THE HISTORICAL RECORDS oURVEY
A Statement on its program and
accomplishments Presented to
the Sub-Committee of the Senate
Committee on Education and Labor,
in connection with the Bill to
Create a permanent Bureau of
Fine .arts, Larch 1, 1938, by-
Luther h. Evans, National Director.
* * * *
u r> <
THE HISTORICAL RE COLDS SURVEY
DIVISIOH 01' WOEEK'S aND PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS
WORKS PROGRESS ADLI il IS TRaT I Oil
~"?734 Hew Ylrl: Avenue, N.W.
'Washington, D.C-
Mr- Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committeej
It is a pleasure to have the opportunity of presenting to
you a general statement regarding the program and accomplishments of
the Historical Records Survey. The work of this project is not as
dramatic as that of the four arts projects, nor are its results as
readily visible to the general public. Moreover, the project is not
built upon as definite a group of trained workers, The four arts
projects are more fortunate than the Survey in being able to train
their employees in weUnrecognized artistic occupations, and also in
being able to present to the public immediate and concrete products
which it is in a position to appreciate.
The Historical Records Survey is engaged in a type of work
for which relatively few persons in its employ had previously been
engaged or in which they had special training, nor is there any like¬
lihood that most of them will be able to find private employment in it.
Moreover, the product of the Survey*s work is not adapted to such
immediate, wide, and general use and appreciation as the products of
the four arts projects. The inventories and other tools of research
in historical materials will necessarily be used primarily by offi¬
cials and researchers in local administration and in the production
of histories and other studies which will have a wide and general
use and value. In other words, an intermediate step is required be¬
fore the work of the Historical Records Survey achieves its full value.
For that a generation or two of serious research by many volunteer
scholars and students will be required.
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Despite these significant differences between the Survey
and the four arts projects, we have found it convenient and efficient
to associate it with them in a oommon administration, I am glad to
say quite candidly that as far as the Historical Records Survey is
concerned, it would be difficult to set up more satisfactory ad¬
ministrative arrangements than now exist. We have labored under
great difficulties, but almost all of these are inherent in the job
itself.
The basic purpose of the Historical Records Survey is the
preparation of inventories and other bibliographical guides which will
render more accessible the great masses of unpublished official docu¬
ments of the states, counties, cities, and other units of lpcal govern¬
ment throughout the country, and, also, significant non-public
historical materials.
These bibliographies are designed for a two-fold use. In
the first place, they are expected to serve as handbooks for the state
or other local public official the most efficient performance of whose
day-to-day administrative duties requires the examination of the
records left to him by his predecessors. In the second place, they
are designed to make possible the most effective and complete utiliza¬
tion of the unrivaled storehouses of information contained in public
records by the country's army of researchers interested in any and all
phases of American civilization. Be a researcher interested in govern¬
mental organization and functions, in the history of the law, in
military affairs, in Indian wars, in the history of agriculture, or of
bridges, sewers, electric lights, motor transportation, religion and
morals, or even art, science and literature, he will find in the
public records essential data which he must consult if his researches
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are to be complete. To show that this statement is not far-fetched,
I should like to point out that the first evidence wo have of a play
ever given in the United States is oontainod in a court record of
Accomac County, Virginia, where we find that the judge of the local
court ordered a special presentation of a particular play in order that
he might determine whether public decency and morals would be offended
by its presentation in the community.
It is so generally recognized that one *f the greatest
civilizing influences developed in America during the past century is
the library system of the nation, that we seldom have occasion to
realize how terribly handicapped we would be without it. I think it
is safe to say that no large and important agency of government in
this country, no matter what its purposes and functions may be, and
that no large business or philanthropic enterprise could do its work
satisfactorily without utilizing the library resources of the nation.
By making use of the marvelous library catalogs and bibliographical
tools which have been painstakingly built up over a period of genera¬
tions, an ordinary citizen located anywhere in the country can usually
secure any book, pamphlet, or newspaper printed anywhere in the United
States at any time and on uiiy subject in which he may be interested.
