tucky of the eighteenth century looked south and west for its commercial emancipation, sought political freedom and leadership in the first half of the nineteenth century, and in 1860, an existence outside of the Federal constitution. The social conditions pertaining to the people of this State which have given rise to such a political history are worthy of careful study, and for this study the Breckinridge papers will be essential.

Van Buren papers

Dr. Stuyvesant Fish Morris, of New York, has made important additions to the collection of Martin Van Buren papers. That collection, the gift of Mrs. Smith Thompson Van Buren, was described in the report of the Librarian for 1904, page 42. Rich as it is in historical material its value has been much increased by the papers which Dr. Morris has so generously given. The addition includes 860 letters, most of them written to Van Buren while Secretary of state, Vice-President, and President, and 62 circulars, printed broadsides, and campaign material. Not only do these documents cover a very important political period, but they form in themselves the best guide to the political movements of the dominant party and the best index of the hopes, fears, and ambitions of the leading political managers in the Van Buren following. A long list might be made of the good things to be found in them, such as the letters and memoranda by Andrew Jackson on the Texan question; but a mere mention of some of the prominent writers must suffice. Of the writings of Francis P. Blair there are 100 pieces, including copies of his business controversy with Amos Kendall. Of Benjamin F. Butler, of New York, the lifelong friend and confidant of Van Buren, there are 52 letters. Thomas H. Benton is represented by 30 letters and George Bancroft by 34. Of New York writers the following may be mentioned: John A. Dix, 23; C. C. Cambreleng,

Squier gift

10; A. C. Flagg, 32; James Gordon Bennett, 6; Samuel J.
Tilden, 4; E. Croswell, 10; H. Bleecker, 6; William C.
Bryant, 1, and James Fenimore Cooper, 1. Other names
are: James Buchanan, 17; James K. Polk, 6; P. V. Dan-
iel, 19; John Forsyth, 19; Lewis Cass, 8; Thomas N.
Carr, 10; John H. Eaton, 5; Governor William Carroll,
5; J. W. Edmonds, 9; Salmon P. Chase, 3; Simon Cam-
eron, 3; J. Bragg (of Mobile), 6; S. R. Betts, 6; Frank-
lin Pierce, 3; William S. Archer, 4; Gideon Welles, 4;
and William Allen, of Ohio, 3. In the forty drafts of
Van Buren letters is found that of his well-known letter
to Sherrod Williams, but unfortunately with a few leaves
missing. These drafts are of especial interest, as they
show the care with which Van Buren prepared his replies
to his correspondents and laid down his political principles.
In many instances the letter was entirely rewritten, and in
these drafts may thus be seen the first thoughts of the
writer, and the more studied and final form in which
these thoughts were sent out to become motive power of
political action. The letters to Van Buren from his cor-
respondents are not merely perfunctory notes, but lengthy
communications on the political situation. Altogether,.
for the period it covers, the Van Buren collection is of
incalculable value to the historian and will always remain
a monument to the man and to the public spirit of those
who have so freely given it to the historical archives of
the nation.

From the family of Ephraim George Squier the Library received a collection of the papers of that archaeologist, which much strengthens the material in the Library on the ancient history of America. His original researches and diplomatic services bore fruit in writings which received recognition at home and abroad, and his wide sympathies

give to his general correspondence a corresponding interest. From many sources he received material on Indian remains in America, and a close study of this collection will develop its richness in material as yet unused by him or his successors. Of Mr. Squier's own manuscripts may be mentioned: those pertaining to the "Ancient monuments of the Mississippi valley," with the illustrations drawn by the author; the manuscripts relating to Aubin's "Mexican picture writings;" papers on Indian tribes and vocabularies; documents. and manuscripts on South American countries and Indians, and miscellaneous manuscripts on archaeological subjects. With these are ten volumes containing 2,200 letters from his correspondents, neatly mounted and bound. It would be difficult to describe the contents without becoming too particular, and some selected names must suffice to indicate the character of this collection: Louis Agassiz, 8; Aubin, 12; Prisse d'Avennes, 19; Spencer F. Baird, 16; Joseph Henry, 46; G. Barrios, 9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, 8; Pascual de Gayangos, 8; J. de Marcoleta, 42; S. Birch (of the British Museum), 32; Thomas Wright, 25; William Blackmore, 10; George R. Glidden, 59; Henry B. Anthony, 30; Brantz Mayer, 22; Josiah C. Nott, 34; Charles Eliot Norton, 36; Buckingham Smith, 29, and George Gibbs, 13.

