Il8 REPORTS ON INVI=:STIGAT10XS AND PROJECTS. 



summer, but it is believed that that process will have come near enough to 

 its end to enable the manuscript of the volume to be given its final shape. 



Dr. Paullin's and Professor Paxson's "Guide to the materials in British 

 archives for United States history since 1783" must wait for the completion 

 of their inventory of Foreign Office and Admiralty material, by addition of 

 the tract extending from 1837 to i860. It is expected that Mr. Parker, 

 having gone to London in October for this purpose, will have been able by 

 January to bring the work to a finish. It is hardly expected that the book 

 can be published within the year, but composition upon it can be begun and 

 perhaps finished. 



The Canadian "Guide" must wait until at least February before it will be 

 possible to obtain convenient access to the materials for United States his- 

 tory in the provincial archives of Ontario, and to prepare and add the section 

 describing them. In the meantime, without sending special missions to places 

 so remote as Winnipeg, Edmonton, Regina, and Victoria, it should be possi- 

 ble by correspondence with local authorities to obtain adequate data concern- 

 ing such materials for the history of the United States as may be contained 

 in the archives of the provinces of Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and 

 British Columbia. The whole book should be ready for print before next 

 summer. 



Mr. Leland returns to Washington in November, after a year and a half 

 of heavy labor in Paris. While a part of his time will necessarily be devoted 

 to other things, such as to his duties as secretary of the American Historical 

 Association, he will expect to devote most of his time to the preparation 

 for publication of his "Guide to the materials for American history in the 

 archives of Paris." It is hoped that this may be completed without his going 

 to Paris again. He is endeavoring, in the concluding weeks of the year just 

 reported upon, to give such shape to all remaining portions of the search 

 that it can be carried to its termination, after his departure, by his clerical 

 assistants, under the skillful oversight of Mr. Doysie. 



Given the amount, as now known, of the materials for American history 

 in the "Papeles procedentes de la Isla de Cuba," it can be readily predicted 

 that Mr. Hill's work in Seville must continue on its present lines throughout 

 the year. 



Of new work to be undertaken by the Department during the year, by far 

 the most important will be the preparations toward an atlas of the historical 

 geography of the United States. As much as possible of the time of the 

 regular stafif, and it is hoped the time of various research associates coming 

 to Washington in various parts of the year, will be devoted to this work. 

 There is a real and immediate need of such an atlas, but its preparation 

 ought not to be hurried. There must be much consultation and deliberation 

 as to inclusions and exclusions. Much research will be necessary among old 

 maps which it may be thought desirable to reproduce. Many matters in 

 American historical geography, even in the field of political boundaries and 



