Report of the Forty-eighth Annual
Meeting 301
JOINT COMMITTEE PLANS FOR ARCHIVAL
SURVEYS
By T. R. SCHELLENBERG
It is quite obvious to research students
that in the past thirty
years the amount of printed matter has
increased in geometric
ratio. Today students are literally
engulfed with a mass of ma-
terials, many of which are printed on a
cheap wood-pulp paper
which crumbles to dust after a few
decades, but which reflect
quite accurately the passing moods of
our day. As this printed
matter has increased, a constantly
increasing expenditure for the
collection and preservation of research
materials has become neces-
sary. In fact, libraries must count on
doubling their capacity every
twenty years. And despite the best
efforts of libraries, historical
societies, and other repositories, much
material which would be of
inestimable value to future students of
our period is constantly
being destroyed. In the presence of this
situation, the Social
Science Research Council and the
American Council of Learned
Societies set up a joint committee on
research materials, which
has its headquarters at Cleveland, and
which should study what
is being done to collect and preserve
the evidences of our civili-
zation, as well as what ought to be done
to improve their collection
and preservation.
One phase of Joint Committee activities,
which fortunately
brought the committee in touch with most
historical societies of
the country, including the Ohio State
Archaeological and His-
torical Society, was the attempt to lay
out a plan for a nation-
wide survey of local archival material.
Local archives have been
defined as written or printed books,
papers, or maps, made and
received in pursuance of law by
counties, cities, towns, and villages
in the transaction of public business.
They consist of all the
papers and documents, whether manuscript
or printed, which have
accumulated during the operation of
local governmental units.
Local archives are of great importance
in studying the gov-
ernmental, economic, military, legal,
and social history of any
particular community, which may be taken
as representative of
many other similar communities. In fact,
they contain the largest
available amount of information on local
history, revealing the
302 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
origin and development of the agencies
and functions of local
government, abounding in data concerning
local inhabitants, and
depicting the real life of the people,
since they contain innumerable
items on local conditions.
The value of the local archives for
students of history has
been well stated by Dr. A. R. Newsome,
director of the North
Carolina Historical Commission. In a
pamphlet on The Preserva-
tion of Local Archives, he wrote: "Many local archives, often
regarded as rubbish and discarded or
destroyed because presumed
to be or no current or business use,
assume great historical value.
Election returns permit the drawing of
political maps which
show economic and geographical as well
as party cleavages. Tax
lists show the general scale of
landholding, slaveholding and
wealth. Wills and records of estates
reveal the standard of living
and the extent and kind of house
furnishings, farm implements,
jewelry, and other personal property.
Minute-books record the
proceedings of governmental agencies.
Bills of sale set forth the
prices of slaves and other property.
Court records throw light
on civil and criminal procedure and the
morals of the people.
County and town court minute-books and
the proceedings of
boards of aldermen and commissioners are
replete with details
concerning roads, bridges, streets,
taverns, liquor licenses, jails,
debtors, paupers, orphans, guardians,
petty civil and criminal
cases, etc. School records are rich in
educational history. Local
archives are indispensable to the
reconstruction of the past."
Within recent years the resources of
local archives have been
used by a growing group of trained,
scientific historians, who, have
been conducting research and producing
books and articles in the
field of local history. In order to
uncover and make available for
public officials and for students the
important source materials
which are at present hidden away in
local archives or heedlessly
destroyed, the Joint Committee in
February, 1934, attempted to
secure a nation-wide survey of their
contents.
With unparalleled appropriations
available for emergency
federal relief projects, the Joint
Committee sought to divert at
least a small part of Civil Works funds
to provide work for the
white-collar class. Like that of many
other Civil Works projects,
Report of the Forty-eighth Annual
Meeting 303
the history of the Joint Committee
project for a national survey
of local archives is a tortuous one. In
general, the Pennsylvania
survey, set up as a Civil Works project
by Dr. Curtis W. Gar-
rison, the state archivist, furnished an
example of what might be
accomplished.
Largely under the initiative of
Professor F. S. Philbrick of
the Law School of the University of
Pennsylvania, a plan for a
nation-wide survey of archives was
prepared. The Joint Com-
mittee, once the plan was prepared,
appointed a sub-committee
to present it to the Department of
Interior as a Civil Works
project and to see to its execution. To
avoid confusion, the sub-
committee assumed the high-sounding name
of Commission on
National Archives Survey, with Dr.
Joseph Mayer as chairman.
The plan as presented to the Department
of Interior provided
for both national and state
administrative units, and for 2708
field-workers as the operative unit. The
state surveys were to be
under the direction of state directors,
chosen from among the state
librarians, historians, archivists,
adjutant-generals and other quali-
fied individuals, who could give the
enterprise that scholarly
direction needed to achieve the
scientific results by which alone
it could be justified. The execution of
the plan within the various
states depended upon state initiative,
with surveys being made
only in those states promising active
cooperation. The objectives
of the national survey were the
following: 1. to make known to
public officials and to students the
contents of local archives,
2. to improve the archival practices of
local governmental units,
3. to afford reliable information for a
more careful selection and
preservation of local archives and for
an estimate of future
archive building needs. The results of
the inventory were to be
filed in local offices and libraries, in
the state libraries, in the
Library of Congress, and in the new
National Archives Building.
