The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-09-15
Vermont Hietory

Harold G.. Rugg. Vermonter BY
Birth, assistant librarian OF Dartmout
College BY profession and collector Of
Nermontana by ayocatiOn. expressed
the wish to the Orleans Historical So
ciety recently that there were more
Written in stale histor cal subjects and
a wider spread knowledge OF the early
days OF Vermont.
Many another man has had the
same wish. Vermont .ha.i a no neon
siderable amount Of writing but the
output could be VASTLY increased. m
formation concerning ourselves has
nat been disseminated tie way II
Night he Too many Of US know al.
together too little about Vermont IN
the past.
There can be no more interesting
study to a loyal son OF the Green
Mountain state than the chronicles Of
is own development from the days Of
the unorganized grants up to the time
" hen we set up shops and an AIDE
pendent republic with our own coin
age and other attributes of sovereignty
aud then along through the period ut
development to our own day.
For those who have the inclination
and the means, nothing can be more
attract We than to collect and pre-
serve fosterity, as Mr.. Ruge charac-
ter.zes the information OF library
OF Vermont books. An exploration of
the attil in some old substantial Yer
mont home is an adventure containing
possibilities of plea iure beyond all
dreams. A few are getting this
pleasure to-day and there are being
built up collections here and there.
tOnce in a while, as when the late
Horace Bailey bequeathed his i'm.
portant collection to Middlebury Col
lege. the fruits of the collection are
passed along to the public IN trust
Sources, other than private, are open
now to the serious student of Yer
mont's past.
But there is type of writing that
| is not as common as II should be The
real chronicle of our day is not beng
WI item although the state is we'll
served with excellent newspapers.
Newspapers can not give the intimate
con cious touch that people a hundred
years from now win be looking for;
! that is. they can noj give 1t unless
4 there is radical departure from con
venton, such a departure for instance
as Howard h. TImdloy of The Rutland
! nera d is making in S interestins
column entitled "Peregrhaions. Ii
amuey Heelis ths up 1t lsn'ts any
stretch of the Imagination to see him
consulted as a source a hundred years
from now
There are many Nermonters who are
in a pos ton to set down information
| that would be OF vast value in the days
to come For instance the writer
heard an ex-governor from Rutland
county say the other day that he had
been listening to some mighty inter
estng mwritten history from the
lips OF Major General Edwards who
commanded ts'e 2ftN Division over
seas. The ex-go, ornor laughiRgly re-
marked that prcoSbly 1t never would
be written
But why? The writer was not in
formed as to the nature of the dis.
closure, but it was apparent that il had
something to do with a subject of keen
Vermont interest; our share in the
formation and history of the 26th.
Perhaps 1t was something that could
not be made public now There is
much of historical writing of this
character. material which has to wait
the passage of time, Even IL this were
so. there Is no reason why The OK.