Il6 REPORTS ON INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



Sefior Don Pedro Torres Lanzas, chief of the Archives of the Indies, has 

 welcomed the proposed enterprise with most amiable kindness. A well- 

 qualified investigator has been selected in the person of Mr, Roscoe R. Hill, 

 of Columbia University, an accomplished student of Spanish-American his- 

 tory, who has resided four years in Cuba. It is hoped that the expedition 

 may be authorized, and that no administrative obstacles may arise to prevent 

 treatment of this particular bloc, though its condition confessedly presents 

 some difficulties. 



Provision was made by the trustees ten months ago for the preparation 

 by the Director of a project for an Atlas of the Historical Geography of the 

 United States. Progress has been made with this enterprise, but not such 

 as could have been wished. The Director is not able at the present time to 

 present the scheme with desirable completeness ; a year from now it will be 

 possible to do so. 



TEXTS. 



During 191 1 Professor Burnett will proceed with the editing of his Letters 

 of Delegates to the Continental Congress relating to its Transactions ; Miss 

 Davenport with that of her volumes of treaties. For the volumes of Ameri- 

 can Proceedings and Debates in Parliament, it may be expected that the jour- 

 nal matter, English, Scottish, and Irish, will be in whole or in large part 

 prepared for printing, so far as the texts are concerned ; that the search for 

 speeches in printed books may be brought measurably near to a conclusion ; 

 and that further progress may be made in copying from Cavendish's record 

 of debates. 



MISCE1.LANEOUS operations: department building. 



The Department will no doubt maintain in 191 1 activities similar to those 

 described above, under this head, in the report concerning the last twelve 

 months. The main matter to be mentioned in this concluding section of this 

 report is, as in the last two years' reports, the need of an adequate building 

 for the Department. The quarters which we have occupied during the past 

 year are paid for by a rental equal to five-eighths of the interest on a suitable 

 lot and building. Though better and more roomy than what we have had 

 hitherto, they have the disadvantages noted at the beginning of this report — 

 noise, dust, undignified surroundings, and remoteness from the Library of 

 Congress. The last prevents effective organization of the Department, since 

 the staff must be working at great distances one from another and from the 

 Director, and diminishes efficiency by consuming time in transit. A fire- 

 proof building, plain but dignified, in the immediate neighborhood of the 

 Library of Congress, is the only satisfactory solution of our problem, for the 

 cogent and permanent reason that most of the materials needed for our work 

 are there, and that we work at more than arm's-length if elsewhere. 



