HISTORICAL re;se;arch — jAMEsox. 195 



son's Bay Company, of the General Post Office, of the Catholic province of 

 Westminster, and of the Royal Society, Sion College, and Dr. Williams's 

 Library. By the kindness of Sir Henry Graham, Clerk of Parliaments, the 

 Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, the Archbishop of West- 

 minster, Lord Strathcona, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Sec- 

 retary to the Post Office (through the good offices of the American ambassa- 

 dor), and other authorities in charge of these collections, ample facilities for 

 Miss Davenport's work have been afforded. It is expected that it will be 

 completed within two months after the date of this report. The results will 

 then be combined with those obtained by Professor Andrews, and the Guide 

 produced. 



The guide to the materials for United States history in the three chief 

 Spanish archives is not so near completion. Professor Shepherd's duties at 

 Columbia University and his voyage to Rio Janeiro have delayed it, but it 

 will apparently be finished by the end of the calendar year. Mr. Perez's 

 report on the Cuban archives is finished, and ready for the press. By the 

 kindness of Dr. Arthur Doughty, C. M. G., archivist of the Dominion of 

 Canada, arrangements have been made whereby two agents of his office who 

 are engaged in searches of the archives of the Maritime Provinces and of the 

 ecclesiastical province of Quebec, respectively, Dr. James Hannay and Father 

 P. M. O'Leary, will communicate to this department reports upon all material 

 for the history of the United States that they may discover. 



It was from the first intended that all the reports of the department upon 

 foreign archives should be accompanied with lists of the transcripts of docu- 

 ments in foreign archives which exist in American public collections, in order 

 that the historical inquirer might run no risk of expending time and money 

 in seeking in Europe documents of which copies were accessible nearer home. 

 Mr. McLaughlin's last report explained what had been done toward this end 

 by Mr. W. G. Leland, of this department, in Virginia,* North Carolina, and 

 South Carolina. During the past year he has advanced this task much nearer 

 to completion, especially as regards the English and Spanish material, which 

 will be the parts first needed. The Hst of unprinted transcripts from the 

 British archives has been continued to include the documents in the Massa- 

 chusetts archives and in the libraries of Harvard University, the Massachu- 

 setts Historical Society, and the Maryland Historical Society, in all about 

 5,000, additional to about 10,000 that had been calendared a year ago. The 

 list of unprinted transcripts from the Spanish archives at present includes the 

 documents in the possession of the Louisiana Historical Society and the 

 Missouri Historical Society, in the library of Col. R. T. Durrett, of Louis- 

 ville, and in that of Harvard University, in all about a thousand. The 

 transcripts in the New York Public Library are next to be undertaken by 



* Our list of transcripts in the Virginia State Library has been printed by the librarian 

 in a recent report. 



