A Survey of German Manuscripts Pertaining to American History in the Library of Congress

Abstract

IN keeping with its responsibilities in the field of American history and, at the same time, realizing a long cherished plan of librarians and historians alike,' the Library of Congress in 1905 started a project of copying documents and manuscripts on American history in European depositories. At first, manuscripts in the Public Record Office were copied by hand by Messrs. B. F. Stevens & Brown of London.2 Later on, copies from other European archives were added; and, by 1927, about 300,000 transcripts and facsimile folios of originals in foreign archives had been deposited in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. In May 1927, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., gave the Library $450,000 for the acquisition (in copies and facsimile) of source material for American history. Thus the original project was continued at a greatly accelerated pace. Although the Rockefeller grant has long since been used up, the foreign copying program of the Library of Congress is still going on, with the help of the Library's James B. Wilbur Endowment Fund.3 The benefits of this project to historical scholarship are obvious; to get