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 MEMORIi^L 
 
 TO THE 
 
 REGARDING THE 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 TtnnzBMt Htstnrttal Stttietg 
 
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MEMORIAL TO THE FIFTY-FOURTH GENERAL AS- 
 SEMBLY OF TENNESSEE REGARDING THE 
 COLLECTION OF THE TENNESSEE 
 HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 To the Honorable, the Fifty-fourth General Assembly of the State 
 of Tennessee: 
 
 The undersigned, your memorialists, respectfully represent 
 that they are members of the Tennessee Historical Society, 
 and are acting as a committee thereof under instructions to 
 petition your honorable bodies to provide a suitable deposi- 
 tory and to take and preserve, as a great and valued trust, the 
 important archaeological and historical collections which the 
 Society has accumulated and now finds itself unable properly 
 to care for. 
 
 Organization and Purpose of the Society. 
 
 Your memorialists respectfully represent that the Tennes- 
 see Historical Society was originally organized, as a volun- 
 tary association, in 1849, ^.nd was active in prosecuting the 
 ordinary duties of a State historical society until 1861, under 
 the leadership of such men as Nathaniel Cross, A. W. Put- 
 nam (the historian of Middle Tennessee), William F. Cooper, 
 and others who accumulated a considerable proportion of the 
 valuable materials which the Society now possesses. 
 
 In 1874 the Society was reorganized, with J. G. M. Ramsey, 
 of Knoxville, one of the most prominent of the State's histo- 
 rians, as president ; John M. Lea, as vice president ; and Anson 
 Nelson, as secretary — men whose public spirit and State pride 
 and interest in and knowledge of history, especially State and 
 local, eminently qualified them for their positions. 
 
 In July, 1875, under the general incorporation law of the 
 State (bearing date of March 23, 1875, and providing, among 
 other things, for the organization of corporations " for the 
 support of a historical society"), the Tennessee Historical 
 Society was granted a charter of incorporation — " not for in- 
 dividual profit," but for the " general welfare of the Society," 
 and with the general purpose, specifically expressed, " to col- 
 lect, preserve, and perpetuate facts and events connected with 
 the history of Tennessee." 
 
 Diligence and Success in Collecting. 
 
 Your memorialists further respectfully represent that the 
 Society has ever been diligent in pursuing the purposes of its 
 organization. In particular, it has accumulated a large and 
 valuable collection of original documents, portraits, and anti- 
 quarian and archaeological objects setting forth and illustrat- 
 
ing the history of the State from aboriginal times to the pres- 
 ent. These collections include portraits of the Presidents 
 whom the State has furnished to the Union and of most of 
 the Governors, from William Blount down; State documents; 
 letters and narratives of early pioneers, statesmen, and schol- 
 ars ; original contributions to history and biography ; and 
 archaeological objects typical of this region, in which are found 
 examples of flints and pottery unexcelled by the aboriginal 
 remains in any other part of the United States. These items, 
 too numerous to mention in detail, are set forth in Exhibits 
 " B," " C," and " D," which have been laid before your hon- 
 orable bodies and to which your attention is respectfully di- 
 rected. 
 
 Richness and Value of the Collection. 
 
 The richness of the collection may be illustrated by the 
 mention of rare examples of aboriginal pottery in convention- 
 alized animal shapes, of ceremonial flints seventeen inches 
 long, and of documents such as the " Proposed Constitution 
 of the State of Franklin ; " " The Journals of the Territorial 
 Government of the Territory South of the Ohio River under 
 Governor William Blount;" "Treaties between the United 
 States and Indian Tribes in and adjacent to the State; " " The 
 Diary of John Donelson," who led the families of the early 
 settlers of Nashville by boat from East Tennessee to their des- 
 tination ; " The Early Records of the County of Washington, 
 in East Tennessee ; " and " The Cumberland Compact," or 
 the original articles of government agreed to by the early set- 
 tlers on the Cumberland River. Barely one of these many 
 valuable documents exists in duplicate, and very few have ever 
 been printed. They exist in these sole and singular forms 
 only; they would be irreplaceable if destroyed; and without 
 them, important facts of the State's history cannot be writ- 
 ten and illustrated. For the members of the Tennessee His- 
 torical Society your memorialists know, and for the people 
 of the State they believe, that the careless loss of one of them 
 would be condemned as gross negligence and the willful de- 
 struction or disposal of them as a most unpatriotic act. 
 
