Guide to the Personal Papers in the Manuscript Collections of the Minnesota HistoricalSociety by Grace Lee Nute; Gertrude W. AckermannReview by: J. C. M. HansonThe Library Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Apr., 1936), pp. 214-215Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4302270 .

Accessed: 18/06/2014 21:58

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to TheLibrary Quarterly.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.112 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:58:19 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

214 THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY

(London, I900) and Dottin's Samuel Richardson, 1689-1761, imprimeur de Londres (Paris, 193I).

The relations of English with the continental literatures receive less atten- tion than they deserve. Six items on "The German Infiltration" (omitting Georg Herzfeld's William Taylor von Norwich (Halle, i897), Thomas Rea's Schiller's dramas and poems in England (London, I906), Wilhelm Todt's Less- ing in England 1767-185o (Heidelberg, I9I2), and Rene Wellek's Immanuel Kant in England, 1793-1838 (Princeton, 1931), and four on "The French Rev- olution" give scarcely an adequate idea of the extent to which English litera- ture was acting upon and receiving light from the continental literatures. For individual authors, too, a few references might well have been given to show the extent to which they were popular abroad. Dr. Ewen has done this for Sterne, listing F. B. Barton's Etude (Paris, I9I i), Hewett-Thayer's Laurence Sterne in Germany (New York, I905), and Rabizzani's Sterne in Italia (Rome, I920). If for Sterne, why not for other authors, notably Swift, Pope, and, above all, Richardson?

DONALD F. BOND

University of Chicago

Guide to the personal papers in the manuscript collections of the Minnesota His- torical Society. Compiled by GRACE LEE NUTE and GERTRUDE W. ACKER-

MANN. St. Paul, 1935. PP. X+I46.

In his Introduction Dr. Blegen, superintendent of the Society, explains the nature and contents of the papers listed in the present volume-a forerunner, by the way, of similar guides to follow, being Number i in a series of "Special bulletins," a subseries of the "Publications" of the Society. Examination of the volume in hand shows 455 entries arranged in two groups. Entries I-28o cover collections left with the Society by individuals or families, many of them prominent in the history, politics, education, church, business, or the social life of the state. Each entry gives the name of the owner or donor of the collection, the years covered by the papers, and an indication of the size, followed by descriptive notes. Entries 28 I-455, on-the other hand, cover single items such as autobiographical sketches, diaries, reminiscences, and letters. Arrangement in both groups is alphabetical by names of donors, authors, or the persons with whom the collections originated. A full Index is appended of personal and geographic names and of events and subjects mentioned in en- tries or notes. Preparation of a fuller index to include the names of all corre- spondents and most of the subjects occurring in this vast collection of papers evidently would have presented a problem beyond the capacity of the avail- able editorial force. This limitation of the Index and the omission from the present volume of the records of organizations-e.g., churches, political par- ties, fraternal bodies, clubs, and societies-probably explains the absence from

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.112 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:58:19 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REVIEWS 215

the Index of a great many names and subjects which one would expect to find in a publication like the one under discussion.

In a footnote (p. vii of the Introduction) Dr. Blegen refers to the system of classification adopted for the manuscripts of the Society without, however, giving any specific information as to its character or scope. As a general rule, archival collections are not properly classified or cataloged. Too often huge accumulations of miscellaneous papers are merely arranged by numbers with- out much regard to subject, or even chronological or alphabetical, sequence. This necessitates the handling and perusal of thousands of papers on the chance of finding one little item bearing on the subject under investigation. The writer knows of only one extensive manuscript collection in America where at any rate until six or seven years ago-letters and manuscripts were classified according to the same minute system which covered books and pam- phlets of the institution. Any paper or letter in the possession of that institu- tion relating to a given person, organization, corporation, society, country, or other locality could therefore be located in an instant. Perhaps the elastic classification alluded to by Dr. Blegen will, in time, prove equally effective. Too often archivists devote themselves assiduously to the accumulation of huge masses of papers without much thought as to the arrangement of the records without which they are of little real value to investigators. It is the aim of the present Guide, and those to follow, to remedy such a situation. If successful in these efforts, the Minnesota Historical Society will soon find itself the Mecca of investigators interested in the history of the state, the West, or even the country at large.

As is so often the case here in America, the cataloging and indexing-in this instance even seeing the publication through the press-has been intrusted to women, and there is every indication that they have done their work con- scientiously and well. With so much of the real bibliographic investigation and research in the hands of women, it is presumably merely a question of time when they will gain control also of the administration of our libraries and archives-something that may prove for the best not only for the women and institutions affected but also for the men who will thus find themselves free to devote their time and energy to matters either of greater importance or more to their liking.

J. C. M. HANSON Sister Bay, Wisconsin

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.112 on Wed, 18 Jun 2014 21:58:19 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions