Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-02
THE NATIONS ARCHIVES.
A Plea for . Documentary History Of III
United States.

i
and students in history, brings into prominence
a subject of value and interest to the nation at
we'll as to the individual, and that is the com
pilation and publication Of the documentary
history Of our country. Taking the period OF
the revolution. for present purposes, rs the
starting point, it may be safely said that no one
can at present form even an approximate idea
Of the extent ard significance of the material
yet unpublished) in existence. These precious
| relics are scattered throughout the archives OF
the several states, historical societies, public
| and private libraries and in the hands OF
| private individuals, well rs through the diff
| ferent departments of the general government.
As far back as the year 177S the subject was
presented to Congress in the following terms:
PHILADELPHIA July II, 1778.
The Honorable Henry Laurens, Esq, President
| of Congress
SIR: Viewing Congress as the friends OF
science as well as the guardians Of our liber-
ties l tatter myself there can be no impro-
| priety IN soliciting their patronage and assist
ance for collection Of American state papers,
| which, from its evident utility, they will not
| deem unworthy Of either.
| The design of it is to furnish materials for q
good history of the United States, which may
| now be very well done, for so rapid has been
| our polit progress that we can easily recur
| to the first step taken on the continent and
| clearly point out our different advances from
| persecution to comparative liberty and from
thence to independent empire. In this particu-
| lar we have the advantage of every nation upon
| earth. and gratitude to heaven and to our
| vlrtuous fathers, justice to ourselves and a
becoming regard to posterity strongly urge US
| to an improvement of it before time and acct
| dent deprive Us Of the means.
The undertaking will appear, at first view, to
| be toe great for an unassisted individual. and
experience has convinced me that although
several years incessant application has pro-
duced an important collection, yet so numer-
Gus arc the materials and much dispersed
| that whole life would be insufficient to COM
| plete it in the way in which have hitherto
| been obliged 70 proceed. / now propose to
| visit each state for that purpose. and must re-
quest OF Congress certificate of their appro-
baton of my design, should they approve of it.
and recommendation to the several govern
ors and Presidents. grant me free access to the
| records Of their respective states and permits
sion to extract from them such parts as NAV
| fall within the limits of my plan. To enable
them to judge of the nature OF the collection
beg leave to lnc!ose the titles of some of the
materials of which it is to consist which please
TO lay befoie them, and believe me to be- sir,
your most obedient and very humble servant,
EBENn HAZARD.
Mr.. Hazard was referred to a committee
consisting OF Richard Henry Lee, William
Duer and Samuel Adams, who reported that
his undertaking was 'audabe and deserves the
publlc patronage and encouragement. as being
productive of public utility" This was fol-
lowed by certain resolutions approving of the
object and granting such patronage and ia
cities as Mr.. Hazard desired
Shortly afterward Mr.. Hazard was appoint
go Postmaster General Two volumes only
were published by him, but what would now be
the object Of Congress was not attained. mas.
much Us not single document relating to the
rise and progress of the war Of the revolution
was published by him. He gave up the work
IN consequence of other engagements ard no
one has ever completed il.
Tie next attempt was in 1888. On March 2
o: that year Congress authorized the Secretary
OF State to contract with Matthew ST. Clair
Clarke and Peter Force for the publication of a
wo-k entitled The Documentary History of
the American Revolution" The work was
begun while Edward Livingston was Secretary
of State, in 1883, and was continued until Mr.
1iarcys time. 1853, at which date only nine
volumes OF two series. and ). were published
The work was limited to twenty volumes. but
was practically abolished il is believed by the
failure OF Mr.. Marcy to examine the material
which Mr.. Force submitted for tenth volume
Scholars have never ceased to deplore the
discontinuance of this work. and efforts have
been made from time to time to cause it's
resumption. The last effort was made in 1888
If then, as has been said, in IT'S under all
these adverse circumstances surrounding that
PERIOD the Continental Congress ordered that
to be done which it is now proposed to do
would II be presumptuous for historical scbol-
airs and the people for their posterity to ask or
Imprudent or premature in Congress to under
take 1t: Many Of the records Of our country's
eventful story are moldering or perlshing.
Beyond comparatively few reprints of the cor
respondence OF the men OF that period by pri-
vate enterprise, the compilation by Sc raj states
of records of their soldiers lin two cases only
satisfactory ones) and the publications of the
various historical societies and the noteworthy
efforts by individual scholars no further at.
tempt to complete the documentary history of
the United States as whole has been made.
The history OF those times as Contemplated
by Peter Force, can be divided into several
distinct periods designated by certain great
events
l. The origin of the several colonies; their
charters, bills of rights and the public papers
previous to and their condition Ill 1863
H. From 1868 to the Congress OF l7G5 at
New York.
III. From 1765 to the Congress of 1774 at
Philadelphia
~; From liza to the Declaration of indie
pendence.
v. From l77S to the deauitive treaty Of
peace.
vi. From 1888 to 1889, the organization of
our government.
The documents illustrating events prior to
i'4 are mainly In the archives of Great Britain
ana In the archives of the original states aud
papers In possession of individuals
From IVA to 1889 the principal parts can he
supplied from papers already in the possession
OF the government, those in state archives and
from the various sources before referred to.
Gratitude to those who in the council and ON
the field of battle fought for the liberties and
gained the blessings now enjoy should urpe
US to improve our opportunity .'before time
and accident deprive US of the means" A
committee OF our scholars. selected and an
thorized by Congress, would make an admir-
able starting point and the recommendations
OF such committee would be Of great yalue
III determining the plan and extent OF the work.
Whether the librarian of Congress. the Joint
committee on the library or the State De1art.
ment IN which department, it is believed. the
grea'er part OF the material is stoi ed and ID
now undergoing admirable restoration and ar
rangement tending to preserve the papers
practically forever, be considered the proper
editor Or compiler 1t matters not Let it not
be delayed Our country is no longer in its
youth; 1t has reached the age Of vigorous man
hood and Id In possession of the fruits of Ii
eonderoga, Trenton. Valley Forge and York
town. we rear monuments In stone and bronze
but they tell not the story Of '76 SO well as
these bits Of paper. In our granite treasury
are piled the almighty dollar" Suppose they
were by some calamity swept away, the indus.
try OF the people would restore them, Lose
these fragments Of paper, the very title deeds
Of our heritage, and low shall we meet our
fathers and how shall we answer our sons?
While II is not at present the purpose to dis
cuss in detail any measures which may have
been already suggested it 10 Of interest In this
connection to note the bill for the hall OF rec
ords AID the bill recently introduced by Seua-
tor Proctor to provide fos the collection, Gus