DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. 153 



especially in the collection entitled Nouvelles Acquisitions, Collection Arnoul, 

 being papers of Nicolas and Pierre Arnoul, intendants of the marine at Toulon 

 and Rochefort under Louis XIV, and in that called Melanges de Colbert, con- 

 taining papers relating to the colonial administration of that statesman, 

 during the same reign. He has also made a special examination of the very- 

 extensive collection of American sketches in the Museum of Natural History 

 at Havre, made in America in the period from 1819 to 1839 by the French 

 naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur. Another expedition out of Paris has 

 been devoted to an examination of the papers, chiefly papers of the Compagnie 

 des Indes, preserved in the archives of the office of the marine at Lorient. 

 While in principle Mr. Leland's work is confined to the archives and libraries 

 of Paris, and search of the archives of the departments and other outlying 

 collections is not contemplated, the papers concerning French America pre- 

 served at Lorient are so closely related to those in the archives of the Minis- 

 tries of the Marine and Colonies that it has seemed logical to include them 

 in this inventory. 



Of the three volumes of which Mr. Leland's Guide will be composed, it is 

 his intention to complete first the volume relating to manuscripts in the 

 libraries of Paris, concerning America; then the second volume, relating chiefly 

 to the American materials in the Archives Nationales; then the third, relating 

 to materials in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other 

 ministries which have not thus far deposited their papers in the Archives 

 Nationales. 



As in previous years, Mr. Leland has received valuable aid from Mr. 

 Abel Doysie, whose knowledge of the materials for American history in Paris 

 archives and libraries is extraordinary. Mr. Doysi6 also rendered signal 

 assistance to the Director during his brief visit to Paris archives in the October 

 preceding, finished in the autumn his work on the archives of the Service 

 Hydrographique, and labored in the winter on section C^^ of those of the 

 Colonies. His help to Mr. Leland has lain chiefly in the field of French 

 colonial finance and papers relating to that subject. 



The work upon which Mrs. Surrey has been engaged, the making of a 

 catalogue of documents in Paris archives relating to the history of the Missis- 

 sippi Valley, is in practice an adjunct to the work of Mr. Leland and Mr. Doy- 

 sie just reported upon, though it has a separate history and origin, which 

 have been described in previous reports. Her work during the past year, 

 continued from September 1 to July 1, has in one respect differed from that 

 of previous years, for whereas much of it has been based on the notes taken 

 in Paris archives and libraries before the war by Mr. Doysie and other persons 

 who were then assisting Mr. Leland, another part, perhaps as great, has been 

 based on full-length transcripts of Paris documents, acquired during the 

 intervening years, mainly under Mr. Leland's supervision, by the Library 

 of Congress. Independent examination of these transcripts has enabled 

 Mrs. Surrey to improve her calendar by avoiding some imperfections found 

 in the older portion of the notes taken in Paris. Another portion of the 

 American material in the Archives Nationales for which our older notes stand 

 especially in need of revision is that in what is called Series B in the archives 

 of the Ministry of the Colonies. Going to Europe for a summer's vacation 

 at her own expense, Mrs. Surrey has at much personal sacrifice resolved to 



