The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-12-10
NEGLECTED PHASES
OF STATE HISTORY
North Carolina Memory Should Keep
Alive for the Sake of Safety and
Progress.

ItINc LOT VIZ Cdh VI SUANeS
Progress.
by W. *. BOYD, Ph.D., Trinity College.
The worlds memor must be kept
alive or we shall never see an end or
its old mistakes. We are in danger
TO become i~nfantlle in every genera
ton. This is the real menace under
which we come in this g Of change
In these words the PreSident-elect
of the United States has stated the
practical value of history and the
function of the historian. Accurate
knowledge, sympathy, n prophetic
insight, which give ability to meet the
problems Of today. cannot be secured
without an acquaintance with the con-
ditiOns of yesterday. t is the high
privilege of the historian to furnish
that knowledge, to awaken that SYM
pathy, and to inspire a vision of hui
manity'S real needs lie must, there
fore, continually refresh the worlds
memory, ever recalling events n
ideas half forgotten IN order that a
proper conception Of cause and effect
may be established between the new
experience Of today and the phe-
nomepa Of yesterday. For this a
history must be constantly rewritten.
The experience OF each generation
must be correlated with that of the
preceding; its predominant interests
must he analyzed as forces Of the past
as well as Of the present.
Indeed the Autobiography OF Eu-
rope and America has been little more
than q series Of appeals to ms
whose nature has been shaped by the
rise and decline Of the varied inter-
ests of humanity. In the primitive
stages of historical activity the ances-
trail motive has always been predomi-
nant, and biography is the earliest
type of history. Witness the heroic
myths of the early Greeks, the lives
Of Plutarch, the legends of the me-
dieval saints, n in our w country
Jared Sparks biographies of the foun-
ders Of the republic. Gradually inter-
est in the fathers widens into a sense
pansion and conquest and to some ex-
tent that Of governmental Organiza-
ton, are then emphasized. Polybius
told the story of the rise and eXpan-
sion of the Roman state; Macchiavelli
brought a similar interest to the his
TOPOGRAPHY Of early modern history;
Voltaire and MonteSQuieu to that of
he eighteenth century.
In the first half Of the nineteenth
century the worlds memory was in
voked concerning two phases of ex-
pertence comparatively neglected.;
these were the institutional and the
economic. The political reorganiza-
ton of Europe required new adjust
inents in government; light on the
problem was sought from the past.
Scholars and publicists searched the
customs Of the early Germans and the
prOvincials Of the Roman Empire in
order to find an institutional basis for
Il new Germany and a new France
From h continent the study Of in
stitutiOnal history spread first to Eng
land, then to the United States, Great
ing a host Of books too large, and
many OF them too dull, to be read in
one short lifetime. Contemporary with
political reorganization occurred those
changes in the production and dis
trioution of wealth generally known
as the industrial revolution. In the
our of readjustment the worlds
memory was again invoked and to-
Say a modest inquiry about the indus
trial experience of previous centuries
Is met by a veritable deluge Of con
n1ic histories. In more recent years
there has been a growing conviction
Goes not lie entirely in institutions or
t meat that perishes;" the worlds
memory is again being invoked in
order to recall what man has thought
how his knowledge "a been transmit
ted, the nature Of his religion. and
even what he has hoped or dreamed
to be. Thus more emphasis Is being
place on social or cultural history;
some call it the new history.
Now 1t is my purpose to inquire how
far the study and writing of North
Carolina history has kept pace with
these world movements in historic
graphy; how the memory of life IL
Carolina may contribute to the larger
story Of our country's development
and how our history may become OF
service in meeting the complex prob
lens Of the present.
Biography, the most primitive mani
festation Of the historical impulse
has long a an honorable place IL
h literature Of North Carolina his
tory. Indeed, the biographies O
North Carolinians far cutnumber tn,
histories of the state, general or mono
graphic. There are certain organiza
tons h chief purpose is to per
petuate the memory of the distin
guished men. The rotunda of tn
capital will soon be filed with memo
rial statutes, n seven volumes of
Biographical History Of North Caro-
Tine have been published with other