ADVISORY committb;e on history 229 



without employing a general organizer for all Europe, the problem 

 could be taken up country by country. The man most competent 

 to search for and inventory American materials in Italy, for example, 

 having been selected, he could be sent there the first year in which 

 he was free to go. The searcher should, of course, be provided with 

 proper assistants, manual and scholarly. It is possible that, as in 

 Washington, some of the features of a training school could be com- 

 bined with the work of exploration. The searchers might take with 

 them properly qualified graduate students and use them as appren- 

 tices. 



But the countries of Europe differ so widely one from another in 

 the profusion, character, and accessibility of their materials for 

 American history, and in the extent to which these have been cata- 

 logued and used, that we do not believe it possible at this distance 

 and in the present state of our knowledge to decide off hand upon 

 that plan of operation in the examining of archives which shall in 

 each country lead to the completest information and the most useful 

 form of inventory. We therefore recommend as the first year's 

 work in this field that as soon as it is practicable the Trustees of the 

 Carnegie Institution engage for one year the services of an accom- 

 plished American historical scholar, already well acquainted with 

 several European archives, who shall visit the various states of 

 Europe, collect information concerning conditions, persons, and 

 methods, and report a comprehensive plan, adapted to the circum- 

 stances of different countries, for the conduct of the detailed inquest 

 above described. He should have proper clerical assistance. We 

 suggest an appropriation of $5,500 for this preliminary survey — 

 $4,000 for salary and traveling expenses and $1,500 for clerical 

 assistance. To what extent and in what directions the work in 

 Europe should ultimately grow and what its future needs would be 

 we do not now attempt to prescribe. 



3. The American Historical Review. — The Atnerican Historical 

 Review is at the present time the chief means for the publication of 

 brief historical researches. As such it is doing a great service to 

 American historical scholarship. It is, in a quite exceptional sense, 

 the constituted organ of the profession. It was founded by a union 

 of all historical interests. It is owned and managed by a board 

 whose members are professors in various universities, and who are 

 elected by the Council of the American Historical Association. 

 That Association, without seeking to influence the policy of the 

 Review, gives it an annual grant as large as it can afford. With 



