| | 21 | Author: | University of Virginia
Library | Add | | | Title: | First Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1930-31  | | | | Published: | 2005 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | A YEAR ago, as a preliminary step to beginning the inventory of
manuscript materials in Virginia, the newly appointed archivist
interviewed a number of historians and librarians in the State to
discuss the general situation regarding depositories, public and semipublic,
and the possibility of gaining access to private collections. An
outline of the various sources of historical materials was subsequently
drawn up1
1.A copy of this outline, "State Survey of Historical Materials" is appended
to this report, page 8.
and submitted to these same individuals and others within
and outside the State for criticism. Their comments were helpful and
encouraging and it is gratifying to find that, at the end of the year's
work, the outline, with a few additions, has measured up to actual conditions
as found in widely separated counties in the State. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 22 | Author: | University of Virginia
Library | Add | | | Title: | Second Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1931-32 | | | | Published: | 2005 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE survey and collection of manuscript materials in Virginia,
now completing the second year of work, have followed the general
method of procedure outlined in the first discussion of the
project,1
1.First Annual Report of the Archivist . . . 1930-31 (University, Va.,
1931), pages 12-14.
and the list of new counties to be covered, as indicated on the
map published in last year's report,2
2.Ibid., page 3.
has varied only slightly in the
actual execution of the program. By geographic divisions, the following
counties have been surveyed during the year: | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 23 | Author: | University of Virginia
Library | Add | | | Title: | Third Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1932-33 | | | | Published: | 2005 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE momentum gained from the two preceding years' work in
surveying and collecting historical materials in Virginia has been
an appreciable factor in facilitating the progress during the year
just completed. As prolonged economic distress has resulted in increasing
demands upon research organizations and special and general
libraries of all kinds, albeit with incomes drastically reduced, so the
need for preserving the raw materials in manuscript and printed form
is more generally recognized. While the specific task must rest upon
the local agency, adapted to the peculiar conditions and problems of the
region, it is encouraging to find the preservation of social science source
materials advocated on a nation-wide scale by the American Library Association
and to see quickened the perennial interest of the Public
Archives Commission, under the direction of the American Historical
Association, as evidenced by its report on the preservation of local
archives.1
1.The Preservation of Local Archives. A Guide for Public Officials. Prepared
by the Public Archives Commission [A. R. Newsome, Chairman] under
the direction of the American Historical Association (Washington, D. C. 1932).
"There is evidence," as one scholar observes, "that in
America we have come to the end of an era, and it is desirable that the
period that is closing be as completely documented as possible."2
2.A. F. Kuhlman in American Library Association, Bulletin vol. XXVII no.
3 (Mar. 1933), page 130. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 24 | Author: | University of Virginia
Library | Add | | | Title: | Fourth Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1933-34 | | | | Published: | 2005 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE movement for the preservation of research materials, sponsored
by the Social Science Research Council in 1929, is steadily
becoming national in scope, and the report of another year's work
in Virginia affords good evidence for this contention. While the project
for the survey and collection of social science source materials in
this State originated with the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences
and the Library of the University of Virginia, its inception was
made possible by the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Materials
for Research of the SSRC and the American Council of Learned
Societies;1
1.Cf. First Annual Report of the Archivist . . . 1930-31 (University, Va.,
1931), page 7.
and during the past two or three years the activity of other
national and local organizations along the same line has further demonstrated
its fundamental importance for all related fields of scholarship. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 25 | Author: | University of Virginia
Library | Add | | | Title: | Fifth Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1934-35 | | | | Published: | 2005 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | AN ANNUAL stock-taking in archival work during this era of
rapid change gives pause for reflection. Expansion and planning,
with wide variation in the modification of each by the other,
may be said to characterize these recent years. The sudden expansion
of research activity in the social sciences and related fields, quickened
by the World War debacle, created a heavy demand for the necessary
raw materials. Since economic and social planning were the crux of
the new viewpoint in research, scholars called for every kind of published
or unpublished material bearing upon human relationships, and
those librarians in closer contact with this research took up the challenge
to accomplish the impossible. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 26 | Author: | University of Virginia
Library | Add | | | Title: | Sixth Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1935-36 | | | | Published: | 2005 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IT IS a commonplace observation that we are living in an age of
rapid change. The statement needs no further confirmation; we
meet with countless examples of it in our highly integrated society
which in itself is an accelerating force. We are not surprised to find
that intellectual as well as material movements, however local their beginnings,
quickly become national in interest and scope, and common
problems are solved through regional and national associations. Despite
forebodings in certain quarters, the trend of the times has led us
rather to expect that the state, whether the individual commonwealth
or the federal government, will play an important part in financing or
at least in administering these problems. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 27 | Author: | University of Virginia
Library | Add | | | Title: | Seventh Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1936-37 | | | | Published: | 2005 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IT HAS been the practice in previous reports of this series to relate
archival developments at the University of Virginia and in the Commonwealth
to those in other states and in the nation at large, in order
to keep abreast with the national movement in this field of scholarship.
