University of Virginia Library

Eleventh Annual Report on Historical Collections,
University of Virginia Library,
For the Year 1940-41

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] In his
presidential address on "The Archivist in Times of Emergency,"[2]
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]

Before the summer of 1941 a few other organizations and cultural
institutions initiated projects in preparation for total war, if
or when it came. In April the National Resources Planning Board
of the federal government formed a Committee on the Conservation
of Cultural Resources which proceeded to draw up recommendations
for voluntary state action in preserving historical records,
art objects, museum pieces, old buildings, etc., against the hazards
of war. The Library of Congress worked overtime to classify
material in all departments according to its relative value and
irreplacability and to earmark those portions which should most
certainly be evacuated when it was deemed necessary.[4] While
archivists along the Atlantic seaboard were more conscious of the
potential danger of a sudden crisis than those in the Middle West,
from Illinois as early as February came words of caution and
advice on the preservation of certain fundamental records during
war.[5] In August the Committee on Business Archives of the
Society of American Archivists addressed a letter to over three
hundred firms. It requested them to give attention to the safekeeping
of certain types of their records concerning war conditions
and problems since the beginning of the conflict in 1939.

News of both the destruction and the safe-guarding of cultural
materials in the warring countries of Europe reached America in
an ever increasing tide by radio, in the daily press, and through
professional journals. Among some thoughtful citizens these accounts,
some of them emotional, others matter-of-fact, raised the
question: To what extent could American scholarship step into
the breach and assume responsibility for preserving at least a part
of the cultural heritage of western civilization? This query was
partially answered by a large-scale project under the direction of
the American Council of Learned Societies for microfilming important
manuscript collections in European and Latin American
countries. In the early summer of 1940 a committee, headed by
Herbert A. Kellar of the McCormick Historical Association, asked

scholars throughout the country to list significant materials abroad
which, from their own first-hand knowledge or other reliable
information, ought to be microfilmed. A high percentage of replies
to the questionnaire came in promptly with a wealth of suggestions
pertaining to almost every nation of Europe. Unfortunately
events had occurred so rapidly during 1940 that few
repositories still provided even partial access, if any at all, for the
copying of records, except under great difficulties. Microfilming
was begun in England, however, in 1941 and the preservation of
some records, at least in millions of copies, was assured. Nevertheless
it became evident that scholars would always regret that
they had not taken action as soon as war broke out.

Although during the year ending in September 1941 the threat
of war seemed ominous in the United States on various occasions,
peace-time pursuits were generally the order of the day. Advancement
in the general field of archives and historical manuscripts
proceeded apace, continuing many lines of activity undertaken
in the 1930's.[6] Custodians of records look increasingly to the
National Archives for suggestions on matters of policy and procedure
as this great institution expands its services to departments
of the federal government, to administrators in the states,
and to individual research workers. The vast resources of the
National Archives are gradually being made more available by
means of preliminary checklists of certain "record groups," and
by files of master-negative microfilm copies covering complete
series of archival material. If such copies are wanted by a number
of users, they can be furnished easily in positive form.[7] A
most valuable reference tool is the Guide to the Material in the
National Archives (1940),[8] arranged by fonds (under the general
headings of legislative, executive, judiciary, and independent
agencies) with a descriptive paragraph of each and helpful bibliographical
references. The problem of handling an ever increasing
bulk of materials in the National Archives was partially
solved by an Act of Congress, approved August 5, 1939, permitting
the disposition of records having "no permanent value or historical

interest" by the agency of origin, with approval of the
Archivist of the United States and a joint committee of Congress,
before the intended transfer of such records to the National
Archives. In September 1940 microphotographic copies were
authorized to take the place of original records to be disposed of
with approval of the Archivist of the United States, and such
copies "have the same force and effect as the originals thereof
would have had" for use as legal evidence.[9] The National Archives
has made notable progress in its in-service training courses and in
the expansion of its program for the training of archivists on the
Ph.D. level in conjunction with the American University. These
two institutions have established a high standard which other
universities and archival agencies will do well to emulate if they
venture into this field.[10]

No phase of archival work in the United States has been less
developed than administrative history. The study of the organization,
functions, evolution, and activities of the federal government
throughout its existence has been possible on a broad scale only
since its records have become more accessible by transfer and
classification in the National Archives. There is less excuse for
this belated research in many of the states where archival departments,
replete with records, have functioned with serious limitations,
because of misguided emphasis upon muster rolls and
genealogical data and blissful ignorance of the historical structure
and functions of state agencies which a study of the archives
would reveal. Research in administrative history for the archivist,
however, should be only a means to a greater end: to be able to
serve more effectively the administrator of a particular agency, the
student of public administration, and the general scholar who
seeks certain data but knows not where to find them in the maze
of records. Many of these problems were discussed in a timely
session of the Society of American Archivists at Montgomery,
Alabama, in November 1940, on "Administrative History of Governmental