 In the true and proper sense they are invaluable, beyond 
 valuation. Yet by comparison with similar objects as they 
 are bought and sold among collectors and dealers in antiqui- 
 ties, it is possible to put a commercial valuation upon them 
 with some degree of approximation. By a gentleman, a mem- 
 ber of the Society and well acquainted with its collections, 
 who is a man of recognized business judgment and who is a 
 dealer in such objects, your memorialists are informed that, 
 in his judgment, a collector in the United States to-day might 
 spend $100,000 and still not accumulate so rich and choice a 
 collection as that which the Tennessee Historical Society has 
 accumulated and now possesses. 
 
 Gif 
 Owner'" ^nst. 
 
Patriotism of Contributors. 
 
 It is needless for your memorialists to assure your honor- 
 able bodies that the Tennessee Historical Society has ex- 
 pended no such remarkable sum in accumulating its collec- 
 tion ; on the contrary, because citizens of the State appreci- 
 ated the value to the State of the objects which they had and 
 because they had confidence in the patriotism of the Society 
 and its purpose to preserve such things in trust for the citi- 
 zens of the State in generations to come, they have given them 
 to the Society in free and full ownership, voluntarily or, some- 
 times, after solicitation. Very rarely indeed have any hold- 
 ers insisted upon being paid a purchase price. 
 
 This, as your memorialists believe, will be sufficient to prove 
 due diligence on the part of the Society in the work of collec- 
 tion. 
 
 Diligence in Caring for the Treasures, 
 
 As to the exercise of due care and foresight for the preser- 
 vation of these valuable objects, your memorialists respect- 
 fully submit that the Society has always been diligent ; but 
 it is, and always has been, financially weak, and now finds 
 itself utterly inadequate to the task of caring properly for 
 them. 
 
 Soon after the Society was first organized — namely, in 
 1857 — the General Assembly of the State, by joint resolution, 
 extended to it the use of so much room in the Library as it 
 needed. Of this notable recognition and favor on the part of 
 the predecessors of your honorable bodies the Society gladly 
 availed itself with expressions of appreciation. In that room, 
 then, the objects which the Society then had were stored. 
 There the collection grew, there it survived the period of the 
 Civil War intact, and there it remained until 1886. By that 
 time it had increased to very considerable proportions. Nei- 
 ther at that time nor since has the State had an historical col- 
 lection or museum of itr. own to which the Society's collection 
 could be attached under the watchcare of a State custodian. 
 Moreover, the State Library was then strong and active and 
 growing, and there was no room for the Society. 
 
 So, at this juncture, the Society gladly accepted the offer 
 of the Watkins Institute trustees, who were also prominent 
 among its members, and removed its collection to the Wat- 
 kins Institute Building. In this building the Society has ever 
 since stored its collection, and has maintained an historical 
 and archaeological museum freely open to the public, being 
 materially assisted in so doing by the Watkins Institute trus- 
 tees, who, in the expenditure of the income of the funds which 
 they hold in trust for public uses, have freely and generously 
 placed a large and excellent room at the service of the Society, 
 without expense for rent or heat or light. 
 
The Watkins Institute Building was then new and consid- 
 ered of standard construction ; nor were the buildings adja- 
 cent so close or put to such dangerous uses as those now- 
 standing nearest to it. It is now considered, by reason of 
 its construction and surroundings, one of the greatest fire 
 risks in the city, and the insurance rates charged upon it and 
 its contents are from four to five times as great per thousand 
 as those upon an ordinar}- brick dwelling and its contents. 
 
 Inability of the Society to Protect its Collections. 
 
 In view of these changed conditions, the Society has be- 
 come very much concerned for the safety of its collections, 
 and jealous lest, by leaving them where they may some un- 
 fortunate day be irreparably destroyed, it should be judged 
 unfaithful to the patriotic public trust it has voluntarily as- 
 sumed. 
 
