University of Virginia Library

Section H. History.

Of books and periodicals in history which may be listed as
GENERAL there are 1,100 volumes at the State Library, 1,000 at
the University of Virginia, and 800 at the College of William
and Mary.

A census of general historical periodicals and society
publications at the State Library is as follows: American Catholic
Historical Society Records, 1907-date (incomplete); American
Historical Association Papers, 1886-91; American Historical
Record, 1872-74 (continued as Potter's American Monthly); American
Historical Review; American-Irish Historical Society Journal,
1898-1900, 1906-07, 1909-15, 1918-32; Americana (American Historical
Magazine) 1927-date; California University Publications in
History, volumes 1-23 (incomplete); Carnegie Institution of Washington,
Report of the Department of Historical Research, 1912,
1919-35; Catholic Historical Review, 1915-22; Current History;
English Historical Review, 1904-10; Historical Magazine and Notes
and Queries Concerning the Antiquities, History, and Biography
of America, 1857-75 (incomplete); Historical Magazine of the
Protestant Episcopal Church; History Reference Bulletin, 1933date;
Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political
Science, Journal of American History, 1877-93; Magazine of
History, 1905-13; Potter's American Monthly, 1875-77 (formerly
American Historical Record); Quarterly Review, 1809-67; Royal
Historical Society Publications, third series, volumes 8-53
(incomplete); Royal Historical Society Transactions, new series,
volumes 19-20, third series, volumes 1-11, fourth series, volumes
1-date. Other general history serials at the State Library

include the American Annual Register, 1825-32; the Annual Register,
1758-1872; the Edinburgh Annual Register, 1808-26; eight
or ten general almanacs, and about twenty-five local American
almanacs published since 1850.

There are also fairly extensive sets of general historical
periodicals at the University of Virginia and at the College of
William and Mary. Both of these collections have full runs of
the Annual Register. At William and Mary there are thirty volumes
of later eighteenth and early nineteenth century American
almanacs; and at the University of Virginia there are a few
scattering examples of foreign almanacs.

Smaller but noteworthy collections of general historical
material may be found at the Coast Artillery School, at the
University of Richmond, and at Sweet Briar College. Each collection
numbers about 500 volumes.

A mild form of ARCHAEOLOGY is prevalent in college curricula,
with symptomatic evidence in library collections. But acquisition
of such material is likely to develop rapidly into an expensive
stage which requires shelf filling folios; and collections
of even moderate size are likely to yield resources for
research. Combining the archaeology and ancient history of
Europe, the Mediterranean regions, and the Orient, there are
at least seven libraries in Virginia which possess 500 or more
volumes; namely, the University of Virginia (1,677), the College
of William and Mary (1,050), Randolph-Macon Woman's College (969),
Union Theological Seminary (850), the State Library (650), Sweet
Briar (522), and the University of Richmond (500 plus).

In the collection at the University of Virginia, as is true
in the majority of these collections, the emphasis is on Greece
and Rome. but there is already a fair beginning of Egyptian
material. Reports are included from the American Academy at
Rome, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the
American School of Oriental Research, the Archaeological Institute
of America, the Archaeologisches Institut des Deutschen
Reichs, the British School of Archaeology in Egypt, the British
Schools in Athens and in Rome, the Deutschen Archaeologischen
Instituts, and the Oriental Institute. There are complete files
of L'Acropole, American Journal of Archaeology, Antiquity, Archaeological
Journal, Athenische Mitteilungen, Greece and Rome,
Hesperia, Journal of Hellenic Studies, Journal of Roman Studies;
there are also incomplete but current files of the Bulletin de
Correspondence Hellénique, Notizie degli Scavi, Revue Archaeologique,
Römische Mitteilungen, and Zeitschrift für die Altertumswissenschaft.
In this collection are full accounts of the excavations
at Corinth, Ephesus, Knossos, Mallia, Mycenae, Olynthus,
Priene, Sparta, Stratos, Tiryns, and partial information relating
to other excavated sites. For Greek inscriptions there are such

sets as the Inscriptiones Graecae and its new Editio Minor,
Dittenberger's Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, and Collitz's
Sammlung der Griechischen Dialekt-Inscriften; for Latin inscriptions
there is the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum and its
supplement, the Ephemeria Epigraphica. Material on ceramics is
found in sundry illustrative works such as the Corpus Vasorum
Antiquorum, Pfuhl's Malerei und Zeichnung, and Beazley's individual
studies. The subjects of sculpture and portraiture have
been fairly well developed for archaeology as well as for fine
arts;[8] but little effort has been made to build up under archaeology
a separate group of works on architecture; and no particular
attention has as yet been given to numismatics.

