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 A BUEEAU 
 
 OF 
 
 HISTORICAL RESEAECH 
 
 IN CONNECTION WITH 
 
 THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION 
 
 BY 
 
 ANDREW c. McLaughlin 
 
 Reprint RD from thb April 1904 Number of 
 THE IOWA JOURNAL OF HISTORY AND POLITICS 
 Published at low a City Iowa by 
 The State Historicai, Society of Iowa 
 
 
i3l3 
 
 A BUREAU OF HISTORICAL RESEARCH 
 
 The editor of The Jotjenal has asked me to write a few words 
 concerning the work and purposes of the Bureau of Historical Re- 
 search which has been established at Washington in connection with 
 the Carnegie Institution. In meeting this request it may be well to 
 say first a word about the Institution itself. The reader will doubt- 
 less remember that it was established two years ago — January, 1902 
 — by Mr. Carnegie, who gave a liberal sum for its maintenance. 
 The administration of the fund and the execution of the purposes of 
 the trust were confided to a board of twenty-six trustees, of whom 
 the President of the United States, the President of the Senate, and 
 the Speaker of the House were to be members. The purpose of this 
 grant was not to establish a college or university in any ordinaiy 
 sense, but to promote original research, "to discover the exceptional 
 man in every department of study, whenever and wherever found, 
 inside or outside of schools, and enable him to make the work for 
 which he seems specially designed his life work," and in other ways 
 to promote investigation and scholarship. 
 
 The trustees appointed advisory committees of experts, asking 
 from them recommendations as to the steps to be taken for the best 
 promotion of work in their respective fields. The advisory com- 
 mittee on history reported among other things the advisability of 
 establishing an institute of historical research at Washington, not 
 dissimilar to the French, Prussian, and Austrian institutes at Rome. 
 The purpose of this institute would be to prepare first a report on 
 the government archives, to edit for publication certain selected por- 
 tions of the archives, to serve as a clearing house for the historical 
 scholars in America and to facilitate their researches in Washing- 
 ton, and, lastly, to provide suitable guidance and instruction for 
 such advanced and highly competent graduate students as should re- 
 
sort to it for that purpose. Partly to carry out these and other 
 recommendations there has been established at Washington a Bureau 
 of Historical Research. It is now difficult to say exactly what this 
 may develop into or what its growth will be. As to this no one can 
 say, because in some ways the Institution is as yet not fully deter- 
 mined in all respects as to its policy and line of growth; it is now 
 doing a great work in aiding research, but in some particulars its 
 methods and plans are being allowed to develop as needs disclose 
 themselves. The bureau has already proved of some service to his- 
 torical investigators who have come to Washington for study. While 
 the director of the bureau cannot know the archives thoroughly — as 
 indeed no one can — he can generally give some suggestion as to 
 method of work. The director is also managing editor of the Amer- 
 ican Historical Heview, and gives a portion of his time to his edito- 
 rial duties. The personal connection between the Review and the 
 Institution is helpful to the work of each. 
 
 In the future it is likely that advanced students and investigators 
 will come more and more frequently to Washington, and the bureau 
 should form a center where historical scholars can gather and from 
 which they can get at least the aid that comes from association with 
 other investigators. It seems as if every student of American his- 
 tory, every investigator who expects to teach should spend a portion 
 of his time in Washington that he may know the government and 
 have some knowledge of the collections of historical material. The 
 bureau should be of service to those that come. 
 
 At present the activities are chiefly these: — It has in preparation a 
 comprehensive guide to the archives of the government, which will 
 be pi'inted in the course of the next few months. This guide will 
 not pretend to give detailed information of the millions of individual 
 documents, but will describe collections, the work of departments, 
 and divisions of the government, and the nature and accessibility of 
 their archives. Under the direction of the bureau a somewhat simi- 
 lar guide to American historical material in England is being pre- 
 pared. To it will be added a list of papers in the British archives 
 
that refer to American liietory and that are now to be found in print 
 and also a list of such material now present in American libraries in 
 the form of transcripts. This volume, it is hoped, will appear be- 
 fore the end of this year. There is likewise in preparation a bibli- 
 ography of books and ^atrd'' articles on American histoiy for the year 
 1903. This list when completed and annotated will form a substan- 
 tial volume; and it is hoped that the work can be carried on in the 
 future, thus giving to historical investigators an exhaustive bibliog- 
 raphy of each succeeding year. 
 
 In conclusion it may be said that the bureau is established with 
 the purpose of being of use to scholars. Anything that can be done 
 to bring the investigator and his material together is within the pur- 
 view of its hopes even if beyond the possibility of present achieve- 
 ment. 
 
 A. C. McLaughlin 
 
 Caenegib Institution 
 Washington, D. C. 
 
 "i. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Arcinive 
 in 2011 witii funding from 
 Tine Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.arcliive.org/details/bureauofhistoric01mcla