 But your memorialists on behalf of the Tennessee Histor- 
 ical Society are compelled by necessity to say, and hereby 
 respectfully represent, that the Society is financially incapable 
 of giving to its collections the care and protection which they 
 ought, without question, to have. Its resources, consisting of 
 the dues of members and the income from a small bequest 
 made to the Society by the late Mr. I\l. H. Howard, amount 
 to less than $300 per annum, and are more than exhausted 
 by the necessary current expenses for janitor and custodian 
 service; for stationery, postage, and printing; for insurance; 
 and in the purchase of one hundred copies of the /Vmerican 
 Historical Magazine, which are used to exchange with various 
 historical and learned societies for their valuable publications. 
 It has not even funds to prosecute vigorously the work of 
 collection, much less the means to build or rent a suitable 
 fireproof building or room in which to deposit its treasures 
 and to maintain a public museum. For nearly twenty years 
 it has accepted the generous hospitality of the Watkins In- 
 stitute trustees: but, without prejudice to their public-spirited 
 action in the circumstances, your memorialists respectfully 
 submit that the best these gentlemen have to offer is insuf- 
 ficient to meet the present needs of the Society. 
 
 Appeal to the State for Aid. 
 
 Clearly the Tennessee Historical Society, in order still to 
 exercise due diligence in the care of its collections, must prose- 
 cute a determined search in some direction for outside assist- 
 ance. Such being the circumstances, the Society believes, and 
 your memorialists are instructed respectfully to represent to 
 your honorable bodies, that it is to the State of Tennessee 
 that it should first look for aid in caring for these objects 
 which it has collected out of regard for the history of the 
 
State and which are and will continue to be of more historical 
 and sentimental interest to the people of this State than to 
 any one else. 
 
 Therefore your memorialists, in behalf of the Tennessee 
 Historical Society, respectfully memorialize and petition your 
 honorable bodies : 
 
 The Collections Offered to the State. 
 
 First, to take and hold the collections which the Society 
 now has and hereafter, from time to time, may accumulate ; 
 caring for and preserving them as like objects, the property 
 of the State, are cared for and preserved ; cataloguing and 
 filing them in the same manner as its own archives are cata- 
 logued and filed ; exhibiting certain illustrative and instruct- 
 ive documents in the collection in a public historical and 
 archaeological museum ; and allowing the access of proper 
 parties to them under suitable precautions, distinguishing 
 theni from its own onl}^ by some characteristic mark which 
 shall indicate the relation of the Historical Society to them — 
 a relation in which the Society does, and ever will, take great 
 pride. 
 
 On its part the Tennessee Historical Society offers freely 
 to turn over its collections to the State to hold in trust and 
 perpetual deposit as soon as the State shall provide a suitable 
 fireproof depository and museum and a State archivist prop- 
 erly authorized to receive them and to act as custodian of 
 them. 
 
 On its part, further, the Tennessee Historical Society de- 
 sires and intends that, should it ever dissolve, its collections 
 should become the property of the State in full ownership ; 
 and if, in order properly to accomplish this, any legislation 
 amendatory of its charter should be thought necessary, it 
 stands ready to accept heartily all such changes. 
 
 The Society desires to maintain its organization and activ- 
 ity, believing that there will be work for it to do within the 
 scope of its purpose as expressed in its charter and desiring 
 to be engaged and have a part in the work of promoting 
 knowledge of the history of the State of Tennessee and cul- 
 tivating pride and interest therein among the present and the 
 future generations. 
 
 But your memorialists believe that in asking your honor- 
 able bodies to make provision for the acceptance of the col- 
 lections of the Tennessee Historical Society in trust on the 
 conditions indicated, they are not asking all that, as public- 
 spirited citizens, it is at this time their privilege and their 
 duty to ask. 
 
 State Department of Archives and History. 
 
 In the second place, therefore, they make bold to suggest 
 the propriety and importance of enacting, and they hereby 
 
6 
 
 respectfully do memorialize your honorable bodies to enact, 
 into law some such measure as House Bill No. 69 (introduced 
 by Representative Mellen, of Knox County), providing for 
 the creation of a permanent State Department of Archives 
 and History, with a State director in charge, after the model 
 of the departments now for several years successfully operated 
 in the adjacent States of Alabama and Mississippi. 
 
 Such an officer in charge of such a department would be an 
 appropriate officer to become the custodian of the collections 
 which the Society is asking the State to take care of for it ; 
 and, considering the character and value of these collections, 
 your memorialists believe that it is not unbecoming in them, 
 even though they are petitioners, thus to indicate the dignity 
 of position and scope of powers of the officer worthy to be 
 intrusted with documents which are of such value to the State. 
 
 Scope of the Director's Activities. 
 
