Report of the Forty-eighth Annual Meeting 307 SOME EXPERIENCES IN MAKING A STATE HISTORICAL SURVEY. By W. D. OVERMAN The Historical Survey now in progress in Pennsylvania was started in December, 1933 and is under the direction of the State Archivist. The survey was carried on as a state C.W.A. project until March 29, 1934 and since that time has been continued, with |
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a greatly reduced quota of workers, as a project under the F.E.R.A. At its inception the director contemplated merely an inven- tory of one class of public records, namely those in the County Court Houses. Historians have recognized the necessity of the preservation of local archives, comprising written or printed books, papers or maps, in fact, all of the public records officially produced and received by the officers of a particular governmental subdi- vision. Official correspondence, letter-books, reports, minute- books, wills, marriage records, vital statistics, deed books, assess- ment rolls, tax lists, court records, election returns, militia lists, and all other such documents constitute local archives. |
308 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
It has been recognized for a long time
that the United States
lags behind Canada and some European
countries in the care and
administration of public archives. I
would like to recommend for
the consideration of the members of this
society a booklet of 16
pages on The Preservation of Local
Archives,1 which was pre-
pared and published in 1932 by the Public
Archives Commission
in Washington under the authority of the
American Historical
Association. Through the circulation of
this booklet and other-
wise, efforts have been made to instruct
and encourage public
officials in the safeguarding of these
valuable records. Custodians
and users generally appreciate the
importance of current local
records for business or administrative
purposes. Large property
interests, the settlement of disputes
over property, and the ad-
ministration of public revenue depend
upon them. But as his-
torical sources, the importance of local
archives is adequately
appreciated except by students of
history. It is true that local
archives have been used by searchers
after biographical and
genealogical information, but within
recent years a new concep-
tion of local history has developed and
a wider kind of research
is in progress which is already
resulting in the production of books
and articles in the fields of national,
state and local history. Local
history has been defined as an account
of the life of the people
of the local area--their social,
economic, political, religious, legal,
institutional and constitutional
development. Local archives con-
tain the largest available amount of
material of significance to
the writer of local history. The
preservation of this material is
indispensable to the reconstruction of the
past, and since docu-
mentary evidence is the basis of
accurate historical composition,
if these written records are not
preserved, there can be no reliable
history.
The unnecessary destruction of archives
in many communities
has made it impossible for them to
preserve their history in a
complete, much less authentic, form.
In view of this situation, the State
Archivist planned a survey
of the County Archives in the State of
Pennsylvania. He pro-
1 The introductory remarks in this paper
relative to the definition and
status of the preservation of local
archives has been taken from this pub-
lication.
Report of the Forty-eighth Annual
Meeting 309
cured the assistance of an historically
minded citizen in each
county who acted as his adviser. The
adviser, often a judge, a
lawyer, or a professor of history, gave
his time gratuitously. He
received instructions from the director
in Harrisburg and his
first step involved the securing of
efficient workers. The manner
of procedure was for the adviser to
contact the National Reem-
ployment Manager in his county, and
together they went over
the cards of the registered unemployed
and selected one, two, or
more workers, depending, of course, upon
the volume of the
county's records.
As soon as the worker was selected, the
County Reemploy-
ment office sent his identification
slips to state C. W. A. headquar-
ters in Harrisburg, and to the Director
of the Historical Survey.
Supplies and detailed instructions for
an inventory of the records
in the County Court House were then
forwarded to, the workers.
The various officers in the county had
been previously notified
that the worker would appear, and were
consequently ready to
cooperate. The adviser, usually a
lawyer, was familiar with the
type of records, and the worker was
instructed to seek his advice
and assistance in any problem which
arose.
The searchers, as these workers in the
Court houses were
designated, were urged to familiarize
themselves with the general
outline of the county's history. They
were expected to ascertain,
for instance, the date of the founding
of the county, in order to
know whether the records found were
complete from the date
of the county's organization. The
searchers were furnished with
sample forms and photostatic copies of
portions of a similar sur-
vey which had been made in Illinois some
years before. Form
sheets were furnished, covering each
office in the Court House,
upon which the workers were to submit
their final reports to
the Director. The essential information
required from each of-
fice was, first: the name of the class
of record, for instance, in
the Recorder of Deeds' Office, there
would be several classes of
records such as: record-books of deeds
and mortgages, bond
books, commission books, charter-books,
plats, surveys, etc.;
secondly: the limiting dates of the
records in a particular class;
if any gaps appeared, they were to be
carefully indicated; thirdly:
the volume or the amount of the record.
If the records were in
310 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
volumes, the searcher noted the number
of volumes followed by
the letter v.; if they were in
file-boxes, the number of such boxes
was followed by the letters f. b.; and
if the records were in
bundles, they were so indicated.
Many of the records were scattered,
since it is a common
practice for transcripts to be made of
much used record-books, and
the originals then stored in an attic, a
basement, or sometimes
destroyed. The workers were careful to
examine original rec-
ords when they were in existence and to
make an indication of
this on the final report form.
At first it was thought that it would be
feasible to have the
workers transcribe vital statistics and
marriage records before
1906 (I might add parenthetically that
since that date they have
been recorded in the State Capital) but
this was not carried out
because the probability of error was too
great even in the tran-
scription of this type of record.
This survey of the County Archives
progressed so well that
by January 1st the scope of the survey
was greatly enlarged, and
included, in addition to the recording
of county archives: munici-
pal and borough records, newspaper
files, manuscripts in deposi-
tories and in private hands, church
records, as well as those of
social and fraternal organizations, and
certain types of business
records.
Obviously, this required a large
increase not only in the num-
ber of workers, but in the number of
supervisors who could di-
rect the work of these investigators,
assign various tasks to them,
keep a careful check on the accuracy of
their work, and advise
them in making their reports to the
Archivist. The State was
divided into ten districts with a
supervisor over each. Under
the new arrangement the supervisor was
chosen first and his
primary task was that of organization.
He supplanted the ad-
viser under the old plan. The supervisor
contacted the Reem-
ployment Managers in his district, which
included from five to
ten counties, and selected his staff of
workers from those avail-
able on the registration list of
unemployed persons in each county.
It was the supervisor's next duty to
furnish each investigator
with a set of mimeographed forms for
each type of record, and
explain in detail, by illustration and
example, the exact procedure
Report of the Forty-eighth Annual
Meeting 311
in collecting and reporting the data
required. The supervisors
were able, in many cases, to get
unemployed persons who were,
by virtue of specialized training in
history or library work, well
fitted for the work. It was the
supervisor's duty to instruct the
investigators in the value to the future
historian of the results of
the survey, and to impress upon them the
necessity for absolute
accuracy in reporting the data thus
acquired.
We were not trying to train these people
in the technique
of historical research, for obviously
their task was not research
but mere tabulation and description of
various materials discov-
ered.
The workers made inventories of
municipal and borough
records exactly as in the case of county
archives. They went
to all newspaper offices, and made
complete inventories of their
files. Each public library, historical
society, or other depository
was visited and all collections of
manuscripts and newspaper files
listed. Thus far, the investigators were
dealing with public or
semi-public records and documents which
were easily accessible.
Church records, and manuscripts in
private possession, such
as collections of correspondence,
business account-books, military
papers, muster-rolls, discharges,
pensions, diaries and genealogical
collections, constituted a type of
investigation which required
more skill on the part of the workers.
The survey has not been
a house-to-house canvas. Workers
interview influential people.
those known to have collections, and
those known to be inter-
ested in history. After these
collections have been listed, the
workers ascertain the names of others
having collections or even
a single piece of historical material.
Thus by a systematic method
of securing the names of collectors or
prospects, workers are
able to list the most important
historical sources in a community.
Many valuable documents have been found
in the hands of per-
sons who had inherited material of
importance to local historians,
but who had little regard for its
historic significance. In some
cases our efforts revealed documents of
outstanding value. I
called on a gentleman in Brownsville,
Pennsylvania, who was the
descendant of Jacob Bowman, a pioneer
settler in that region.
When I asked him whether I could talk to
him about local his-
tory and had assured him that I was not
soliciting his picture
312 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
and seventy-five dollars for a
commercial history, he expressed
himself as being entirely unfamiliar
with and uninterested in his-
tory, saying that according to his
friends he was a crank on music.
I asked him about files of old
newspapers and correspondence.
