The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1911-12-21
INTERESTING
SHED LIGHT
Treasury Department Files
Afford Material For
Research,

~TUDENTS who go to Washing
~ ton for research work in Amer
W lean history usually make the
Congressional library the field
of their endeavors The library. how
ever. by no means eXhausts the supply
OF original documents in Washington.
Both houses of congress and practical
~ every executive department has
somewhere in it's files most interesting
original documents, which afford either
direct or side light contributions to the
history of the country. The library
field is, of course. the most fruitful
and the easiest to work in, for the rea-
son that its papers and documents are
arranged and indexed. Such is not the
case, however, in many of the depart
mental file rooms, and even where an
endeavor has been made in the de-
partment to reduce the files to a sys-
tematic basis the work is too much for
the one or two clerks assigned to it.
and consequently the full value of the
contents will not be realized for many
years to come.
The file room of the treasury depart
ment, in charge of Captain Thomas a.
Ridgate, is one of the interesting store
houses Of historical side lights in Wash
ington. AS is usual in the case of rec
ord rooms, the filing department of the
treasury has had a rough history. at
least three times in the long service
of Mr.. Ridgate the filing room has
been moved 1t now rests on the third
floor front of the building. where we'll
ordered shelves, with numerous cor
ners, drawers and pigeonholes, be-
speak eloquently the nature of the
place. Captain Ridgate himself is a
typical custodian OF such treasures.
He has lived with them for years al
most alone, and he knows the contents
of his Office as we'll. as any man posi-
bly, could who has had such a vast
store Of material intrusted to his care.
All about the large room he has spe-
c1al envelopes or books containing in
teresting documents which he has run
across bearing on some important or
disputed point in American history.
Vast Store of War Records.
A vast amount of war records relat-
ing to both the army and the navy in
the Revolutionary war, the war of 1912
and the civil war in particular has
reached the file room of the treasury
department in connection with the Of
fetal documents of the department. A
request that the naval documents
should be sent over to that department
to complete its records was made by
Truman H. NeWberry when he was
secretary of the navy, and already
more than 10000 documents have been
furnished to that department. and
nearly $4,000 out Of about 117.OOO have
been briefed by Mr. Ridgate for the
use of the navy.
Captain Ridgate has made an espe
clal study of the life of John Paul
Jones. A few years ago there appear
ed in one of the leading magazines a
description Of the battle between the
Bonhomme Richard and the British
ship Scraps, written by John Kilby.
a gunner on Jones' ship. Like many
other important events in naval his
tory, there has been long drawn out
controversy on the question. "Who led
the charge over the side of the Bon
homme Richard to the decks of the
Scraps. which brought final victory to
the American ships?' In bis nara
tive, which was annotated by A. C.
Buell., who wrote one Of the best biog-
raphies of Jones. Kilby states one YER
sion Of the story. It was to the effect
that John Mayrant, or Morant, as his
name is listed on a certified copy of