 Such an officer would be in position to carry on the work of 
 collecting historical material still in private hands far beyond 
 anything which the Historical Society has been able to do 
 hitherto. Such an officer would deserve and would be cheer- 
 fully given all the assistance in this work which it is at all 
 possible for the Historical Society to afford by its cooperation 
 with him. 
 
 Hitherto, in default of such a State officer, all that has been 
 done in the way of systematic effort to collect the docu- 
 mentary and illustrative history of the State and to preserve 
 it carefully and properly has been done by the Tennessee His- 
 torical Society and other societies with similar historic and 
 patriotic purposes and similarly composed of private individ- 
 uals with public-spirited pride and interest in such matters. 
 The success of the Society in making collections in the past 
 has been set forth. At present it is embarrassed in the prose- 
 cution of this work by its inability to offer and guarantee safe 
 and suitable care of the materials that would, under proper 
 conditions, be readily forthcoming. Indeed, your memorial- 
 ists are well assured that there are many documents, news- 
 paper files, etc., still in private hands which a State officer, 
 properly equipped, would be able to procure and to preserve 
 from the very many causes of loss to which they are now 
 constantly exposed. 
 
 It is well known that the late Lyman C. Draper gathered 
 a large amount of choice material relating to the history of 
 Tennessee, and especially to those of its citizens who took 
 part in the memorable campaign of King's Mountain, and 
 carried it with him to Wisconsin. After using it, in default 
 of any public depository in this State, he at length deposited 
 it there with the Wisconsin Historical Society. These docu- 
 ments are still there, with very many more of a similar char- 
 
acter, well cared for in a building erected at a cost of $600,000 
 by the State of Wisconsin for the society. Individuals in this 
 State, local historical societies^ and the patriotic societies — 
 including the Colonial Dames, the Daughters of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution, the Daughters of the Confederacy, the Sons 
 of the Revolution, the Confederate Veterans, the United Sons 
 of the Confederate Veterans, and the Grand Army of the Re- 
 public — are all more or less active in this v^ork ; and your me- 
 morialists are advised that many — if not, indeed, all — of them 
 would cooperate most heartily with a State archivist in his 
 efforts to make collections. Moreover, they firmly believe 
 that efforts directed by such a central and authorized public 
 official would accomplish much more than the uncoordinated 
 eiTorts of individuals and societies could accomplish. 
 
 In particular, the ladies' patriotic societies are active, among 
 other ways, in locating and marking historic sites. The Con- 
 federate Veterans and the Grand Army of the Republic Camps 
 in the State are concerned in the effort of the national govern- 
 ment to secure and publish a complete roster of the soldiers 
 and sailors of the Civil War on both sides. Many of the 
 muster rolls are known to exist and to be in private hands ; 
 but the individuals who possess and cherish them are unwill- 
 ing to part with them even temporarily at the request of indi- 
 viduals, though it is believed that a State officer would be able 
 to procure them. 
 
 The State Records. 
 
 But if the existing private agencies have failed to do whai 
 ought to be done in the. way of collecting material in private 
 hands for lack of means and influence, leaving so much that 
 must be brought to the attention of your honorable bodies 
 with the respectful request that provision be made to take up 
 the work by proper State authority, there is still another very 
 important field which individuals and quasi-private organiza- 
 tions have had no right to enter — namely, the field of the rec- 
 ords of the State government and of the local governments 
 subject to its control. To these your memorialists beg leave 
 to call your attention. 
 
 In each State and local office, as is well known, the more 
 recent records must be kept within reach for consultation in 
 the transaction of current business. As time passes on and 
 the records accumulate, the older ones are moved farther and 
 farther back, until they are at length crowded off the shelves 
 and out of the vaults into closets, storerooms, and basements, 
 where, in too many cases, the officer to whose department they 
 belong no longer has direct access to and control over them. 
 It is at this point in their existence that, for lack of a proper 
 officer to look after them, they become exposed to many and 
 active destructive agencies. It is a matter of common report 
 