Agencies in Relation to Archives."[11] During the past
few years the Historical Records Survey has contributed much
essential information in the survey of federal archives in the
states and especially through the "legal research" which formed
the basis for essays on state and local governmental bodies appearing
in the various inventories of archival records published
throughout the nation. In Illinois Miss Margaret C. Norton, state
archivist, has written a series of scholarly articles describing
certain local governmental agencies, their changing functions
since the dates of origin, and their records in relation thereto.[12]

Intensive research in the field of public administration is of
comparatively recent date despite some exceptional contributions
by scholars during the last half-century. That the political scientist
and the archivist can find many problems of mutual interest
and profit by co-operative effort is clearly indicated in the minutes
of the first meeting of the Special Committee on Research in the
History of Administrative Institutions, sponsored by the Social
Science Research Council and held in Washington, D. C., on March
1-2, 1941.[13] Throughout the discussion the need for a wide variety
of historical studies was pointed out, studies on the relation of
changes in the character and occupations of the population to the
growth of administrative agencies, on the diffusion of administrative
ideas and institutions, on the emergence of administrative
law enforcement, etc. Repeatedly the discussion led to basic
questions concerning the sources. Are they extant, and if so, are
they accessible? Are records in archival establishments so arranged
as to preserve the organic structure and functioning of

the particular agency to be studied?[14] What does the researcher
need to know about the archives in order to use them effectively?
It is clear that developments in "archival science" and the "philosophy
of archives" will not only serve as a cause but also benefit
by the results of research in administrative history.

As the National Archives has become the center in America for
the inception of many new archival developments, experimentation
with them, and dissemination of information about them, so
in the realm of books, historical manuscripts, and other research
materials, the Library of Congress has taken recently a more vital
part in national projects which try to solve certain complex problems
of to-day and to anticipate some of to-morrow's. No better
illustration of this assertion could be cited than its Experimental
Division of Library Co-operation set up in the spring of 1941 with
Herbert A. Kellar in charge. Mr. Kellar has undertaken a
national study of a number of fundamental problems confronting
research institutions during the past decade. They are problems
arising in large measure from the growing tide of materials, old
and new, manuscript and printed (or duplicated in other ways),
which necessitate far-reaching changes in library policy and technique
in order to provide maximum service. Especially important
are certain questions involving the acquisition, control, and mobility
of research materials. The process of cataloguing must be
modified because, under the present elaborate system, it cannot
keep pace with acquisitions. Documentary reproduction by microfilm,
microprint, and other inexpensive methods of duplication
offers, it is true, some controversial problems; but it also affords
almost unlimited opportunities for co-operation among libraries.
The expanding field of bibliography needs probing in relation to
other reference tools and a national clearing-house of information
is highly desirable to increase the efficiency and use of such
works. Union catalogues, by geographical area, subject, and type
of material, are invaluable, but what are their practical limits
and their relation to one another?[15] During field trips throughout
the country Mr. Kellar will discuss these problems with librarians,

archivists, and research scholars in order to obtain a wide variety
of opinions and reactions for an approach to the solution of these
questions.

The Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress has begun
a union catalogue of yearly manuscript accessions of American
research libraries according to a plan formulated by the Committee
on Historical Source Materials (Sub-Committee on Manuscripts)
of the American Historical Association, aided by the
Historical Records Survey in assembling the data. A separate
union catalogue of newspapers on microfilm in libraries throughout
the United States was also undertaken in the Library of
Congress.[16] The indispensable service of the great national union
catalogue of imprints located in the Library of Congress has been
an incentive for the establishment of similar regional, state, and
metropolitan card files in the Pacific North-West, Florida, Ohio,
Philadelphia, Providence, and Cleveland. The Hayes Memorial
Library in Fremont, Ohio, is launching a union catalogue, arranged
by subject, of every imprint during the period 1865-98.[17] The
project of the American Library Association for surveying the
resources of all research libraries, begun about five years ago,
was carried another step forward by Robert B. Downs in his
report on additional acquisitions during the year 1939-40.[18] The
annual meetings of the American Library Association, in its sections
on Public Documents and on Archives and Libraries, continue
to be occasions for helpful discussions of many of the
problems already mentioned.[19]

