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copies in the possession of the Chinese Government are
almost exhausted, we had feared that this desire could
not be satisfied.

That the generosity of the Chinese Government has
now satisfied it is a matter of hearty congratulation.
We beg that you will express to the ambassador our
sense of this, and (since the volumes have now been
delivered) our acknowledgment—in behalf not merely
of the institution, but of American scholars-for the ad-
dition to our collections of this notable work-record of
unique learning, and of enduring interest to learning in
every land.

Very respectfully

HERBERT PUTNAM
Librarian of Congress

To the Honorable THE SECRETARY OF STATE

Washington

Among the gifts of individual material having special Gifts interest were over a hundred (printed) volumes from the library of George Bancroft, presented by Mrs. J. C. Bancroft Davis. These included an extra-illustrated copy of Doctor Bancroft's own history, and a unique copy of the plates illustrating the stained glass in St. John's Church, at Washington."

A manuscript, also from Mrs. Davis, is, like other gifts of manuscripts (including notable ones from the Hon. Francis Burton Harrison, of New York, from Mrs. William Reed, of Baltimore, and from Mrs. Wm. H. Schaefer, of Boston), noted under "Manuscripts;" and Mrs. H. Carrington Bolton's gift of the large collection formed by Doctor Bolton of portraits of scientists is noted under "Prints." Mention belongs here, however, of the additional valued gift by Mrs. Bolton of the copy of Poggendorf's Biographisch-literarisches

a In making this gift Mrs. Davis writes: "I want all these books and Richard Doyle letter to be marked or known as a gift from Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Bancroft Davis, for it was my husband's wish that they should go to the Library of Congress, and I am only carrying out that wish in my lifetime instead of bequeathing them."

12721-09-3

Transfers and exchanges

Handwörterbuch, which Doctor Bolton had extra-illustrated with over 800 portraits of the persons treated.

As the tables indicate, receipts from transfers have continued, notably from the State, Treasury, Post-Office, and Interior Departments. The opportunities of the Library for distribution are enhanced by the following provision of the appropriations act for 1909-10:

The Librarian of Congress may from time to time transfer to other governmental libraries within the District of Columbia, including the Public Library, books and material in the possession of the Library of Congress in his judgment no longer necessary to its uses, but in the judgment of the custodians of such other collections likely to be useful to them, and may dispose of or destroy such material as has become useless. The continuance of exchanges under the system heretofore pursued (of printed lists of "Offers" and "Wants") requires more service and a greater space for sorting and listing than we have recently had at our command. Lists of our "Wants" will of course continue; but itemized lists of "Offers" must for the present be more limited. Descriptive lists may take their place-indicating in a summary way material of a certain nature offered in bulk, and invitations may be extended to libraries of importance to send representatives to examine our collection of duplicates and make selection here. A fundamental difficulty is that of dealing fairly with the great number of remoter libraries individually. An arrangement should be possible by which we could deal directly with a few central institutions which would in turn attend to the distribution within the geographical areas to which they owe a particular duty. The institutions to which this task and privilege-logically belongs are the state libraries. We are not without hope that they may realize and undertake it.

DIVISION OF MANUSCRIPTS

(From the report of the Chief, Mr. Hunt) a

Accessions

The more important manuscripts accessions are described Mss: in detail in Appendix III of this report.

The collections have been enriched by several notable gifts during the past year, among which may be mentioned that of Mr. J. P. MacLean, of Franklin, Ohio, of a large number of papers illustrating the progress of the Shaker movement in Ohio, comprising letters from and to the community at Union Village, records of the village, biographical notebooks, music, prayers, and journals, the whole forming a valuable historical record of the rise of Shakerism in the Middle West; that of Hon. Francis Burton Harrison, a Representative in Congress from New York, catalogued as "The Burton Harrison Collection," being letters to his father, Burton N. Harrison, his grandfather, Jesse Burton Harrison, and his great-grandfather, Samuel Jordan Harrison, from Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, R. R. Gurley, N. P. Trist, Jefferson Davis and others, all, especially the Jefferson Davis letters, throwing important light upon historical events; that of Dr. Ellery C. Stowell of the original manuscript report, written by Louis Renault, on the subject of Contraband of War adopted in 1908-9 by the London International Naval Conference; that of Mrs. William Reed, of Baltimore, being the private diary (2 volumes) kept by Hon. William B. Reed during his mission to China in 1857-1859; and that of Dr. Stuyvesant Fish Morris of the certificates of election as President and Vice-President of the United States, of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, in 1833, and the certificate of election, as President, of Martin Van Buren, in 1837.

The transfer of manuscripts heretofore in other government offices has given the Division several important acces

a Mr. Hunt's responsibility for the work began on January 1st, 1909.

Mss:

Accessions

sions. The Department of State transferred all the Applications for Office during the administration of George Washington, and the journal and minutes of the Electoral Commission of 1877; the Treasury Department, the original vouchers and accounts of General Washington's expenses during the whole period of his command of the army during the Revolution; the Interior Department, the rich collection of historical documents filed in connection with the Revolutionary pension claims, and papers pertaining to the slave trade and negro colonization, 1862-1872; the Post-Office Department, certain miscellaneous papers, being drafts of letters, opinions of Assistant Attorneys-General and applications for office from 1825 to 1875.

The wisdom of these and similar transfers is apparent. Historical papers which are rarely or never used in a government department are apt to be forgotten, to be stored in inaccessible places or even lost. In the nature of things, their importance is estimated by present-day needs, and, although they may have great value from an historical standpoint, their uselessness in the transaction of the current business of the department causes them to suffer a want of care in their preservation. On the occasions when investigators desire to consult them, they are not readily accessible, and sometimes can not be found at all; and the search for them takes up the time of clerks which can ill be spared from current official work. The accommodations for the student are not well adapted for his purpose, and his presence in a busy office is an inconvenience. In the Library, on the other hand, provision is made especially for historical papers, they are readily accessible, they are in charge of those whose business it is to take proper care of them, and the arrangements for students leave nothing to be desired.

The more important purchases of the year include the letter and log books of Admiral Sir George Cockburn (1772–

1853) in 54 volumes, covering the years 1788 to 1847, embracing a narrative of the proceedings of Lord Nelson's squadron in the cruise from Gibraltar and the Battle of the Nile, 1798-1804; Cockburn's mission from Spain to her American colonies in 1811; the orders and movements of the British squadron in American waters in 1814; and the voyage to St. Helena, whither he carried Napoleon in 1815. The Bozman papers: John Leeds Bozman (1757-1823), Bozman papers historian of Maryland, lived near Easton, Md., on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay, where he conducted a large estate and pursued the life of an antiquarian and historian. He left his library and papers, upon his death, to his nephew, John Leeds Kerr, who was a Representative in Congress from December, 1825, to March, 1829, and from December, 1831, to March, 1833, and they were sold by descendants of the latter to the Library. They contain matter concerning the economic history of the Eastern Shore from the beginning of the eighteenth century, fragmentary data relating to John Pope and his estate, "Rome" (now Capitol Hill), and other valuable papers; but the most valuable items of the collection are the manuscript copies of the speeches delivered by two of the Maryland delegates, Luther Martin and James McHenry, in 1787, in the Maryland legislature, concerning the proceedings in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The substance of Martin's speech was published by him; but up to this time McHenry's speech had been utterly lost.

The Jefferson and Hamilton collections have been added to by the purchase of additional letters; and an interesting contribution to the history of South Carolina federalism has been obtained in a number of letters from Hamilton, Timothy Pickering and John Quincy Adams to William Loughton Smith, a Representative from South Carolina in the First Congress.

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