The system of giving this service is, of course, not perfect, and
there are certain ways in which it could be improved if more adequate
appropriations were available to it. Later on, I shall speak more
specilically of a few limited aspects of the subject in which the
Historical Records Survey is attempting to give assistance.
The library system of the nation is primarily concerned
with printed materials and, generally speaking, does not assist in
dealing with the vastly greater quantities of unpublished documentary
materials. It is the purpose of Works Progress Administration to
build up a second library system for the nation, by making unpublished
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materials as widely known and aa readily available of officials and
other researchers as printed materials now are. This task is, of
course, stupendous xn its magnitude, and extremely difficult in its
complexity. Many who appreciate the size of the task and the major
problems involved in it, have felt that any group would be rash, al¬
most to the point of insanity, to undertake the job, particularly with
a relatively untrained personnel. During the remainder of the time
allotted to me, X shall attempt to show that the undertaking can be
reduced to manageable proportions by the careful design of special
techniques and procedures, and that, step by step, it can be accomplished.
Let me present first a brief picture of the general situa¬
tion existing in this country in regard to unpublished historical and
documentary materials, Xn addition to the Federal Government, there
are in the United States at the present time 3,066 counties, including
the parishes of Louisiana, and uncounted thousands of towns, villages,
cities, and other units of local government. There are 48 state govern¬
ments, approximately 235,000 churches (Census of Religious Bodies,
1926), and numerous libraries, historical societies, and other groups
in possession of collections of private papers and organization
archives. Although many archives are well-arranged and eusily
accessible, we may safely say that the vast majority of these records
and papers are unorganized, that they have no titles which can be used
for purposes of citation, and that their contents are known in each
case only to the person immediately in charge, and, in most cases, not
even to him. In other words, we have to deal, with mountaiixous heaps,
indeed thousands of tons, of unassorted and unknown documents, some
of' which are priceless and some of which are plaixi rubbish.
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Obviously, the first task to be performed in bringing this
material under control is the establishment of some sort of arrange¬
ment by types of documents, W. olothing store which wished to take an
inventory at the first of the year, would have to segregate the
different types of garments before attempting to inventory them. The
same thing is true of the records contained in the basements and
attics of courthouses and'town halls. It is necessary to gather to¬
gether all of the tax rolls, all of the soldiers' discharges, all of
the treasurers' check stubs, all of the building permits of registers
of children of school age. Once this task is accomplished, it is
possible to make an ixiventory.
We are now ready for a discussion of the principal task
undertaken by the Historical Records Survey. Our workers have before
them a Manual of instructions and a number of printed forms for taking
down information as to the titles of records, the dates covered, a
general description of contents, information as to the arrangement and
indexing of records, their size, condition, location, and the con¬
ditions under which they are housed* Different forms are designed
for different types of records, that is, a bound record would be
listed on one type of form, a map on another, etc. The forms filled
in by the workers are sent to a central office in each state where
they are edited for completeness and are then returned, with questions
for additional information, and for the checking of all the iniormation
contained in them, In the interest of accuracy and completeness, it
has been found necessary to rechocK every item of information obtained
by the workers.
When all of the forms for a county or town, or other unit
of government have been completed, the information is condensed into a
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book such as X have here. This book, however, gives more information
than I have mentioned, it is necessary, if the reader is to under¬
stand the relation of each rooord to tho government of the community
and to other records, that he havo a brief statement of the history,
the organization, duties and functions of each office of local govern¬
ment, and that he know what legal requirements exist for the keeping
of records. We have found it desirable to gather together in oeie
place in the book all of the information secured by the workers con¬
cerning the housing, care, and accessibility of the local records.
i.et me speak a little more fully of the contents of one
of our county books. Following the table or contents, we give a brief
historical sketch of the county, and then a general statement on the
county system of government and records. This latter essay is
accompanied by a chart showing the present organization of county
government. The essay on the housing, care, and accessibility of
the records follows, and then are given explanatory notes as to how to
use the inventory.
