Harris, Lewis, and the Hollow Tree

Abstract

is an archival detective story, with elements of suspense, surprise, and mystery a tale of feuding, character assassination, and moral turpitude. It begins prosaically enough. Early last year the National Archives learned that a 15-year-old schoolboy had found some volumes that appeared to deal with early U. S. consular affairs in Russia. They had been found several years before, it was said, near the town of King of Prussia, not far from Philadelphia, in a hollow tree. Supposedly the books had been wrapped in oilcloth, which had protected them from serious damage. This report immediately raised a number of questions. Were the documents Federal records? If so, how had they strayed from Federal custody? And what about the story of the hollow tree? Could oilcloth have adequately protected them from the elements ? What were the documents, exactly? What was their provenance? Inquiries by the National Archives ascertained that the volumes contained copies of letters sent to Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams. With this additional information it was possible for the staff of the (then) Foreign Affairs Branch of the National Archives to begin a preliminary investigation. The names of the correspondents suggested that the documents had been written during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Some of them, at least, were apparently copies of letters sent from a consular post in Russia. This indicated that they would have been records maintained at the post, rather than originals received by the President or the Secretary of State in Washington. A search of the State Department records in the National Archives revealed that consulates had been established in Arch-