The collections in archaeology and ancient history in the
other libraries which have been listed have a similar character
and emphasis, with the exception of the one at the Spence
Library in the Union Theological Seminary. In this case particular
attention is given to the excavations and the ancient
records of Palestine, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, and there are included
various reports and other publications from the associations
and exploration funds (such as the Egypt Exploration Fund,
the Expedition Scientifique en Mesopotamie, the Harvard excavations
at Samaria, the Palestine Exploration Fund, and the
Society of Biblical Archaeology) which have been organized for
these regions.

There seem at present to be no very significant collections
in MEDIAEVAL HISTORY among these libraries. Possibly the nearest
approach to significance for research is in the material on
ecclesiastical history in the Episcopal and Union Theological
Seminaries. This material, however, has already been recorded in
Part Two, Humanities, Section E, Religion,[9] For example, about
500 volumes of the collection at the Union Theological Seminary
might appropriately be classed as mediaeval history.

The University of Virginia has 300 volumes on this subject,
and the College of William and Mary and the University of Richmond
about 250 volumes each. At the University of Richmond there
is some material on nearly all phases of mediaeval civilization
and history. At William and Mary the most emphasis, perhaps, is
on the crusades, art, and culture. At the University of Virginia
among the subjects which have the more adequate treatment is the
Byzantine Empire. The Cambridge Mediaeval History and the periodical
Speculum seem to be in the majority of the collections.
There are several sets also of Migne's Patrologiae. The University
of Virginia has the Chronicles and Memorials of Great
Britain, the Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinei, and the
Monumenta Germaniae Historica.

In MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY there is a fair amount of general
material in Virginia libraries, but not a great deal that
is outstanding for purposes of research. It has already been
noted that these collections are weak in foreign documents and
monumental sets. Where such material does appear, it is most
likely to be found in connection with the backgrounds of American
colonial history or with the recent World War.

On the subject of the World War, however, there is one
specialized collection in Virginia that is of considerable importance;
this is comprised of the military material at the
library of the Coast Artillery School. A large part of this
might possibly be classed as American military history, since it
is the record of participation by the United States. But the
terrain is largely European. The general material includes
8,555 items and the material dealing with specific countries of
6,149 items, a combined total of 14,484. The historical background
and sundry printed reports are in book form, but the
collection is primarily composed of military archives.

At the University of Virginia, on the other hand, the
approach to the World War is largely through diplomatic history,
and this collection includes a considerable part of the documentary
publications issued by the Belgian, British, French,
German, and Russian governments. In addition to world war
material, the University of Virginia has sundry sets, more or
less complete, such as the publications of the British Historical
Manuscripts Commission, the Documents Inédits sur l'Histoire
de France and Le Moniteur Universel, and the Spanish Coleccion
de Documentos Ineditos, this last set relating to colonial
possessions. There is a considerable amount of material on
Napoleon and on Mazzini and the period of the Risorgimento in
Italy. Combining the general European material with the material
dealing with special countries there are 6,834 volumes in
modern European history at the University of Virginia.

A similar combination at the State Library gives a total of
5,235 volumes. A valuable part of this collection consists of
material of various forms relating to the American colonial
possessions of Great Britain, France, and Spain.

This statement may be repeated for the collection on modern
European history at the College of William and Mary, which
totals 2,859 volumes. This includes the colonial material in
the Calendar of State Papers, the Journal of the Commissioners
for Foreign Trade and Plantations, the Reports of the Historical
Manuscripts Commission, Hansard's Debates (down to 1830),
and the Harleian Society Publications.

At the Randolph-Macon Woman's College there are 2,174 volumes
of modern history relating to Europe and its countries.

As is generally true in the Virginia libraries, the larger part
of the collection deals with Great Britain.

In ASIATIC HISTORY the State Library has a collection of
875 volumes, subdivided as follows: general material, fifty
volumes; southwestern Asia, 300 (including Palestine and the
Jews, 180); minor Asiatic regions, 100; India, 230, China, 110,
and Japan and Korea, eighty-five volumes.

The library at the University of Richmond has over 400 volumes
in Asiatic history, the countries most largely represented
being China with 150 volumes, Japan with 125, and India with
about 100.

At the Coast Artillery School there are about 300 volumes
in Asiatic history. Here, too, China with ninety-four volumes
and Japan with seventy-seven afford the largest amount of
material.

