Il6 REPORTS ON INVJiSTlGATlONS AND PROJECTS. 



copying in the archives of Paris undertaken by that department, and by 

 supervising its execution. 



As in previous years, searches and copies have been made by the Depart- 

 ment, or under its supervision, for organizations such as the Illinois State 

 Historical Library, to whose service Mr. Stock was transferred for two 

 months in the summer, and for many individuals. Letters of inquiry as to 

 historical papers in Washington and other matters have been answered with 

 the usual freedom. Their amount is at times burdensome, but it is felt that 

 they should not be discouraged, partly because when one answers such a 

 letter from a responsible person he is meeting a real need, and partly because 

 such correspondence afifords a means of keeping acquainted with the course 

 of historical thought and work in the country at large. The Director has, 

 as a matter of course, done what he could in small miscellaneous ways to 

 further the interests in Washington of the American Historical Association 

 and of American historical scholars. One such matter which may be instanced 

 consisted in acting, by semi-official request, as an intermediary between the 

 Royal Commission on the British Public Records, recently appointed, and 

 the body of historical scholars in America making frequent use of the Brit- 

 ish archives ; opinions and suggestions were collected somewhat systematic- 

 ally from these American scholars and presented to the Commission at the 

 time when it was taking testimony of an analogous character. Professor 

 Andrews, being in London during the sessions of the Commission, was in- 

 vited to give evidence before it as the result of his long-continued searches 

 on behalf of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. 



A considerable part of the Director's time was given, in the spring of 191 1, 

 to endeavors to promote the erection in Washington of a suitable national 

 archive building. A movement in that direction has been slowly progressing 

 for more than thirty years, but the disposition of the present Congress seems 

 to ofifer exceptional hopes of more rapid advance. The present state of 

 things with respect to archives is so singularly bad, so strikingly inconvenient 

 for historical workers — a hundred places of deposit, a hundred mutually 

 independent custodians, many differing systems, insufficient care, storage in 

 improper situations difficult of access and dangerous in respect to fire and 

 damp — that while the Director is concerned with the matter primarily as 

 chairman of a committee of the executive council of the American Historical 

 Association on the subject, he can not fail to regard it as also an important 

 part of his duty as director of a department of historical research, more 

 important to the future of historical work in America than many parts of 

 his regular duties, to do all that he can to promote the erection of a proper 

 national archive building, and ultimately the creation of a better system. If 

 the archives of the Government in Washington could be housed, arranged, 

 and managed as similar national collections are housed and administered in 

 European capitals, a long step forward would have been taken in the pro- 

 motion of American historical work. During the past (extra) session of 



