Evening star., 1939-09-19
Archivisfs Of Europe
Fight 10 Preserve
Records From War
Germany and England
Busy for Months, Says
Returning U. S. Official

While their peoples fight each
other with weapons of destruction,
archivists of Europe's warning ma
tions are fighting with cameras to
preserve records of their civilization.
This, according to DR.. Vernon D.
Tate, chief of the division of photo
graphic archives and research at
National Archives, is the task fac
ing his fellows abroad.
DR.. Tate returned from the war
torn continent last week aboard the
Norwegian liner Oslofjord, after
representing the United States Gov
ernment, the National Archives and
the American Library Association
at the International Federation for
Documen = ton in Zurich.
There he learned that months ago
Germany began making micro
photographs of government records,
particularly patents, and England,
acting under similar impetuS-fear
of deStruction-started transporting
documents to safety vaults in re-
mote, rural areas less likely to be
blasted to bits by bombs than the
heavily populated and built up
centers.
U. S. More Advanced.
The United States, DR.. Tate de-
clared, is far more advanced gen.
orally in the science of record pres
ervation than any of the European
countries. He described England
as the best equipped of those ma
tions to do the job, with Germany
second, France next and Italy a
DOOR fourth.
DR.. Tate delivered paper at the
congress on the very subject gaining
most active attention in his field In
Europe at the present time-"Mlcro-
photography in Archives" The bulK
of documents can not be moved
very readily, for obvious reasons, DR..
Tate explained, so miniature facsl-
miles are made with film and these
stored for safe-keeping.
DR.. Tate had the opportunity TO
observe European conditions out
side his own field. He was on board
ship between Rotterdam and Oslo
when England and France declared
war.
Il had the opportunity to chat
with a German friend of mine who
married an American girl" he re-
lated. He told me that Germany
expected Britain to fight, but did not
think France would enter the war.
The latter's move came as surprise
to the Nazi government
No Revolt for Year.
DR.. Tate said he asked his friend
about the possibility of revolution
in Germany and was informed:
"There is no prospect of internal
revolt before at least year OF in
tense warfare is past. What might
happen then is hard to predict
DR.. Tate was in Italy when the
Soviet German non-aggression pact
was signed and that, he said, set
Mussolini's government back on its
heels. This move, believe the
archivist stated, did much to weak
en- the Rome-Berlin axis. Italy
will stand back to learn the way the
winds blowing and then crawl on
the band-wagon. Italy's major in
terest is to grab chunk of Greece"
DR.. Tate was able to describe
graphically the war jitters abound
ing in Holland.
The military leaders there know
they are on the spot" he said. "One
officer with whom I talked told me
they realized the relative insignifl-
canoe of their armed forces, but
that all they wanted was sufficient
armed might to hold back an invader
long enough to blast the dikes and
flood the country
To Use Fresh Water.
An interesting feature of the
flooding preparation, according to
DR.. Tate, is that less than 20 per
cent of the land will be flooded with
salt water in the event of in
vasion. Fresh water, he said, will
be turned on the countryside to
make reclamation easier.
Finland, remembering the starva-
ton forced on them by the last
war, already has issued ration
cards for sugar and coffee, Dr.
Tate said. This country and its
other small neutral neighbors are
practically as war conscious as Hol-
land, he remarked.
DR.. Tate didn't want his wife TO
know he was travelling in submarine
and mine infested seas. He cabled
her at their Alexandria home that
he was attempting to book passage
and then delivered his next mes
sage by telephone from New York
after he docked.