DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH. 145 



American Historical Association and various other historical organiza- 

 tions have been given such aid as could appropriately be rendered, 

 in respect to investigations in Washington and other services, and 

 many queries from indi\aduals have been answered. 



Especially interesting to the Department, although originating 

 outside its normal sphere of operations, has been the matter of the 

 BandeUer transcripts. In October 1911 the trustees of the Institution 

 made a special grant to the late Dr. Adolph F. Bandelier, to enable 

 him to pursue further, in the Archives of the Indies, at Seville, those 

 documentary investigations into the history of the Pueblo Indians 

 of the Southwest which in former times he had pursued so fruitfully 

 in the archives of the City of Mexico and of the valley of the Rio 

 Grande. Dr. Bandelier proceeded to Seville, but fell ill and died there 

 before he had much more than begun his researches. Continuing them 

 along lines indicated by him, Mrs. Bandeher made transcripts of a 

 large mass of documents relating to the Pueblo Indians, which on her 

 return to America were turned over to the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington, together with some transcripts previously obtained by 

 her husband in Mexico. Dr. Bandelier's intention having been to 

 supplement in Seville such documents as chance and skiUful search 

 had already brought into his way in America, this present collection 

 bears naturally a somewhat accidental character, not marked by any 

 high degree of unity; yet it contains much that is interesting, and 

 taken as a whole is capable of forming an impressive collection, adding 

 much to our knowledge of the early history of the Spanish-Indian 

 Southwest, especially of the part along the Rio Grande. 



That this gratifying result might be achieved, the Executive Com- 

 mittee of the Trustees requested this Department to take general 

 charge of the work of preparing the transcripts for publication. Dr. 

 Charles W. Hackett, then of the University of California, now act- 

 ing assistant professor of history in that of Texas, a scholar having 

 an intimate knowledge of Southwestern history, and apparently the 

 best qualified person available, was engaged as editor. Under his 

 direction, the work of copying the transcripts for the printer (a process 

 made necessary by peculiarities of their form) has been completed, 

 and his assistants have nearly finished the careful translations which 

 are to accompany the texts. He has also done much of the work 

 necessary for writing the introductions and annotations. It is prob- 

 able that the year 1919 will see the task completed, within the appro- 

 priation made, and the book ready for print. 



Some of the documents brought back by Mrs. Bandelier have been 

 omitted, either because they were of insufficient importance or because 

 their substance was already accessible in print. On the other hand, 

 there were instances where a series of documents, incomplete as it 

 stood, could be made more complete and more intelligible if gaps 