What can be done on a national scale in the related fields of
archives, manuscripts, and other research materials depends to a
very large degree upon the progressive attitude which assures
accomplishment in the several states and localities. The Historical
Records Survey has demonstrated, in spite of many doubts and
misgivings, that valuable reference tools can be compiled throughout
the country by semi-skilled and unskilled persons on relief,

if properly directed. In most cases where results proved disappointing,
certain local conditions were beyond the control of the
Washington office. The unparalleled opportunities which the
microfilm offers have been realized in practice largely through
projects to which numerous libraries have given mutual support.
Our perspective with regard to co-operative cultural undertakings
has broadened exceedingly in recent years. There is scarcely any
category of research materials or fundamental problem concerning
their accessibility and use that has not been embraced
in some comprehensive collaborative study. The individual
scholar and the local institution must know, therefore, what project
would be a waste of effort as well as what would be worth
while, in relation to the broader field that has already been
charted. In the midst of prolonged economic depression we made
great strides in co-operative effort on a national scale. Some of
this experience has already been turned to good account in facing
the greater emergency of to-day. The custodian of historical
records ought to visualize his job as part of a larger cultural
movement with which he should keep abreast, even though he
may have no ideas to contribute. He is not justified in being much
concerned with inconsequentials, although the "challenge of
historical materials" may escape him.[20]

Events in many of the states provide ample evidence of constructive
planning and commendable accomplishment, paralleling
national trends. During the meeting of the Society of American
Archivists in Montgomery the archives section of the new Alabama
World War Memorial Building was dedicated and special
tribute was paid to the late Dr. Thomas McAdory Owen, pioneer
in state archival work and founder of the Alabama Department
of Archives and History.[21] Field trips are a new feature of the
Department's activities to keep in touch with archival policies and
record-keeping in the counties and to encourage the transfer of
certain materials to the state achives for safety and better accessibility.
In the neighboring state of Mississippi the Department
of Archives and History also moved into new quarters in the War
Veterans Memorial Building. Similar achievement may be noted
at Harvard University in the transfer of its manuscripts and

valuable imprints from the old Treasure Room in Widener Library
to the Houghton Rare Book Library near by; and at Hyde Park,
New York, in the occupation of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
which had been formally presented to the United States Government
on July 4, 1940.[22]

The Public Relations Committee of the Society of American
Archivists has been of assistance in promoting archival legislation
in certain states. The collection and preservation of research
materials have long been recognized as an important function of
historical agencies, but never has this activity been so widespread
as to-day. There is no region of the United States which has not
felt the impact of this movement as it gained momentum steadily
during the past decade. Numerous examples have been pointed
out in previous numbers of this series of reports. Two new projects
deserve mention here, at the risk of slighting others. In
the State of Washington a plan proposed by Dr. Charles M.
Gates of the University of Washington is under discussion for a
co-operative enterprise by state and privately supported institutions
to collect materials and locate others which, through a central
committee of information, might be acquired later by whatever
agency may have the best approach to the owner. If the
plan is carried out, it may provide good proof for the argument
that, within a given area, practicable controls can be established
to accommodate overlapping interests and increase the benefits to
all concerned. It suggests also the value of a preliminary inventory
of existing library resources and the function of microphotography
in meeting identical needs of several institutions. At
Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, South Dakota, a regional
culture project, known as Friends of the Middle Border, has been
launched to preserve and study the heritage of the Great Plains.[23]
Art objects and museum pieces as well as manuscripts and printed
materials compose the growing collection located in one of the
university buildings. Having staked its claim to a vast area where
research libraries are few, this organization is wise in outlining
its program with a perspective correspondingly broad that will
appeal to scholars in many fields and to the average citizen.

The field of local history, long dominated by the antiquarian
and shunned by most professional historians, has been subjected
to re-appraisal in recent years. Sociological and historical studies
of certain communities, cities, and towns have provided new interpretations
of regional and national problems with the result that
local materials have achieved a new dignity in the eyes of those
scholars who have learned how to use them. The custodian of
these research materials who collects them and makes them
available for the scholar must also serve the amateur historian.
Many of the latter have a real contribution to make and are deserving
of well directed encouragement rather than ill concealed
tolerance. The need for interchange of ideas and information on
these and kindred problems of local historical work was only
partially met by the old Conference of Historical Societies under
the aegis of the American Historical Association. It has been
replaced by the American Association for State and Local History,
organized at a meeting in New York City, December 27, 1940. The
new society offers opportunities for discussion at its meetings and
for publication of timely articles, news notes, and other pertinent
information. The first issue of its quarterly State and Local History
News appeared in July 1941. A revised edition of the Handbook
of Historical Societies (last edition, 1936) is in preparation.
From its inception the association's nation-wide membership has
increased steadily. Part of this encouraging interest in local history
has undoubtedly resulted from the constructive work of the
Historical Records Survey during the past five years. At the end
of August 1941 the number of inventories of state and local
archives, federal archives in the states, church records, American
imprints, guides to manuscript depositories and collections, etc.,
totaled over fifteen hundred volumes.[24]