He was perfectly willing to look for
materials of this nature
which he said he thought might be in an
old desk drawer in the
library. We discovered letters--dozens
of them--some personal,
some political and others of a purely
business nature. There
were old account-books, newspapers and
subscription-lists. He
drew out one subscription-list of the
first public school built in
Brownsville in 1796. This practically
constituted a census of the
Brownsville of that day, since the
number of names was large,
and the subscriptions ranged from ten
pounds sterling to fifteen
shillings, indicating the probability
that even the poorest citizen
made his contribution. Account-books for
The Albany Glass
Works, once located at the mouth of
Redstone Creek on the
Monongahela River, and of the Ohio Paper
Mill, once located
in the Western Reserve, in which his
grandfather had owned a
controlling interest, were also in the
collection. The owner be-
came tremendously interested, and
remarked that he had not re-
alized the importance of these
manuscripts, and as I left him he
settled down in an easy chair to read
the entire collection. He
thanked me for calling his attention to
the records and said that
if I would come back again soon he would
then be able to de-
scribe the contents of the whole so as
to afford a more accurate
description of the materials for our
survey.
A worker discovered (in Westmoreland
County) a rather
lengthy manuscript written by Jeremiah
Lochry, one of Brad-
dock's scouts, describing his
experiences. This document bore
the date 1755. It was in the
hands of a filling-station attendant.
The proprietor of a lunch-room in
Washington, Pennsyl-
vania, who owns and occupies the first
brick house built in that
city, has a magnificent collection of
books and manuscripts which
came down to him from two families of
historic importance.
His own name is William Duane Morgan,
which represents both
families. He has a land-grant from King
George III to Colonel
George Morgan, who was a most important
figure in the colonial
and revolutionary periods. Mr. Morgan
has the original notes
Report
of the Forty-eighth Annual Meeting 313
which
Colonel Morgan kept as Indian Agent at Fort Pitt 1776-
1779,
and other manuscripts of that period bearing the names
of
many historic personages such as Aaron Burr and Benedict
Arnold,
as well as letters from Washington, Jefferson and others.
Much
of this collection was found to be of more importance per-
haps
to the national than to the local historian. There were sev-
eral
volumes of diaries of John Morgan (a brother of Colonel
George
Morgan), who founded the University of Pennsylvania
Medical
School, and some letter-books of later members of the
family
which will be of significance to the local historian. There
were
letters of William Duane, secretary of state under Andrew
Jackson
in 1833, until he differed with Jackson over the bank
question.
There were letter-books of William Duane Morgan,
one
time resident of Newark, Ohio and auditor of State. He
was,
at one time, a part owner of the Cleveand Plain Dealer and
was
owner of the Newark Advocate for a quarter of a century.
In
the sub-basement of the Westmoreland County Court
House
where steam-pipes produce a heat which will certainly des-
sicate
the many valuable records which are stored there, we found
a
large amount of official and non-official material.
There
were account-books revealing many interesting prices,
such
as the following, from the day-book of Benjamin Meason
and
Joseph Worthington, for the years 1796-1799:
2
yards calico 12
shillings
1 pound
butter 10 pence
1
pint whiskey 1
shilling
1
pound coffee 3
shillings, 6 pence
1
yard muslin 3
shillings, 4 pence
Fifteen
years later, in the day-book of Samuel Reed the
following
prices, then in dollars and cents, were noted:
50
spanish cigars 2 cents each
1
yard calico 37
1/2 cents
1
pound tobacco 50
cents
4
pounds sugar $1.00
1
pound coffee 40
cents
1
quart whiskey 18 cents
2 bushels wheat $1.75
314 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
If time permitted, other experiences
could be recited illus-
trative of the general cooperation of
the holders of these docu-
ments, and of the significance of the
finding of these often hith-
erto unknown sources for the writing of
the history of the Com-
monwealth. The widespread enthusiasm for
the project was re-
flected in the many news-items,
editorials, and articles on local
history which appeared, and are
appearing, all over the State.
These inventories will be printed in the
next Series of the
Pennsylvania Archives. It is planned to bring out another volume
of the Archives containing the
reports of depositories, such as
local historical societies, and if
possible, one to include news-
paper collections. With these guides,
the future historian may
readily ascertain the amount and kinds
of material available, and
most important of all, its location. The
undertaking is large,
and is one that few private institutions
or individuals could suc-
cessfully undertake. It is a project
which has given relief to a
type of worker for whom there was little
planning on the part
of the C. W. A. in general, and it has
produced a result which, al-
though seemingly intangible to certain
critics, is actually of great
significance in its stimulation of
interest in history, its encourage-
ment of the preservation of local
history, and the results, in the
form of printed guide books, will be of
obvious and inestimable
value.
DR. LINDLEY: I am grateful for the presentation
of this problem and we still have
twenty minutes. Dr.
Overman has brought with him some
illustrative mate-
rial used in gathering these results.
There is now an
opportunity for questions.
After some announcements the Society
adjourned
until the afternoon session at two
o'clock.