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The Oral History Research Collection of Columbia University Columbia University Oral History Research Office Review by: Philip P. Mason The American Archivist, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Oct., 1964), pp. 513-514 Published by: Society of American Archivists Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40291016 . Accessed: 28/06/2014 13:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Society of American Archivists is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The American Archivist. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 92.63.97.126 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 13:32:12 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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The Oral History Research Collection of Columbia University Columbia University OralHistory Research OfficeReview by: Philip P. MasonThe American Archivist, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Oct., 1964), pp. 513-514Published by: Society of American ArchivistsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40291016 .

Accessed: 28/06/2014 13:32

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Society of American Archivists is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to TheAmerican Archivist.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 92.63.97.126 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 13:32:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REVIEWS OF BOOKS 513

The dates that follow the title of each record group are obviously intended to show the overall period covered by the records included in the group. Yet in "RG24, Records of the Office of the Register General, 1784- 18 10," none of the series listed is dated earlier than 1789. Similar inconsistencies have been noted in RG6, 12, 15, 17A, 17B, 19B, 23 A, 25, and 29. Such mistakes, along with numerous typographical errors, cast some doubt on the quality of the editorial work in the guide.

In spite of its limitations, some of them self-imposed, the guide should prove a very useful tool for scholars of Pennsylvania history.

Gust Skordas Maryland Hall of Records

Columbia University, Oral History Research Office, The Oral History Re- search Collection of Columbia University. (New York, 1964. 181 p. $3.)

In 1948 Columbia University began on a modest scale a project to inter- view persons who had prominent roles in the political, economic, cultural, and social life of our Nation. The program, which had been the inspiration of Allan Nevins a decade earlier, was established on a formal basis under his leadership.

Professor Nevins was concerned, as were other historians, by the fact that invaluable historical information was not being recorded because of rapid changes in modern communications - improved air travel and the practice of conducting business by telephone and at luncheon and dinner meetings. Im-

portant decisions and a wide variety of other information, which were once

carefully documented in correspondence and memoranda, were often being left to memory.

As of February 1, 1964, the oral history interviews numbered 1,345 and totaled approximately 200,000 typed pages. The list of those interviewed reads like a Who's Who in the Nation's political, cultural, social, and eco- nomic life. Prominent educators, politicians, labor leaders, artists, writers, po- ets, businessmen, historians, scientists, diplomats, and publishers are among those represented.

The work reviewed here is a guide to the Columbia collection, replacing the

i960 edition, its 1962 supplement, and the information in the annual reports of the Columbia Oral History Research Office. It is not a final report, since still more transcripts are being added at the rate of 10,000 to 20,000 pages a

year. The guide is divided into four sections. The biographical section, arranged

alphabetically, contains the name, vital statistics, and title of each person inter- viewed and a brief list of the topics covered in each transcript. Some readers

may wish that the descriptions were more detailed. The information pre- sented here, supplemented by the detailed index on deposit in the Butler Li-

brary at Columbia, will satisfy the interested historian. Under the "special projects" section, the editors have brought together transcripts on a wide vari-

ety of chosen subjects, including, for example, aviation, the Flying Tigers,

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514 THE AMERICAN ARCHIVIST

forestry and the lumber trade, the John F. Kennedy Administration, and the Marshall Plan. Another section of the guide is divided into lectures, seminars, and forums; and the final one is an alphabetical list of persons interviewed, indicating which parts of interviews can be heard on tape.

The guide will prove an important research tool for 20th-century historians. Moreover, it contains invaluable information for those undertaking similar oral history projects.

Philip P. Mason Wayne State University

Great Britain, Public Record Office, Guide to the Contents of the Public Record Office. Volume I. Legal Records, etc. Volume II. State Papers and Departmental Records. (London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1963. vi, 249 p., $6.50; vii, 410 p., $13.50 [order from British Informa- tion Services, 845 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022].)

M. S. Giuseppi's Guide to the Manuscripts Preserved in the Public Record Office, published in 1923-24, is both out of date and out of print. The need for a new guide led some years ago to plans for a more detailed publication, and work was begun on an ambitious project under the direction of the late Sir Hilary Jenkinson. After publication of the introductory section in 1949, however, it became obvious that such a detailed guide would entail unreason- able delay, and a decision was made to alter the plan and to issue an up-dated revision of Giuseppi's work.

The new publication, however, is much more than a revision of Giuseppl. By a judicious combining of some classes, a detailed listing of which was not necessary in a summary guide, and by eliminating references to commonly known finding aids, the new two-volume guide is not unduly larger than the older one even though the new terminal date for records listed is August 31, i960, and more than 2,000 new "classes" (the latter approximately equivalent to the "series" in the United States) have been added. A new system of call numbers for individual classes, introduced too late for use by Giuseppi, is fur- nished in the new guide.

Volume I covers the legal and judicial records of all periods and the na- tional archives from 1086 to 1509. Included are the records of the Chancery, the various exchequers, courts, palatine counties, and several other groups. Volume II encompasses the records of the State Paper Office, the various mod- ern departments, and several classes received from private sources. The first volume is prefaced by a remarkably concise and useful statement on the origin, facilities, procedures, and records of the Public Record Office. Reference is made to the finding aids ("means of reference") available in the searchrooms and to the system of call numbers employed. Many of the inevitable questions of the researcher are anticipated and answered. There is a thoughtful re- minder that the foreign student generally should present a letter from his embassy. There is also the suggestion - one applicable in any archival institu- tion - that serious students should exhaust available printed works before

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