The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-04-10
UNCONVENTIONAL HISTORY.
Plan by Which Better Historical Work
Nav be Done by Churches.

! DIR. c.. Alphonso Smith, March q, before
| the Presbyterian Congregations Of Rich
mond, Va.)
! There is one other suggestion which /
should consider it dereliction of duty
| not to make It is hardly necessary to
| remind this audience that there has never
| before been so keen and widespread an
/ interest in the history of the South and
of things Southern as there is today. 1t
| is an interest confined to no section of the
country and to no class of readers. His
torical societies are springing up in every
| Southern State and those already organ
lied are multiplying their publications.
Lectures are given in great Northern uni
versities on social, political, and indus
! trial phases of Southern life, past and
| present The professors of history in
! cur Southern institutions are increasing
| the scope of their departments, are adding
| to their library equipment, and are pub
| fishing in one year more studies in South
ern history than were published in five
years decade ago. From the Johns
| Hopkins University alone since it's found
| ing in 1876, there have appeared seventy
eight monographs devoted to Southern
history This historical movement has
found its way into the churches. The
| fourth volume Of the Baptist History
! Series is DR. b. F. Riley's History of the
Baptists in the Southern States East OF
the Mississippi; the fifth volume, now IN
preparation, is A History of the Baptlsts
| in the Trans Mississippi States. The his
| tory of Methodism has been written for
Tennessee lin three volumes) for South
Carolina, for the two Carolinas in their
earliest stages, for Mississippi, for Ala
+, bama and for Texas.
This great movement, like the literary
movement to which it is closely allied,
has found no expression in the Publica-
ton Department of the Southern Presby-
terrain church because it has evoked no
organized response from the church itself.
There is not now in print an upto-date
history of Presbyterianism for single
| Southern State. The result of this Will
be that in the histories of the several
Southern States, written for use in the
public schools, the historian will give
credit to other denominations for their
great men and for their influence in de-
veloping character and in moulding pub
lie opinion because he finds the record
of their deeds in the books which he must
consult. Finding, however, no written re-
cord of what the Presbyterian church has
done. it will not be possible for him,
however impartial he may wish to be,
TO give the credit that Presbyterlanlsm de-
serves. But more than this, no State, no
institution, no denomination can live and
| prosper without garnering up its own his
tory Deeds of prowess and exalted
situations says Frederick Schlegel can
not of themselves command our admiration
| or determine our judgment; people that
would rank high in our esteem must them
selves be conscious of the Importance OF
their own doings and fortune, and his
tory is the expression of this natural
lself-consciousness" If any one doubts
the Importance of denomnational history
let him weigh these words of the Pagan
| Plutarch: "Methinks a man should
sooner find city Guilt in the air, without
| any plot of ground wherein it IS seated,
| than that any commonwealth, altogether
void of religion and knowledge Of the
gods should either be first established or
afterwards preserved and maintained in
that estate Religion it is that cOntaineth
and holdeth together all human society.
This is the foundation, prop, and stay
of all
1t has been said that Presbyterian min
listers have not the leisure to devote to
historical work, and that the sales OF
such works would not pay for the pubhca-
| ton In the first place, it is not expected
| that this work should dcVOlve upon min
| listers Even if they have the time and
training it is not primarily their duty
| to write history. Such works, If they are
to rank as history, demand not only eX-
hauStlve comparison of newspaper hles, or
anniversary sermons and addresses, OF
| PRESBYTERIAN and Synodlcal records, but
| long and patient correspondence, co-opera-
| ton with local historical societies, ac-
| cess TO public and private libraries, one or
| more visits perhaps to the WItherspoon
building in Philadelphia, accurate knoW-
| edge of the latest researches along SINH
| lar or related lines, and a trained Ia
| miliarity with modern historical methods.
| Can the work be done? 1t can, and at q
! nominal cost; but were the cost ten times
| what it may be, the Southern Presbyte-
rian church with its quarter OF mil
! lion membership cannot afford to go be-
| fore the country as too poor to write its
| own history
| Consider with me for a moment the fol-
lowing plan: Every year an increasing
number of Southern young men, at South
ern or Northern Universities, are pursu-
ing graduate courses in history. The
theses, or dissertations, that these men
write to secure their doctOrates are
based on original research, are prepared
under competent supervision, and must
attain high standard of historical excel
!ence before being accepted by the pro-
lessons in charge. The regulations re-
quile in nearly every case that all dis
sertations be published and at the eX-
lpense OF those who write them,-an out
lay averaging between fifty and a hun
dred dollars. Many dissertations are
large enough to form books of several
hundred pages. Here, it seems to me, is
our opportunity. Let the General Assem-
bly, through its Committee of Publication
find cut at once the number of Presbyte-
rian young men from the South who are
pursuing graduate work in history. .-Let
these young men be urged to consider
the ACCESSIBILITY of selecting as their sub
jects for final dissertations the history of
Presbyterianism in their own States or
some vital phase of that history. Let
them be assured of the hearty sympathy