DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. II/ 



that of the need of an adequate building for the Department. Its present 

 quarters are unsatisfactory in location — noisy, dusty, and remote from the Li- 

 brary of Congress. Our chief work, outside that done in our rooms, is pre- 

 pared in that library, and most of our staff, except the Director and those 

 occupied with clerical work, spend most of their time in it and in going to it 

 and from it. There would be a great gain in the economy of time, in quiet, in 

 efficiency, in opportunity for mutual consultation, in organization, unity and 

 harmony of work, if we could have an adequate building in the immediate 

 neighborhood of the Library of Congress. Our present location loses the one 

 merit it has had, that of nearness to the administrative offices of the Institu- 

 tion, whenever the latter, presumably at some time in 1909, are transferred to 

 their new building on Sixteenth Street. 



But adequate quarters, and especially fireproof quarters, for such an insti- 

 tution can apparently not be rented in the neighborhood of the Library of 

 Congress. Fireproof quarters, however, we undoubtedly ought to have, since 

 for five years we have been, at much expense, accumulating data which ought 

 not to be subjected to any avoidable chance of destruction, and shall in future 

 years accumulate much more. Therefore I urge that steps be taken to pro- 

 vide the Department with an adequate building of its own, on a piece of 

 ground situated in the locality indicated, and affording sufficient space to se- 

 cure proper light, ventilation, and protection from fire. So vital is such ac- 

 commodation to the prosperity of the Department that I make this by far the 

 chief recommendation of the year, hoping that by this time there is sufficient 

 confidence in the future of the Department to make the request seem reason- 

 able and appropriate. If the proposal is in general terms regarded with favor, 

 I shall be happy, if desired to do so, to make suggestions respecting details. 

 It is true that our requirements are on the whole simple ; yet our work has its 

 peculiarities, and in the construction of a multitude of buildings for American 

 historical societies and American and European archives, and of such build- 

 ings as the John Carter Brown Library, that of the Hispanic Society, and 

 others, a considerable amount of experience applicable to our peculiar prob- 

 lems has been developed. 



