Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-10-03
TgE ERIN HIST RIG a Il.
SOCIETY.
Official Circular.

eTu IlStOTlcdi EoCcleGy, Will IL pdfenb
society to hold its seat in that city, and
with the design of having affiliated So
cieties in the States of Maryland, Viz
ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Missis
sippi, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee,
Missouri aud Kentucky and the Dis
trict of Columbia but New Orleans
has not been found favorable location
for the parent society, and therefore,
under the cali OF the said society, a
Convention was held at the Montgom-
err White Sulphur Springs, in Vir-
ginia, on the 14th of August, 1873, by
which the society was reorganized,
with a change of the seat of the parent
society to the city of Richmond,
Virginia.
GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE ORGANIZA-
A aren5 society, to hold its seat and
archives in the City of Richmond,
Virginia, with affiliated societies to be
organized liz all the States favorable to
the object proposed these in their
iucn branching into local organizations
in the different townships-forming
thus a wide fellowship of closely CO.
ordinated societies, with a common
centre i'll the parent association in the
said city.
The object proposed to be accom-
plished is the collection, classified ion,
preservation and final publication, in
some form to be hereafter determined,
of all the documents and facts bearing
upon the eventful history of the past
few years, illustrating the nature Of
the struggle from which the country
has just emerged, defining and vindi-
eating the principles which lay beneath
it, and marking the stages through
which it was conducted to its issue
1t is not understood tina: this associa-
ton shall be purely sectional, nor that
its labors shall be OF partizan char
acter.
Everything which relates to this
critical period of our national history,
pending the conflict, antecedent or
subsequent to it, from the point of
view of either, or of both the contest
ants; everything, in short, which shall
vindicate the truth of history is to be
industriously collated and filed.
1t is doubtless true, that an accepted
history can never be written IN the
midst OF the stormy events of which
that history is composed, nor by the
agents through whose efficiency they
were wrought. The strong passions
which are evoked in every human con.
tilct disturb the vision and warp the
judgment, in the scales of whose crit
cism the necessary facts are to be
weighed-even the relative importance
OF these facts cannot be measured by
those who are in too close proximity
Scope must be afforded for the devel
opment of the remote issues before
they can be brought under the range
of philosophical apprehension; ant
the secret thread be discovered, run
ming through all history, upon which
its single facts crystalize in the unity
of some great Providential plan.
| The generations of the disinteresiet
must succeed the generations of tn,
prejudlced before history. properly
termed such, can be written. This
precisely, IS the work we now attempt
to construct the archives in whicl
! shall be collected these memoirs Il
serve for future history.
| 1t Is believed that invaluable docu
ments are scattered over the whol,
land, III loose sheets, perhaps, lying il
the portfolios of private gentlemen
and onl y preserved as souvenirs o
| their own parts in the historic drama
Existing in forms so perishaEle. re
garded, it may be, only as so lnucl
waste paper, by those into who's
hands they must fall, no delay should
| be suffered in their collection and pre-
servatioo
There is doubtless, too, much tha
| is yet unwritten floating only in the
memories of the living, which if no
speedily rescued will be swallowed il
| the oblivion of the grave, but which
if reduced to record and collatcd
would afford the key to manga cypher
III little while to become uninte!ligibIl
for want OF Interpretation.
All this various material, gathered
from every section, Will need to be in.
dus;riously classified and arr II red
! and finally deposited in the centra
archives of the society, under the care
of appropriate guardians.
To this task of collection. we invite
the Immediate attention and co-opera.
ton Of our copatriots throughout the
South, to facilitate which, we propose
the organization of State and district
associations, that our whole peo3l,
may be brought in harmony of ;ctior
in this important matter.
The rapid changes through whiclI
the institutions Of the country are low
passing, aud the still more stupendous
revolutions in the opinions of men. re
mind rs that we stand to-day upon the
outer verge of a great historic cyc,e.
within which completed past will
shortly be enclosed. Another cvclo
may touch its circumference but the
events it shall embrace will be gather
cd around another historic centre, aud
the future historian will pronounce
that in stepping from the one to the
other he has entered upon another and
separate volume of the nations record.
Let lis, who are soon to be in that
past to which we properly belong, see
there are no gaps III the record.
Thus shall we discharge a duty TO
the fathers. whose principles weinherit,
to the children, who will then know
whether to honor or to dishonor the
sires that beSot them and above all.
to the dead heroes sleeping on the vast
battle plains, from the Susquehannah
to the Rio Grande, whose epitaph his
tory yet waits to engrave upon their
tombs.
The funds raised by initiation fees,
assessments, donations and lectures,
after defraying the current expenses,
will he appropriated to the safe keep
ing Of the archives, and publication OF
the transactions.
For the accomplishment of these
ends contributions are respectfully So
licited from all parties interested in
the establishment and prosperity of the
Southern Historical Society
Contributions to the archives and
library of the society are respectfully
solicited under the following specific
divisions:
1. The histories and historical col
lections of the Individual States, from
the earliest periods to the present
time, including travels, Journals and
maps.
.. Complete files of the newspapers.
periodicals, literary, scientific and
journals of the Southern
States. from the earliest times 20 the
present day, including, especially, the
period of the recent American civil
war.