The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-10-28
Copyrighted, 1913. by Frank G. Car
penter.)

tSOpyl Hltu, lSlO, ny ~ CdA
penter.)
WASHINGTON, d. c.
I have already told you something
of the wonderful collection Of manu-
scripts relating to American history
which are now being gathered to-
gether IL the manuscript division OF
the Library of Congress at Washing
ton. This collection is steadily in
creasing, and it will soon be the lar
gest reservoir Of the raw material
of history known to the world. l
have spent the greater part of the
week in going through the collection.
and it is impossible to exaggerate its
extent and value. During my visit
to the library today L had a most in
teresting chat with Mr.. Gaillard Hunt,
the American historian and archiViSt
in charge of the division, about the
papers of the Presidents. Said he:
The Washington papers which we
now have IN HAND are the largest col
lection relating to any individual. 1t
IS larger than any collection of papers
concerning any n British statesman
or any famous man of any other
country. Washington became famous
when very young. and he was a pro-
life letter writer. From 1775 on peO-
pie began to save his letters, so that
now new Washington letters are al
way appearing, and almost any col
lector of consequence has one or more
Washington letters. He wrote the
most of his correspondence with his
own hand, and he was so m~ethodical
that he accomplished n great lot OF
work. 1t was his habit to rise at 5
o'clock every morning and to write
until breakfast time. We our
selves here, in the manuscript divis-
ion, about $4,000 letters of Washing
ton, and the collection. including the
letters to him, numbers considerably
over loo, 900"
Where did these papers come
from"
From various sources. A grea
many came from his heirs. WheI
Washington died his estate at Noun
Vernon came to Gen. Bushrod Wash
ington. Later on "a number of tn
heirs sold the papers which they ha'
inherited to the government. Other
of the heirs kept theirs and left then
at Noun Vernon. and when Noun
Vernon was sold by Col. Washington
the father of Lawrence Washington
the papers were taken to Alexandra
and were deposited in a bank. Their
must have been about a dozen barrel
of them. At the opening of the Civ
War the papers were still there. bu
soon after hat the bank was burne
down and the papers were burne
with it. This left as the only grou
of Washington papers the one whic
the government had bought.
formed about two-thirds of the who'll
Where are the papers of job
Adams
They are in the hands of the Ma!
sachusetts Historical Society at 30
ton, where are also the papers
John Quincy Adams. They ave bee
deposited there, and will probab
never cave Boston, although tn,
really ought to be in our collectiC
here. The Adams papers are valu;
BILE. They are in the special char.
of Mr.. Worthington Ford, who w;
formerly chief of this division. Tn
are very carefully guarded"
Have o many of the Jefferst
papers,"
Yes. Our collection is number,
by tens of thousands. Jefferson w
very m~ethodical, and his private p
pers were almost as voluminous
those of Washington. He was one
the first Americans to use a pre-
copy, and there are thousands of /,
ters in press copy by him.. Congrt
bought Jefferson'S library, and it W
carried in wagons from Monticello
Washington. The Jefferson papt
were not a part Of the library. TIL
were acquired after Jefferson's dea
n were bought of his descendal
FOR about $4,000. These papers \,
tanned a record of the whole career
Jefferson. Only about one-fifth
them have ever been published, a
1t is out of the question for the 81
to ever publish them all.
Tell me something about the
pers of James Madison?"
Our Madison collection came fr