mason, of the National Museum.  He showed that the student of human culture is constantly a debtor to the historian.  To illustrate this idea, he spoke of the myth of the Armadillo.  The existent of musical instruments baaring the same name among Negroes on two continents, can be explained historically.  The student of ethnology spends quite as much time in libraries as in the field.  He urged the Association to use its influence for the increase of the collections in the National Museum.  He called attention to the motive which governs the operations of the ethnological department as entirely in harmony with the utterance of President Adams, that all things are now studied by the historic method.  Professor Mason then explained the contents of the Museum cases, which had been wheeled into the audience room, to illustrate the nature of studies in the history of culture now in progress in Washington.
During the morning session, the venerable historian, George Bancroft, now in his ninetieth year, entered the hall and, amid the applause of members of the Association, was escorted to the platform, where, for a few moments, he occupied the President's chair, after he had briefly addressed the Society over which he presided three years ago.  The closing session of this, the most successful meeting of the American Historical Society, was devoted to historical science in general.  A special report on the bibliography of members was made by Paul Leicester Ford, the bibliographer of Franklin.  A report was read by the Secretary on the Present Condition of Historical Studies in Canada, by George Stewart, Jr., D.C.L., LL.D., President of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec.  Mr. James Schouler, of Boston, the distinguished author of the "History of the United States," read a philosophical paper upon the Spirit of Research.  He said research is a fitting word to apply to historical studies, for it implies that one is not content to skim over the surface of past events, but prefers to turn the soil for himself.  Space will not permit even an abstract of Mr. Schouler's inspiring address nor of Mr. Winsor's no less suggestive account of the Perils of Historical Study.  The writer of the great "Narrative and Critical History of America" warned the Association that history must be continually rewritten, either from new developments or from new sources, which keep historical study fresh and perennial.  Each generation must renew the discussion of historical events.  Opinions change; and the history of opinion about facts is no small part of the history of those facts.  Mr. Winsor's paper was discussed at some length by Judge Chamberlain, of Boston.  The last paper of the session was by Worthington C. Ford, editor of the new edition of "Washington's Writings."  Mr. Ford spoke of the Government as a Guardian of American History.  He condemned the past policy of the nation in allowing valuable historical papers to pass into private keeping rather than into our national archives.  He criticised past and present methods of treating our State papers, and made a strong plea for a better system of Government control in these matters.
Resolutions of thanks were passed by the Association for courtesies received from the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, the Curators of the National Museum, the President of the Columbian University, the Governors of the Cosmos Club, the Librarian of the State Department, Mr. and Mrs. Horatio King, and Mrs. Walworth of Washington.  A Committee on the time and place of the next meeting reported through Dr. Poole in favor of Washington and of the meeting during the Christmas holidays, from the 28th to the 31st of December, 1890.  In behalf of the Committee on Nominations, Judge Chamberlain recommended the following Board of officers, which was unanimously elected:  President, Hon. John Jay, New York City;  First Vice-President, Hon. Wm. Wirt Henry, Richmond, Va.;  Second Vice-President, James B. Angell, LL.D., President University of Michigan;  Treasurer, Dr. Clarence W. Bowen, New York; Secretary, Dr. H.B. Adams, Johns Hopkins University;  Assistant Secretary and Curator (a newly created office), A. Howard Clark, Curator of the Historical Section of the National Museum.  Two new members were added to the Executive Council, namely, Dr. G. Brown Goode, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and Director of the National Museum, and John George Bourinot, D.C.L., Clerk of the Canadian House of Commons.  The Executive Council already embraces the ex-Presidents of the Association: Hon. Andrew D. White, LL.D., Hon. George Bancroft, LL.D., Justin Winsor, LL.D., William F. Poole, LL.D., and the following elected members, Prof. John W. Burgess, of Columbia College and Prof. George P. Fisher of Yale University.  The Treasurer's Report, which was audited by Mr. John A. King and the Hon. John Jay, shows an increase of $1,116.62 since the last report and total assets, including cash and investments to the amount of $4,584.94.  The Association has just completed the third volume of its published proceedings of which there is a stock of handsomely bound volumes and some unbound reports in the hands of Messrs. G.P. Putnam's Sons, the New York publishers.  This property of books and plates is in addition to the above assets of the Association.
The Regents of the Smithsonian Institution have passed the following resolution:
Resolved, That the American Historical Association be and hereby is permitted to deposit its collections, manuscripts, books, pamphlets and other material for history, in the Smithsonian Institution or in the National Museum in accordance with the provisions of the act of incorporation; and that the conditions of said deposit shall be determined by the Secretary, with the approval of the Executive Committee.

[[the next article is:  Fine Arts. THE BARYE EXHIBITION. BY SUSAN HAYES WARD.  The article is incomplete on the newspaper page.]]

Transcription Notes:
The Fine Arts article not transcribed as only part of the article appears and is irrelevant to the subject.