8 
 
 that county officers have ordered all county records to be 
 burned to make room for the new. It too frequently happens 
 that the records in county courthouses which have been 
 crowded out of the vaults have been lost by the burning of the 
 building's. The archives of the State, at the Capitol, which 
 up to two years ago had been relegated to the basement to 
 relieve the pressure for room in the various offices, were found 
 to be perishing piece by piece, when their condition was called 
 to the attention of the Governor. At different times, in the 
 course of visits to the basement by those most familiar with 
 the State records, whether to conduct a piece of investigation 
 for themselves or to get information for visiting or corre- 
 sponding historians from a distance or to look for old docu- 
 ments unexpectedly called for by the State's officers, such 
 incidents as the following have occurred : The engrossed copy 
 of the Constitution of 1796 was rescued from an ash barrel; 
 the engrossed copy of the Constitution of 1834 was taken out 
 of a barrel of disinfecting sand ; correspondence of Governor 
 McMinn's administration relating to the extinguishment of 
 Indian titles to land, which had been exposed to water and 
 liad been reduced almost to a pulpy state, were rescued from 
 the janitor's shovel just as he was on the point of throwing 
 tliem away ; the maps and documents relating to the Tennes- 
 see-Virginia boundary were found too late for use, when, had 
 they been accessible to start with, an examination of them 
 would have secured without litigation what, for the lack of 
 them, the State was only able to secure after the expenditure 
 of $30,000 in conducting a suit before the Supreme Court of 
 the United States. 
 
 The Care Now Given to the Tennessee State Records. 
 
 Your memorialists would further support their petition that 
 a Department of Archives and History be created, charged 
 with the proper care of the State's records, as well as with the 
 other duties named, by recalling to your attention what has 
 already been done through the personal interest of Governors 
 McMillin and l^>azier ; through the interest and foresight of 
 the Capitol Commission in fitting up space in the attic, the 
 only place where any room at all could be found; through the 
 action of the Fifty-third General Assembly in making an 
 appropriation for the salary of an archivist for two years ; and 
 through the work which this officer has accomplished. The 
 old records in the office of the Clerk of the Supreme Court 
 have been removed to the attic and put into the custody of the 
 archivist, who has given bonds for their safe custody and who 
 lias sorted and arranged them so that any record can be found 
 in a moment's time. The documents which were so rapidly 
 wasting in the basement under the action of the elements to 
 which they were there exposed have been removed to the at- 
 
9 
 
 tic, where the archivist is engaged in assorting them. In the 
 prosecution of this work he is ahnost daily finding documents 
 of much interest and importance, and is already able to ren- 
 der much assistance, not only to the student of history, but 
 to officers of the State, members of the bar, and citizens whose 
 rights are dependent upon information to be found in these 
 old documents. What has thus been done is, as your memo- 
 rialists believe, but the promising beginning of much that 
 may be done. 
 
 Model State Departments of Archives and History. 
 
 Your memorialists would further support their request by 
 reference to what the States of Alabama and Mississippi have 
 done in recent years through their Departments of Archives 
 and History. The documents which have been laid before 
 your honorable bodies and the statements made by the archi- 
 vists of these States (upon whom your honorable bodies con- 
 ferred a great distinction by their invitation to address them 
 in joint assembly on Tuesday, January lo, last) render it un- 
 necessary to go into details here. They have arranged, filed, and 
 catalogued State documents so that they can be quickly found, 
 however ancient they may be ; they have accumulated much 
 manuscript and printed matter important to the history of 
 their States ; they have located and marked historic sites 
 within their States ; they have stimulated research through 
 the State historical societies, which contain a large number 
 of members, many of them graduates of the State University, 
 who are steadily engaged in the study of the State history 
 and who regularly present between twenty and thirty original 
 articles of historical nature at each annual meeting of the 
 Historical Society as the result of the year's work. 
 
 The success, and especially the form of organization, of the 
 Departments of Archives and History in these States has at- 
 tracted wide attention and general commendation. The 
 American Historical Association — a body of about 2,500 mem- 
 bers, with an annual income of over $7,000 from dues, sup- 
 porting liberally its own Historical Review, having an en- 
 dowment of $20,000, and maintaining an annual prize of $100 
 in American history and a biennial prize of $200 in Euro- 
 pean history — at its recent meeting in Chicago, on motion of 
 Prof. Albert Bushnell Hart, of Harvard University, passed 
 unanimously a resolution indorsing and commending these 
 organizations by name ; and the result of the vote on the reso- 
 lution, when it was formally announced by the president, was 
 received with spontaneous applause. (See Exhibit "J.") 
 
