The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1911-04-02
RECORDS THAT MILLIONS CAN
NOT REPLACE DESTROYED AT
ALBANY.
NO WAY TO REPLACE THEM
The Library at the New York Caplto'
Was Supposed to Be Fireproof and
Priceless Volumes Filled the
Shelves-No Duplicates Exist.

Albany, n. Y, April IA COM
plete history of New York state, plan
ned by the New York Historical So
ciety and regarded by experts as one
of the most important projects of it's
kind in recent years, will never be
written. The fire in the Albany capi-
tol has wiped out the ancient Colo
NAL and revolutionary documents
which were to have furnished the
basis for the work.
According to r. H. Kelby, librarian
Of the historical society, the loss is
incalculable.
There is no complete history of
the state in existence" says Mrs. Kel-
by 1T has not been written, and
now the priceless documents upon
which it must have been based are
gone.
"The loss is a most terrible thing.
1t is impossible to state any value
for the destroyed documents. Their
value is not to be determined. They
simply cannot be replaced and ioI
documents of that kind statement
of a money value is an impossible
thing.
The state has gotten out four cata-
logues of the various documents.
These catalogues are in various libra
ries, but not copies of the documents
themselves.
The various documents remaining
from the days of the Dutch colonies
were catalogued under one head, the
English documents under another.
and the land papers under a third.
These last, of course, had a tremen
dous value.
There were also, in a fourth cata-
logue, the Johnson papers relating to
the indian nations"
The library's collection of Ameri-
cana was in many respects the finest
in the world, It's irreplaceaD,e treas,
ures included the first chapter of the
colony of New York, in manuscript,
the papers which were found in the
possession of Major Andre, the spy;
the first charter of Trinity church
from the British crown, and the great
collection of Clinton papers, the most
personal documents of the revolution
ary governor, containing many hun
dreds Of letters from Washington. All
are gone.
By many jurists the law library
was considered the most complete in
the country. The number Of volumes
in the library of congress is greater
but a large proportion of that mum.
Der is in duplicate. The states col
lection of colonial laws, including leg
islative broadsides that can never be
replaced, was without question SUI
preme in that field. One single vol
ume, Bradford's laws, was purchased
few years ago at a cost of nearly
$4,000. There was a complete col
lection of legislative documents, in
Guiding reports of colonial committees
and commissions, which have no dup
licates extant. These included the
warrants and orders of the governor
and council before the establishment
OF the legislative system prior to the
revolution. All these laws were in
manuscript.
In genealogy and autobiography, al
so. the library with nearly a million
volumes and pamphlets on its stacks.
was the strongest in the United
States It's collection of educational
reports was surpassed only by that
of the United States bureau Of edu-
cation.
The library was more than one
hundred years old and the library
school operated by the state in con-
nection with it was the first of its
kind in the country.
The state has been going about for
years begging for collections TO be
placed in its safe keeping in its sup
posedly fireproof building, and it was
orly the other day that all the orig
inal papers and records of the city
of Albany, beginning with the grant
to the original PATRON, Killian Van
Rensselaer,, we're placed in the IL
brary. Most legislators and users or
the library supposed that the building
was fireproof, although the Librarians