 | First Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1930-31 |  |
C. Appendix C.
Survey and Collection of Manuscripts in Virginia
The pride of Virginia in her more than three centuries of history is
among the first impressions of the traveller who crosses her border, if,
indeed, he has not been already apprised of the fact. The Virginian
of today, whether his fund of historical information be profound or
meager, retains an inborn devotion to the great men of his State; and,
although he may have been educated in part from northern (perhaps
even New England!) textbooks, his interest in the good ship Susan
Constant and the settlement at Jamestown quite overshadows his regard
for the Mayflower and events at Plymouth. And, one must admit,
Jamestown was first!
The preservation of Virginia's historical records has been an oft
recurring theme. During the past hundred years there has been periodic
activity of one kind and another in this direction. In the eighteen-thirties
the Virginia Historical Society began to collect manuscripts
and publish documents and papers in its Collections. The
records of the colonial and state governments, after being moved from
place to place and seriously depleted by fire and the ravages of war,
were lodged in the Capitol, and from this accumulation was compiled
the Calendar of Virginia State Papers, in eleven volumes, 1875-93.
With the reorganization of the State Library in 1903, many of the
state documents were transferred to the Archives Department, where
they were made accessible for research. Meanwhile some of the colleges
had begun to publish historical papers. In July, 1892, was issued
the first number of the William and Mary Quarterly Historical
Magazine, and the following year the Virginia Historical Society
began to publish the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography,
as a continuation of its earlier Collections. Through the "Public
Archives Commission of the American Historical Association," W.
G. Stanard made a report on Virginia archives in 1903, which directed
attention in some detail to both state and county archives and
to Virginia manuscripts in the Library of Congress. In 1905, with
the aid of the Carnegie Institute in Washington, D. C., the State Library
published a calendar of its transcripts from the British Public
Record Office. This work included also a list of manuscript collections
and a Catalogue of bound colonial and state papers in the State
Archives Department and in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Until recent years, however, the interest in the preservation and
publication of manuscripts in Virginia has been confined for the most
the value and significance of the work done along these lines, it is
obvious that these sources, from which former scholars wrote political
history, fall short of the demands of the new school of economic
and social historians who prize, in addition, the letters or diary of the
every-day American, and such ephemeral stuff as the fragmentary
minutes of a temperance society or the recipe of a housewife. The
very nature of these records has led to a reemphasis of local history,
crushed for years by its own weight of dull, unorganized chronology
compiled by many an untrained antiquarian. While these secondary
accounts are sometimes our only surviving sources of information,
there is often a wealth of original material either untouched or in need
of re-interpretation. Virginia as a part of the "New South", beset
by new economic and social problems and deeply conscious of her
tradition, has become an inviting field for historical and sociological
research. As a result, the collecting of manuscripts is being promoted
today by a number of southern universities and learned societies. The
University of Virginia, while active in collecting, is giving primary
consideration to a survey of manuscript materials and archives
throughout the State.
In consulting printed sources the present-day student may be said
to enjoy the comforts of the "bibliographical age," so numerous are
the comprehensive guides and finding-lists for a wide variety of subjects
and collections of historical writings. In the field of manuscripts,
however, he is limited to a few incomplete calendars or lists
of papers in certain libraries or archives, while, for the most part, he
must research haphazardly for a clue to the whereabouts of unpublished
material on his particular subject. The time which he can ill afford to
spend in tracking down the manuscripts means an appreciable loss in
productive scholarship; nor is the situation ameliorated by the fact
that as yet no satisfactory scientific method of classifying manuscripts
has been developed beyond a chronological arrangement.
The need, therefore, of a guide to manuscripts in Virginia, which
was accentuated by the work of the Institute for Research in the Social
Sciences of the University of Virginia during the past four years,
led to the project of a detailed inventory of manuscript materials.
Financed by the Carnegie Corporation, on the recommendation of a
joint committee of the American Council of Learned Societies and the
Social Science Research Council, the undertaking is sponsored by the
University Library, which appointed the present writer to take charge
of the project. In contrast to the collecting of manuscripts which has
of uncertainty, the survey is essentially a matter-of-fact inventory.
No kind of material is excluded because it is not "historical"
and no particular period of Virginia history is given preference. Anything
up to the present may qualify. Nevertheless, like a bibliography,
such an inventory must be primarily practical and usable.
