The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-02-07

LCaf ~ lUItl 49,
covers. the work OF lh'
for the two years
Dacamb.r /. 1903, ana eiiDI"7 -
eo 1910. il is DIVIDED M
narte Part /. being a feVie"
.orr Of the office force oil ~
historical Commission, a
viow Of the activities OF the
historical and patriotic orgaii@a'toAi
!, the state during the same peTioo'
ono of the most important 1ea'uieo
Of the work Of the ttlsloilS'4
mission is the preservation u gay
nnhlic archives OF the state. III ~
prosecution OF this work the conlnhiS-
clio, has ~arrangei and filed sysle-
,na,icauv for the use Of Investigators
the letters of the governors OF |oi'A
Carolina from the administrator VI
Richard Casuell, 1777-11So, through
the third administration OF IoNeiioi
Vance fS17-1S7a. Thus far, Of this
collection, 14,754 letters Il othel
documents have been hied- 1ii7
Is but a beginning as the total mum
Der Of letters in the Executive Flles'
vet to be filed, probably treble TINS
Speaking Of these manu-
scripts, which have u very prac'leai
business, as we'll as historical value,
the report avs
Until the organization Of the His
torical commission no effort seems TO
have been made 70 preserve THESE
manuscripts. They were hauled out
Of the Governors office and Literally
dumped into the leaky and dllapl-
dated attic Of the building on Fay-
etteville street now occupied by the
Insurance Commissioner. Ihere
We're left without protection from
rain. fire, or pilferers. indeed. &C
cess to them was allowed TO anyone
who desired to rulnmage through
them. Consequently. many tnpor-
tant documents have been lost. But
the greater part has been rescued,
and they are now preserved among
the collections Of the Historical COM
where they are being CLASH
fed and filed as rapidly as possible.
Ultimately a ard index will be made
SO as to make them easily accessible
to Investigators"
In addition to these public docu-
ments the Historical Commission has
collected for the State, either as gifts
or Is loans, a large number Of most
valuable manuscript collections OF
private individuals. Among these
are the letters and papers of Cover
Johnston, Judge James [Iredell and
Governor James IredelI tpreserved
as the collections of Col. Charts e.
Johnson), the letters and papers of
T.. E. Vance. Mrs. Cornelia
P. Spencer. Major General Bryan
Grimes, Editor E. ]. Hale and Col.
William l., Saunders. All told. the
manuscripts secured by the Historical
lumber upwards Of ten thousand. An
idea of their historical value may be
by glancing at the names of
the persons whose letters appear in
these collections. Among others w,
note h following: Bancroft, Louis
Agassiz, Edward Everett. William A.
Graham, William CASTOR, James G.
Dobbin. Albert G~allatin, Willie p.
Mangum, Dorothea L. Dix, James
Iredell, Bushrod Washington. William
Hooper, JOIN Penn, William r.
DaVie, Jefferson Davis, Andrew John
Judah L. Benjamin, George
Davis, Thomas Corwin. Robert F. Lee,
James j. Pettigrew. John c. Rrack-
enridge, Joseph f. Johnston. William
l. sherman, William II. seward
Hannis Taylor. Z. 3. Vance, ,Jubal 4,
"Stonewa1l' Jackson. James
John 3. Gordon. John 4.
and many others,
During the two years covered hy
report a number Of students
from several Of the States of the
lnion have made use Of these collec-
of the Historical Commission in
their Investigations into North Caro-
lima and American history.