Goldsboro semi-weekly argus., 1909-12-08

.
be learned and told only from our IL
braries-that our history can be writ
ten only in our libraries. And this
prompts me to call your attention to
two other important facts-irst, the
renaissance of historical study in the
South in recent years, and the fact
that North Caro1ina's history has not
yet been written.
1t is only within the life of the past
generation that we have begun seri-
ously to study and write the history OF
our country Our schools, colleges
and universities have been amizingly
slow in giving proper consideration to
the subject. G. Stanley Hall says thai
it is even today the most poorly taugn.
subject in our educational system. But
this condition is rapidly changing
has already changed. America is
studying and writing history. No
where has this historical activity been
more apparent In the last Few years
than in the South. More attention is
given to history in our educational
system; and in addition to this. the
states are establishing library COM
Missions, sending historians and arch
twists to Europe, and lending substan-
tia1 aid to all those who are attempt
ing to preserve a past rich to efful-
gence in traditional for lore in cuI-
ture, in romance, and in all the full
life of prosperous peace and glorious
war.
The history of our own state has not
been written. We have made history,
but we have not properly told it. It
must be told. And it must be told not
to gain the advantage in a controver-
sy, not merely to prove claims to Ger
tain contentious, not merely that we
may boast Of our achievements, great
as they may be, not that we may show
to the world whet we may have done
But it must be told to Qur children,
and told to them for truths sake; told
to them that they may know truly what
t,leir heritage is; told to them that
ley, having knowledge of their des-
cent from the loins of the men and
women who have made this pas,
knowing that they rest upon this solid
and enduring rock Of character and
achievement, shall see to it that this
commonwealth shall keep it's even and
steady march in the ranks Of civili-
cation, that this Republic shall stand,
and that, under God, freedom and JUS
tice and righteousness shall not per-
ish from the earth.
AS ah evidence of some OF the
work that is being done in our own
State along both the lines just indl-
Gated, let me give the following: '9The
State Literary and Hist orical Asseeia-
ton was organized ten years ago, and
as a result of their efforts:
81. Twenty hundred libraries
have been established in rural public
schools, containing 100000 well-se
lected books, with reading circle of
a 100000 people.
"2. In an effort to preserve the in
tegrity of our history, and defend the
State from misrepresentation, 1t set
tied beyond question our claim Of
First at Bethel, farthest at Gettys-
burg, last at Appomattox.' These are
no longer controverted statements in
our history, and we have chiseled the
facts on imperishable granite, and
placed upon the CORY fields of Bethel,
of Chtcamauga, and Appomattox
stones marking North Carolina's posi-
tions.
"3. This association has inculcated
literary spirit and desire for his
toric research among our people, with
the result that more literature is now
being written in North Carolina that
she has ever produced.
~. A few years ago the student Of
North Carolina history had to rely
upon almost inaccessible manuscripts,
and obscure writings of Williamson
Martin, Hawks, and few others. 1t
is true that Murphy, Graham, Jones,
Hubbard, Willy, Davis and others at a
later period wrote ably and we'll, but
We had nothing from them approach
ing the dignity of a story Of our peo-
pie. Today a scholar desiring to
study the history of North Carolina
would go to the University of Wiscon-
sin rather than to our own University;
to the capital of Wisconsin or Massa-
chusetts rather than to our own cap
ital for his material. In a few years
all this will be changed.
's5. Further: 1t shall be the duty
OF the commission to have collected
from the files Of old newspapers, court
records, church records, private col
lection and elsewhere, historical data
pertaining to the history of North Car.
olina and the territory included there
in from the earliest times; and to
stimulate and encourage historical in
vestigations and research among the
people of the State"
l make bold to assert that the chIet-
est, most useful agent in this great
work-the great indispensable fac
tcr-is the library-the great conserv-
ator Of the past. This work must re
volve around this great axis of knowl-
edge, must evolve from this inexhaus-
tible storehouse Of fact and fancy.