Town Records, 1784-1794. Edited by Franklin P. Rice. Nos. 28 and 29 of the Worcester Society of Antiquity Collections. Worcester, 1890. Town Records, 1795-1816. Edited by Franklin P. Rice. Nos. 30 to 34 Worcester Society of Antiquity Collections. Worcester, 1891, 1892. RHODE ISLAND. Providence. The Early Records of the Town of Providence. Vol. I. The First Book of the Town of Providence (1633-1712). Printed under authority of the City Council, by Horatio Rogers, George M. Carpenter, and Edward Field, Record Commissioners. Providence, 1892. Same. Vol. II. The Second Book of the Town. (Meetings, 16421661). 1893 Vol. III. Part of the Third Book. Same. (Meetings, 1661 (Meetings, 1673 Same. Vol. V. Part of the Third Book. (Deeds.) 1894. 1894. Part of Will Book No. 1. (Wills, 1678–1709.) Same. Vol. VII. Part of Will Book No. 1. (Wills, 1689-1716.) 1894. Same. Vol. VIII. (Town Meetings, 1676-1691.) 1895. Same. Vol. IX. (Miscellaneous, 1678-1750.) CONNECTICUT. 1895. Stamford. Registration of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, including every Name, Relationship, and Date now found in the Stamford Registers from the first Record down to the year 1825. By Rev. E. B. Huntington, A.M. Stamford, 1874. 2. The Burton Historical Collection. [The following account of a library which, though of private ownership, is freely made accessible to students, has been kindly prepared by Mr. William D. Johnston of the University of Michigan.] The Burton Historical Collection is located in a fire-proof building erected for that purpose by Mr. C. M. Burton, in the city of Detroit. It was commenced by Mr. Burton in 1871, and has been carried on with the assistance of copyists, one of whom is now engaged at Columbus, Ohio; others at West Point, at Washington, and at Montreal; and others at the churches of St. Anne, Detroit, and l'Assumption, Sandwich, Ontario. Copyists are also employed at Paris and at London under the supervision of Mr. B. F. Stevens. The purpose of the collector has been to secure the materials for the histories (1) of Detroit, (2) of the Northwest, (3) of North America, and (4) of England as they relate to the history of Detroit and the Northwest. There is contained in the collection at present the following: I. Detroit History. 1. Public documents: notaries' records, 16891710; city charters, annual reports, common council proceedings, and miscellaneous municipal publications. 2. Church records: St. Anne, 1703-1895 (manuscript); l'Assumption, 1756-1895 (manuscript); church reports. 3. Newspapers: Detroit Gazette, 1816-1830 (type-written copy); Courier, 1831; Free Press, 1831-1896; Journal, from 1831 to date, under various titles. 4. Family papers and correspondence: Cadillac Papers, copied from the Paris archives (manuscript); correspondence of Alexander Henry, Alexander Grant, John Askin, James McGill, Isaac Todd, 1760-1816; of General John R. Williams, first mayor of Detroit, 63 volumes, 1800-1854; James A. Van Dyke and Halmer H. Emmons, 1830-1870; Ferdinand C. Rivard, 1747-1840; Charles B. Chauvin, 1800-1875; Denis and Theodore Campau, 1840-1880; Joseph Vissier, dit Laferté, 1750-1780; James Abbot, first postmaster, 1780-1840; letters by Robert Rogers, 1755-1764; Joseph Brant, and the Moravian preachers, Heckewelder, Zeisberger, Senseman, and others, including Indian deeds conveying the northwestern portion of Ohio and the southeastern portion of Michigan. 5. Miscellaneous matter: annual reports of local societies, Masonic, etc., photographs of prominent citizens, and broadsides. II. Northwestern History. I. Public documents: laws of the Northwest Territory, Michigan state laws, Michigan House and Senate journals and joint documents, and the Cass Code. 2. Travels: Mackenzie, 1789-1793; Potherie, 1534-1723; La Hontan, 1683-1694; Carver, 1784; Honiton, 1685; Henry, 1760-1776; Collot, 1795; Champlain, 1615; Frontenac, 1696; Kalm, 1748; Schoolcraft, 1820; Jesuit Relations, 1632-1672; Discovery of Canada, 1534-1542; Mémoire sur le Canada, 1749-1750; Abbé Faillon's Canada. 3. Newspapers: (fugitive), Western Herald, 1838; Constitutionalist, 1837; Piqua Gazette, Ohio, 1825; Crisis, 1849, etc. 4. Historical Societies: various complete sets. 5. Magazines: various complete sets. 6. Maps and atlases, 1680 to date. III. North American History. 1. Travels, various. 2. Diaries: various, printed; Commissary Willson's orderly book, 1759, (manuscript); General Anthony Wayne's orderly book, seven vols. (manuscript). 3. Publications of historical societies, election sermons, newspapers, magazines, and other Americana, including several rare editions of McFingal. IV. English History. This embraces (1) miscellaneous matter illustrative of relations with America, (2) a valuable collection of English histories, including some rare editions, and (3) several collections of tracts relative to the Eikon Basilike, the Sacheverell trial, and the Junius letters. The library numbers about 8000 volumes and 8000 pamphlets, together with unclassified letters and documents of local interest and value, unprinted, to the number of about 25,000. These when arranged will afford rare facilities for the further study of Northwestern, and especially Detroit, history. NOTES AND NEWS The Rev. John Owen, author of Evenings with the Skeptics (1881), The Skeptics of the Italian Renaissance (1892), and The Skeptics of the French