[Rarebooks] fa: 1810 REPORT on THE DISORDERED STATE OF U.S. ARCHIVES & "ANCIENT PUBLIC RECORDS"

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auctions ending Sunday, March 23. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/pe9veeh

Thanks for looking,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


Report of the Committee Appointed to Inquire into the State of the Ancient Public Records and Archives of the United States. Washington City: Printed by R.C. Weightman, 1810. Disbound pamphlet, 8vo, 11 + [1] pp.

The committee, finding "the public records and papers belonging to the period antecedent to the adoption of the present constitution of the United States in a state of great disorder and confusion," and that their situation in "garrets and small rooms" in "the public building west of the President's house" is "neither safe nor convenient, nor honorable to the nation," propose several resolutions for their "safe and orderly preservation." The committee's report is followed by letters from the Departments of State, War and Navy, and the Patent Office, describing the disorganized condition of their public records and suggesting improvements. (Each branch of the government was responsible for its own records until the establishment of the National Archives in 1934.) A fascinating glimpse of bureaucracy and record-keeping in the early days of the Republic. Mild toning and wear to the edges, one leaf with the tip of one corner torn away (not affecting any text).