three “ Fellows ", edited by Susan M. Kingsbury, Ph.D., is the second volume of “ Studies in Economic Relations of Women ", produced by the department of research of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Boston (Longmans, pp. xxii, 419). The first chapter of the book ( 129 pages) relates “The Early History of Factory Legislation in

• Massachusetts ", 1825-1874, and is by Charles E. Persons.

The American Antiquarian Society has received from Mr. Alfred Dwight Foster of Boston the manuscript journal of Dwight Foster (1757-1823), in three volumes, covering the period 1772-1799; also five volumes of his letters, of the period 1785-1819. Foster was a member of Congress from Massachusetts from 1793 to 1799 and senator from 1800 to 1803 and held other public offices.

The fire of March 28–29 in the State Capitol of New York was to American history a disaster of the greatest importance. Probably there never has been an occasion when so much valuable American material perished. Its lessons as to safe-keeping of priceless archives ought to make a deep impression on legislatures and custodians in other states. Although it is gratifying to learn that the Albany collection was not so completely destroyed as was at first supposed, nevertheless what has been saved is but a fraction of what the state possessed. A detailed statement, made from data kindly furnished by the archivist, Mr. A. J. F. van Laer, may be of use to investigators. It is reported that in all about 20,000 colonial and state documents have been recovered in a fairly good state of preservation. The highest percentage of salvage has been in the group of Dutch manuscripts relating to the period 1630–1664, 22 of the 23 volumes being saved. These include the council minutes, dating from 1636, most of the correspondence of the director-general, 1638–1655, and most also of the Delaware papers. The Dutch patents, 1636–1649, 1654– 1664, escaped, but the Usselinx manuscripts, 1606–1646, were lost. Of the 80 volumes of other so-called “ Colonial Manuscripts ” 47 appear to have been saved. Fortunately many of the more important of these papers have been printed. Of the 28 volumes of council minutes, 1668– 1678, 1683-1776, 20 volumes escaped, while ten volumes of executive records, 1664-1712, are almost a total loss. Of this material the legislative minutes of the council, 1691-1775, had been printed. Two of the most important personal groups of papers, the Sir William Johnson manuscripts (26 volumes) and the George Clinton papers (52 volumes) suffered even more severely, only four volumes of the former and ten of the latter collection being saved. The Johnson papers have been calendared and the first 16 volumes of the Clinton papers have been printed, although in a very inaccurate text. The minutes and papers of the provincial congress, etc., 1775-1778 (in all 38 volumes), for the most part perished, although portions of some volumes were saved in fairly good condition. These manuscripts have largely been printed. Of the 44 volumes of assembly papers, 1777–1830, only about 20 survived. Out of 55 volumes of papers relating to the Revolutionary War (1775-1800)

the contents of about 20 volumes were saved, while of 13 volumes of senate papers (1777-1803) only parts of five volumes survive. The minutes of the commissioners for detecting conspiracies, 1778– 1781, likewise perished; the material is, however, well preserved in the excellent text of Mr. Paltsits. Out of 250 volumes of Henry Stevens papers (relating to the French and Indian War, the Vermont controversy, etc.) about 60 volumes have been saved, for the most part in excellent condition. Among the numerous losses may be mentioned the collection of colonial laws, 1691-1725, a mass of legislative papers dating from 1778, the assembly journals for the years 1699, 1700, 1740, 1766 1767, eleven volumes of land patents, 1680-1775, about 30 volumes of commissions, warrants, etc., and many other groups of papers. Most of the copies from foreign archives perished. Some papers escaped by virtue of being in a safe. Among them are the collection of autographs of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the Washington relics, the Duke's Laws, and Dongan's Laws. The proceedings of the Albany committee of correspondence, 1775-1778, were saved by being at the time in the office of the state historian. The Tompkins papers (36 volumes) are almost a total loss, only portions of ten or more volumes having survived. The most valuable part of the recently acquired Rensselaerswyck manuscripts, namely, the long series of Dutch letters, was practically all destroyed. Some of the materials of the collection that escaped are some early Dutch account books, the court record for 1648-1652, and some letter-books, 1643–1648, and 1661-1674. The great mass of unbound legislative files, 1777–1910, is practically a total loss, but the records of the War of 1812 (25 volumes, unbound) were all saved.

