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the whole period of his command of the army during the Revolution; the Interior Department, the rich collection of historical documents filed in connection with the Revolutionary pension claims, and papers pertaining to the slave trade and negro colonization, 1862-1872; the Post-Office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. The Journals of the Continental Congress The preparation of additional calendars of the manuscript collections has been continued, and has progressed as satisfactorily as could be expected, when the small force employed in the Division and the length of time which the preparation of a calendar always takes, are considered. The calendar of the Andrew Johnson papers was half completed when the assistant who was preparing it resigned, and it will be continued as soon as his place has been filled. The calendar of the Military Correspondence of George Washington during the Revolution, compiled by Mr. J. C. Fitzpatrick, will, it is confidently hoped, be ready for publication before the close of the next fiscal year. The magnitude of this work will be realized when it is stated that the last calendar prepared by the Division, that of the Correspondence of George Washington with the Continental Congress, comprised 741 printed pages, and that the calendar now being prepared will be twice as voluminous. The State Department published, in 1901, a calendar of the Applications for Office during Washington's Administration, and transferred the remaining copies of the edition to the Library, with the papers. Calendars of the Van Buren, Jackson, and John Fitch papers and of the Jefferson accessions are in progress. The calendar of the New Mexico papers, which Miss Elizabeth H. West is preparing, now covers from the year 1621 to 1805, about 9,260 cards having been written. The transcripts of historical documents relating to American colonial affairs in the Public Record Office and British Museum, in London, and the Bodleian Library, at Oxford, continue to be received at intervals, and now aggregate about 67,500 folios of foolscap size. They are being catalogued in the Division, and the catalogue is partially completed. The editing of the Journals of the Continental Congress is a work peculiarly identified with my predecessor, Mr. Ford, the method of arrangement and annotation being the result of many years of study on his part. His system was so carefully worked out in all essential particulars that, in the continuation of the work, the only difference in the result will arise from such involuntary variation of judgment as may be an unavoidable consequence of the change of editors. The copy of Volumes XVI, XVII, and XVIII, covering the year 1780, will have gone to the press before this report has been sent to Congress. DIVISION OF DOCUMENTS (From the report of the Chief, Mr. Thompson) Accessions During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, the accessions DOCUMENTS: to the Library through the Division of Documents were as follows: Foreign docu ments In addition to the above, 641 maps and charts and 35 atlases have been received by official donation. While the total number of volumes and pamphlets handled by the Division of Documents during the year is slightly less than the corresponding total for the previous fiscal year, it may be noted that the accessions by transfer of documents from other government libraries are fewer than in the twelve months ended June 30, 1908, by about 10,000. As the latter material consists largely of publications already in the Library and the greater part is, in consequence, discarded as duplicate, comparison of the above statistics with. those reported last year shows that the net increase of the collection is larger this year by over 20 per cent. The preparation of want lists of foreign documents was continued along the lines indicated in the report for 1907, until all countries on the international exchange list, with the exception of Hungary and Russia, were included in the compilation. Statements of wants thus prepared have been sent during the year to the following countries and municipalities: Alsace-Lorraine, Austria, Baden, Belgium, Bremen, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Imperial German Government, Haiti, Hamburg, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Government of India, Bengal and Assam, Burma, Central Provinces of India, Coorg, Madras, Jamaica, Malta, Mexico, Norway, Nova Scotia, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Prince Edward Island, Prussia, Roumania, Saxony, Department of the Seine and City of Paris, Spain, Sweden, Tasmania, Transvaal, Uruguay, Venezuela, City of Vienna, Kingdom of Württemberg, and the London County Council. These lists have been forwarded to the appropriate offices mainly through the Smithsonian Institution. A few, however, have been sent direct to the distributing centers or through the Department of State. In response to requests outstanding a year ago, and from some of those above mentioned also, special shipments of |