CHAPTER II-USE OF SOURCES

7. How to find Sources on the Colonies and the Revolution

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O the accumulating mass of original material there was till a few years ago no general guide. The historians writing in the eighteenth century used what they could find. The second group of American historians, headed by George Bancroft, Jared Sparks, and Francis Parkman, made elaborate collections of transcripts of documents. Winsor, Lecky, Tyler, Weeden, Fiske, and others of the present school of historians have liberally used the printed records and may be tracked through their foot-notes.

There are three methods of reaching the sources which bear on colonial and revolutionary history. First, and most convenient for a quick search to verify a particular point, are the elaborate foot-notes in general or local histories. A list of serviceable secondary works will be found below (No. 15). Most important for this purpose are R. Frothingham, Rise of the Republic; J. G. Palfrey, History of New England; George Bancroft, History of the United States (original edition); W. B. Weeden, Economic and Social History; M. C. Tyler, History of American Literature and Literary History of the Revolution. Most of such books contain a bibliography of the books cited. In the monographs on colonial history and institutions, especially in the Johns Hopkins University Studies, will also be found reliable foot-notes.

The second method is through the catalogues of libraries containing valuable collections. The most important are those of the Boston Public Library (Bates Hall) and Supplement; Boston Athenæum ; Peabody Institute (Baltimore); and the card catalogue of the Harvard College Library. The catalogues of the state libraries and state historical societies are also sometimes valuable.

The third method is through special bibliographies of the subject Most elaborate is Joseph Sabin's Dictionary of Books relating to America (19 vols., New York, 1868-1891), which is an attempt to give the titles

(alphabetically by authors) of all the books printed on America up to 1867, with many references to the libraries in which particular rarities are found. When completed, the work is to have an index by subjects; it includes no estimate of the value of books mentioned. The most remarkable contributions to the knowledge of sources are Justin Winsor's Memorial History of Boston (4 vols., Boston, 1880-1881), Reader's Handbook of the American Revolution (Boston, 1880), and Narrative and Critical History of America (8 vols., Boston, 1886-1889). This last work, a monument of learning and well-directed industry, devotes eight large volumes to narrative accounts and to critical statements as to the bearing and value of authorities, both original and secondary; and it makes frequent mention of libraries in which the books are to be found. It is invaluable to the student of sources, for it searches out and discriminates between editions, it mentions reprints, and it is arranged in a convenient method, and is indexed.

The most recent book (in which the authors acknowledge the help they have gained from Winsor) is Channing and Hart, Guide to the Study of American History (New York, 1896). This is a brief work, covering in 500 small pages the field of Winsor's volumes, and extending on down to 1865; the sources mentioned are selected out of the confused mass of available material and are arranged in successive paragraphs. In Part I are various classified lists, chiefly of sources; and under each of the topical headings is a special selection of sources.

With these and similar aids, students who have the use of a large library may go directly to the sources most important for their purpose. There is also a special guide to the voluminous collections of the state historical societies, viz., A. P. C. Griffin, Bibliography of American Historical Societies, republished from the Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1895; also a selected list in Channing and Hart, Guide, § 31. Colonial records are enumerated in the Guide, § 29; some of them are enumerated above (No. 6).

To locate a particular book in a library is often a matter of patience and dexterity. The first thing is to get the exact title from the catalogue or from some other printed list, and to be sure that there is no confusion of editions. A critical reprint is a help in understanding the bearing of the source, and Winsor is an unfailing aid on critical points. The first authoritative edition of a source is usually to be preferred.

In making notes and citing references, the rule is absolute that every extract which is in the words of the author should be set off by quota.

tion marks; and that all omissions within such a quoted extract should be shown by points or stars ( . . . * ). Exact dates should be noted, with especial observance of the fact that dates between January 1 and March 25 fall in one year in "Old Style" reckoning, and in the following year in "New Style." In 1752 England accepted the new calendar; hence all later dates are in " New Style." In old documents, since March is the first month, September is the seventh (as the name suggests), and December is the tenth. A common precaution (sometimes found in the original) is to give both years: as February 1, 17 (see No. 21 below).

8. Use of Sources by Teachers

F the three offices of sources in teaching, supplying material,

furnishing illustration, and giving insight into the sp, material, times, all are important. It is not to be expected that any but the most highly-trained specialist will found all or his chief knowledge of history on sources; but parts of the field may thus be underlaid by actual contact with the material. For example, such topics as the witchcraft delusion (Nos. 16-18), the founding of Georgia (ch. vi), the expulsion of the French from North America (ch. xx), or the naval warfare of the Revolution (Nos. 177, 194, 204), may be readily worked up from the narratives of the time; indeed, even such a limited collection as this volume contains throws light upon them.