Mr. Victor H. Paltsits has for four years rendered distinguished services to the state of New York in the office of state historian, which he has elevated to a high plane and dignified with several admirable publications, models of governmental historical work. Governor Dix has, however, declined to reappoint him and has given the office to Mr. James A. Holden of Glens Falls, editor of a local newspaper. Mr. Holden's qualifications for a post which historical scholars must regard as highly important remain to be discovered; but he is entitled to be judged by his fruits.

The New York Historical Society has acquired a collection of thirtyeight manuscripts relating to Benedict Arnold, four of which are letters written by Arnold. In the collection are letters of Washington, Lafayette, Steuben, Robert Morris, Silas Deane, General Henry Knox, General William Heath, and others.

The Report for 1910 of the commissioner of records of Kings County, New York, contains a brief statement of what has been accomplished among the records under his jurisdiction, brief inventories of some of the records of the county, and some unsatisfactory facsimiles.

An interesting feature of the January number of the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography is a series of gossipy letters of a French officer, written from Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1777 and 1778. The letters were intercepted by a British cruiser and were recently discovered among the records of the High Court of Admiralty in London. This issue of the Jagazine contains also a letter (April 2, 1797) from Washington to General Henry Lee, one from John Greenwood, dentist, to Washington, written in December, 1798, some extracts from the journal of Surgeon Ebenezer Elmer of the New Jersey Continental line, September 11-19, 1777, and a letter of Joseph Russell, written from Boston in May, 1776, describing conditions in the city. General Muhlenberg's orderly book, 1777, is continued.

The Maryland Historical Magazine for March contains an account of the “ First Free School in Queen Anne's County ", by Edwin H. Brown; “ Baltimore in 1846", a paper read before the society in 1875 by Henry Stockbridge; and lists of colonial militia, 1740, 1748. The most important document in this number of the Magazine is a secret letter of Admiral Cockburn to Sir A. Cochrane, July 17, 1814, setting forth a plan for capturing Washington and Baltimore. The letter is among the Cockburn papers recently acquired by the Library of Congress.

Mr. Oswald Tilghman of Easton, Maryland, plans to publish a History of Talbot County, Varyland, 1661-1861, in two volumes, to be compiled principally from the voluminous materials left by Dr. S. A. Harrison, who devoted a long life to the history of the locality.

The Virginia Historical Society has recently received the gift of about 65 large-scale maps of counties and sections of Virginia, prepared in 1862-1864 under the orders of Major-General J. F. Gilmer, chief of the engineering bureau, C. S. A. The maps give very detailed information, including names of owners of farms and the like, and are of high value for the study of the Civil War in Virginia. They were presented to the society by Mrs. Minis of Savannah, daughter of General Gilmer.

The Virginia Magacine of History and Biography begins in its April issue the printing of the minutes of the council and general court of Virginia from the originals in the Library of Congress, the period covered by this installment being 1622-1624. The editor of the Vagasine supplies a valuable prefatory note, eleven pages in extent. An item from the Randolph manuscript is the commission of the general court, October 3, 1685. Among the “ Miscellaneous Colonial Documents” are a writ for election of a member of the convention, December 6, 1775; instructions of the Fairfax County committee to their delegates in the convention, December 9, 1775; an advertisement by the agent of the Transylvania Company, December 1, 1775; and a petition of the inhabitants of Frederick County and others to the westward of the Blue Ridge, presented to the convention on December 20, 1775. Another valuable document is Colonel Scarborough's account of his efforts to suppress the Quakers in

what is now a part of Maryland, then claimed by Virginia. The report, once before printed but not now easily accessible, is from the records of Accomac County and is contributed by Thomas B. Robertson of Eastville, Virginia.

In the April number of the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine appears the third of the series of papers on the "Leadership of Virginia in the War of the Revolution ", the first of which appeared in the issue for January, 1910. The writer brings the treatment down to 1776, discussing events as they revolve about the several crises, that of the “circulars ”, the affair of the Gaspee, the Boston Port Bill, and Independence. Mr. A. J. Morrison contributes an interesting account of the Virginia Literary and Evangelical Magazine, 1818–1828, describing the principal contents of the issues.