In Virginia another chapter was begun in the long story of her
colonial and state records when the State Library moved into its
impressive new building in December 1940. For many years the
library and archives had operated with scarcely a minimum staff
amid badly congested conditions. Now there is ample space to
carry out the plans of the archivist, Mr. William J. Van Schreeven,
for reorganizing the records and making a careful inventory of
them. The building also allows adequate room for future growth

of the collections. Some valuable old records have been transferred
to the archives from the attic of the capitol which indifferent
officials have regard at various times as a convenient storage
place (if so dignified a term may be used). Over a long period
the Archives Department has been borrowing numerous seventeenth
and eighteenth century county records to make photographic
copies and, in some instances, it has been possible to retain
the originals. Recently the law authorizing such loans has been
amended to include the period 1790-1865. Furthermore the state
librarian may request an order from any local court for the
removal to the State Library of records prior to 1866 (except
wills and deeds) not properly cared for. No agency of the state
government may dispose of any records without examination of
such materials by the state librarian and the comptroller.[25] An
interesting project begun this year by Mr. Van Schreeven in
co-operation with Virginia's oldest fire insurance company is the
microfilming of early policies of the Mutual Assurance Society of
Virginia. These records, containing a wealth of economic and
social data, have not been easily accessible hitherto.

During the past year the Virginia Historical Records Survey
has published two inventories of federal archives in the state—
records of the Departments of Justice and Agriculture—but no
county inventories. A third volume issued is an Index to Obituary
Notices in the "Religious Herald," Richmond, Virginia, 1828-1938,
a Baptist periodical.

The reconstruction and enlargement of the Washington and Lee
University Library have provided more space for research materials
and an incentive for the collection of manuscripts and imprints
pertaining to the history of the university, the county of
Rockbridge, and the neighboring region in the Valley of Virginia.
A special project is about to begin for the assembling of
data on the location and content of Robert E. Lee manuscript
material in libraries and private hands in the United States or
abroad. The university will supplement its own Lee collection
as much as possible. Thus it hopes to offer specialized reference
service, enrich its own resources, and attract scholars to the University
Library. In Williamsburg the first fruit of the Restoration's
research and publication program appeared: a reprint of the Hartwell,

Blair, and Chilton Present State of Virginia, and the College,[26]
edited with an introduction by Dr. Hunter D. Farish. The
Library of the College of William and Mary continued its collecting
of historical materials, with emphasis by Dr. E. G. Swem upon
records of or about the College, in preparation for a detailed history
of the institution.[27]

Local historical societies have never been numerous in Virginia,
either at any one time or throughout the long history of the Old
Dominion. This is regrettable if one thinks merely of the loss of
original materials which such societies might be in a better position
to preserve than would any other agency. Some of the
historical interest throughout the state has found expression
through patriotic organizations. Although they have made a
real contribution in financing the repair and restoration of certain
early county records, the historical interest of their members has
been restricted too closely to the heroics of military events. In
many states local historical activities have been stimulated, and
to some extent co-ordinated, by efforts of the state historical
society or by means of a state-wide association with annual meetings.
In Virginia, however, no such program has ever been undertaken.
Local initiative and enthusiasm have produced encouraging
results in four counties during the past few years, as evidenced
in their publications. These are the Papers of the Albemarle
County Historical Society, the Proceedings of the Clarke County
Historical Association, the Papers of the Rockbridge Historical
Society, and the Bulletin of the Washington County Historical
Society. The Committee on Legal History of the American Historical
Association has authorized the editing and publication of
the oldest records of Accomac County on the Eastern Shore of
Virginia, by Dr. Susie May Ames of Randolph-Macon Woman's
College.