Mrs. James T. Fields, of Boston, Mass., has given to the Fields gift literary collections of the Library a number of interesting examples drawn from her rich stores. I regret to admit that in literary pieces the Library is not rich, and occasional letters of American and foreign authors found in the political collections do not serve to remedy this deficiency. gift of Mrs. Fields was therefore all the more welcome as giving the foundation for such a class of manuscripts. Among the items given by Mrs. Fields were: James Russell Lowell, leaf from the "Biglow Papers;" Ralph Waldo Em

The

erson, a letter and lines of manuscript; John G. Whittier, a poem (Andrew Rykman's prayer) and letter; Oliver Wendell Holmes, a letter and a page of "Elsie Venner;" letters of Henry W. Longfellow, Francis Parkman, Edwin Booth, Henry Ward Beecher, W. D. Howells, and Nathaniel Hawthorne; also manuscript poems by John Pierpont and Celia Thaxter, and an article in the writing of Harriet Martineau. From other sources like material has been received:

At the suggestion of the late Mr. John Hay, the original manuscript of William Watson's poem on "Columbus” was given to the Library. The poem was written for the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, and was printed in the London Illustrated News. With this interesting and characteristic manuscript is a printed copy of the poem. The donor was Mr. John

Lane.

Mr. Wendell P. Garrison, of New York, has sent additions to the collection already known under his name, and Mrs. Henry Carrington Bolton has given a manuscript poem, "Passaic," by Washington Irving.

It is hardly necessary to say that the Library invites such material. It desires to possess examples of the writings and manuscripts of the authors, artists, actors, and musicians of the United States. Political history is only one phase of national life, and all other phases of social activity and development should be as richly represented. The Squier and Schoolcraft, Fitch and Thornton papers offer much of value in science; but letters now in the Library of the better known authors are few in number and not important in contents.

Mr. Andrew J. Patterson, of Greeneville, Tenn., presented to the Library fifteen letters of his grandfather, President Andrew Johnson, addressed to B. McDannel, of Tennessee. These letters are interesting in themselves,

and some of them are early examples of Johnson's lettersearlier than any before possessed by the Library. Mr. Patterson has also very courteously deposited in the Library certain papers of Andrew Johnson and his son, Robert Johnson, which make the "Johnson collection" more complete, and round out the record of the military service of the son.

Mr. A. B. Eldredge, of Marquette, Mich., has given a very important paper which supplements the Johnson material. It is the original protest of the minority of the House of Representatives against the impeachment of President Johnson. This paper is in the writing of Hon. Charles A. Eldredge, then a member of the House, but it was not received by the House or permitted to be spread upon the Journals. This document has the signatures of 47 of the protesting members.

This

Alabama and the

Here, too, should be mentioned a frame of relics of the Relics of the Confederate cruiser Alabama, presented by the Rev. Edward Kearsarge William Odborne, of Springfield, Ill. They consist of a discharge of a seaman of the vessel, signed by Raphael Semmes and Francis L. Galt; a clipping from the Christian World (London) giving an account of the encounter with the Kearsarge, and a cap band, stamped Alabama. frame has naturally attracted much attention from visitors. The Library possessed very few examples of the various Confederate issues of paper currency made by the South during the' civil war. An effort was made to increase the collection. It will be seen that gifts were received from the First National bank of Richmond, Va. (34 pieces), and from the First National bank of Harrisonburg, Va. (2 pieces). Mr. Dunbar Rowland, of Mississippi, presented 18 pieces of the cotton and railway notes of that State, as well as the usual State issues.

currency