Evening star., 1935-11-03


important enough for permanent
preservation. It also created the office
Of archivist of the United States. and
to be the first to occupy that post and
to blaze the trail Of scientific diary
keeping by the Government. President
Roosevelt has appointed Robert D. w.
Connor.
Mr. Connor formerly was professor
Of American history at the University
Of North Carolina for IL years, and
for l8 years preceding he was archiv-
ist of North Carolina.
He already has assumed his duties
and with a skeleton staff is laying the
groundwork for amassing the Govern
ment's written and printed treasures
under the towering roof of the new
Archives Building. In the field are
vanguard Of nine document detec-
tives," trained searchers for vital old
records, climbing into attics and dig
ging into cellars in the astonishingly
hazardous locations of records that
have been the only places available
under the haphazard preservation
practice that now Is passing.
Under Mr.. Connor's charge and
superintendency," the national ar
chives law, enacted last year, places
all archives and records belonging to
the Government, Legislative, execu-
tive, judicial and others" He is given
full power to inspect personally or
by deputy the records Of any agency
Of the United States Government
whatever and wheresoever located" he
may requisition for transfer to the
new Archives Building such records
as the National Archives Council ap-
proves for deposit there, and, finally,
he has authority to make regulations
for the arrangement, custody, use and
withdrawal of this historic material.
The National Archives Council,
composed of the Presidents cabinet,
or officials those department heads
may designate, the chairmen of the
Senate and House Committees on the
Library, the librarian of Congress, the
secretary of the Smithsonian Institu-
ton and the Federal archivist. will be
the final arbiter on selections. In
the council is vested power to define
the classes of material and advise the
archivist as to operation of the great
depository.
PREPARATORY to taking Office
Mr.. Connor made extensive re-
search into the long struggle to estab-
lish q suitable and safe central de-
pository for important Government
documents Among other things he
found that the problem of the proper
care Of the archives of the infant
nation arose even before the organi-
zation of the Government.
"At its first meeting" relates Mr..
Connor, "the Continental Congress.
conscious of the importance posterity
would attach to its proceedings, ap-
pointed q secretary to make and pre-
serve record Of its deliberations and
actions. The world in general, and
the United States in particular, owe
q great debt to Charles Thomson for
the excellence and completeness with
which he performed that duty. Proof
of the value of his service is found
today in sos volumes containing the
archives of the Government from 1774
to 1889, now in the Library Of Con-
gress.
after the organization of the new |
Government under the Constitution |
and its removal to Washington, the
problem of public archives became !
even more acute. They not only in
creased rapidly in amount, but also |
in value, and there was not one
building in the new Capital City
in which they could be safely housed. |
This fact was sharply emphasized in
1900. when a fire destroyed the files
of the War Department and again
a year later when the Treasury De-
partment suffered similar loss.
I'm 1910 the House of Representa-
tives authorized an investigation of
the condition of the ancient records
of the United States and a report
on what measures were necessary for
their preservation. This committee
reported that all the public records
and papers belonging to the period
antecedent to the adoption of the
Constitution were stored in the gar
rets Of the public building west of
the Presidents house, where they were
in state Of great disorder and ex-
posure and in a situation neither safe
nor convenient nor honorable to the
Nation The result was that Con-
gress appropriated $4,000 for fire.
proof rooms and these constituted |
the first archives.
THE rapid growth of the Nation
was paralleled by a tremendous in
crease in the volume of public docu-
ments and the quarters that had been
built were soon inadequate. So of
necessity many were filed or stored
in other places under conditions
which became more and more pre-
carious. The danger from fire alone
was shown by report of the fire
marshal of the District of Columbia, |
presented to Congress in 1915, which
listed more than $50 fires on Gov
ernment property in Washington be-
tween 1878 and 1915.
Losses and destruction of archives
were also caused by the frequent re-
moval of records from one place to
another, by dampness, extremes of
heat and cold and by termites and
other insects. Stamp collectors, auto
graph hunters and plain, ordinary
thieves also mutilated or purloined
valuable documents. And there was
an instance of a cabinet officer who
sold 400 tons of official records to a
junkman because he needed the room
they occupied for his personnel"
MIR. CONNOR'S research disclosed
4N4 f{ar ON d;c,,,cc;oy, of |