Renaissance (1893), died on February 6, at the age of 63. The Italian historian Giuseppe di Leva, born at Zara in 1821, and especially known by his Storia commentata di Carlo V. in Correlazione all' Italia, died at Padua on November 29. Johannes Overbeck, the distinguished archeologist, born at Antwerp in 1826, died on November 8 at Leipzig. His Geschichte der griechischen Plastik was his most famous work. Alexandre Henne, Belgian historian, best known by his excellent Histoire du Règne de Charles-Quint en Belgique (1858-1860) died on January 10, aged 84. Henri van Laun, author of two volumes on the French Revolutionary Epoch, published in 1879, died in London on January 19, at the age of 76. The American Historical Association held its eleventh annual meeting at Washington on December 26 and 27. Senator George F. Hoar, president of the Association for 1895, took as the subject of his address, Popular Discontent with Representative Government. Thirty-two other papers were upon the programme. Thirty of these were appointed for December 27. The result of this congestion was that in the forenoon the experiment was tried of maintaining two simultaneous sessions in adjoining halls, one section being devoted to American colonial history, the other to American political history of periods subsequent to 1775. The experiment was not wholly successful. The papers, which it is impossible for us to enumerate, exhibited in a gratifying measure the activity and variety of the researches in American history which are progressing under academic auspices, or as the result of academic impulse, and in particular made it plain that, whatever be the case with the general public, the serious historical students of the country are fully alive to the importance of researches in the field of post-revolutionary history. Yet one who compares the proceedings with those of similar gatherings in Europe will be surprised to see how much less the mind of American historical students is directed toward those problems of economic history which of late so largely occupy historical students and conventions in Europe, although economic factors may well be thought to have exercised a more powerful influence upon the history of the United States than of older lands. Papers which attracted especial attention were those of Professor H. L. Osgood, proposing a new classification of colonial governments; of Dr. Herbert Friedenwald, on the Journals of the Continental Congress; of Professor W. H. Siebert, on the Underground Railroad; of Professor B. S. Terry, on the political aspects of the Homestead Law agitation; of Dr. A. C. Coolidge, on the study of the history of Northern Europe; and of Dr. Frederic Bancroft, on the French in Mexico and the Monroe Doctrine. Dr. Richard S. Storrs was elected president for the next year, Mr. James Schouler and Professor George P. Fisher, vice-presidents; Professor H. Morse Stephens and Professor Frederick J. Turner were added to the executive council. A vote which will be welcomed by many appointed New York as the next place of meeting, the dates being December 29, 30, and 31, 1896. The income of the Association considerably exceeding its expenses, the executive council have resolved to spend some of its future revenues in the promotion of historical investigation upon definite lines. They have instituted a Historical Manuscripts Commission which, like the English commission of similar name, will prepare reports upon original unprinted materials in various parts of the country, relating to the history of the United States. Calendars of these manuscript sources will be published, especially in the case of documents which are in private hands and therefore do not fall within the field of operations of the Bureau of Rolls and Library, nor within the scope of state-archive publications. If the work of the commission is successfully conducted, its establishment must surely be regarded as a step of great importance in the promotion of scholarly research in American history. The commission is to consist of Professor J. Franklin Jameson, chairman; Dr. Douglas Brymner, archivist of the Dominion of Canada; Talcott Williams, Esq., of Philadelphia; Professor William P. Trent, of the University of the South, and Professor Frederick J. Turner, of Wisconsin. The executive council has also voted to offer a prize of $100 for the best monograph based upon original investigation in history submitted to the council during the coming year, university dissertations excluded, and to print the best five or six of the monographs thus submitted, if of an approved degree of excellence; also to establish a gold prize medal of the value of $100, to be awarded at suitable intervals for the best completed work of research in history published in this country through the ordinary channels of publication. The first award will be made to some book published after January 1, 1896; succeeding awards only to works published, in each case, since the last preceding award. The intervals will probably be about three years. The Report of the Association containing the papers read at its meeting of December, 1894, has not yet appeared. An important announcement in the field of historical geography is that of Fr. Schrader's Atlas de Géographie Historique, just published by Hachette. The atlas consists of 167 colored maps on 55 sheets, accom |