198 W. E. Curtis — Pre-Columbian, Vatican Documents. 



to the voyages of Columbus and the discovery and early settle- 

 ment of America. It was my pleasant duty to convey this 

 request to the nations and persons named, and with the excep- 

 tion of the government of France and the municipality of Genoa, 

 the response was prompt, generous, and complete. His emi- 

 nence, Mgr Rampolla, cardinal secretary of state, who repre- 

 sented the pope in the negotiations, was extremely cordial and 

 interested, and although he could not permit any original papers 

 to be taken from the files of the Vatican, he caused a thorough 

 investigation to be made, and furnished a fac-simile of every 

 important or interesting document that could be found bearing 

 upon the early history of America. While the claims of the 

 Scandinavian scholars were not sustained, and no evidence was 

 disclosed to show that the discoveries and adventures of the 

 Norsemen in America were ever known to the church, or that 

 Columbus obtained any information or assistance whatever from 

 this source, there were brought to light several historical docu- 

 ments of the greatest value, relating to the settlement of Green- 

 land and the propaganda of the church in the middle ages. 



The work of investigation was done under the direction of 

 Mr J. C. Heywood, a ripe and skillful scholar, who has devoted 

 many years to the study of the history and the policy of the 

 Catholic church, and who kindly consented to serve as the 

 representative of the Department of State of the United States 

 in securing a historical exhibit from the Vatican. Mr Heywood 

 was formerly a resident of Philadelphia, but of late years has 

 made his home at Rome, and is one of the chamberlains of Pope 

 Leo XIII. He was inspired in his work by a double motive — 

 the desire to have the Vatican represented at the World's Colum- 

 bian Exposition by some important and unusual exhibit, and 

 to add to the records of the Department of State at Washington 

 a collection of most valuable historical papers. 



The documents were exhibited in the convent of La Rabida, at 

 the World's Columbian Exposition, Avith the relics of Columbus, 

 and the catalogue of the collection contained, among much other 

 new and interesting historical matter, the following description 

 from Mr Heywood's pen : 



" The fac-similes of documents relating to the early history 

 of America here exhibited are taken from the famous series of 

 the Papal registers or letter books. These are a collection of 

 more than 12.000 volumes in folio, written partly on parchment 