At the University of Virginia the research activity in the Alderman
Library has been for the most part a continuation of the
previous year's program. Materials acquired by gift, loan, and
purchase during 1940-41 are set forth in the list accompanying this
report. As knowledge of the Library's resources and its facilities
for their use has become more widespread, an ever increasing

number of collections and separate items has come in from persons
who, without direct suggestion from the University, have decided
to entrust their family papers or other historical records to the
Library. Experience has shown that few deposits on loan are
withdrawn; in fact, many of them have been supplemented from
time to time. Two endowments provide a modest income which is
apportioned throughout the year for weekly purchases of research
materials. Recommendations for purchase are passed upon
by a committee of five composed of the librarian, the director
of rare books and manuscripts, and the three professors of
American history in the University. Funds of the Tracy W.
McGregor Library are available for acquisition of more rare and
expensive items, especially Virginiana or southern Americana. A
separate yearly report is prepared for the Advisory Board of the
McGregor Library by John C. Wyllie, curator, who is also director
of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division of the Alderman
Library. The collection of materials by field trips in various parts
of Virginia and occasionally outside the state has continued, with
the aid of Dr. Glenn Curtis Smith and his successor, Dr. William
Dana Hoyt, Jr., and of Mrs. Helen Bullock during the summer
of 1941.

The program for enriching the resources of the Alderman
Library has been accompanied by a consistent effort to provide
for maximum use of those resources by a practicable arrangement
of the collections, by catalogues, and other finding media. Work
on several calendars of manuscripts has been mentioned in previous
reports.[28] During the past year the calendar of eighteenth
century manuscripts in certain collections was prepared in typescript
and the Jefferson calendar was completed and indexed by
Mrs. Bullock. The latter has a special value because it includes
not only original manuscripts but all the photographic copies in
this Library, many of which were obtained from widely scattered
collections in public and private hands, both in this country and
abroad. Associated with this research on Jeffersoniana, extensive
as well as intensive, is the project of a card catalogue showing
the location of all known Jefferson material, identifying each
item, and citing printed texts. Thus the Alderman Library aspires
to become the clearing-house for information on this subject. The
co-operation of other libraries is indispensable for the success of

such an undertaking, and several have already responded.

The past year has seen the inception of two series of publications,
a product of the Library's research program in collaboration
with certain scholars in the University. The McGregor
Library series aims to publish manuscripts or imprints of special
historical interest in its collection, each volume to be edited by
some scholar who has made a study of the documents and the
circumstances under which they appeared. The first McGregor
publication is Dunmore's Proclamation of Emancipation of 1775,
with an historical introduction by Francis L. Berkeley, Jr., who is
in charge of manuscripts in the Alderman Library. The second
project is known as the University of Virginia Bibliographical
Series. These studies bear the imprint of the Library but will
not be restricted to research subjects carried on in the University.
Number One of this series is A Survey of Research Materials in
Virginia Libraries, 1936-37, by Harry Clemons. This is a printing,
with a few revisions, of the mimeographed edition of 1938 which
provided the data on Virginia used in the American Library Association's
volume of the resources of southern libraries. Number
Four is a Check List of Letters to and from Poe, by John Ward
Ostrom. Numbers Two and Three are in press: a bibliography
of Virginia geology, by Joseph K. Roberts, and a short title catalogue
of early English books at the University of Virginia, by
Clarence W. Miller.

The Alderman Library is participating in several co-operative
research projects of regional or national significance. A large
number of cards in near-print form for books and pamphlets
here have been prepared and copies sent to the Union Catalogue
in the Library of Congress. Through Mr. Wyllie's efforts entries
have been contributed to the Union Catalogue of Floridiana at
Winter Park, to the American Bibliographical Society's checklist
of nineteenth century American publishers, and to Dr. William
Warner Bishop's catalogue of American holdings in Short Title
Catalogue books in progress at the University of Michigan. A large
percentage of American imprints to 1876 in the Alderman Library
have been recorded by workers of the Historical Records Survey
for the American Imprints Inventory. The Library has established
an informal exchange agreement with the Virginia State
Library for microfilm acquisitions.

The Eleventh Annual Report on Historical Collections is a
continuation of the Annual Report[s] of the Archivist, University
of Virginia Library, begun in 1930-31. The change of title was
advisable because the position of archivist has been replaced by
that of consultant in history and archives. The manuscript
accessions printed herewith from notes prepared by Mrs. Bullock,
Dr. Hoyt, and Mr. Rex Beach, are presented in the form of an
alphabetical list to facilitate its use as a reference tool and to
supplement from year to year a proposed Guide to manuscript
resources of the Library. The present introduction is an attempt
to get a perspective of nation-wide trends in the related fields of
archives and historical manuscripts without which the task in
any one state, however efficiently carried out in other respects,
cannot attain the best results.