The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-12-10

university Of Mississippi. Th.-. ,ha
advanced students in history ar writ
70" the story OF reconstruction o<
counties. although a good genera his
'"Fs OF reconstruction in NissiSsppI
was published a decade ago.
All or the neglected life Of the past
cannot De recalled through local rec
oids. ne results of investigations by
locaIltles must he synthesIs.d ana in
i"IiHallon supplementary 10 il must b.
I1iied from other than county sources.
mere lies the opportunity II j central
organization or authority basin. its
N"lh IN matters Of Statewide inter
est. or instance, q b~ihltograuhx Of
the material in the State ,nlv re-
iallns 70 county history, also one III
pamphlets and printed sources uaar3
prove OF lneStirnabIe value. This work
souil hardly be undertaken by j local.
but IT might be by a general ~nrgani-
zation. Also, studies IN some ii tn.
larger social movements which have
tucntd n life If the people snaHla
te undertaken, such as the construc-
lloh II turnplkeS and highways. tenn
peranct and prohibition. and IN. Is.
OF an educational sentiment. 4 study
81 sacn topics Of general Importance
as publlc finances. the history OF
party machinery and organization. the
development Of the judicial system.
ara local government would greatly
ala IN the local investigation and local
research in turn would illuminate
these general questions. rs a con-
%'rlDutlon to political history maps
SHOWING the votes by counties and
districts in State and Federal elections
might prove of value To the politician
as We'll as those Interested in local
history. charts might also be made
the growth of educational
facilities, county by county and de
cade by decade, the growth of Ger
tam industries and their antecedents,
o. the types Of plantations. The pos
slble value Of such surveys OF the
State, supplemented by studies of local
conditions, can hardly be estimated:
the educator might find in them some
Definite knowledge Of the attitude to-
ward intellectual Improvement in the
community in which he works. the
G. capitalist Of the antecedents of his
employees, the politician a sense of
the solidarity or uncertainty Of the
electorate, and those interested in his
tory a store-hOuse of helpful data.
Is such al intensive study of North
Carolina history possible? The an
sWeI is ound in the experience and
example Of other states. IN this
matter as in shaping political issues
the Northwest holds the leadership.
In Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, and
Ao"o I41O1C 1 O. III VI COUNTY
and local historical societies, and in
the library Of the Wisconsin State
Historical Society there is a card in
deS Of material relating to county his
tory. That organization, also the Iowa
Historical Society, provide for afilia-
ton with local historical societies.
More important than this superiority
in organization Is the new interest in
social and economic factors which has
characterized the study of local his
tory in the northwestern states. This
has been fostered by general histori-
cal organizations. In two states mark
ed progress has been made In Iowa
the Annals Of Iowa, an historical
magazine Of the conventional type,
has been supplemented by the Iowa
Journal Of History and Politics, de-
voted largely to economic and social
movements in the history of the state.
The State Historical OF Iowa, through
appropriations for research, has done
much towards putting the writing of
Iowa history on a new plane. Dur
ing the past summer eight mature stu
dents were engaged at Iowa City in
v~estigating as many topics in the poll
teal and social history OF the state.
In Illinois, the State Historical Sur
vey was organized in 1903 to bring
about cooperation between the col
leges and universities and the State
I1IStOIICdl COClcly. AL9 dCliNllltS nave
included an examination Of county
archives, the collection OF manu-
scripts, and a photography Of travels
and guide-books of Illinois In ad-
dition to this kind Of activity. which
has long characterized historical or
CARNATIONS, new possibilities in the
local field have been realized. l quote
from a forthcoming report OF the Sur
vey:
"Tn addition IN making available
the book and manuscripts from
which the history Of Illinois must be
written, the Survey is paving the way
for definite studies Of certain aspects
Of hat history. In the field of poll
tics, for example, no attempt has been
made until very recently to study the
subject on the basis of election re-
turns by counties, the investigators
being content with general results and
a superficial study Of conventions and
ca campaigns The Survey has obtained
from the office of the Secretary Of