0.I6.97 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO VOLUME II 
Ten years have elapsed since the publication of the first 
volume, "Libraries," of this Guide to Materials for American 
History in the Libraries and Archives of Paris , and thirty-five 
years since the inception of the French "mission" of the 
Carnegie Institution of Washington. Volume II is devoted to 
the materials in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, obviously one of the most important of the Parisian 
depositories with respect to materials for American history. 
A third volume, dealing with the archives of the Ministry of 
War, the Hydrographic Service, and the Ministry of the Marine, 
is nearly complete and can, it is hoped, be issued during 1944. 
Later volumes will contain reports on the National Archives, 
on the archives of the Ministry of the Colonies, on various 
minor depositories, and also a list of "Acts of Sovereign 
Power relating to America" compiled from series in numerous 
depositories. 
The tragic events of the last three years have made it 
necessary to confine the contends of the present volume to 
notes already taken, and consequently in this and in succeeding 
volumes will be found some gaps that are regrettable but that 
cannot now be filled. The Guide as finally published will 
therefore represent the results of the "mission" as they stood 
in 1939. 
During the last decade the general editor of the Guide 
has been completely occupied with other duties and labors, and 
it would have been impossible to continue the preparation of 
the volumes if it had not been for the invaluable assistance 
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