The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-10-19
ATERAI OF HISTORY WILL BE MADE ACCESSIBLE TO STUDENTS

paid for an American manuscript"
II do not know. Havemeyer paid
Si.400 for tho draft of Washington's
| farewell address. At the same sale
manuscript OF Washington sold for
$500, and n letter of his sold for $50.
You can get no idea OF prices by the
publications concerning the sales. The
| newspapers mention only the highest
prices paid. and nothing is said OF the
| letters which go for little. At the
| same sale whore the Washington nd
dress brought Sl.400 II letter of Henry
Clay may have sold for $3.50
J 81 would say. also" Mr.. Hunt con
| tinucd that the library does not buy
autographs II does not care for sig
natures. pure and simple. nor does IL
want single letters without they are of
historical value. We buy only collec-
lions. 1t would be rather absurd for
| US to pay for single letters of Wash
| ington. when our collection of Wash
| inYton letters already numbers over
| 1000
| And then" AZ. Hunt continued,
take The cXtravagnnt ideas some peo-
pie have concerning such papers. Not
| long ago "a man offered us n set Of
| Revolutionary roll books. He consid-
cred them very valuable. and he asked
$4,000 for tho dozen I'm his collection /
! calculated the value or the number Of
| such books we hpd OH hand. and at the
price he asked! our collection would
have been worth $4,000 for those
books alone.
Then your collection is historical
rather than autographed"
Eyes. the autographs interest Of the
papers is the least important. This
collection might be called the raw ma
terial OF American history, and az to
just how valuable it is / can give you
10 adequate conception. | would say
hat fl,.f. tu uit 10 In,
period Of American history that has
been truly written. and that there lis
not n single incident OF importance Of
which the manuscripts here In the
library do not disturb the accepted
version OF il. Even such story
that OF the making the Declaration of
Independence is wrong. The library
has information in these manuscripts
az to who actually wrote II and as to
the circumstance under which IL was
sent out The story is different from
any published. and 1t Is yet TO be told.
Another thing Is the framing Of the
Constitution OF the United States.
we have manuscripts In the Madison
papers and In other records which
throw new light upon that subject.
About two %ears ago monumental
work. entitled The Records OF the
Constitutional Convention" was printed
IN three large volumes By Congress. and
II was supposed TO contain all the new
matter Within n week after that pub
LEGATION was issued the library re-
ccived. by way OF Philadelphia. four or
hvc other very valuable records rclat-
ing To the framing OF tho CONSTITUTIONS
II his makes the congregational work in
complete, and so might say have
TO history which is /. complete history
as yet. George Washington has been
more written about than any other man
In our history. and yet not one-tcnth
OF his papers have ever been printed
Have you many documents relating
to our Colonial taysr'
I'VE have the papers OF the Reyolu-
non, and those OF the Continental Con-
} gress. The latter begin with the First
l Congress In 1874. and they extend to
Nhrch :. 1883. when the Congress died.
t After that we have the Congress AK
. under the Constitution OF the United
States. None OF those papers has ever
2 heen printed. Indeed. IL is out OF the
: question Tor any man TO write about
: matters relating to American histor:.
Z without coming here. The in formation
. i5 not accessible elsewhere. and wa
G lave our manuscripts now so arranged
a That we can tell students where TO 10
without waste or time.
The documents cannot be taken
e away from the library. Indeed. "A great
man have been given only on the spc-
Z enc agreement that they would never
go outside our hands. They can. how
! ever. be examined here and copied or
, Photographed This is. OF course for
z historic purposes ii is not for sensa :
t!onal writing. and not as TO the pub
= lication of letters relating 10 persons
: row living. Many of the papers have
= been given to the library on the con
. dillon that they should not he nut To
any sensational use. The latter papers.
such as those of John Sherman and
= other men of recent date. might. II
I published, involve many men still in
| public life. We have to restrict that
$ Indeed. OF all the papers after the time
I of James Is. Polk we have to adopt
: more or less restrictions"
copyrighted, 1913. by Frank G. Car
r penter)