Mt. Pleasant Pyramid | 1913-05-02 | Page 3 | Old Documents Problem

Old Documents Problem. What to destroy and what to have in the w-ay of old documents, newspapers, newspa-pers, and other publications has given rise to the organization of committees of congress bearing these peculiar titles: "Disposition of Useless Papers in the Executive Departments" and "Examination and Disposition of Documents." Docu-ments." The names of the committees indicate the duties devolving upon their members. Moreover, not only public officers, but the directors of libraries and museums, to say nothing of private collectors, are often puzzled by the accumulation of matter Issn- I ing from modern printing-presses. A bill was not long ago introduced in parliament to enable the trustees of the British museum to distribute or j destroy "valueless printed matter in their possession." Immediately a I Shakespearean scholar of prominence objected. He argued that no one could discriminate between what may be valuable and what valueless for the historical investigator of the future. fu-ture. "Who knows." he asked, "but that the trade circular, the country newspaper, or the street song may throw a most important light several hundred years hence upon some mooted question of our present life?" Harper's Weekly.