Guide to the Materials for American History in 
Roman and Other Italian Archives 
INTRODUCTION. 
The aim of this study is to render available to students the unprinted sources 
for the history of the United States and Canada existing in Italy, and particu¬ 
larly at Rome; its character has necessarily been determined by the condition 
of the material and the amount of time disposable. As compared with what is 
in the archives of England and of Spain, the total bulk of material is small, 
and such as exists is almost never found in collections or series special to the 
subject, but dispersed at large. This fact made it useless to give merely gen¬ 
eral descriptions, while on the other hand it was impossible exhaustively to 
examine every volume where an American document might lurk. The method 
employed was to study thoroughly a few volumes of every set which might be 
supposed to contain anything relating to America, and to give here, in addition 
to the description of the whole, the exact findings in these volumes, as well 
negative as positive. 
In this portion of the work of searching foreign archives it seemed unwise 
to insist closely upon the strict limitations of the subject. It was often possible, 
without additional effort, to determine the absence of reference to both of the 
Americas, and it seemed worth while to make note of such cases. Occasionally 
where nothing relating to the United States and Canada was found in the 
volumes used, reference has been made to other American items, to show the 
scope of the series. All general references to America or the Western Indies 
and all documents of interest for general American history are mentioned; 
together with everything relating to Cuba and the northern provinces and 
bishoprics of Mexico, because of their connection with the missions of Florida 
and the Western states. In the use of catalogues, inventories, and indexes, 
it was necessary to exercise the greatest liberality, as their makers never had 
in mind the needs of American students. The name America rarely occurs, 
the names of Canada and the United States almost never, and the only safe 
method seemed to be to make the range of investigation as wide as possible, 
even at the expense of much time that might have yielded more definite re¬ 
sults elsewhere. 
Of the relations between Italy and America which have from time to time 
left their record in Italian archives, the most important and the most con¬ 
tinuous has been that of the Catholic Church. This relation began with the 
first discovery, and extended with, and often far in advance of, the settlement 
of the country, retarded only in New England and the Southern states. The 
records of that church are, therefore, organic archives for Canada and for 
the larger portion of the United States during their entire history; and these 
records, or more particularly those of its central administration, were the main 
object of investigation. Essential archives, also, are the records of the diplo¬ 
matic relations between the various governments which have from time to 
time controlled the United States and Canada, and those of Italy. As, how- 
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