DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. 169 



Dr. Paullin, with such appropriate assistance as can from time to 

 time be invoked, will work upon the Atlas of the historical geography 

 of the United States. 



TEXTS. 



The Department will expect to be pennitted to bring out, during the 

 year, the first volume of Miss Davenport's Treaties between European 

 Powers, relating to American history, extending to 1648, while she pro- 

 ceeds toward the completion of the second volume, extending from 

 that date to 1713. 



Dr. Burnett will expend as large a part of his time as is possible upon 

 the further annotation of his "Letters of Delegates to the Continental 

 Congress." It has been concluded that the better course will be to 

 bring out the volumes of this series as they are completed, without 

 waiting for the completion of the whole work to the j^ear 1789. Ac- 

 cordingly, Dr. Burnett's first task will be to put the finishing touches 

 upon the first volume, which is expected to extend from the first 

 assembling of the Continental Congress in September 1774, either to 

 July 4, 1776, or to the end of that year. 



Similarly, in the case of the series of ''Proceedings and Debates of 

 ParUament respecting North America," it has been resolved that the 

 first volume shall be put into its final shape and offered for publication 

 at once. This first volume will extend to some point in the early part 

 of the eighteenth century. It will inevitably consist mainly of 

 materials from the journals of Lords and Coimiions, debate material 

 respecting America being relatively scanty in the seventeenth century. 

 With this object in view, the manuscript material in the British 

 Museum, needed for the purposes of the series, to 1750, will be pro- 

 cured in transcripts as early as possible in the year. 



Miss Donnan will devote whatever time is not occupied with her 

 duties in connection with the American Historical Review to further 

 research in the history of the African slave-trade, relating especially to 

 the sources and methods of supply. 



MISCELLANEOUS OPERATIONS. 



The Department will no doubt maintain, in 1917, activities similar 

 to those which, under this heading, have been described above in that 

 part of this report which relates to the last 12 months. It is confidently 

 believed that the presence of Professor Frederick J. Turner, of Harvard 

 University, as Research Associate, will stimulate all the work of the 

 Department. It will certainly cause all those who are occupied in its 

 activities to appreciate more vividly the relation of their work to 

 that of historians and to the general progress of American historical 

 study and literature. 



