DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. 161 



It is also planned that Professor William I. Hull, of Swarthmore 

 College, shall, during the three summer months of 1914, make an 

 inventory of the materials for American history in the Dutch archives, 

 both national, provincial, and local. Ordinarily our books of this 

 class have been confined to the central archives of each nation ; but 

 the report on the ''Rijksarchief," which John Romeyn Brodhead 

 made to the state of New York in 1847, was so elaborate, the docu- 

 ments which he listed have to so large an extent been printed by that 

 state, and the amount of material acquired by the chief of the Dutch 

 national archives since then has been relatively so small, that in the 

 case of this country the most useful and appropriate task for the 

 maker of an inventory is to search for and list the American material 

 in the archives of the provinces, municipalities, and rehgious bodies. 

 With these Professor Hull is already familiar by reason of the re- 

 searches undertaken for his ''History of the Quakers in Holland." 



It is also intended that an expedition shall be made to the archives 

 of St. Petersburg and Moscow, by Professor Frank A. Colder, of the 

 Washington State College, who has for several years been much 

 occupied with investigations into the history of Russian America 

 and Eastern Siberia. By the kindness of Hon. Curtis Guild, until 

 lately the American ambassador in St. Petersburg, the necessary 

 permissions have been obtained from the Imperial Russian Foreign 

 Office, and it is believed that no obstacle exists to the thorough 

 exploration of whatever may be found illustrating the history of 

 Russian America and the relations between Russia and the United 

 States, in the Principal Archives of Moscow and in the archives of 

 the Foreign Office and other ministries of St. Petersburg, extending 

 as far down chronologically as the customary administrative regu- 

 lations permit. 



Miss Adam's undertaking in the Edinburgh archives has already 

 been mentioned. As Mr. Leland expects to conclude in 1914 his 

 long-continued, thorough, and systematic research in Paris, it may 

 be said that so far as the central archives of each nation are concerned 

 (and in some cases the provincial archives also) the preliminary work 

 of describing in inventories the materials for American history in 

 foreign archives has now been carried through or provided for in all 

 the foreign archives important to American purposes, except those of 

 Scandinavia, for which tentative arrangements have been instituted, 

 and of Ireland. 



Every effort will be made to make the largest progress possible upon 

 the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States. Dr. Paullin 

 will, it is hoped, have suostantial aid from several members of the per- 

 manent staff of the Department, and such other assistance as it can 

 afford to supply. 



