Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/76

 68 W. C. WOODWARD political bias. For this reason, these letters, covering the crucial period of the sixties and written for the perusal of out- side readers, are almost invaluable. The same may be said of his personal correspondence. Supplementing the newspaper material in a very important manner, is the private correspondence, in the Oregon Histor- ical Society collections, of many men who were the most ac- tive participants in the politics of the time, notably Joseph Lane, Asahel Bush, J. W. Nesmith, Judge Deady and Jesse Applegate. In this connection may be mentioned also the per- sonal interviews with such men as Judge Geo. H. Williams, former Adjutant General C. A. Reed, W. R. Bishop and Geo. H. Himes, who, either from actual participation or observation, or both, threw much light on the events of a half century ago. Other primary material used was the collection of Oregon pioneer documents to be, found in the Bancroft Library of the University of California. These are largely memoirs and relate principally to settlement and to the period of the Provisional Government. As representative of these may be mentioned, Jesse Applegate's "Views of Oregon History," Deady's "Ore- gon History," Peter H. Burnett's "Recollections of the Past" and Elwood Evans' "History of Oregon." Likewise covering the period of the Provisional Govern- ment are Grover's "Oregon Archives" and a volume, "Unpub- lished Documents, Oregon Archives," Ms., in the Bancroft Library. Of secondary material used, the "Quarterly of the, Oregon Historical Society," 1900-1909, contains much that has been suggestive and helpful. Such contributions, for example, as "The Genesis of Political Authority in Oregon" and "Social Evolution in Oregon," by J. R. Robertson, and "The Slavery Question in Oregon," by T. W. Davenport, are typical of va- rious articles dealing with both social and political beginnings in Oregon, together with various phases of political develop- ment. The printed Proceedings of the annual meetings of the Ore-