The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-31
The PED LES FORUM

Editor OF The yirSinian:
Stf.--Your kind republication In
the columns Of The virsinian Of a
recent letter of mine to the New York
Evening Posi- emboidens me to tres
pass on your space once more. The
quiet labor of an historical worker
is 50 generAffy unnoticed tzKt encour-
agement from such ar exceiient Jour-
nal rs The virginian" Is always ap-
preciated.
40 Is often said. our efforts at in
vestigating and presenting the great
history of our State are tnfinitesimal
compared with the noble history
which we have made. There are
some OF US, however. who are quietly
laboring, in our inability possibly to
make any history, to learn something
about the great deeds virgtnfans
have done and to present some Of
the neglected portions from time to
time to the public. In this import
ant but difficult task we are aided
by very many things, particularly the
interest of intelligent people I'm bring
ing 70 light obscure periods or char
acters in our history and by the cour-
teous treatment OF our Hbrar ans. We
are also much hindered by many
things, among the most important be-
ing the difficulty in securing material
with which to work The writer of
this letter. in addition to er1phasiz-
ing the immense Importance of writ
Ing our history, would like also to
urge two other necessary things: One
Is the utmost Importance of carefully
preservtng the materials out OF which
our history can be written, and the
other Is tina most generous co-opera-
ton on the part of those who possess
material OF value with those who
need the use OF that material in re-
working our history.
Our State In In infancy In the mat
tar-nf- taking cara OF --nitr- valuable
material. Possessors of priceless let
ters, documents and pamphlets al
low these TO be destroyed or scat
tered to the four corners of the earth,
and suf1cient public provision Ia not
always made for taking the best care
OF what we have. An illustration or
two VIII make my point clearer. In
the course of few years of hfstori-
cal work this writer has undertaken
several subjects. In several cases he
has discovered that valuable private
letters written by eminent VirgintaNs
had been allowed to be burned. In
anotlssr case he found that scores of
letters had been promtcuousIy sold
to an autograph buyer. and In one
| case he was told that the custodian
of certain valuable manuscripts had
allowed them to be taken out of the
State bodily.
A friend of mine travelling through
the country during the summer dis
covered In an upper story of q clerks
Office a rnaSs of private and public
| manuscripts lying in an old unpro-
tected box covered with filth. The
custodian Of this material expressed
his surprise that any one could pos
sibly be interested in such rubbish.
The lamentable truth Is this: That a
vast amount of Invaluable materiai
bearing on our history has been de-
stroyed or scattered, and many pre-
cious incidents In our annals are ir-
redeemably lost.
We cannot undo the past, but we
can do something for the future.
There is certain legislation that Ia
needed; but that will have to do like
most other needed iegislation---waft.
Our people. however. who have let
tiers or other material bearing on the
past can take good care OF It, or bet
ter still. put 1t in the custody OF our
State or historical libraries. and they
| can assist the toiIers In the field OF
Virginia history by letting 1t be known
they are willing should be used by
those who know how to use it.
This letter, Mr.. Editor. is already
longer than / ought to ask you to
print in view of the space l have oc-
cupied on former occasions. But !
desire to add one word in behalf of
the work which I myself am doing.
I I am spending all spare time in en-
| deavoring to find ont all that la pos
| sible about the career of Governor
| william 3. Giles, a man who was for
many years one of sthe most famous
| politicians in Virginia, and indeed in
the country. The held. however. Ia
a much larger one than personal
| history-it involves thorough
knowledge of the story, the almost
unwritten story, Of Virginia from
| 1890 to 1880. I have found much
| light on the subject, but am convinc-
ed that scattered throughout this
| State is large amount Of material
which ought to see the light Per-
sons who may have any such mate
rial would by letting me know be
doing more that aiding this writer
| they would be rendering valuable as
sistance in the work OF recreating our
noble history. D. r, ANDERSON.
Richmond College. March -. 1910.