Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-12-29
PRE- SERVING HISTORY
Final Session of the American Association
Last Night
Expenditures BY the Government for
ReAearches-Valuab Publications
Issued and to BE Issued.

| OF the American Historical Association
last evening. and the session closed with
| the fist breaks in the arranged list Of pa
pers of the entire session. Prof z. X.
Alden of Packer read his discourse on
Mountains and History Prof. A. d.
| Morse Of Amherst read his paper on the
| causes of the party revolt of 1900. Prof. ].
| II. Robinson's paper on The Tennis Court
| Oath was merely presented by title, In
| the absence OF It's author. Prof Morse
Stevens of Cornell took the place of J. q.
| Bcurinot. clerk Of the Canadian house Of
commons who Is detained at home on &C.
count of TIE change in the administration
| caused by the death of the late premier.
| Mr.. stevens, who is a graduate OF oxford,
| spoke OF his hope that the breadth thut ID
| coming into that university Will reach this
| country. The final paper Of the evening
and of the session was of unusual. interest
| to Westinghouse. 1t was an answer to
| the question: What has the United States
| ament done for history" by A. How
| krk Of the National Museum.
as not till 1915, said Mr.. Clark. that
| tf18 government and people Of the United
| States seemed to realize that our country
h4ssa history. Until then We had been
gHqlng SO fast, SO multiplied were the
~ Real and economical problems incident
| - the amalgamation of the millions Of all
nations that had fiocked to our shores. that
We could hardly stop to think. to ponder.
on our history.
The year 1876 was a year of history and
| an historical year. There sprang up then
| all over the country local historical 20.
| cieties. and ever since they have contin-
| ued to multiply till now the state and local
| organizations engaged in historical work
number more than two hundred and nifty.
One of the most important concentra.
tions of this general interest in American
history was effected in Saratoga ten years
ago, when the American Historical Asso-
| ciaticn was formally instituted.
Historical Expenditures.
The United States government has spent
more than two millions Of dollars in the
acquisition and publication of records per-
tanning alone to our country's history. 1t
has spent many millions more In the cree.
ton Of historical memoir ais in preserva-
ton of historical events. The United
States government Is now annually ex-
pending more than quarter of million
dollars directly in behalf OF American his
tory.
No nation ever undertook such q mag
nifcent historical worl0 as is now APP
preaching completion under charge OF most
efficient bureaus of the War and Navy de-
partments. What war has ever been ofricial-
ly recorded in such detail and with such abb
solute accuracy as the late civil war-one
hundred and forty volumes Of hundred
thousand pages of authentic documents.
with half a thousand accurate maps OF
battlefields and plans, telling the tragic
federlte, during those historical years; ana
TWENTY-FIVE volumes more telling In like
manner of the operations of the navies
north and south during that war.
Colonial History.
To record the history of the colonial pc
ricd belongs primarily to the original col
onies and not to the federal government,
yet our government has collected mass
of material pertaining to that era. The
patriotic Peter Force, a citizen of the Dis
trict of Columbia brought together d store
house of authentic information concerning
the colonial, the revolutionary and the
earlier constitutional periods, and under
his direction the government between 1873
and 1853 published nine folio volumes ct
American Archives" gathered by him, and
covering the doinsS of laii and ld1o. I'm
fortunate opposition to his work arose
from some unknown source and blocked
this magnificent work so well begun. Mr..
Force was greatly discouraged at the fall
ure of the government to continue this
valuable series, and in 1867 he sold to the
United States for 100000 all his papers
and library, forming collection OF 3G0
folio volumes of manuscripts and to.OO0
books and pamphlets relating entirely to
American history; and these records are
row preserved in the library or Congress.
where also are carefully stored more than
5000 original manuscripts pertaining to
early periods of our history. The question
of completing the publication of Forces
A
thirty printed volumes, is well worth care
full consideration at an early day, and thus
fill up the printed records of those inter-
esting years from ITS to 1888. when the
series of state Papers" begins with the
First Congress under the Constitution.
Future Work.
During the last eighteen months the bu-
reau of rolls and library of the Depart
ment of State has published blue books"
of az he volumes
Of papers of the Continental Congress and
of some of the 600 volumes of the manu-
scripts of Washington, Madison and Mon
roe, also a documentary history OF the
Constitution and the Federal Convention.
all of them of great importance as refer
ence books for students OF history. 10
make known what things are hid is like
creating anew.
Our nation is great. and its history. COW
ering a century and score or years, must
make many volumes. The deeds OF bravery
and the military and naval operations or
the last great war are how fully recorded.
or soon will be. The official story OF the
American revolution and OF other early
wars must next be given to the people
stories of those struggles that made this
nation that the last war preserved.
No nation ever possessed more complete
Qntords of its history than are now pre-
Served I'm the federal and state archives.
and the time is drawing near when these
records will be In print to be read ana
studied by our youth and by those of older
growth as well, who in reading them Will
become better qualified to enjoy to It's run
extent the advantages Of this free govern
ment.
Though the government has done so
much vet much more remains undone.
The official papers of Washington, or Jef-
ferson, Madison. Monroe Hamilton, FRANK
lin and of some other eminent Americans
whose lives were part Of the nations his
tory during historical periods. have been
secured by the government at great cost
and are carefully guarded from harm.
though many of them yet imprinted. Most
important manuscripts OF other Americans
who were a part Of our history are scat
tered over tHe country, many or them IN
private hands-manuscripts that would
throw light on interesting political periods
now dimly understood. All these should
be sought out and permanently preserved
against destruction.
Officers Elected.
The election of new officers for the COM
ing year resulted as follows: President.
Hon. George F. Hoar. Worcester, Mass;
vice presidents, Richard s. Storrs Brook
lyn, and James S. Schouler. Boston: secre-
tary Herbert Ii. Adams. Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore; assistant secretary
and curator, A. Howard Clark, curator OF
the National Museum. Washington; treas
urer, Clarence Winthrop Bowen, New York;