108 REPORTS ON INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



to the materials for American history in Roman and other Italian archives." 

 At the date of this report its page-proofs have been received and read and 

 the making of the index has been begun. This process has been intrusted 

 to Mr. Stock, formerly a student of the Catholic University of America and 

 well qualified for its execution. The book will be a volume of about 300 

 pages, providing guidance to a most diversified and interesting body of ma- 

 terials relating to American history, both civil and ecclesiastical. The main 

 portion of the contents is, inevitably, that which deals with the Vatican 

 archives, including the so-called Archivio Segreto, now freely thrown open 

 to investigators, the archives of the secretary of state, rich in reports and 

 documents from the Papal nuncios at various European courts, and a variety 

 of minor subdivisions and collections. But besides the Vatican archives 

 properly so called, and the manuscripts of the Vatican Library, there are 

 many other ecclesiastical archives and collections in Rome. Some of them 

 are connected with the central administration of the Papal government, such 

 as the archives of the congregations (Papal committees), tribunals, and 

 offices. Chief of these for American purposes are the archives of the Con- 

 gregation of the Propaganda, archives not ordinarily open to historical in- 

 vestigators, but upon which Mr. Fish has reported so fully that it occupies 

 nearly a third of his book. Other ecclesiastical collections are those of the 

 monastic orders, colleges, and churches, and of the religious establishments 

 maintained in Rome by foreign powers. The book also surveys the mate- 

 rials for American history preserved in the Roman archives of the Italian 

 government and the public libraries of the city. Some of the great private 

 libraries were also open to Professor Fish ; and he reports on the archives of 

 the foreign embassies in Rome. Next the book reports on the rich archives 

 of Naples, Venice, Turin, and Florence, where are still preserved the docu- 

 ments of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Republic of Venice, the King- 

 dom of Sardinia, and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. 



Nearly as far advanced toward publication is the "Inventory of unpub- 

 lished material for American religious history in Protestant Church archives 

 and other repositories," prepared, through personal investigations, by Prof. 

 W. H. Allison, formerly of Bryn Mawr College, but now professor of eccle- 

 siastical history in Colgate Theological Seminary. The galley-proofs of 

 this have been passed. It will make a volume of about 275 pages, including 

 a full index. The archives of the governing bodies of the various Protestant 

 churches and of their missionary societies, and the libraries of their theo- 

 logical seminaries, colleges, and historical societies, are here presented in an 

 alphabetical order of places, with elaborate and accurate lists of their his- 

 torical contents. It is hoped that the book, prepared in a catholic spirit and 

 with a sympathetic interest in the history of all religious denominations alike, 

 may further not only the preparation of more useful denominational and 

 local histories of the type hitherto current, but also, and still more, the prose- 

 cution of broader work relating to the history of American religion in general. 