Shortly after the presentation to the
Department of the In-
terior, of the project for a national
archives survey, Congress
passed appropriations amounting to
$950,000,000 for relief pur-
poses. A last minute amendment, however,
disallowed all new
federal projects. This meant that all
Civil Works projects would
have to be state or local instead of
national in character. The
304 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
possibility still remained that
individuals interested in archival
surveys within the various states could
secure Civil Works appro-
priations for such surveys if other
projects had not already
absorbed all the money. It was therefore
necessary to prepare
quickly suitable plans within the
various states for submittal to the
local or state Civil Works
administrators.
While the plans for a national archives
survey thus proved
abortive, the circularization carried on
by Dr. Mayer awakened a
considerable interest in archival work,
particularly since what was
asked was nothing more than state
cooperation in a national en-
terprise, not state initiation of local
archives surveys. Approxi-
mately three hundred letters and
telegrams indicated that over
half the states would have set up
archives projects, had the federal
project been allowed. The Joint
Committee sought to capitalize
this interest by urging individuals
within the various states to take
the initiative in the matter. Extensive
personal correspondence
was carried on, that for New England
being conducted by F. S.
Philbrick, for the South and Southwest
by A. R. Newsome, for
the Middle West by T. R. Schellenberg,
and for the West by
Lieut.-Col. J. M. Scammell, the latter
being particularly active in
enlisting the cooperation of the state
adjutant-generals. However,
other Civil Works projects had already
absorbed all appropria-
tions for relief in most states. While
projects were presented to
the Civil Works administrators in
several states, reports indicate
that in Wyoming and Alabama a survey is
actually being carried
out, while progress is being made as
regards military records in
Arizona, Colorado, Utah, North Dakota,
and Oklahoma. While
surveys were made in Pennsylvania and
West Virginia, these were
not the result of Joint Committee
activity. In Texas a CWA
project was organized by Mr. J. Evetts
Haley, under which
workers catalogued newspaper files and
copied private manuscript
collections in about fifteen regional
centers of the state. Previous
surveys of county archives had already
been made in Illinois and
California, while in Connecticut the
Record Commissioner makes
annual reports listing the various
records in each town and pro-
bate district with the period covered by
each series of records and
the number of volumes in each series.
However, as a result of the
Report of the Forty-eighth Annual
Meeting 305
circularization and correspondence a
large number of individuals
agreed to take advantage of any further
opportunities for setting
up inventory projects which might
present themselves with new
developments in the federal relief
program. In summarizing the
results of the promotional activities of
the Joint Committee, Dr.
Garrison wrote: "The results at
present, at least, are intangible.
I believe, however, that they will bear
fruit and that you will be
surprised at the seed you have sown. ...
I believe this initial
impulse will have effect in inspiring a
thorough-going survey in
listing the most important records in
the nation within the next
few years."
Temporarily all activity in behalf of
archives surveys in the
various states has thus come to a
standstill. Under the more
restricted federal relief program, which
was instituted following
the dismantling of the Civil Works
program, inventory work can
be done only under great difficulties.
Surveys would have to be
carried out by persons taken from relief
rolls, who would be
allowed to work only a restricted number
of hours so that their
total earnings would not exceed the
amount set by the relief
authorities as a minimum budgetary
requirement for the needs
of a family. This provision would make
it difficult to secure
competent individuals, and if such could
be secured their work
would be interrupted in a manner which
would make satisfactory
results hard to obtain.
Inventory projects may be possible,
however, under new
developments in the federal relief
program. It is therefore essen-
tial to perfect plans beforehand for
projects which will give work
to the sorely neglected white-collar
class, and which, at the same
time, will be productive of good results
in making research ma-
terials available. It is gratifying to
know that Dr. Harlow
Lindley, the secretary-librarian of the
Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society, is already
planning for a state-wide survey
of local archives in case it becomes
possible to secure relief appro-
priations for such a project during the
coming winter. The suc-
cess of a state survey depends largely
upon the supervision which
is given it from some strategic point,
and it is fortunate indeed
Vol. XLIII--20
306 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
that the Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society has a
definite interest in the preservation
and collection of local records.
If, however, it will be impossible to
secure appropriations
under the federal relief program for a
state-wide archives survey,
it would be highly desirable to have
surveys made of the archival
material within certain of the more
important counties.
If, unfortunately, this too should be
impossible, it would be
wise to plan for the better supervision
of the records within this
State by state action until the time
when these can be listed.
While many of the northeastern states,
like Massachusetts, Rhode
Island, New York and Connecticut, have
public record laws,
which provide for the state regulation
and supervision of the care
of local archives, Ohio has been
peculiarly remiss in looking after
its local material. Improvement can come
only by the enact-
ment of laws by state legislatures.
State legislatures can be made
to see that public archives merit
consideration and legislation only
by the intelligent and systematic
activity of public officials, his-
torical agencies, historians, lawyers,
and interested citizens.
DR. LINDLEY: I am sure that we are all
very grate-
ful to Mr. Schellenberg for the clear
presentation he has
given us in regard to plans and
possibilities. We are
also grateful to this Joint Committee
for making pos-
sible Mr. Schellenberg's visit with us
today. Now
having heard what might be done and
what ought to be
done, I think it fitting that we should
have a presenta-
tion of the subject explaining how it
has been done, with
the idea of possibly applying some of
the methods to our
own case. We have such a representative
in Dr. Wil-
liam D. Overman who has been
supervising in a number
of counties in Pennsylvania the work to
which Mr.
Schellenberg has referred. Dr. Overman
is a native son
of Ohio, a graduate of Ohio State
University, and for
the past three years has been teaching
in Waynesburg
College at Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.