 Your memorialists believe that no more suitable form of 
 organization could be found to meet the needs of the situa- 
 tion in Tennessee at this time ; and, moved by interest in his- 
 torical matters, by public spirit, and by State pride, they beg 
 leave respectfully to commend it to the careful consideration 
 
10 
 
 of your honorable bodies, trusting that it may be found worthy 
 of adoption by the State of Tennessee at this time. How- 
 ever, they beg leave further to submit a number of documents 
 in Exhibit " K," which will indicate what other States have 
 also done. 
 
 The Need for a New State Building. 
 
 Thirdly, the overcrowded condition of every part of the 
 Capitol is a matter of public knowledge. The lack of space 
 in the Library was reason for the retirement of the Historical 
 Society from that room nearly twenty years ago. It certainly 
 could not now expect to be received back there. A visit to 
 the present archives room in the attic will show at a glance 
 the unsuitableness of these quarters for workrooms for those 
 who need to consult the documents there, much less to serve 
 for the display of an educative exhibit of the documents illus- 
 trating the State's history where the public could enjoy ac- 
 cess to it. His Excellency, Governor Frazier, in his message 
 to your honorable bodies, has called attention, as the late Gov- 
 ernor Turney did eight years ago, to the public need for ad- 
 ditional room in a separate building to meet the needs of the 
 State's officers in the transaction of public business. 
 
 While your memorialists could not with propriety ask your 
 honorable bodies to undertake the expenditure of a large sum 
 of money for the sake of the Tennessee Historical Society, 
 and while they could hardly expect their prayer regarding the 
 Society's valuable collections to be granted if there were no 
 other place in prospect for storing it than in the already 
 greatly overcrowded Capitol, they fully and firmly believe 
 that the State would be justified in expending a very consid- 
 erable sum of money at this time to provide adequate room 
 to meet the needs of the public business in the State offices ; 
 and in connection therewith they would most respectfully, 
 but most urgently, represent the propriet}^ of providing with 
 some liberality and Avith a proper view to the future for such 
 things as a museum to display the natural resources of the State 
 when they are such as to attract the attention which the 
 State's display at the recent World's Fair in St. Louis did at- 
 tract, or for the proper preservation and use of a collection 
 of such value in itself and to the State as the historical and 
 archsT^ological collection of the State Historical Society, or 
 for the proper care of its own records and the promotion of 
 its own history on a scale and in a manner in accord with the 
 recent practice of so many of the States and in proportion to 
 the importance which the American people, and Tennesseans 
 no less than the others, have always attached to the history 
 of their institutions. 
 
 The present Capitol has been in use upwards of fifty years ; 
 and it would be truly remarkable if the General Assembly 
 
11 
 
 which provided for its erection could have so anticipated the 
 growth of the State, or, anticipating it, could have presumed 
 so to burden its own generation as to have erected a building 
 which, at the end of a half century, would still be ample for 
 the transaction of the public business. It did not do so; 
 and your memorialists are not aware of any instance. 
 State or national, in which such provision for the future 
 was successfully accomplished. The document printed here- 
 with shows, on a conservative estimate, that the officers occu- 
 pying the present building might have four times the room 
 they now have and yet not be provided with more than pru- 
 dent men of affairs, engaged in public or private business, 
 would deem necessary to the prompt and orderly transaction 
 of business.* Other documents in the same exhibit setting 
 forth the situation in other States seem to show that the esti- 
 mate of room needed for the usual officers of State is not 
 excessive ; and they show, besides, what provision it is thought 
 necessary to make for the newer departments whose impor- 
 tance is not necessarily the less because it has only recently 
 come to be generally recognized. 
 
 The Present Capitol a Monument to the State. 
 
 Your memorialists are impressed, as they believe the peo- 
 ple of the State and strangers generally are impressed, with 
 the stable structure, the sightly location, and the peculiarly 
 chaste and classic design of the present Capitol. Like the 
 Greek temples, after one of the most famous of which this 
 building is modeled, it gains a part of its stateliness and 
 grandeur from the fact that it stands somewhat isolated and 
 apart. All truly great public buildings are monumental in 
 character. They are esteemed as perpetual monuments in 
 honor of those who are so fortunate as to have participated 
 in their erection. Far higher than that, they also typify the 
 greatness of the resources and the nobility of the institutions 
 of the State which erects them. Your memorialists, there- 
 fore, being citizens of Tennessee, taking part in its industry 
 and its arts, representing a very worthy body of its citizens 
 organized to promote public welfare, and not private profit, 
 most respectfully urge your honorable bodies that, in planning 
 for the erection of an additional State building, they have 
 proper regard for the present one, maintaining and, if possible, 
 perfecting the symmetry and proportion of its environment ; 
 and your memorialists, in conclusion, beg leave to trust that 
 your honorable bodies, in considering plans for a new build- 
 ing, will not only provide for a structure with ample room 
 and suitable arrangements to meet the anticipated needs of 
 the State, but also for one which, by the appropriateness of 
 its location and the felicity of itSj.design and the beauty of its 
 finish, shall be a worthy monument to those who erect it and 
 
12 
 
 an honor to the people of the State whose representatives 
 
 they are. 
 
