Classified Finding List of the Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical SocietyReview by: Dorothy KingThe American Archivist, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Jul., 1954), pp. 277-278Published by: Society of American ArchivistsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40289274 .

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REVIEWS OF BOOKS 277

In his acceptance of responsibility, within or even beyond established capaci- ty, and in his broad international outlook, Luther Evans has been one of the hardest working librarians of our generation. Certainly, in logging up, on numerous missions, national and international, what must have been well over 100,000 miles, he has become the most travelled librarian of all time. The following lines of Robert Frost, quoted in the report only as an illustration of the program of voice recording poetry, point up for Mr. Evans, in a personal sense, his eight years:

For I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

William H. Carlson Oregon State System of Higher Education

Classified Finding List of the Collections of the Michigan Pioneer and His- torical Society. (Detroit, Wayne University Press, 1952. Pp. 265. Proc- essed.) This guide to the 40 volumes of the Michigan Historical Collections, 1877-

1929, has been compiled because, as stated in its preface, "It is difficult or at least tedious ... to find a list of a man's personal papers, official documents on particular subjects, or reminiscences of a certain period" by using the index volumes of that set. The work was begun in 1939 as a WPA project, with Wayne University as sponsor. Lack of funds caused a delay in the work, and in 1940 the project was transferred to the Michigan Historical Records Survey. Publication has now been made possible by the concerted efforts of the Wayne University Press, the Historical Society of Michigan, the Detroit Historical Society, and Mr. Leonard Simons of Detroit.

The finding list has been divided into three chronological parts: 1600- 1796, 1796-1861, and 1861-1926. Each chronological division has been fur- ther subdivided into topical sections as follows: official papers; personal papers ; reminiscences ; special studies ; maps, portraits, illustrations and miscel- laneous; and biographical sketches and genealogies. At the end is one final section titled Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society.

In the sections on official papers the indexing is done for rather broad subjects such as American colonies, census, Indians, military affairs, and the like, and the volume and page numbers cited are explained briefly by a word or phrase. In the sections on personal papers the entries under the personal names are grouped under "letters from" and "letters to."

The actual use of the finding list is rendered definitely difficult by the multi- plicity of divisions and subdivisions. It is annoying to find a 265-page index divided into 19 short parts, even though in theory the divisions are obviously logical. By eliminating the three period divisions, the number of sections could have been reduced to six, with one added for the Michigan Pioneer and His- torical Society. Choices of entry within the chronological divisions are some- times puzzling. John Monteith is listed in the 1600- 1796 "Biographical Sketches and Genealogies" but also in the 1 796-1 861 "Personal Papers," and

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278 THE AMERICAN ARCHIVIST

again in "Reminiscences" for the later period. Since the 19 sections have been used, the absence of running titles is a serious omission.

This is one of that vast number of publications which came out of the WPA project and doubtless would not have been undertaken without that initiative. All of them have their value, their limitations, and their deficiencies, and to waive the usual standards in judging them is not to damn them. They were all produced over long periods of time under adverse circumstances. That this one should be made available is unquestioned, for it gives us helpful information which should not be lost. It has been reproduced cheaply, sensibly, even handsomely, from clear, legible typescript. The specialist in local history can fully appreciate this type of indexing which is based on several points of view and arranged by form of material rather than subject matter, and it is for the local history specialist that this work was done. He will use it prof- itably, but only as a supplement to the existing indexes, as was intended.

Dorothy King William Allan Neilson Library, Smith College

Teki Archiwalne I, edited by Adam Stebelski. (Warszawa, Panstwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1953. Pp. 147.) This is the first of a series of small publications designed to make available

to Polish scholars archival documentary sources "which may adequately meet the needs of the new historiography of the people's state." Originating with the first congress of Polish scholars held after the Second World War, the idea was put into effect in 1951 by the Supreme Board of State Archives with the collaboration of various archivists and historians.

The Archival Portfolio, as the publication is titled, reproduces some 20 selections which come from the Main Archives of Old Documents in Warsaw (AGAD). Three of the selections belong to the seventeenth century, the earliest dating from 1635, while the remainder fall into the eighteenth cen- tury between the years 1727 and 1778. All are presented as "source mate- rials for the socio-economic history of Poland, and particularly the history of its peasant village."

The unsigned introduction of less than four pages states the purpose and origin of the booklet, calls attention to the character and significance of the selections, partially identifies the seven contributors, and explains the publi- cation's editorial technique, for part of which acknowledgment is given to the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

The ûve chapters comprising the booklet cover various types of documen- tary sources: descriptive, normative, and dispositive inventories, registers, administrative instructions, and decrees. Each chapter begins with a brief preface describing the historical background, nature, location, and condition of the sources, and the auxiliary tools used in their interpretation. One set of footnotes, calling attention to interpolations in or deletions from the manu- script, accompanies the text, while another, supplying explanatory glosso- logical, geographical, and biographical data, is appended to each group of selections.

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