Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/973

 America 963 been found, and has been printed in the American Anihropologist (January-March ). The History and Government of West Virginia (third edition, pp. 518), by R. E. Fast and H. Maxwell, has come from the press of the Acme Publishing Company (Morgantown. 1906). The legislature of North Carolina has passed an act extending the duties and powers of the State Historical Commission. The commission is to consist of three members, serving without pay, for terms of six years each. The commission is authorized to employ a secretary and to hire an office until one shall become available in the state library building. Its duties comprise the collection and custody of all archives and other public records which shall be transferred from state, county, and town offices, the preparation of a biennial report, and the editing and publication of historical documents. The transfer of these archives is not compulsory, but it is to b'e at the discretion of the various officials in whose custody they are at present. An annual appropriation of $5,000 is made available for the maintenance of the commission. Thus is opened the way for the development of an exceedingly valuable body of archive and other material, and the state of North Carolina is to be congratulated on the success of the efforts which have been made in its historical interests. Charles L. Van Noppen (Greensboro) has in press the first volume of a History of North Carolina, by Samuel L. Ashe. The work is to be completed in two volumes and is to cover the whole period " from the days of Sir Walter Raleigh to the present time ". As few state histories written on this scale have approached very near to our day, this work should prove interesting and serviceable. A sketch of William R. Davie, by J. G. de Roulhac Hamilton, to- gether with a number of Davie's letters annotated by Dr. Kemp P. Battle, has been published by the University of North Carolina. The Historical Commission of South Carolina, which has the custody of all public records of the State of South Carolina save those in current use, has just issued two volumes of the "early legislative journals of the province of South Carolina. Both are journals of the Grand Council, or upper house. The first covers the period from 1671 to 1680 and the second the greater part of the year 1692. These fragments of tt-e original set of journals of the Council for the first quarter of South Carolina's history are all that are now known to be in existence. The commission is annually given, by appropriation of the General Assembly, a fund with which to publish historical materials. Other publications will follow as rapidly as they can be prepared for publication. The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine for April continues its publication of the letters of Lafayette and Henry Laurens, and prints the concluding portion of " An Order Book of the i'*' Regi- ment, S. C. Line, Continental Establishment ".