The Collis P. Huntington Memorial Library at Hampton Institute
contains what is probably the largest collection in Virginia
of material on AFRICAN HISTORY. This is a general collection
amounting to 481 volumes, and includes a file of the
periodical, Africa.

Other collections, all of them general in character, include
one of 240 volumes at the State Library, one of over 125
volumes at the University of Richmond, and one of about 120 volumes
at the Coast Artillery School. In the last of these libraries,
however, there is some emphasis on Egypt.

The materials on the history of OCEANICA show still further
shrinkage. The library at the Mariners' Museum contains about
200 volumes for those far-flung islands, the State Library has
190, and the library at the Coast Artillery School has over 100.
The Philippines and Hawaii tend to figure most prominently.

For LATIN-AMERICAN HISTORY the largest collection in Virginia
is at the State Library, comprising 770 volumes. This
includes sundry documentary publications, such as Blanco's
Documentos para la Historia de la Vida Publica del Libertador
de Colombia and Manning's Diplomatic Correspondence of the
United States, both the set on Inter-American Affairs and the
set Concerning the Independence of the Latin-American Nations.
There are also runs of the Boletin Historico de Puerto Rico,
the Hispanic American Historical Review, and the Pan American
Union Bulletin.

Smaller collections on Latin-America, each numbering between
200 and 250 volumes, are at Hampton Institute and at the
University of Virginia.

Among the Virginia libraries there are some fairly extensive
collections of material on UNITED STATES HISTORY, both
general and local; and a dozen or so of the other libraries
which have been frequently named in this report have made commendable
beginnings in this field. For general material the
State Library, the College of William and Mary, the Coast Artillery
School, and the University of Virginia have the largest
aggregation of volumes; and in state and local history the
State Library, William and Mary, the Virginia Historical
Society, the University of Richmond, and the University of Virginia
can at present claim numerical priority.

At the State Library there are some 500 volumes classified
as history of the Indians and of aboriginal America.
These include the United States government publications issued
by the Bureau of American Ethnology, the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, and the Smithsonian Institution; and also Bancroft's
Works, the Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, and a considerable
number of early books of description and travel.
Material of very similar character may be found at the University
of Virginia to the amount of about 750 volumes and at the
College of William and Mary to the amount of about 300 volumes;
and the Virginia Historical Society contains a considerable
number of individual works on the Indian.

The collection at the State Library on discovery, exploration,
and the colonial period numbers about 730 volumes of
history and 400 volumes of descriptive works. Among these may
be named the American Antiquarian Society's Archaeologica Americana;
C. L. Andrews' Narratives of the Insurrections, 1675-1698;
Bristol and America, a Record of the First Settlers in the Colonies
of North America, 1654-1685; Edmond Burke's Account of the
European Settlements in America, 1758; Champlain's Oeuvres;
Church's Catalogue of Books Relating to the Discovery and Early
History of North and South America; F. G. Davenport's European
Treatises Bearing on the History of the United States and its
Dependencies; B. F. French's Historical Collections of Louisiana,
1846-53; Herrero y Tordesillas, General History of the Vast
Continent and Islands of America, 1725-26; Hotten's Original
Lists of Persons of Quality; Labaree's Royal Instructions to
British Colonial Governors, 1670-1776; Joannis de Laet's Novus
Orbis, 1633; John Ogilby's America; Francis Parkman's Works;
Purchas his Pilgrimage, 1614; and both series of Sherwood's
American Colonists in English Records. At the University of
Virginia there are about 1,000 volumes on these subjects, at
the Coast Artillery School there are 644, and at the College of

William and Mary there are 460. The collections at the University
of Virginia and at William and Mary contain a considerable
amount of material in historical periodicals.

For the Revolution and the early national period the State
Library has approximately 1,300 volumes, its collection of periodicals
and of society publications being extensive. In the 805
volumes at the Coast Artillery School the military features of
the Revolutionary War are emphasized. A collection of 600 volumes
at the College of William and Mary contains complete sets of
a number of federal and state archival publications. In connection
with the Revolutionary War it may be recalled that film
copies of source material on the War in the South is being rapidly
collected at the Yorktown headquarters of the Colonial
National Historical Park.[10]

On the Civil War and slavery the State Library has about
2,750 volumes - 500 on the period immediately preceding the war,
2,000 on the war itself, and 250 on slavery, these being in
addition to the slavery material classified among the social
sciences. This extensive collect on includes periodical and
society publications, official records, reports of adjutant-generals
of states, rosters of soldiers, histories of military
units, records of later encampments of veterans, and biographical
sketches of military and political leaders. Together with the
smaller but valuable collections at the Virginia Historical
Society, the Confederate Museum Library, and the Confederate Memorial
Institute, this material at the State Library makes Richmond
a favourable center for research on topics developing from the
War Between the States. Outside of Richmond there are good
collections at the College of William and Mary and at the University
of Virginia, each numbering about 1,000 volumes. It may not
be out of place to comment on the frequency with which a browser
in Virginia libraries meets with the 128 volumes of the War of
the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate
Armies.

