The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-10-19
ny FRANK &. CARPENTER.
Washington. d {

Nv 4AiiiN tHc p"St HNe years Soih'
w OF the mos, impor,an, his
torical work ever done FOR This
nation has been going on in the Lii
Lrary of Congress in Washington. This
io the collection OF the raw material
OF the history OF The United states
and mat OF The American colonies, II
consists OF gathering tosethey from
every available source the private
papers ana letters OF our Presidents
ana our greatest statesmen. i; in
cludes the trauscrihins from ;hc ar
chives of foreign countries every docu-
meut that relates 10 the American
colonies. aS well aS all the material
in manuscript; form that sheds light
upon the true story OF the making OF
The American natiou.
Alrrady the manuscript division OF
che library ranks among The three
greatest manuscript collections of the
world. Its papers and letters now
suvpass i'm extent and value those OF
any othe- library OF government Of
Europe. excepting perhaps the British
Muscum. in London, and the Slhlio
lheQuc Nathionale, in Paris The work
so far has been in active operation fQr
only about nve years, ana the collcc-
tons are increasing so rapidly that our
division OF manuscripts will have more
lar collection IN the world.
1nd,ed despair Of giving YOU an
adequate conception OF the enormous
amount OF material and OF The admir-
able way in which ii is being made
accessible 10 the student and author
The correspondence, private papers ana
other documents already in hand are
actually numbered ~ millions. Iii re
are more than 100000 letters Of the
Washington correspondence, there are
10000 OF 10000 OF the private papers
and letters OF Andrew Jackson, and
There are other papers Of almost every
President from The Time OF George
Washington down 10 the late civil War
There are thousands Of unpublished
letters OF American statesmen ma poll
ticiars. including the complete papers
II Alexander Hamilton Dun Green
Salmon /. Chase ANA Edwin NJ. stan
ton. The rapers Of John sherman arc
here and those OF Gideon Welles. as
well - those OF General sherman ana
General McClellan There are also
naval uape.s, papers relating 10 our
commercial history and upward Of
Zoe coo fciios OF transcripts OF docu-
rnen's relating TO American colonial
history Tlore are scientific oorrespun-
dsHce and literary esroudcnce the
As4h''i i.lNAA4i-st4- AttttlS u Al4S lNO
BrowrinGs. Marion Crawford. Mark
Twain AMI James Whi;comb Hilcy.
The greater part OF the material is
rev. and q shall show further on
in my talk with Gaillard HUNT. who
is in charge of this collection. much
OF ii Will throw new light upon his
tory and the most Of ii has never
been published.
But first let mo Give van como idoa
OF the manuscript division Of the Ma
uoual Library. II is In the northwest
PAVILION on the second iloor al The
building. II consists OF circular
reading room about 100 feet in diame-
&c book stacks running OF from IL
cont1i:inT tho hundreds OF great
volumes bound in red morocco. in
which these priceless letters ana
papers are so carcfully pasted The
readiue-r room is in the shape Of a
dome with circular mahogany desl;
in the centre, about which those who
handle the manuscripts must sit, The
arrangement is such that tho readers
trc nevc.' oUt OF sight OF the chic! o.
tic divisior or Lie assistant The room
is tl2odcd with light. and all hnndlinr
OF Tie papers s done under The Argus
eyes on the ATTENDANTS Even tn,
private Office .. .iailard Hunt is sur
rounded hy e!as::. a.rd''ic has the whol,
OF the workings constantly before him
Around M reading-room are case.