Events of the past year point to a new era in the science of archives in
the United States, to large-scale co-operation in providing guides to archives
and manuscript collections of all kinds, and to a journal for discussion
of problems and policies. In the care and administration of
their archives some states can boast of notable accomplishments reaching
back several generations; others have undertaken their responsibility
during the present century; and all have had the opportunity of seeking
the counsel of the Public Archives Commission of the American Historical
Association.1
1.Cf. American Historical Association, Annual Report for 1922 (Washington,
1926), I, pages 152-60.
It was the pioneering of this Commission that led
to the founding of the Society of American Archivists during the meeting
of the American Historical Association at Providence, R. I., December
29, 1936; and it is also significant that the first annual meeting of the
new society, June 18-19, 1937, was held in the National Archives Building,
Washington, D. C. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 28 | Author: | University of Virginia
Library | Add | | | Title: | Eighth Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1937-38 | | | | Published: | 2005 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | SOMEWHERE between the librarian and the historian (or the social
scientist, it may be argued) stands the archivist. Just what his status
is among the professionals or how it is to be arrived at in this country
has not yet been determined. That he is already here complicates the
situation but at least keeps practical considerations to the fore. By
many people of recognized intelligence he is classified with genus antiquarium
because some of his kind are known only as guardians and
preservers of ancient records from use. Like the physician emerging
from the barber's trade in colonial days, the archivist aspires to professional
dignity in his own name. In some states where he has the
title, he is virtually an artisan doing odd jobs of reference and serving
as scrivener for the legislators, or his quasi professionalism may be
that of a politician among politicians. Among county and city clerks
the title of archivist is unknown as applied to their position. In Virginia,
for example, where the county clerks of colonial and ante bellum
times were generally men of prestige and considerable culture, and
where respect for this office has been preserved in some measure, training
for the duties of office, if any, may be acquired occasionally as deputy,
but the job is chiefly one of daily routine in recording current entries. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 29 | Author: | University of Virginia
Library | Add | | | Title: | Ninth Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1938-39 | | | | Published: | 2005 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE NINTH year since the establishment of the Archivist's
office has been distinctive in two respects. The Archivist,
Dr. Lester J. Cappon, has been on leave of absence by virtue
of a grant from the University's Institute for Research in
the Social Sciences; and it coincides with the first twelvemonth
of occupation by the University Library of ample quarters in
the new Alderman Memorial Library building. The former of
these two facts has conditioned, and the latter has in very large
measure enhanced, the progress of the University's archives during
the past year under the guidance of an Acting Archivist. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 30 | Author: | University of Virginia
Library | Add | | | Title: | Tenth Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1939-40 | | | | Published: | 2005 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE CLOSE of a decade of activity in the field of manuscripts
and related historical materials by the University
of Virginia offers the temptation to review briefly the
developments in Virginia during the period and to relate them
to the progress of this movement in the South and the nation
at large. It seems especially fitting to do so because the
1930's have been a time of unprecedented advance in manuscript
and archival work. If this progress has been particularly noteworthy
in the southern states, it may be argued that this appears
to be the case only because so little had been accomplished hitherto
in this region. Undoubtedly the renaissance in southern literature,
historiography, and higher education since the World War
has created an increasing demand for the basic source materials
essential to scholarship. Southern research repositories have
profited by the experience of historical agencies of renown in
New England, the Middle Atlantic states, and the Middle West.
