DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. 165 



should Mr. Leland not be able to return to Paris during the coming 

 year. Consequently he is at present engaged in preparing for the 

 press that portion of his report which deals with the Bibliotheque 

 Nationale. This will be accompanied by reports on materials in other 

 libraries of Paris, notably that of the Arsenal, the Mazarine, the Ste. 

 Genevieve, that of the Chamber of Deputies, and other similar 

 libraries. The whole will constitute a considerable volume, of which 

 students can make profitable use without waiting for the completion 

 of the volumes on the arcliives. 



Work on the Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States 

 has been prosecuted chiefly in the Map Division of the Library of 

 Congress, where aid of the greatest value has been most obligingly 

 supplied by Mr. P. Lee Phillips, chief of that division. The work of 

 Dr. Paullin, who has principal charge of the enterprise, has consisted 

 chiefly in the elaboration of the maps, and of the accompanying letter- 

 press, illustrating the history of the boundary controversies of the 

 United States from 1 776 to the present time. This large piece of work has 

 been nearly completed. It has involved prolonged historical research, 

 and the construction of many ingeniously devised maps. In Novem- 

 ber 1915, in order that the most expert advice upon the problems 

 involved might be obtained at the beginning of the work, a special 

 conference was called, in which the following gentlemen, invited by 

 reason of special acquirements bearing upon the problems from 

 different points of view, obligingly took part: Dr. Otto H. Tittmann, for 

 many years chief of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey; Mr. 

 John E. McGrath, of that estabhshment; Mr. James White, formerly 

 geographer of the Dominion of Canada and editor of its official atlas; 

 and Dr. Jesse S. Reeves, Professor of International Law and of the 

 History of Diplomacy in the University of Michigan. The conference 

 continued for a week. Dr. Tittmann kindly serving as chairman. Dr. 

 Paulhn as secretary. The Department would wish to make pubhc 

 expression of its gratitude to these accomphshed gentlemen. Their 

 friendly and in a sense international discussions were of great interest, 

 and resulted in many valuable suggestions toward the work in hand. 



Besides the completion of this section of the Atlas by Dr. Paulhn, 

 assisted by Mr. J. B. Bronson, of the Navy Department, as draftsman, 

 the Department availed itself of the presence of Dr. James A. Robert- 

 son in Washington to carry through its prehminary stage the prepara- 

 tion of another important section of the Atlas. This was the section 

 devoted to reproductions of old maps, as a means of exhibiting the 

 progress of geographical knowledge respecting America, the progressive 

 opening up of the continent by European, and later by American, 

 explorers. Dr. Robertson, whose acquirements in the field of carto- 

 graphical history are well known, spent several months in a careful 

 survey of all the material available for his purpose in the Library of 

 Congress, and also visited certain collections in New York, where he 



