114 REPORTS OX INV£;STIGATI0NS AND PROJECTS. 



Francis S. Philbrick, of New York, to whose knowledge of the Archives of 

 the Indies the Department is indebted for many favors in this connection, 

 of the fact that a Hst of the Papeles existed in the National Archives of 

 Cuba. A copy was procured, no such list existing at Seville, but arrived 

 after Mr. Hill's departure. It was clear in Washington from this list, and 

 still more clear in Seville from Mr. Hill's first month of work, that, the 

 legajos in this section being exceptionally large and the documents for United 

 States history much more numerous than had been supposed, the making of 

 what in strictness could be termed a calendar of them was out of the ques- 

 tion. There are large portions of which an itemized list can be constructed 

 with little difficulty from the tables of contents with which at an earlier time 

 tliey were provided. But in general the method adopted, after such consulta- 

 tion between Mr. Hill and the Director as was possible, has been to prepare 

 a description of each Icgajo, devised upon a uniform plan which will reveal 

 to intending investigators as largely as possible all the points of contact with 

 American history and with their particular studies which the papers in each 

 legajo afford. These descriptions can probably be printed in a single volume 

 of manageable size ; the itemized lists can be held in manuscript for the 

 present and placed at the service of investigators in various ways. The 

 favors received by Mr. Hill from the American consul in Seville, Mr. 

 Charles S. Winans, and from Senor Don Pedro Torres Lanzas, chief of the 

 archive, deserve especial commemoration. It may be interesting to add that, 

 upon the occasion of a visit of the King of Spain to the Archives of the 

 Indies, Mr. Hill had the opportunity to explain to him the nature and bear- 

 ings of the work upon which he was engaged. 



TEXTUAL PUBLICATION OF DOCUMENTS. 



The "Letters of Delegates to the Continental Congress relating to its 

 Transactions" has remained in the charge of Dr. Burnett, who has devoted 

 to it as much time as possible. The last remaining portion of the known 

 material, a body of copies from the Laurens papers and other Revolutionary 

 letters in the possession of the South Carolina Historical Society, at last 

 arrived, in September. The work of arrangement, comparison, and elimina- 

 tion having been completed with the exception of this section, the editor's 

 work during recent months has consisted mainly in the preparation of the 

 annotations. These are confined within moderate limits, but are intended to 

 make clear at every point both the origin of the fresh material respecting 

 Congressional proceedings and the relation of it to the existing data pre- 

 sented by the formal Journals of the Continental Congress. At the time of 

 the present report this work of editing has been carried through the year 

 1780 and a considerable part of it has been done for the years 1782 and 1783, 

 the intermediate year having been for the time passed over, for practical 

 reasons. 