Mr. J. C. Wise has brought out through the Bell Book and Stationery Company of Richmond The Early History of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, a careful study of the institutions and social and economic conditions of that part of Virginia now comprised in the counties of Northampton and Accomac, from the earliest settlements by whites to the end of the seventeenth century.

The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine prints in the April issue an installment of the journal kept by Major John F. Grimké during the expedition conducted by General Robert Howe against the British on St. Mary's in Florida, May to July, 1778. Continuing his studies of the baronies of South Carolina, Mr. H. A. M. Smith gives a history of Wadboo barony. The “Register of the Independent or Congregational (Circular) Church, 1732-1738”, prepared for publication by Miss Mabel L. Webber, and the “ Abstracts from the Records of the Court of Ordinary of the Province of South Carolina, 1700-1712", by Mr. A. S. Salley, Jr., are continued.

Books relating to the History of Georgia in the Library of Wymberley Jones De Renne, of Wormsloe, Isle of Hope, Chatham County, Georgia, compiled by Oscar Wegelin, has been privately printed in a limited edition. The book is a handsome quarto of 268, xviii, pages, with facsimiles, and forms a remarkable guide to Georgia bibliography.

Volume XI. of the Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society is announced for distribution as this journal goes to press. The volume contains two valuable contributions by Professor Franklin L. Riley, namely, “ The Mississippi River as a Political Factor in American History " and " Location of the Water Boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana"; papers upon two Mississippi thoroughfares of historical importance, the Natchez Trace and Jackson's Military Road; also articles dealing with “ The Mahew Mission to the Choctaws” and “ The French Trading Post and the Chocchuma Village in East Mississippi”, and six useful studies of reconstruction in Mississippi counties.

Mr. T. M. Marshall contributes to the April number of the Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association a paper upon the Southwestern Boundary of Texas, 1821-1840, and Mr. E. W. Winkler an account of “Some Historical Activities of the Texas Library and Historical Commission”. Other articles are: “Life of A. Horton and Early Settlement of San Augustine County", an autobiographical sketch by Alexander Horton; and “Micajah Autry, a Soldier of the Alamo", by Adèle B. Looscan.

The University of Texas has received from Mr. Guy S. Bryan, jr., of Houston and Mrs. Emmett L. Perry of Bay City additional papers of Stephen F. Austin and the papers of Colonel Anthony Butler, chargé d'affaires of the United States at the City of Mexico from 1829 to 1836. The Butler papers include numerous original letters, only copies of which exist elsewhere, and some letters of importance not elsewhere found. There are nineteen letters of President Jackson.

Mr. George Bird Grinnell's Trails of the Pathfinders (Scribner) is now out. The book tells the stories of the more important explorers of the West.

The Mississippi Valley Historical Association held its annual meeting at Chicago and Evanston on May 17, 18, 19, and 20 in conjunction with the State Historical Society of Illinois and the North Central History Teachers' Association. The following were some of the papers and addresses: C. B. Coleman, “The Development of the Illinois State Constitutions"; F. I. Herriott, “ Massachusetts, the Germans, and the Chicago Convention of 1860"; I. P. Wharton, Abraham Lincoln's Early Connection with the Republican Party"; William E. Dodd, “Robert J. Walker, Imperialist "; M. M. Quaife, “Some Notes on the Fort Dearborn Massacre"; A. B. Hulbert, “A Comparison of some of the Source Material on Braddock's Campaign”; R. B. Way, “The Mississippi Valley and Internal Improvements, 1825–1840"; 0. N. Carter, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas as Lawyers”. There were also a number of conferences and discussions.

The January-March number of the Quarterly Publication of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio comprises a translation from the Welsh of the Rev. B. W. Chidlaw's pamphlet Yr American, published in 1840. The title-page of the translation is: The American : which contains Notes of a Journey from the Ohio Valley to Wales, a View of the State of Ohio, a History of Welsh Settlements in America, Instructions to Enquirers, before the Journey, on the Journey, and in the Country. The pamphlet was prepared to furnish guidance to Welsh people emigrating to America.

The legislature of Indiana has passed an act providing for the initial steps toward erecting a building which shall house the state library and museum and also the educational offices of the state. It is designed that this building shall be erected as a "permanent memorial

66