We then take up tho various offices of county government
and describe their organization, functions, and records requirements
in detail, basing our statements primarily upon constitutional and
statutory provisions. Following this statoment for each office is a
list of its records, grouped, as fur as possible, under general sub¬
ject headings. We attempt to arrange the offices in some logical
sequence, as may be indicated by consulting our Duval County, Florida,
inventory, copy of which I have here. The offices are placed in the
following sequence: Board of county commissioners, clerk of the board
and auditor, recorder, circuit court, state attorney, county detective,
criminal court, county solicitor, jury commissioners, county judge.
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juvenile court* probation officer, justice of the peace* constables,
county attorney, sheriff, timber agent, traffio officer, county
budget commission, tax assessor, tax collector, trustees of county
bonds, treasurer, board of public instruction, superintendent of
public instruction, supervisor of registration, welfare board,
parental home, detention hone, county engineer, superintendent of
county prison farm, inspector of plumbing, agricultural agent, and
home demonstration agent. It will be noted that the general legis¬
lative body comes first, followed by the recorder, and then by the
judicial and prosecuting agencies. Then follow the taxation and
financial officials and the various agencies for education, welfare,
engineering, etc.
Under each office the records which that office has
created or of which it is custodian in pursuance of law, are grouped
according to general subject matter. To illustrate, the recorder's
records are grouped under the following headingss Titles to property,
including general index, register of instruments filed, deeds, en¬
cumbrances, and plt.ts; corporations; professional records; and trade
marks, ear marks, and brands. To take another illustration, the
circuit court records are grouped under the following headings and
sub-headingst Case papers; bonds; pay rolls; miscellaneous original
papers; court minutes; miscellaneous dockets; progress dockets; orders,
judgments and executions; corporations; correspondence; and a large
group known as tax records, under which sub-headings appear as follows;
Assessment rolls; receipts; delinquent tax records; drainage tax re¬
cords; and federal tax lien index.
The entries listed under recorder are 34 in number; those
under the circuit court are 55 in number. It is clear, therefore,
that the subject headings serve to assist the user in finding records
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in which he may be interested, Grid to bring togethor records of simi¬
lar nature so that their interrelationships may be made dearer.
The book would still bo diffioult to use, however, if it
did not have an index. Hence we numbor the entries for the different
records, and prepare an index, which includes not only the titles of
the records, but makes reference to the subjects which they cover. We
are also including in future inventories a chronological index which
furnishes the user at a glance with a statement of the records of any
given county, for any period of time in which he may be interested.
Let us take an individual entry and analyze it for the
purpose of seeing clearly what sort of a control the county and other
inventories will afford when completed, for the records contained in
the more than 3,000 courthouses and the other thousands of public re¬
cords depositories in the United States, For this purpose I will take
an entry from the inventory of the archives of St. Charles Parish,
Louisiana, in which X have made a few changes in punctuation:
19. MORTGAGE BOOK, 1811—. 41 vols. (1-41).
Record of all conventional and minor mortgages; judicial mortgages until
1858; re-inscribed mortgages, donations, renunciations;. bonds of parish
officials and curators, contractors for public works; liens, pledges
and privileges until 1890; leases; partnership agreements until 1909;
building contracts; chattel mortgages until 1S13; charters until 1918;
decrees, judgments or orders, by which mortgages of any kind are
created on property. Chron. arr. ho index, 1811-34; indexed, 1835-
1914, in entry 21; indexed, 1854—, in entry 20. lidw., 1811-1911;
typed, 1912—. Vols, aver- ciOO pp» 18 x 12 x 3.
For original acts of mortgage, see entries, 4, 5, o, 8;
for chattel mortgages, 1913—, see entry 22; for liens, privileges
and pledges, 1899—, see entry 28; for judicial mortgages, 1858—,
see entry 23; for charters, 1918—, see entry 35; for partnership
agreements, 1909--, see entry 38.
