North Carolina Office of Archives and History

Guide to the Manuscript Collections in the Archives of the North Carolina HistoricalCommission North Carolina Historical Records Survey Project, Division of Community ServicePrograms, Work Projects Administration, North Carolina Historical CommissionReview by: Lester J. CapponThe North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 20, No. 1 (January, 1943), pp. 83-84Published by: North Carolina Office of Archives and HistoryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23515110 .

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BOOK REVIEWS Guide to the Manuscript Collections in the Archives ofjtíie North

Carolina Historical Commission. Prepared by the North Carolina

Historical Records Survey Project, Division of Community .Service Pro

grams, Work Projects Administration. Sponsored by the* North Caro

lina Historical Commission. (Raleigh: The North Carolina Historical

Commission. 1942. Pp. v, 216. Free except for a mailing fee of $.25.)

With the publication of this volume there are now available

guides to the three most important collections of historical

manuscript materials in North Carolina—at Duke University

(1939), the University of North Carolina (1941), and the His

torical Commission. All three represent the work of noted

southern historians in the collection and preservation of these

materials especially during the past fifteen or twenty years,

with the result that the Old North State has become a leader

in this field. What Messrs. Connor, Hill, House, Newsome, and

Crittenden in succession have accomplished at Raleigh is only

partially revealed by the present volume which does not include

state and local archival records. It is especially helpful to have

this guide to the unofficial papers in the state archives where

many persons might expect to find only official records.

Following the Historical Records Survey format, each entry

heading gives the name of the collection, dates covered by the

material, and the number of items, volumes, and manuscript

boxes. Collections are listed alphabetically and numbered con

secutively for purposes of indexing; inversion of each title to

place the alphabetized name at the margin would have been pref

erable. The descriptive paragraphs, varying in length with the

size or significance of the collection, are on the whole very satis

factory both for general and specific references. More frequent

use of dates in the brief notes on certain segments of a large

collection would have been helpful. Condensed statements rather

than complete sentences could have been used to allow more

space for such information, within practical limits of publication

costs. Each entry includes a selected list of correspondents and

references to parts of the collection which have been printed.

The user of this guide will welcome the sixty pages of index,

comprising well over twenty-five per cent of the total number

in the volume. Here will be found not only all proper names

mentioned in the text but also a careful selection of subject

headings, the more general of which are amplified by sub-head

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84 The North Carolina Historical Review

ings and cross-references. This excellent index greatly enhances

the usefulness of the volume.

Most of the 815 collections described consist of North Carolina

material, with some manuscripts from other Southern states.

The great variety of this material reflects the broadening his

torical viewpoint of the past quarter-century. There are papers of well known Carolinians like Aycock, Blount, Holden, Vance,

Macon, the Pettigrew family, and Bishop Cheshire; but there

are also numerous letters, memoranda, and account books of

relatively unknown and obscure persons which, for certain re

search purposes, are of special value. Although some of the

items separately listed are of a trivial nature, the scholar has

the satisfaction of consulting a complete inventory of non-arch

ival materials in this important repository. The North Carolina

Historical Commission and the Historical Records Survey are

to be commended for this excellent compilation.

Lester J. Cappon.

The University op Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

Lester J. Cappon.

Guide to the Manuscripts in the Archives of the Moravian Church in America, Southern Province, 613 South Liberty Street, Winston

Salem, N. C. Prepared by the North Carolina Historical Records Survey, Division of Community Service Programs, Work Projects Administra tion. (Raleigh: The North Carolina Historical Records Survey. 1942.

Pp. vii, 136. Memeographed. Not available for distribution.)

This most recent addition to the distinguished series of ar

chival publications issuing from North Carolina emphasizes anew the debt of historians at large to the competent workers

of a state already outstanding in the field. Begun under the

auspices of Dr. C. C. Crittenden and under the directorship of Mr. Dan Lacy, this guide indexes one of the most important denominational archives in the country—second only to the Beth lehem archives among American Moravian collections. For the initial cataloging and planning, the Survey was fortunate in

securing the services of the archivist, Dr. Adelaide L. Fries—

long familiar for her scholarly works dealing with the collec tion. Miss Emily Bridgers and Mr. M. A. Rushton, Junior, were

responsible for the final publication. The closely knit integration of the renewed Moravian Church

early schooled its members in the keeping of meticulous reports,

copies of which were sent both to the denominational headquar ters at Herrnhut and to other central points. This work resulted

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