Even the "depredation" of private manuscript collections in the
South by northern agents and collectors in the past has resulted
in a net gain to research: the manuscripts that were carried off
were, in most instances, more safely preserved in northern libraries
than in southern attics; resentment over the loss of these
records eventually moved southerners to take positive steps
towards preservation of the abundant materials that remained;
and in so doing, they found much that had been not only undiscovered
or overlooked, but even rejected because of the narrow
viewpoint of an earlier generation. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 31 | Author: | University of Virginia.
Library | Add | | | Title: | Eleventh annual report on historical collections, University of Virginia Library, for the year 1940-41 | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IN June 1940, when the disastrous Battle of France was running
its course and invasion of Britain was impending, the President
of the United States declared that a national emergency
existed and Congress at his request voted large appropriations
to launch a program of defense. A larger segment of the American
people began to take the war seriously and some leaders in
various fields of activity undertook to make preparations for
any eventuality. Archivists and custodians of historical manuscripts
were particularly fortunate in having the problem of preparedness
brought to their attention by the president of the
Society of American Archivists, Dr. Waldo G. Leland, at their
fourth annual meeting held in Montgomery, Alabama, November
11-12. Dr. Leland spoke from long experience with archival problems
at home and abroad and from his service as secretary of the
National Board for Historical Service in Washington, D. C.,
during American participation in the first World War.1
1.Waldo G. Leland, "The National Board for Historical Service,"
American Historical Association, Annual Report for 1919 (3 vols.,
Washington, 1923-24), I, 161-89.
In his
presidential address on "The Archivist in Times of Emergency,"2
2.The American Archivist, IV, no. 1 (Jan. 1941), 1-12.
he discussed the custodian's responsibility for the safety of the
records in his establishment and for the preservation of materials
produced during the emergency and basic for subsequent historical
writing. As a result of certain specific suggestions made by
Dr. Leland to the Society, four committees were appointed: one
on the Protection of Archives against Hazards of War, another on
Emergency Transfer and Storage of Archives, a third on the History
and Organization of Government Emergency Agencies, and
a fourth on Collection and Preservation of Materials for the History
of Emergencies. These committees went to work promptly
at their respective tasks, the first two conferring with the Historical
Records Survey to obtain WPA labor for a survey of available
depositories. The third committee began plans for the compilation
of a handbook of federal World War agencies, including
their organization, activities, and records, and requested the cooperation
of the National Archives, where most of these records
are housed.3
3.Ibid., IV, no. 3 (July 1941), 210. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 32 | Author: | University of Virginia.
Library | Add | | | Title: | Twelfth annual report on historical collections, University of Virginia Library, for the year 1941-42 | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | SINCE the preceding report in this series was published, the
United States has become a belligerent in the Second World
War. The general recognition of Sunday, December 7, 1941,
as a memorable date in American history was confirmed by the
President of the United States the following day in his message
to Congress. The formal declaration of war by Congress followed
promptly in half an hour. Living, like many earlier neutrals,
in a fool's paradise, the American people were rudely awakened
from their delusion of peaceful escape from a world at war. The
true significance of the much used term "total war," however, was
not readily understood. That lesson was to be learned partially
during the series of defeats in the first six months of belligerency,
until the marshalling of our resources and power could begin to
bear weight against the enemy. The Japanese attack ended
abruptly the period of disunity and false security. Whatever
followed was "after Pearl Harbor." | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 33 | Author: | University of Virginia.
Library | Add | | | Title: | Thirteenth annual report on historical collections, University of Virginia Library, for the year 1942-43 | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE introductory essay of this report represents a departure
from the recent policy of surveying the year's activities
of the Library in the field of manuscripts and other research
materials in relation to problems and developments in
archives and manuscripts throughout the nation. Instead, an
exposition on the accession and arrangement of manuscripts and
kindred materials in the Alderman Library has been undertaken.
In aiming to show to what degree our system is orderly and
practicable we anticipate and invite outside criticism. Such criticism
may confirm and supplement our own in the light of experience
during the past dozen years. We believe that archivists,
curators, and their associates are interested in how the other fellow
handles his professional stock-in-trade and how well the
public may fare by his service. We hope that other institutions
may be willing to provide a view from the inside. Written records
on this subject are unfortunately few in number. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 34 | Author: | University of Virginia.