In this instance the location of the volume is not in¬
dicated in the entry, but is covered by a general statement that all
the records in the suction are in the clerk's office, unless otherwise
indicated. Certain mortgage record* for earlier dates are contained
in other series of records listed in the entries to which aro6s re¬
ference is made.
Mr- Chairman and members of the committee, 1 submit to your
judgment the question whether the entry I have just read furnishes an
adequate description of this particular series of records. Lay opinion
is that entries of this type for all of the state, county, and town
records of the country would furnish the one indispensable key with
which to unlock the vast treasurehouse of local archives. I do not
believe there is much additional information to be ^iven unless one
tries to tell about individual documents, a procedure which would ob¬
viously be impossible t.s a general practice.
On the question of the completeness and accuracy of this
book, 1 should like to quote from a review of it recently published in
the Journal of Southern History. The reviewer states as follows* "In
the historical sketches of the parish and its offices there are liter¬
ally thousands of citations to constitutions, codes, acts, and re¬
vised statutes, and to the most authoritative secondary sources. A
careful check reveals that the research has been accurate, exhaustive,
and meticulous." The entire inventory "represents research, compila¬
tion, and editing at their best." I could quote a number of similar
reviews of other inventories. I have not yet seen an unfavorable re¬
view of any inventory which we have published.
I realize, of course, that a reviewer can hardly test the
accuracy or completeness of o.n inventory, unless the rare event should
happ«n that he checked the inventory in the courthouse. 'We are fully
aware of the difficulties surrounding our attempt to produce trust-
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worthy tools for research, and we huve taken many safeguards to pre¬
vent error and omission. We work out detailed job assignments, in¬
struct the workers carefully in the work they are to do, oheck their
work while they are still on the job, return anything needing re¬
vision or supplementary information, and prepare the draft books
according to high standards of scholarship. The draft books them¬
selves are returned for a complete recheck of every item of informa¬
tion in every record entry. After thorough revision, the draft is
sent to my office, where it is again edited with meticulous thorough¬
ness. Frequently an inventory will undergo as many as three revisions
after being edited in the Washington office. In this way, gentlemen,
are we able to produce books which pass muster with the professors.
Now, as to what we haye accomplished in the production of
county inventories, I should like to present a brief statement. At
least one inventory such as I have here, has been published in each
of 30 states, and several others are in process of publication. The
total number of inventory volumes is approximately 45. More than 500
additional volumes have been through the Washington office at least
once. Of the 3,066 counties, the work had been rechecked on February
1st in 894 counties, and was in the process of recheck in 290 addi¬
tional counties. The initial Held work had been completed in 1944
counties, including those just mentioned, and was in progress in 402
additional counties. This leaves only 720 counties in which no work
has yet been done in county records. All statistios areas of
February 1st,
The listing of state archives is approximately complete
in a few states, including Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and South Dakota, but no volume on state
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ar chives has been prepared for publication.
Several volumes of inventories of town records will appear
in the near future. We have listed considerably more than half the
town archives of New England# and have made some progress with town
and city records elsewhere.
The Survey is also preparing inventories of church archives.
Of approximately 235,000 churches in the United States# we have done
the field work, as of February 1st# on 41 #000-. As we are subordinating
the remainder of our program to the issuance of public records in¬
ventories# we have made slight progress in the preparation of church
inventories for publication. We have issued only three small items,—
those for Bryan County# Oklahoma# and Seattle and Spokane, Washington.
The Delaware, Rhode Island, and District of Columbia volumes are
approaching completion, however, and the volume for the Catholic re¬
cords in New Hampshire will soon be published.
Earlier in this statement I mentioned private manuscripts.
Yfe believe that vast quantities of important materials which can only
with difficulty be distinguished from governmental archives, will be
found in collections of private manuscripts in historical societies and
libraries. Our immediate program is to prepare a guide to depositories
of manuscript collections in the United States# and to follow that with
a guide to manuscript collections themselves. We hope later to issue
a number of calendars for important individual collections.
