Public Archives and Libraries in Rome 
209 
ARCHIVIO DI STATON 
The Archivio di Stato at Rome is at present located partly in three scattered 
houses, partly in the Palazzo del Gesu. Permission to use it is granted, as is 
usual in the case of government archives, by the director on the presentation 
of credentials, preferably a letter from the ambassador or consul. The director 
is in his office from n to 2, except on Thursdays, and the usual government 
holidays. The study room is open every day except holidays from 10 to 3, 
and there is no summer vacation. The government archives are, of course, all 
modern, as those before 1870 are at Turin and Florence; and are conse¬ 
quently opened only for exceptional reasons. There are preserved here, how¬ 
ever, certain ecclesiastical archives which were seized by the government 
when it occupied Rome. These consist: first, of certain documents from sup¬ 
pressed monasteries, but the great mass of such material is at the Biblioteca 
Vittorio Emanuele; secondly, there is an enormous amount of material taken 
from the Palazzo Ugolini, and consisting of records of the Camera. These 
were doubtless taken on the ground that the business of the Camera was 
chiefly the administration of the finances of the Papal States, and that they 
were, therefore, temporal records, and probably the greater portion answer 
to this description and are void of other interest. Mixed with these, however, 
are many ecclesiastical records, for the papacy never differentiated its ecclesi¬ 
astical and temporal functions; and many scholars have worked profitably 
here, on the general administration of papal finances. 8 9 All these studies are 
unfortunately for periods too early to be of much value to the American his¬ 
torian. Lack of resources has left this collection wholly unorganized. By 
way of catalogue there exists only an “ Elenco delP Archivio Camerale ”, 10 
which consists of a single folio, and in which the designation of series is often 
misleading, if not incorrect. It is, therefore, impossible to form an exact 
idea of how far this collection supplements that at the Vatican, and how far the 
two together may be lacking in completeness, without examining the whole, 
volume by volume. It would, in fact, be an altogether hopeless maze, were it 
not for the courtesy of the personnel. 
Note is here made of all the series having possible relation to the subject, 
with mention of all pertinent references found. 
Libri Resignationum. 286 volumes, divided into two sub-classes; a, Libri 
Resignationum et Consensuum, 39 volumes, 1457-1599; b, Libri Consensuum, 
247 volumes, 1528-1869. The volumes of this series examined, 1703-1707, 
and 1867-1869, contained no American items. Resignations are, of course, 
of exceptional and not of regular occurrence, and were most frequent in the 
Papal States, being usually coupled with some stipulation regarding pension, 
or an understanding concerning the successorship. The series is apparently 
8 W. Bliss, English Historical Reviezv, VI. 810-811; P. J. Blok, Verslag van Onder- 
zoekingen naar Archivalia in Italie, 1901, pp. 62-64; G. Bourgin, Les Archives Ponti¬ 
ficates, pp. 54-57; Hinojosa, Los Despachos, pp. 43, 64, 75; F. Gregorovius, “ Staats- 
archiv”, in Historische Zeitschrift, XXXVI. 141-173 (best account, although written in 
1876; in fact, little has been done in the way of organization since that time). See also 
pages 31-34. In 1910 new rooms were added at the Gesu. See Ernesto Ovidi, Gli 
Archivi Pubblici Romani, inaugural lecture (Rome, 1910, pp. 40), and p. 9, supra. 
9 Particularly Dom U. Berliere, Inventaire Analytique des Libri Obligationum et 
Solutionum (for the dioceses of Belgium), (Rome, 1904, pp. xxvii, 315) ; and Dr. A. 
Gottlob, Aus der Camera Apostolica des 15. Jahrhunderts (Innsbruck, 1889, pp. 317.) 
10 The modern portion of the elenco is printed by Bourgin in the reference just noted, 
together with a table of contents arranged by A. Meister, in his “ Auszuge aus der 
Camera Apostolica zur Geschichte der Kirchen des Bistums Strassburg, 1415-1513 ”, in 
Zeitschrift fur Geschichte des Oberrheins, 1892, N. S., VIII. 105. 
