The Washington herald., 1921-03-30
The Herald -
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wednesday, nnrch - Iszl.
PepsIsr Plant Lffe Lecture. VIA
Flower Preservation Society. will
son Normal School Community
Center. this evening. 8 O'Clock
where wild Flowers Grow and
Why" by DIR. Edgar 7. wherry.
MeafcsI Society. ne6ie.I seciefy
Building. I7is N street. this even
ing. O'Clock. Presentation OF
specimen: Nitral steDosis with
Paralysis Of the Recurrent LAryn-
zeal Nerve. Motion pictures;
Through Life's window and "A
Lens In the Making
FEDERAL ARCHIVES
POORLY PREsERvED. )
The Federal government has taken
little pains TO preserve and classify
its ofhcial papers and records that
compose the archives cf this couny
try. according TO Dr. waldo @.
Leland, Of the Department of Has-
toricsl Research in the Carnegie In
stitution Of Washington
In Europe IL Is the rule that the
archives Of the government have
been centralized in buildings set
apart and constructed for that pur-
pose, and they are administered by
trained archivistS he points out. in
urging a prompt appropriation for
the construction Of an srchfvr
building which has been tentatively
studied and planned by the once
Of the supervising architect
The archives OF the United States
are scattered over several hundred
Repositories, in the District Of Co.
lumbis- In the States and in foreign
countries In the case Of diplomatic
and consular archives,- declares Or.
Leland Not only In there no at
tempt at Capitalization. but from
lack Of accommodation the records
are crowded beyond belief into ali
sorts of unsuitable places.
They are to be found in rented
garages used as storehousea in the
cellars and subcellars Of the public
buildings. in the atticS. under ter
races where water from fountains
leaks through on them. in old build
lnss which are no better than fire
traps, In open corridors through
which the public passes at will.
against steam pipes-in short in ey-
cry Kind Of place where bundles Of
papers can be placed. Under these
conditions they gather dirt they
dry up and crumble or thew ars
damp and become covered with
mould"
Tt sometimes takes week. IN 1ns
individual documents that NAV he
urgently needed in th. transar4i6r
OF public business. Fires have been
frequent and disastrous IN the mast.
ana there is no reason TO suppose
that they will be less in the future.
ture.
The archives Of the war have
greatly Increased the dificultv of
the situation. At present some OF
the most important Of the war rec
ords are in temporary buildings.
Those Of the War Industries Bosro
are In a temporary wooden build
ing: those Of the A E r. are in a
temporary concrete building. II ts
estimated that in the War Depsrt
ment alone the accumulation Of rec.
oros since 1916 has been as great
as the total accumulation OF rec
ords from 1859 TO 1915. 4
Since 1873 Congress has been
repeatedly urged to make provision
FOR the archives Of the government
by building a suitable structure for
them. Canada. England. Scotland.
Ireland. Holland. Belgium, France.
Germany. and Austria all have ma
tionsl archives buildings. They re-
gard them as necessary as mu-
seums and libraries. and even more
necessary so far as the transaction
of public business is concerned
Some of the StateS-notahIv Com
necticut. Pennsylvania, Virginia,
North Carolina. Mississippi, Ala
bams. and Kansss-have centraI-
lied and properly cared for their
archives. DR.. Leland explains.
Archives. used as a general terr,
for public records. are the records
produced by a governmental body.
office, or administration. in the
course OF transactinC the puSii-
business. he says. They reflect the
organization by which they are pro-
duced. and record the performance
of its functions. Many different
forms Of documents. such as s-s-
ters. reports. memoranda. accounts,
vouchers. orders. etc. printed buS
not in manuscript. constitute a.
chives.
The archives % an orCanizati3n
have. a unity corresponding 70 tbe
unity ot the organization. ~ por-
tions OF the archives OF an organi-
zation are destroyed or removed
the unity Is destroyed. and the re-
maininE archives are correspond
ingly impaired as a record Of fune-
tions