I have already spoken of the fact that the Survey is
attempting in a small way to strengthen the library system of the
nation in regard to catalogs and bibliographies. In this connection
we have undertaken the task of bringing nearer to completion that re-
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markable tool of research, known as the Union Catalog at the Library
of Congress. We havo made considerable progress in copying the card
catalogs of governmental libraries in the District of Columbia for
inclusion in the Union Catalog. We have also checked for early
American, imprints in many libraries outside the District of Columbia
whose holdings were not previously included in the Union Catalog*.
In addition tc this, we are preparing state-by-state check
lists of early American imprints. In these state volumes we attempt
to record all books, pamphlets, and broadsides from the beginning of
printing in the state up to a terminal date, which is 1820 for the
eastern states, and as late as 1890 for some of the Rocky Mountain
States. I believe accurate history cannot be written without the
contemporary accounts of events, many of the most important of which
were printed and which exist in no other form. In some cases, only
one copy of a book or broadside is known to exist, and that copy may
be hidden from scholars in an obscure library, thousands of miles from
the locality where it was printed or to which it relates. Our check
lists will acquaint scholars with the existence and location of these
essential research materials. One volume, a check list of Missouri
imprints before 1850, has already been issued. 1% gives locations
for 592 items, only 368 of which are in Missouri.
Another important bibliographical tool which we are pre¬
paring is an annotated bibliography of American history. This work was
undertaken in the early days of the relief program by the hew York
Public Library, and we have thought it wise to bring it to completion.
It is now about three-fourths completed, with annotations practically
ready for publication on 9500 titles.
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Another special task whioh we have undertaken is the pre¬
paration of a supplement to Richardson's famous compilation of the
Messages and Papers of the Presidents, covering the period 1897 to
1937. This task is approximately three-fourth completed.
A few additional small bibliographical and editorial tasks
are in process, but they absorb only a small percentage of the total
personnel of the project, which has been as high as 4400 and now stands
at approximately 2750* Average employment since the beginning of the
project in February 1936 has been approximately 3400.
I know you are interested in the matter of the distribution
of our publications. The funds made available to us do not permit us
to print our inventories. The mimeograph process is used unless
sponsors' contributions are obtained for printing. All exoept three
of the volumes so far issued have been mimeographed. We distribute
approximately 100 copies of each inventory in the state, and another
100 copies outside the state. A copy of each inventory is placed in
one or more well known and easily accessible depositories in each of
the states. The total number of these depositories for the entire
country is approximately 80. X have here a list of these depositories
in case anyone is interested in knowing about them.
You may be interested in a brief statement regarding the
personnel employed by the Historical Records Survey. While it is
very true that training is required for satisfactory work in inventory¬
ing public archives, church archives, etc., we have found it possible
to provide most of this training on the project itself. A few experts
on the administrative and editorial staff of each state project can
train the average white collar workers available in all of the states
to do satisfactory work. I need not elaborate upon the point made by
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krs. Woodward and the other Federal Directors, that we have not only
given valuable trailing-to our workers, but we have also rehabilitated
them and strengthened their moral fiber, and have given them renewed
hopes for the future*
In conclusion, I should like to say that the work of the
Historical Records Survey is part of a great movement which is sweep¬
ing America along to an historical renaissance. AS time goes on we
are cutting the cultural ties with Europe, and we are taking more
pride in our own great accomplishments. American life will indeed
achieve more dignity and richness as we study our past in the only way
that it can be studied, that is, in the archives and other source
materials which the Historical Records Survey makes adequately
accessible to us for the first time*
I thank you* gentlemen of the committee, for listening to
this statement.
When questioned by Senator Ellender of Louisiana concerning
the matter, Dr. Evans indicated his belief that the purposes and work
of the Survey make it ineligible for inclusion in a permanent Bureau of
Fine Arts. He pointed out that, although some of the basic tasks will
be completed as inventories are published, there is need for a per¬
manent organization, considerably smaller in number of employees, to
carry on some phases of the work.