DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. 155 



The first of the volumes of the Proceedings and Debates of the British Parlia- 

 ments respecting North America, edited by Dr. Stock, has been completed 

 during the year, and sent to the press in June. This involved the finishing of 

 the notes of proceedings of the Parliaments and Conventions of the Estates of 

 Scotland, and of the Parliaments of Ireland, down to the year 1689, the writing 

 of the preface or introduction, and the final preparation for print. The 

 volume runs from the first mention of America in the Journal of the House of 

 Lords, in 1542, and of the Commons, in 1549, to the date of the Revolution of 

 1689, which marks an obvious era in colonial history. It contains all records 

 of proceedings to be found in the Journals and all notes of debates which it 

 has been found possible to obtain from printed books, or from manuscripts 

 in England relating to America or to connections or commerce therewith. 

 At the conclusion of the year, 33 galleys of this first volume have been 

 received from the printer, and read. Meantime Dr. Stock has proceeded 

 with the second volume. Its texts have long been ready; its annotation has 

 been completed up to 1692. 



Miss Donnan, whose duties as an associate professor in Wellesley College 

 leave her but a minor portion of time available for the completion of the work 

 on which she was engaged when she resigned from the staff of the Institution, 

 has devoted most of the summer vacation, and some lesser portions of the 

 preceding academic year, to the preparation of her volumes of documents 

 illustrative of the history of the African slave trade to the United States. In 

 September and during the Christmas vacation she secured, by the kindness of 

 the Newport Historical Society, a large addition to her Rhode Island material. 

 Most of the work of the summer has consisted in combining this with other 

 Rhode Island material already obtained and in annotating that section of the 

 book, with some similar additional work for the portion relating to South 

 Carolina. Other work has been carried on in the admiralty papers in the 

 State House at Providence, and at the Essex Institute at Salem. Some 

 additional transcripts from the papers of the Royal African Company in 

 London have been received from Miss Fisher, and some from the French 

 archives, relating to Louisiana, from Mr. Doysie. 



The work of Mrs. Catterall, in drawing off materials respecting the history 

 of slavery from the judicial reports of the American States, has during the 

 year been carried through the reports covering Delaware and Missouri, and 

 a portion of the federal cases, and has included the preparation of the intro- 

 ductions to the sections on the Maryland and the English cases, as well as 

 those for Delaware and Missouri. These introductions are intended to 

 exhibit the development of judicial opinion in each State. 



The text for the volumes of the Correspondence of Andrew Jackson, assumed 

 a year ago to be completed, has received during the year some small additions, 

 chiefly from the Department of History and Archives in the State of Missis- 

 sippi, the latter having been obtained through the kindness of Dr. Dunbar 

 Rowland, director of that department. The chief progress of the year has 

 consisted in the advancement, nearly to completion, of the work of annota- 

 tion, upon which Professor Bassett, the editor of the series, has spent as much 

 time as his duties in Smith College and in the University of Chicago would 

 permit. 



Advancement of the series of volumes of the Correspondence of the British 

 Ministers to the United States during the year has consisted chiefly in the 



