The Papers of the Presidents By BUFORD ROWLAND The National Archives Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/13/3/195/2743031/aarc_13_3_55k5106816442h0h.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 INCE the early days of the Republic, the papers accumulated by a Chief Executive of the United States have been consid- Sered his personal property. George Washington set the prece- dent in 1797 when he took with him into retirement at Mount Ver- non all the correspondence and papers relating to his eight years in the Presidency. John Adams, on leaving the White House in 1801, followed Washington's example and sent his papers to his home in Quincy, Massachusetts. Prior to Franklin D. Roosevelt all the Presidents or their heirs had followed the precedent estab- lished by Washington and Adams. These records, mirroring vital phases of our social, economic, and political history, are basic source materials for the study of our national development. In some instances, unfortunately, these valuable records have been lost through neglect, fire, or willful destruction. It is the purpose of this compilation to trace in bare outline — a volume could be written on the subject — the fate of the Presidential papers. GEORGE WASHINGTON All but a very small percentage of the extant papers of George Washington are in the Library of Congress.1 Professor Samuel Eliot Morison, of Harvard, furnishes some interesting background information on this collection:2 Jared Sparks, editor of the North American Review, was first of the tribe of nosy historians who go poking about in public and private papers for the real low-down on history. Around the fiftieth anniversary of American inde- pendence, Mr. Sparks observed that no proper history of the American Revo- lution had yet been written; and as a means to have it written — and also as means of legitimate profit to himself — he conceived the idea of publishing a generous selection of the letters and other writings of George Washington. The General's papers were still at Mount Vernon in the possession of his nephew, Bushrod Washington, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. By making a flank approach on the Justice through Chief Jus- tice Marshall the Yankee scholar obtained an agreement by virtue of which he, 1 Congressional Record, 76th Cong., 1st sess., p. 9040 (Washington, 1939). 2 Samuel Eliot Morison, "The Very Essence of History," in Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hearing before the Committee on the Library, House of Representatives, 76th Cong., 1st sess. (1939), p. 26. 195 196 THE AMERICAN ARCHIVIST who as editor was to do all the work, would receive 50 percent of the net profits. The owner, who furnished the raw material, was to have 25 percent, and Chief Justice Marshall the balance. With Justice Washington's permission, 80 tightly packed cases of President Washington's papers were loaded on a mule wagon and started north toward Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/13/3/195/2743031/aarc_13_3_55k5106816442h0h.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 Boston. En route Mr. Sparks borrowed a bale of diplomatic correspondence from the State Department and a bundle of Gates Correspondence from the New York Historical Society. Those were the happy days for historians. In 10 years' time Sparks's "Writings of Washington" appeared, and proved a great success financially and otherwise. But in the meantime Judge Wash- ington had died, leaving the papers to his nephew, George Corbin Washing- ton, member of Congress from Maryland. Mr. Washington proposed to sell the "public" papers of the General to the Department of State. Legislation authorizing their purchase for $25,000 was duly passed (Act of June 30, 1834); but Mr. Washington, who needed the money badly — he had been defeated in the election of 1832 — could not collect it all while Jared Sparks held the bulk of the papers, and Mr. Sparks was not to be hurried. Eventu- ally 192 bound volumes of Washington papers, with several boxes of loose papers, were started on their way from Boston to the capital by the "burden cars" of the new railroad. The State Department increased its collection of Washington items in 1849 when an appropriation of $20,000 made possible the purchase of the remaining manuscript books and papers of the General from his heirs.3 The Washington papers remained in the State Department until 1903 when by Executive order they were transferred to the Library of Congress.4 The Library of Congress consolidated these papers with the Washington items which had been acquired with the Peter Force purchase in 1867.° Since 1903, the Library has from time to time through gift and purchase added to its Washington Collection, and it is estimated that over 95 per- cent of all the surviving papers that belonged to General Wash- ington are now in the Library of Congress. The records are open to the public. JOHN ADAMS JOHN QUINCY ADAMS The Adams papers, which are in the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, are under the control of the Adams Trust.9 3 Act of March 3, 1849, 9 Stat. 370. 