For illustrations and additions to the text-book in class work, teachers will find some use of the sources enlivening and interesting to the pupil. For example, Washington's quest of Palatines (No. 108) shows how the labor system of the colonies troubled practical men. Chastellux and Steuben (Nos. 176, 202) bring out the merits of the American army. Story and Wesley (Nos. 98, 99) show how other churches began to rise side by side with the Episcopal and Congregational. Brief extracts from such originals, or paraphrases of the narrative recounted to the class, will serve to rivet the more general events in the minds of the pupils.

Perhaps the most important service which sources perform for the teacher is to fill his mind,—and through him the pupil's mind, — with the real spirit of the age described. Franklin (No. 81) was a man writing to fellow-men, and while reading we cannot help sharing his experiences. The records of the Providence town-meeting (No. 78)

bring out the multifariousness of Rhode Island interests. The gossip of William Pynchon (No. 208) is a sample of the daily table-talk of his generation. Pettit (No. 61) lets us into the details of local politics in 1764; Madame Knight (No. 80) infuses into her readers her own cheerful and indomitable nature; Doddridge (No. 136) shows us the hardship and grimness of the frontier life, which was the lot of many Americans; and the fate of the loyalists may be read in the plaints of Samuel Curwen in England (No. 169). Contact with the sources has some of the effects of visiting the scenes, in the way of leaving in the mind a clear-cut impression.

Sources will therefore bear reading several or many times, so that the mind may be permeated with them. The teacher cannot be too familiar with the controversies over the settlement of Georgia (Nos. 39-44); with the character of colonial assemblies (Nos. 61-68); with the arguments pro and con in regard to the Revolution (Nos. 131, 138, 141, 142, 146, 147, 155, 156, 157); with the favorable views of the American army held by foreign observers (Nos. 172, 176, 202, 214); with the argument for independence (No. 186). Of course the teacher will also use connecting secondary matter, so as to show how one event follows another, and what is the relation between events (see No. 14 below).

Some very successful teachers deliberately choose what may be called the episodic method, especially with young classes: they present a series of intellectual pictures of successive stirring events, without trying to make a complete narrative. Such a method has much to commend it, and is aided by the use of brief selected sources.

ON

NE of the main objects of this work is to bring together in convenient form a body of material suitable for use by pupils, even though immature. Hence, pieces have been selected which have an interest in themselves, though taken out of their connection; and there has been care to exclude numerous passages which are suitable enough for older students, but which are too strong and plain-spoken for children. Pupils cannot be expected to found their knowledge of history on sources, because they have not the judgment to distinguish between the different kinds of material; but it is believed that the use of such a col

lection as this,—or of such parts of it as there may be time to read, will fix many of the most important events and tendencies mentioned in the text-book. For example, no second-hand account of the Indians can compare in "holding power" with the narratives of Adair and Carver (Nos. 113, 116).

Perhaps the principal value of the educational side of sources for pupils lies in the aid which such material gives to intelligent topical work and to the preparation of "special reports." Of course, many of the advantages of topical study (which is discussed at large in Channing and Hart, Guide to American History, §§ 67, 68) may be had from the use of good secondary books, new to the user; but such work does not teach the most important lesson of all, that history is the search for truth, and that truth must depend on the ultimate sources. No pupil, by the use of this volume or of any other collection, can overset a conclusion of Parkman's; but he may learn that Parkman's greatness lies in his graphic and effective grouping of what he learned from sources.

A topic prepared with access to sources is therefore to the pupil's mind a creation, or rather a building up from materials known to be sound; it is an exercise in the kind of work which every historian must do, but which, in an elementary form, may be done by any young beginner in the subject. It often may stimulate the pupil to learn more about the picturesque men whose narratives he reads, about the witches, who acted so like poor, tormented, innocent people (Nos. 16, 17), and the jaunty travellers, Thomas and Castelman and Byrd (Nos. 25, 28, 82). It is therefore natural that the requirements in history for entrance to college, drawn up by a conference at Columbia University in February, 1896, suggest sources as a part of the pupil's material; and that the American Historical Association also favors that method for "vitaliza. tion" of the study.

As extracts for reading, many of the pieces in this volume have unique value. The language of the eighteenth century differs little from that of our own time; but there is a delightful freshness and vigor in such writers as Neal (No. 20), Goelet (No. 23), Beverly (No. 33), Wise (No. 47), Eliza Lucas (No. 83), Wesley (No. 99), Adair (No. 113), Knox (No. 129), Pausch (No. 179), and Greene (No. 212).

To sum up briefly: the pupil may get a foot-hold in the world of colonial thought by reading properly-chosen and related extracts from sources; he may get a peculiar and valuable training by working out some particular point. For instance, a very good exercise might be to