Therefore two fundamental questions are kept constantly in mind:
(1) What material is extant? and (2) Is it accessible or will it be
made accessible for research?
The natural geographic divisions of Virginia suggested a plan of
initiating the survey. This was to choose from each section of the
state (viz., Tidewater, the Piedmont, the Shenandoah Valley, etc.) a
county whose history, being of considerable note, has prompted some
preservation of sources and some historical writing. Thus, for example,
Albemarle County where the University is situated was chosen
for the Piedmont region; Frederick County with its court at Winchester
for the lower Shenandoah Valley. The simplest method of approach
is to examine in detail the archives in the courthouse. These,
in addition to the usual files of wills, deeds, and orders, invariably
contain records no longer used in the daily business of the clerk and
hence relegated to some obscure corner, but material of great value
to the research student. A card index of all the archives is made so
that their content and degree of completeness can be ascertained without
delay. Similarly an inventory is prepared of city or town records
in the county, a class of material only recently appreciated for its
historical value because county functions have predominated during
most of Virginia's development.
Meanwhile, lists of business houses, churches and lodges, libraries
and schools, banks, public utilities, and other organizations are drawn
up. The responsible officer in each company or society is interviewed
in order to learn whether the original records or books are preserved,
what their substance is, what period they cover, and which ones will
be made accessible for research. In this connection, it has been encouraging
to find a general willingness to cooperate among a wide variety
of individuals and organizations, even among business firms
which might be expected to refuse because of conditions of competition.
Experience has shown that this information must be obtained
by personal contact with those concerned; correspondence nets only
a small percentage of replies, most of which are unsatisfactory, and
lessens the opportunity to follow up clues to other manuscript collections.
Since newspapers are closely akin to manuscripts as original material,
all files in the state are being listed, not only in libraries, but
also in publishers' offices and those accessible in private hands as well.
Historic houses and remains, in which Virginia abounds, are also
listed by county. Their value as historical evidence is being increasingly
recognized, and public feeling in behalf of th preservation of
these "ancient landmarks" needs cultivation. The recording of these
data is facilitated by the metal tablets which were set up along the
highways a few years ago by the State Commission on Conservation
and Development, to mark historic sites and buildings.
Another large body of manuscript material is that in the State
archives in Richmond, already mentioned. So far as the State Library
is concerned, the problem of an inventory is relatively simple,
for it consists chiefly in checking the archives against the Calendar
published in 1905, in order to bring that record up to date. The absence
of a catalogue of the private manuscripts in the Archives Department
and the need of a guide to county records, original and
photostat, recently acquired, complicate the task, but the difficulties
are far from insuperable. Furthermore, all these manuscripts are
accessible. However, under the control of such state offices as the
treasurer, corporation commission, etc., there remain invaluable records,
many of them stored in the capitol, their exact content unknown
and their accessibility difficult. How they may be rendered usable is
still undetermined.
The question of an inventory of manuscripts in private hands is
a delicate one. Assuming it were possible to compile a fairly complete
list of individuals or families who possess such papers, one is
confronted with the practical difficulty of accessibility. Few such
manuscripts are arranged in any order for actual use and few are in
any condition to withstand the wear and tear of handling. Even
granting the willingness of the owner to allow the papers to be examined,
there would be the inevitable embarrassment of exposure to
requests at any time, because the existence of the papers was made
public.
It is this phase of the survey that is linked most intimately with the
collecting of manuscripts, mentioned above, for deposit in archives
and research libraries. Virginia has always had a considerable group
of individuals deeply concerned with the preservation of her records.
Yet, by and large, pride in the history of one's state does not necessarily
produce a reverence for her historical memorials, and Virginians,
like their compatriots in other states, need educating in this regard.
unappreciated by another, are ever in danger of destruction or of dispersion
within or outside the state; and the transitory character of
such manuscripts renders an inventory of their whereabouts extremely
inaccurate. Akin to this situation is the condition of many church
records. Protestant churches in particular, and especially those with
little centralized authority, neglect their records, which are frequently
left in the hands of individual officers rather than being deposited in
the church or in a fire-proof vault; and when that official passes on,
chance alone determines the fate of the records. In the case of business
firms, the practical difficulty of preserving the obsolete books in
a safe place endangers their permanence. If they have been kept,
sentimental reasons have probably prevailed and the books lie in some
neglected corner. Business records of recent years have even less
chance of survival because the loose-leaf files now in vogue are less
conveniently preserved when removed from the file cases, and many
firms keep only current files.
The need of spirited activity in the collecting and preserving of
manuscript in Virginia is unquestionably as great to-day as it was a
generation or a century ago. As early as 1664 a legislative committee
was appointed to report on the condition of the colonial archives,
"since it appears that there hath been a great neglect in keeping the
records in this country." This same spirit, intensified by the sale of
"Virginiana" to outside collectors and dealers, was influential in establishing
the Department of Archives and History in Richmond. A
year ago the University of Virginia, having provided a specially
equipped room for the safe-keeping and cataloguing of manuscripts,
issued a broadside, offering "aid in the preservation, the study, the interpretation,
and the publication of these memorials of Virginia's social,
industrial, political, and intellectual life . . . to-day she can
offer for these memorials a storehouse, fireproof and secure, a staff
of eager and able young scholars from her faculty and graduate
school prepared to classify, study, and interpret these materials for
the cultural history of the Old Dominion. . . . Let [the owners
of manuscripts] give if they can give outright; or else make our university
the depository for safekeeping and scientific interpretation of
this important material for historical research."
The response from people throughout the State to this appeal has
been most encouraging, and the promotion of this work along with
the inventory will, it is hoped, aid materially in developing research
in Virginia. Many persons prefer, of course, to keep their papers.
upon these individuals in any case to store their manuscripts in fireproof
places.
If the historical value of such records fails in its appeal to the average
person, he may find in them even material satisfaction of the
most surprising kind. Such was the experience of the owner of an
abandoned mill and general store in the hill country of Albemarle
County. Hearing that some of the old books of the establishment
were still extant, the writer called on the owner to inquire about them.
The man, with only a vague idea that some of the papers might be
there, led the way to the old store and unlocked the door. From a
confusion of worn out furniture, tools, and rubbish, he seized at random
a rough box containing some account books and ledgers which
we proceeded to examine. As I turned a few pages of one dated
1860-61, my eye lighted upon a ten-dollar greenback.
"Probably old Confederate money," he remarked casually, but as I
picked it up I found that not only was it United States currency, issued
thirty to forty years ago, but that there were ten tens instead of
one.
"A hundred dollars," he half whispered, recounting the bills. "D'you
suppose it's still good?"
As I turned another page or two, there lay another hundred in tens.
"Say, I guess we'd better look through all these old books pretty carefully,"
he exclaimed.
The excitement was intensified when the next pages revealed yet
another hundred in tens. His eyes fairly popped out of his head and
he was so dumbfounded that he relied completely upon my count.
The old book had proved so fruitful thus far that we almost expected
more. And we were not disappointed, for well on towards the middle
were hidden three more groups of one hundred each in tens and
fives, and finally what might have been interpreted as incomplete, a
pack of thirty dollars. You may be sure the other account books were
examined with care and although they yielded no treasure, in one
corner of the old box was a little green wad which proved to be another
five, making a total of $635. The man, still rather dazed, with
the pack of bills gripped in one hand, now proceeded to reproach his
family for their carelessness and poor economy.
Suddenly he looked at his bulging fist and exclaimed, "Say, was
there 500 or 600 here? . . . Oh well, I guess a hundred more
or less don't matter when it comes this way."
Perhaps there is more than one moral to this tale. At any rate, to
on all "deposit books" recovered!
Since other libraries in Virginia, such as the College of William
and Mary and the Winchester Historical Society, are also active in
the collecting of manuscripts, the University is emphasizing the cooperative
spirit which it desires to uphold in this enterprise. Competitive
activity in advancing the cause of research is a questionable
procedure at best, and already the advantage of co-operation is evident
in the work in Virginia.
The task is a large one, slow of development at first but destined,
it would seem, to bear increasing fruit from year to year, as the work
is extended from county to county. The collecting of material is certain
to intensify the interest in southern as well as Virginia history,
and the inventory should serve as a much needed guide to manuscripts
actually available. Perhaps also, the project may suggest a
method of procedure in the recording of manuscripts in other states.
Archivist.
| First Annual Report of the Archivist, Library of the University of Virginia, for the Year 1930-31 | |