For the period of reconstruction, a considerable amount of
the material seems to exist in newspaper files and in pamphlet
and manuscript collections. It is therefore likely to be most
available in libraries where such forms are abundant. Of printed
books dealing with this era the State Library has about 300 volumes
and the College of William and Mary 215.

Some emphasis has been given to recent United States history
at the University of Virginia and its library has rather more
than 800 volumes which may be classified as of this period.

In the field of local and state history the Virginia
specialty has been Virginia. Wherever in the state there is a

collection of books there is likely to be a collection of Virginiana.
The natural result is a large duplication of the more
common items. But a fortunate outcome of this general interest
is the enhanced possibility that the uncommon and perhaps obscure
publication will be recognized and preserved. In the Bibliography
of Virginia History since 1865[11] by the Archivist of the
University of Virginia Library, locations of 6,242 items are
given for twenty-eight libraries, of which ten are in Virginia.
If this plan were to be carried out in the form of a union catalogue
of Virginiana for all Virginia libraries, it is quite
likely that some of the smaller libraries would be found to make
a very creditable showing. In this present report, however, only
five of the largest collections will be mentioned; namely, those
at the State Library, the College of William and Mary, the Virginia
Historical Society, the University of Virginia, and the
University of Richmond.

In this field of local and state history the Virginia State
Library has a collection of 9,100 volumes. The emphasis is on
Virginia and the South, but the New England and other northern
states are also well represented. The collection includes books,
pamphlets, periodicals, maps, and some clippings and pictures;
statements have previously been made[12] with regard to the Virginia
newspapers, public documents, and manuscripts in this
library. There are files, some incomplete, of seventy-six local
historical periodicals or serial publications. The extent of
the Virginiana has been impressively indicated by the Bibliography
of Virginia[13] which was issued as a Bulletin of the State
Library twenty years ago, since this was a record of the holdings
of that library. A list of the outstanding items would be too
long for inclusion in this survey report. But it would include
early editions or reprints of most of the Virginia histories and
other important Virginiana, and it would reveal that special
efforts have been made to secure all available publications in
such directions as the literature of early voyages and travels
and the historical records of Virginia counties and towns.

Another Virginia collection significant for research purposes

is located at the College of William and Mary. This numbers 3,485
volumes, of which 1,575 are about Virginia state, county, and town
history. Colonial, Revolutionary, and Civil War accounts, both of
people and places, have been stressed; and the localities spread
from Williamsburg through James City County, Virginia, and the
surrounding southern states. There are long files of thirty-seven
local history periodicals, and each of these is complete from 1920
to date. The Virginia Historical Index,[14] that extraordinary open
sesame to the contents of the most important Virginia historical
magazines, is the product of long years of skilled effort on the
part of the Librarian of William and Mary; and it has made this
and every other similar collection of Virginiana more valuable because
of the increased accessibility of the Virginia periodical
material in those collections.

The importance of the Virginia Historical Society as a depository
for manuscripts has already been pointed out,[15] and mention
has also been made[16] of its files of Virginia newspapers. But
the object of the Society has been to collect everything that has
historical interest (there are perhaps 30,000 items in the whole
library), and one or two additional phases of this collecting
activity should be mentioned here. The maps of the state which
belong to the Virginia Historical Society extend in date from 1598
to 1933. Of book material there are well over 800 volumes of
local history, dealing largely with Virginia but also including
Maryland, North Carolina, and the New England States. In Virginia
itself such cities as Alexandria, Fredericksburg, Richmond, Williamsburg,
and Winchester are largely represented.

The library at the University of Richmond is effectively
equipped with material on United States history both in its general
phases and in local Virginia material. There are about 700
Virginia volumes, not including biography, pamphlets, and periodicals.
These cover sectional, county, and town histories and
economic, educational, political, and social development. Of
primary importance for research is the Virginia Baptist Historical
Society Collection on the religious history of the State.