4 The Executive order of March 9, 1903, was issued under authority of the Act of February 23, 1903. The Executive order also called for the transfer of the papers of James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe. 5 Handbook of Manuscripts in the Library of Congress, p. 512 (Washington, 1918). 6 Congressional Record, 76th Cong., 1st sess., p. 9040 (Washington, 1939). THE PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS 197 Through this trust, established in 1905, the Adams family exer- cises absolute control — including the right of destruction — over "the public letters, public letter-books and public documents, manu- scripts, books, private diaries and family letters," belonging to John and John Quincy Adams. The Trust expires in 1955 and since it is Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/13/3/195/2743031/aarc_13_3_55k5106816442h0h.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 self-perpetuating it can be re-established. The papers are not open to the public but the custodian, Henry Adams, Jr., will furnish in- formation on the request of scholars.7 THOMAS JEFFERSON The great body of papers which Jefferson left are in the Library of Congress. These are the papers which the Government pur- chased from Thomas Jefferson Randolph, executor of the Jefferson estate, in 1848 for $20,000. They were transferred to the Library from the State Department in pursuance to the Executive order of March 9, 1903.8 It is estimated that the Library of Congress has in either originals, letter-press copies or microfilm over 90 percent of the writings of Jefferson, and by purchase and gift is constantly acquiring items included in the remainder.9 No restrictions have been placed upon the use of the Jefferson papers. In addition to the Library of Congress, other important Jeffer- son items are found in the Massachusetts Historical Society, Pier- pont Morgan Library, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Buffalo Historical Society, Yale University Library, American Philosophi- cal Society, the Missouri Historical Society, and others.10 JAMES MADISON The magnificent collection of Madison's papers is in the Library of Congress. The collection, in the main, was acquired through two purchases from Mrs. Madison (the famous Dolly) and one from the Chicago Historical Society.11 The story of the purchases from Mrs. Madison is told by Gaillard Hunt in The Writings of James Madison:12 7 Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., "Washington's Missing-Papers Mystery," in The Saturday Evening Post, July 12, 1947, p. 123. 8 Act of August 12, 1848, 9 Stat. 284; Handbook of Manuscripts in the Library of Congress, pp. 183-184 (Washington, 1918). 8 Estimate furnished by Manuscripts Division of Library of Congress. 10 Congressional Record, 76th Cong., 1st sess., p. 9043 (Washington, 1939). 11 Handbook of Manuscripts in the Library of Congress, pp. 238-239 (Washington, 1918). 12 Gaillard Hunt (ed.), The Writings of James Madison, Vol. I, pp. xxxiii-xxxiv (New York, 1900). ig8 THE AMERICAN ARCHIVIST During the closing years of his life Madison occupied himself in arranging his papers and especially those relating to the framing of the Constitution. He bequeathed them to his wife, intending that she should immediately publish the debates in the Congress of 1782, 1783, and 1787, the debates in the consti- tutional convention, the proceedings of the Congresses of 1776, and a limited Downloaded from http://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist/article-pdf/13/3/195/2743031/aarc_13_3_55k5106816442h0h.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 number of letters, as he had arranged them. Through St. George Tucker she of- fered the work to the Harpers and through her son to other publishers, but was unable to come to a satisfactory agreement with any of them. Francis Preston Blair, the publisher of the Congressional Globe, offered to publish the work, but doubted whether much profit would accrue and suggested that her best plan would be to fix a sum to cover the profit she expected and offer the manuscript to Congress at that price. He promised to assist her in securing the appropriation. She had, however, already offered the papers to the govern- ment in her letter of November 15, 1836, to President Jackson. A copy of this letter was laid before Congress in a special message dated December 6, 1836. Madison's neighbor and friend, James Barbour, acted as her agent and told her that $100,000, the sum she at first said she expected, was out of the question, but that she could get $30,000 for the papers. This amount was appropriated by Act of March 3, 1837.