Introduction 
13 
published in 1906. This is not always accurate, but clearness of arrangement 
and general usableness make it the most convenient handbook. 38 The best 
accounts of general conditions of study at Rome are found in the report De 
la Creation Tune Boole Beige a Rome, by Professor Alfred Cauchie of the 
University of Louvain (1895) 87 and The Vatican Archives, by Professor C. H. 
Haskins (1896). 38 A good cursory survey of the more important Italian 
archives is that published in 1901 by Professor P. J. Blok, Verslag van Onder- 
zoekingen naar Archivalia in Italic . 39 The monumental studies by Director 
Kehr on papal sources in various regions of Italy, published from time to 
time in the Nachrichten der K. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zn Gottin¬ 
gen , 40 unfortunately apply to too early a period, but are suggestive. The work 
of M. Gachard on Les Archives du Vatican , 111 although published in 1874, 
before their opening, still has a distinct value. The most recent publication, 
Guide aux Archives du Vatican, by Dr. Brom, is painstaking and useful. 43 
Copies. The absence of a regular American institution at Rome makes 
the securing of copies of documents desired by American students, not at 
Rome, difficult. In the case of the Vatican collections the simplest plan is 
to write directly to the Archivio or Biblioteca with a request for an official 
copy. The tariff at the Archivio is regularly fixed. For copies of documents 
of a date previous to the year 1000 the charge is 4 lire per folio, for those 
between 1000 and 1500, 3 lire, between 1500 and 1700, 2 lire, and from 1700 
to the present day, 1 lira. Photographs of manuscripts may be readily ob¬ 
tained at reasonable rates. In these cases, of course, a precise description 
of the document is required. To have search made is not so simple, and on 
this subject, and that of copies required in other collections, the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington will supply information. 
Usefidness for American History. As to the possibilities of contributions 
for American history from these various sources, the following pages are 
intended to give the American scholar some opportunity to judge for himself. 
It must not be forgotten that aside from its direct dealings with America, 
the whole history of the Church is a unit, and that this can be studied com¬ 
pletely only at Rome. It is probable also, that for the fifteenth, sixteenth, 
58 This is published also in Bibliographic Moderne, IX. 251-362. It is the most com¬ 
prehensive account of the various minor collections in the Vatican, but does not treat 
so extensively of the departmental archives as the work of Hinojosa. 
ST See also Cauchie, Mission aux Archives Vaticanes; Rapport a M. le Ministre de 
ITnterieur et de I’Instruction Publique (Brussels, 1892, pp. 181). 
88 In the American Historical Review, II. 40-59. This gives a brief account of the 
history and the contents of the collections, of the various schools at Rome, and a bril¬ 
liant review of the work done by them to that date. 
89 With special reference to the history of the Netherlands, published at the Hague in 
1901, pp. 85. Of the many descriptions of documentary quests through Italy, this is 
probably the most useful to the American historian. 
40 No investigator has used a net with meshes so fine as Director Kehr, and for the 
regions which he has covered his publications supply the best directory for collections 
of historical material. As his period, however, is. that of the early Middle Ages, most 
of these are of no interest to the student of American history, and some purely modern 
collections are not mentioned. 
41 Although travelling before the opening of the Vatican Archives, M. Gachard was 
allowed special privileges, and his descriptions of collections whose arrangement has 
not been altered are exceptionally good. 
42 (Rome, 1910, pp. x, 96.) This is practically a French version of the introductions in 
his Archivalia in Italie belangrijk voor de Geschiedenis van Nederland (Rijks Geschied- 
kundige Publication), undertaken as a result of Professor Blok’s recommendations, and 
of which two parts (Hague, 1908, pp. xxx, 464, and 1909, 465-1116), have been published. 
