The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-03-30
NO HISTORY FOR N. Y.
Fire in Albany Capitol Destroyed the
Documents to Be Used for Work.

Albany, N. Y, March 30.-A complete
history of New York state. planned by
the New York Historical society and
regarded by experts as one of the most
important projects of its kind in re-
cent years will never be written. The
fire in the Albany capitol has wiped
out the ancient colonial and revolution
ary 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 Mr.. Kelby. 'It
has not been written and now the
priceless documents upon which it must
have been based are gone.
1.-The loss IS a most terrible thing.
1t is impossible to state any value for
is not to be determined They simply
cannot be replaced. and for documents
of that kind a statement of a money
value is an impossible thing.
1.-THE state has gotten out four cata-
logues of the various documents. These
catalogues are in various libraries, but
| not copies of the documents them
selves.
''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 third. These
| last of course. had "a tremendous value
There were also-ssin a fourth cata-
1ogue, the Johnson papers relating to
| the Indian nations"
| The library's collection of Ameri-
cana was in many respects the finest
| in the world. Its irreplaceable treas
ures included the. first charter of the
colony of New York. in manuscript, the
| papers which were found on Major
Andre; the first charter of Trinity
| church, from the British crown, and
the great collection of Clinton papers
the most personal documents of the
revolutionary governor, containing
many hundreds of letter from Wash
! ington. All are gone.
By many jurists. the law library was
considered the most complete in the
| country. The number of volumes II
the library Of congress is greater. but
a large proportion of that number is
in duplicate. The states collection OF
colonial laws, including Legislative
| broadsides that can never be replaced
was without question supreme in thai
field. One single volume, Bradford
| Laws, was purchased a few years age
at cost of nearly $4,000. There wa:
a complete collection of legislative doc
uments, including reports of colonla
| committees and commissions, which
| have no duplicates extant. These in
| cluded the warrants and orders of the
| governor and council before the estab
Iishment of the legislative system prio
to the revolution. All these laws wer'
| in manuscript.
In genealogy and photography, also
the library with nearly a million vol
| urnes and pamphlets on it's stacks, wa
the strongest in the United States It
collection of educational reports wa
surpassed only by that of the Unitet
States bureau of education.
The library was over 100 years oil
and the library school operated by tn
state in connection with it was the frs
of it's kind in the country.
The state has been going about fo
years begging for collections to b
placed in its safe keeping in its sup
posedly freproof building, and it wa
only the other day that all the origi
nal papers and records of the city 0
Albany beginning with the grant t
the original PATRON, Killian Van Rens
selaer, were placed in the library. Mos
legislators and users of the ibrar
supposed that the building was fire
proof. although the librarians have re
peatedly asked the legislature durin
recent years to provide a separate Il
brary building with adequate vault
for the protection of their treasures.