At the University of Virginia some effort has been made to
acquire state histories and the publications of state historical
societies without regional limitations. But for purely local
material the emphasis has been on Virginia. The collection of Virginiana
numbers about 6,000 volumes - though this total includes
Virginia imprints and the writings of Virginians as well as
materials of historical content. The sets of local histories are

as complete as it has so far been possible to make them; and
church histories, maps, and almanacs are largely represented. As
an example of intensive collecting, there is in this library a
nearly complete set of the editions of Thomas Jefferson's Notes
on the State of Virginia - this early `best seller', untrammeled
by copyright limitations, ran to thirty or more editions. But in
this statement, as in the statements for these four other collections
of local and state history, it has seemed wise to resist the
temptation to include lists of rare items.

The foregoing consideration of the Virginia collections in
United States history by periods and subjects probably affords the
best approach to an estimate of the foundation and resource
materials. It is difficult to arrive at even approximately correct
numerical totals for purposes of comparison, since the practice
varies with regard to inclusion of document, pamphlet, and periodical
items. But it may be safe to state that, in general and local
United States history combined, the State Library has at least
15,000 volumes, the University of Virginia 8,500 volumes, and the
College of William and Mary 6,000 volumes.

Moderately good collections in BIOGRAPHY, not varying greatly
in size, are scattered over the State of Virginia. In material
there is some regional and more national emphasis; but the prevailing
effect is that of general collections. The American and
English dictionaries of biography are quite common. It would
appear that the new Dictionary of American Biography has found a
good market in this State. The monumental foreign dictionaries
are less frequent. But a brief location list may serve to indicate
the situation.

Allegemeine Deutsche Biographie. At Randolph-Macon Woman's
College, State Library, University of Virginia.

Chevalier, Répertoire des Sources Historiques du Moyen Age. At
University of Virginia.

Dictionnaire de Biographie Francaise. At Hollins College, Sweet
Briar, University of Virginia.

Hoefer, Nouvelle Biographie Générale. At University of Virginia.

Michaud, Biographie Universelle, Ancienne et Moderne. At State
Library, University of Virginia.

Saxe, Onomasticon Literarium. At Randolph-Macon Woman's College,
University of Virginia.

Vapereau, Dictionnaire Universel des Contemporains. At Sweet
Briar, University of Virginia.

The collection at the University of Virginia numbers approximately
8,000 volumes. Recent national material is at present
tending to predominate. But Great Britain is also well represented,
there being several of the longer sets such as: Bayle's
General Dictionary, Brougham and Vaux's Historical Sketches of

Statesmen who Flourished in the Time of George III, Campbell's
Lives of the Lords Chancellors, Lives of the Chief Justices of
England, Lives of the British Admirals, Cibber's Lives of the Poets
of Great Britain and Ireland, Foss's Judges of England, Lodge's
Portraits of Illustrious Personages of Great Britain, Strickland's
Lives of the Queens of England, and Wood's Athenae Oxoninses.

At the State Library there are 6,500 volumes under this heading.
Here early biography predominates, and the emphasis is perhaps
on statesmen and military leaders of the United States, particularly
of the South and of Virginia. There are, however, 1,270
volumes of English individual biography.

Of the 4,560 volumes in biography at the College of William
and Mary the majority are of recent publication, and there is no
regional division. Lives of statesmen and of literary figures
are perhaps most largely represented.

The collection of approximately 3,500 volumes at the University
of Richmond is fairly representative for individuals of Virginia
and of the South. The types of subjects which predominate
are political, religious, literary, and educational.

A census, made at the time this survey was taken, of the volumes
of biographical material in some of the other institutional
libraries of the State, gives the following figures - figures
which of course have in every case become too small by the time
this report has emerged:- Washington and Lee University, 3,300
volumes; Hampton Institute, 3,162; Virginia Military Institute,
1,804; Coast Artillery School, 1,750; Sweet Briar College, 1,714;
Union Theological Seminary, 1,600; Episcopal Theological Seminary,
1,500. These last two collections of course are primarily of
religious leaders. The larger public libraries also have collections
comparable in size with those which have been listed.

It is a library maxim that GENEALOGY is the thief of time;
and competition for priority in genealogical collections seems not
to be active. In this subject, however, three Virginia libraries
have moderately full collections concerning local and regional
families, with roots going back to localities in Great Britain.
These are the library at the College of William and Mary, with
1,290 volumes; the State Library, with 1,150 volumes, not counting
periodicals; and the library of the Virginia Historical Society,
with over 1,000 volumes.