The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-05-05
SOCIETY IS
 TO GIVE BACK
 STATE PAPERS

| The most important official papers ] which passed through the hands of Jonathan Trumbull, sixteenth gover-
 nor of Conn necticut, refused to tbe
 Legislature seveIlty-six years ago by 1 the Massa achusetts Historical Society | are to be restored to the ssta1e bv a | voluntary and unexpected offer of the 1 society accepted yesterday by Cover nor Lake. They have been missing 1 from the state 126 years.
 Notification of the decision of the ! society to return the records was con- 1 veyed to the governor Tn a letter
 signed by Henry Cabot Lodge, James
 Forbes Rhodes, Arthur Lord and 1 Worthington Chauncey Ford, consti- | whose recommendation was responsi- | ble for the action
 The papers were given to the his
 tprical society in 17s5: according to i grandson of Jonathan Trumbull, and
 ore of the reasons why they were re- | fused to the state in the face of a 1 legislative resolution in 1S45, was that mo properly guarded place of deposit | for such collections apparently exist
 ed in Connecticut and this society of
 fered the best at he time" The fact that the present State Library is ''one, l of the safest and best equipped in the
 country is cited as one of the reasons | for the return of the papers at this time.
 The offer includes twenty-five | bound volumes of Tru1nbun pa pers,
 four letter books of Governor Trum- bull. volume of William Samuel JohnsOn's letters and a volume of let l ters signed by Washingon.
 The following report made by Hen ry Cabot Lodges committee to the
 full society tells the history of the Trunbuu papers since they left Con necticut over a century ago:
 '"The papers came to the society in
 the following manner: April, 1795.
 nhe society requested Dr, Jeremy Bel ! L rn oh Tn for he
 purpose of inspecting the papers of the late Governor Trumbull.' He made the tourney in July and re- mafned at Lebanon four days. In December the chests and boxes of papers arrived in Boston. They were arranged, listed and bound in twen- ty-three volumes one of which was lost by fire in 1925. Fifty years af- ter their receipt-in May, 1S45-the Connecticut Legislature passed a res olution requesting the governor to take such measures as might be prop CT and expedient to obtain possession of the papers and in the preamble re- cited that
 "'It is understood and believed by the General Assembly now in session Ehat numerous official letters and val ua;ble correspondence intimately con nected with executive and legislative acts of this state, during an import ant and intereStin period of it's his tory, was collected by His Excel Iency. Governor Trumbull, during his adniniStrati tion and which, in the opinion of this assembly, ought to have been deposited in the office Of the secretary of state, but are now in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and it is proper
 and desirable that said documents. etc, be obtained from said society and deposited With the secretary or this sta,te.'
 ssOn receiving this. resolution the society appointed September, 1S45, a committee composed of the president, MT. Savage. Josiah Quincy and Isaac P. Davis, to report. A report was presented in December, but after some discussion thereupon it was re- committed to the same committee. At the meeting of January, 1S46. new draft of a report was accepted and was sent to Connecticut. Its import ant features are: CD that Governor Trumbun would not have removed from the seat of government to Lebanon papers withdrawn from the public archives of the state; CD that the papers had remained at Lebanon | ten years after the governors death, | in possession of his family and were delivered without distinction be- tween one part and another to the society in the name of the family, as i a donation to the society; (3) the 1 papers were regarded by the gover- nor and by his family afterwards as
 his private property (4) that it had | been the intention of the governor to | preserve the collection for some | public institution and (5) that no
 claim adverse to the property of the
 society had been ever supposed or l thought of On this showing and | from examination of the papers | the committee concluded that the i assumption of the Connecticut Leg islature was mistaken, and it is rec commended that the trust of this so- ciety in preservation of the papers, usually called the Trumbuu papers be ever sacredIy fulfilled.
 In reply the Connecticut authori- ties showed that it had been the pre- vaiIing usage for public documents to remain with the holders of office and their successors (families); that
 the assembly in 1770 had appointed Governor TrumbulD to collect all public and other papers relating to
 the affairs of this colony which pro perly belonged to the colony, in whose custody soever the same might be
 found, except those in the hands of
 his honor, the present governor; and
 in 1771 the assembly of Connecticut
 had desired the Governor (TrumbulD
 to collect all the public letters and
 papers which may hereafter in any
 way affect the interests of this col
 ony."
 Tn May, 1S46, this communication
 was referred to the same committee
 of the society, but MT. Davis asked
 to be excused and F. C. Gray was
 named in his stead A report was pre-
 scented in NoVem Der. It rested on the
 simple fact that these papers have
 been in the undisputed possession of
 this society for more than half q
 century and this is of itself a sui
 flCient answer to such claim Gas
 that of ConnecticuD and that the
 society could not break or alter the
 trust implied in accepting the gift
 from the TrumbuH family-at any
 rate it is not for this society to call
 in question the right to these papers
 the part of those from whom it 1
 thus holds them in trust.
 The following considerations are
 presented:-
 II. The papers are of a public | character and do not contain private 1
 papers of the Trumbull family. They l
 are such as would constitute the l records of the colony and state and | the donor. David Trumbull. describes
 them as the most important official | papers which passed through his (the
 governors) hands