bia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Switzerland, and Venezuela. Letters were addressed to the secretaries of the various British colonies and all the statutes available were received from the following: Cape Colony, Gambia, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, India, Lagos, Mauritius, Natal, New South Wales, New Zealand, Orange River Colony, St. Lucia, Straits Settlements, Transvaal, and Victoria. The "Want list of American statutes" has also been taken up systematically and a considerable number of the required volumes has been obtained by special solicitation from the Secretaries of State and the State librarians. Among other State documents special attention has been given to completing the sets of reports of railroad commissions, in view of their particular interest at the present time. The policy of eliminating duplicates of United States documents by forwarding them to the Superintendent of Documents, and duplicates of State documents by returning them to the respective States, has been continued. The numbers thus disposed of during the year are as follows: The usual table of accessions, which I stated in my last report to be misleading, is omitted, as it becomes more misleading each year. Were the accessions few in number, a Practically verbatim as submitted by the Chief of the Division, Mr. Worthington C. Ford. MSS: Accessions easily identified, and capable of being at once permanently DIVISION OF located, such a statement by number would be possible. But each large collection contains thousands of pieces which are received in a much-confused condition, with wrappers, memoranda, note and account books, checks and receipts—a mass of miscellaneous accumulations of many descriptions. To count the papers on receipt is misleading, as in their folded condition inclosures would escape notice and the various sheets or parts of a single letter or document if separated would be counted two or more times. The collection as received may contain matter that is returned to the giver or that is discarded as of no public value or interest. The difference between the number of pieces in the original condition of the collection and the number of pieces in the collection as finally assorted and ready for permanent treatment would often be great, so great as to vitiate any statements of count. I therefore omit the statistical table of accessions, and shall trust in future to state the actual number in each collection as finally arranged and bound. The measure of the growing importance of the manuscript collections is shown by the number and nature of its accessions, whether by gift or by purchase, and by the number and character of those persons who have had occasion to consult these collections. Of the latter, no detailed list could be given; but it may be stated that the number of those who have spent weeks and even months in reading the manuscripts for historical writing has been larger than ever before, and the students represent some of the best workers in American history. The convenience and appliances, the manner of treating manuscripts, and the liberal rules governing their use have drawn attention to the advantages offered to the student. Copyist and photographer stand ready to give prompt attention to what is required, and the searcher may thus personally Breckinridge papers supervise the transcript of material or may call in photography to supply a reproduction which no copyist can rival. In number and extent of accessions the year was a notable one. The usual list of accessions is given in Appendix VII. It is only necessary to state in this place that the original range of 12 cases and 20 safes for storing manuscripts has already proved insufficient to house the growing stores, and a second range of 12 cases will be put under glass during the current year. The list of manuscripts received by gift during the fiscal year 1905 is given in full in Appendix VII. A very large and, in some respects, a most important gift has been made by Miss Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge and Mr. Desha Breckinridge, children of the late Hon. William C. P. Breckinridge, of Lexington, Ky. Their father had a lifelong interest in the history of Kentucky, and had brought together the papers of his family from many sources. This great accumulation he had arranged as his time permitted, but his constant occupation in the public service, involving long absences from Kentucky, prevented his completing the task or his making the use of the papers which he had in mind. His children have given the entire collection to the Library, subject to certain conditions. An extract from the letter of Miss Breckinridge will show the liberal spirit inspiring the gift. "GREEN HALL, THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, "My Dear Mr. Putnam: May I now offer you the papers given me by my Father in his will-to belong to the Congressional Library subject to my right to go through them within three years after I am told that they are ready for my inspection, and to my right to retain exclusive use for two more years in case I want to make use of any of them in historical work. I should like them known as The Breckinridge Papers. I feel very sure that we both want the same thing-that such value as these papers may have may be made accessible to all the world of students. Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge It remains to add a word on the nature and extent of the collection. The leading features are the papers of John Breckinridge (1760-1806); John Breckinridge, his son (1797-1841); Robert Jefferson Breckinridge, another son (1800-1871), and William Campbell Preston Breckinridge, son of Robert (1837-1905). In addition there are papers of many other members of the family and connections. The number can not be closely estimated, for the papers are in envelopes, scrapbooks, file cases, and paster-books; but between twenty-five and thirty thousand would be a conservative estimate. Only a glance can be given at the contents, for the present arrangement must be changed to enable an examination to be made. John Breckinridge, the elder, was an early settler in Kentucky; the friend and correspondent of Jefferson; prominent in the State legislature; the proposer, if not the framer, of the Kentucky resolutions of 1798; United States Senator from Kentucky; and Attorney-General in Jefferson's Cabinet. In Kentucky affairs he was a leader, and his wide connection in his native state of Virginia and in Kentucky give to his correspondence the weight of public and of social interest. one roll were found the papers relating to the Kentucky resolutions of 1798; in another, the printed reports from day to day and the notes of debates in the State constitutional LIB 1905- 3 In papers Breckinridge convention of 1799-two rolls containing unique papers upon matters which involve the largest questions of constitutional law and interpretation. Such material, selected haphazard from the loose papers, indicates possibilities of rich historical discoveries. Robert Breckinridge was for some years in political life, but abandoning politics he became one of the leaders in the Presbyterian church. His papers are rich in controversial matters, in questions of church government, and on the moral problems of the day, slavery being the most important. The dissensions which rent the Presbyterian church and the division in the nation causing the civil war were matters brought close to him. As a defender of the old church and one loyal to the Union when members of his own family were in opposition, his papers reflect the conditions which produced the contests, and the incidents attending their solution. William C. P. Breckinridge served in the Confederate army and was long Representative in Congress from the State of Kentucky, well known for his oratory, his mastery of public questions, and his loyalty to Democracy. Such a record of a single family, which for more than a century has been prominent in public life, is unusual, if not unique. Merely as a family history its historical content would be valuable, for the Breckinridges were widely connected with many of the prominent families of Virginia. But it is not as a family collection that the papers will be best known. Kentucky was a frontier State. It was the cradle of Democracy, that Democracy which gave birth and occasion to Jackson, to Polk, and their successors. Its social conditions have retained many of its original features, and a certain clannishness created leadership which centered in a few families, of which the Breckinridges constituted one. No better picture of these conditions could be found or imagined, and the society which in the Ken |