 All of which your honorable bodies are most respectfully 
 
 memorialized to do. 
 
 In behalf of the Tennessee Historical Society, 
 
 JAMES D. PORTER, President; 
 ALBERT V. GOODPASTURE, 
 FREDERICK W. MOORE, 
 JOSHUA W. CALDWELL, 
 E. B. STAHLMAN, 
 JOHN BELL KEEBLE, 
 W. C. COLLIER, 
 JOSEPH E. WASHINGTON, 
 ALBERT G. EWING, Jr., 
 JOHN H. DeWITT, 
 GEORGE F. M ELLEN. 
 G. W. MARTIN, 
 W. A. COLLIER. 
 
 * Rooms now occupied and aL«o rooms required for the use of 
 the State officers of tlie State of Tennessee: 
 
 Rooms Now Occupied. Rooms Needed. 
 
 Governor 3 Governor 3 
 
 Attorney General Attorney General 1 
 
 Supreme Court Consultation Room.. Supreme Court Consultation Koom.. 3 
 
 Adjutant General 1 Adjutant General 1 
 
 Secretary of State 2 Secretary of State 3 
 
 Treasurer 2 Treasurer 2 
 
 Insurance Department Insurance Department 2 
 
 Comptroller 2 Comptroller 4 
 
 Supt. of Public Instruction 1 Supt. of Public Instruction 2 
 
 Supt. of Board of Health 1 Supt. of Board of Health 1 
 
 Commissioner of Agriculture 1 Commissioner of Agriculture 3 
 
 Railroad Commission Railroad Commission 2 
 
 Board of I'ensions Board of Pensious 2 
 
 Land Register Land Register 1 
 
 Funding Board Funding Board 1 
 
 Mine Inspector Mine Inspector 1 
 
 Superintendent of Capitol Superintendent of Capitol 1 
 
 (These six last named at present actually occupy the committee rooms of the 
 
 House of Representatives; but these rooms are required when the Legislatures are 
 
 In session, and, moreover, are small and unsuited for the purposes of these offices.) 
 
 Senate (.'onsultation Rooms Senate ('onsultation Rooms 4 
 
 (The Senate committees, when the Legislatures are in session, are frequently 
 
 obliged to meet in the Library and also at the rooms of memi)ers at the hotel.) 
 
 Court of Chancery Appeals Court of (Chancery Appeals 1 
 
 Archives Archives 5 
 
 (One large room would answer for tl>e aicliives. They are at present stored in 
 
 the roof of the Capitol, in a room made there recently for the purpose.) 
 
 Stati; Board of Medical Examiners. .. State Board of Medical Examiners .. 1 
 
 Board of Law Kxamlners Board cf Law Examiners 1 
 
 Board of Pharmacy Board of Pharmacy 1 
 
 Board of Charities Board of Charities 1 
 
 Inspector of Shops and Factories Inspector of Shops and Factories 1 
 
 (Possibly the Medical. Pharmacy and Dental Boards could be united so as to 
 use the same rooms. In that event they would not require as many as stated above.) 
 The Library is overcrowded. 
 
 The Court of Chancery Appeals, when the Supremo Court is In session, is obliged 
 to sit in the Supreme Court Room in the afternooiu^. 
 
 The Senate has no (romniittee rooms whatsoever, and both the Senate and House 
 of Rcpi'cs<'?itatives ought to have committee rooms, provided with fires, in the 
 annex ijuilding, where they (^an meet at night to work during tlie session. 
 
 Ther(! is no armory, and in the new building tliere ought to be a floor exclusively 
 for an armory. 
 
 The Historical Society has no place. There should by all means be provided 
 rooms both elegant and fireproof for that Society. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 II mil 111 
 
 014 648 124 3 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 648 124 3