Library | Add | | | Title: | Fourteenth annual report on historical collections, University of Virginia Library, for the year 1943-44 | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | WHEN an institution preserves historical records according
to plan, we generally assume that they will be used
sooner or later in research. Their usefulness depends to
a large degree, of course, upon their accessibility. However slightly
some custodians may feel their responsibility on this score,
certain rudimentary controls and procedures can be established
without great difficulty. The system need not be complicated—in
fact, experience in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division of
the University of Virginia Library has shown that simplicity
of arrangement, along with observance of a few sound archival
principles, makes the records available in good order with a
minimum of delay.1
1.Thirteenth Annual Report on Historical Collections, University of
Virginia Library, for the Year 1942-43 (University, Va., 1943), pages
1-14.
Once the records are within the walls of the
library, they are readily susceptible to some control; but what is
to be said about "system" and "control" while they are still outside? | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 35 | Author: | University of Virginia.
Library | Add | | | Title: | Fifteenth annual report on historical collections, University of Virginia Library, for the year 1944-45 | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | TO understand the pursuit of collecting historical materials,
both manuscripts and imprints, four parties must be
considered. They may regard their activities, under varying
circumstances, as hard-headed business or a fascinating game.
Certain parties may be intense rivals at one time, or loyal partners
at another. Self satisfaction and altruism are often motivating
forces that work hand in hand because, whatever the immediate
gain or advantage, there is an ultimate cultural objective
that cannot honestly be gainsaid. In this perennial pursuit is there
a winner? And if so, are the cards stacked in anyone's favor? | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 37 | Author: | University of Virginia.
Library | Add | | | Title: | General index annual reports on historical collections University of Virginia Library | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | This index will serve as a partial guide to the manuscripts acquired by the University
of Virginia between 1 July 1945 and 30 June 1950 as briefly described in the
Annual Report. It should be borne in mind that only the smallest of the collections
received have been described in great detail in these pages, and the index furnishes
only the names and subjects which appear in the printed description. For the
larger collections, it is hoped that the names and subjects are at least representative;
but the researcher who needs an exhaustive analysis of a collection will be obliged
to visit the manuscript reading room to consult the card catalogue or the original
manuscripts. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 38 | Author: | University of Virginia.
Library | Add | | | Title: | Annual report on historical collections University of Virginia Library | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE GIFT of the Richard Henry Lee Papers to Mr. Jefferson's
uncompleted University Library one hundred and twenty-two
years ago was the first of the many gifts which in the second
quarter of the twentieth century have resulted in making the University
a center for historical studies. In that first session of the University, the
Founder was occupied in assembling for the library a collection of books
which, though not the largest in America, would he hoped be second
to none in value. Under his exacting supervision, funds for the original
library were doled out only for the choicest editions; and even before
his appropriation was fully spent, he began issuing in the newspapers
appeals for library gifts. Acknowledging donations of books from
"public spirited citizens" of Boston and London, as well as of Virginia,
he assured prospective donors, in a notice of April 28, 1825, that "their
talent shall not be hidden in the earth". It is to such public spirited
citizens that the University owes the rapid expansion of its historical
collections during the two years covered by this report. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 39 | Author: | University of Virginia.
Library | Add | | | Title: | Annual report on historical collections University of Virginia Library | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | WHY ARE so many of "our Virginia manuscripts" in North
Carolina and California? Why is Princeton University publishing
the Jefferson papers? These two questions are partly concerned
with history, and the answers are in part a concern of this
library. They recur with a certain monotony, and for this reason
I have prefaced this guide to our new accessions not only with the
usual report on our projects and development, but also with
several comments on, if not complete answers to, these two questions
and some library policies which relate to them. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 40 | Author: | University of Virginia.
Library | Add | | | Title: | Annual report on historical collections University of Virginia Library | | | | Published: | 2006 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Modern English collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | TWENTY YEARS AGO when the first of these annual reports
was issued, Harry Clemons, then in his fourth year as
Librarian of the University, had recently set aside the southeast
wing of Mr. Jefferson's Rotunda as a "Virginia Room," dedicated
to the housing of and to research in Virginia manuscripts and related
materials. Aided and abetted by the late John Calvin Metcalf,
Dean of the Department of Graduate Studies, he was beginning
his planning and campaigning for the Alderman Library building,
which was to open its doors in 1938. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
|
