Report of the Activities Committee to the Civil War Centennial Commission

Report of the Activities Committee to the Civil War Centennial Commission Eoitor's Note: On January 6, 1959, Major General U. S. Grant 3rd, chairman ofthe Civil War Centennial Commission, appointed a Committee on Historical Activities. This Committee, consisting of David C. Mearns, Avery O. Craven, Congressman Fred Schwengel, and Bell I. Wiley, chairman, was charged with the responsibility of considering and recommending effective ways of promoting the historical aspects of the Commission's program. On April 6, 1959, the Committee submitted the following report to General Grant. The Executive Committee of the Commission at its meeting on May 6, 1959, unanimously approved the report in principle and agreed that the projects listed in it should be undertaken as circumstances permitted. The Commission , owing to its small budget, cannot hope to assume financial responsibility for more than a few of the least costly projects. But it is hoped that historically minded organizations, institutions, and individuals will undertake some of the more important projects. This hope has been stimulated by the fact that at least three historical projects of vital interest to the Commission have already been initiated. The National Archives is preparing a guide-index to facilitate use of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies; the New York Public Library has awarded an Emily F. Skeels Fellowship to C. E. Dornbusch to enable bin torevise and bring up to date the Bibliography of State Participation in the Civil War; and Thomas Yoseloff is reprinting Frederick A. Dyer's massive, scarce, and exceedingly helpful Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. The Report of the Committee on Historical Activities was not prepared with any thought of publication. General Grant has consented to its reproduction in Civil War History to pubh'cize the Commission's deep interest in promoting a better understanding of the Civil War and to call attention to the need of sponsors for the projects listed in the report. I. During the period March 10-20, 1959, the Committee held several informal sessions and met in conference with visiting historians on March 10 and March 16. Both of these conferences were attended by General U. S. Grant, Karl Betts, and Edmund C. Gass of the Commission staff. The visiting historians were: Professor David Donald, Columbia University Colonel Ernest Dupuy, military historian Mr. Ira Lykes, The National Park Service Dallas Irvine, The National Archives 374 Christopher Crittenden, Director, North Carolina Historical Commission C. E. Dornbusch, New York Public Library Charles O'Neill, Greens Farms, Conn. (Guggenheim Fellow, author of Wdd Train) Professor Frank E. Vandiver, The Rice Institute Clyde C. Walton, Illinois State Historian; Editor, CtOtZ War History Professor T. Harry Williams, Louisiana State University William J. Van Schreeven, State Archivist, Virginia State Library Philip M. Hamer, Executive Director, National Historical Publications Commission II. On the basis of deliberations in these sessions, the Committee respectfully makes the following recommendations: A.In all of its historical activities, the CivU War Centennial Commission should encourage treatment of the Civil War as a broad and complex phenomenon reaching deep into American experience. It should insist that the war be regarded and treated not as an isolated episode, with rigid boundaries of time, locale, or events, but as an inseparable part of the general stream of American history. It should also encourage consideration of the war as a phenomenon extending far beyond a succession of political and military activities and one which encompasses social, cultural, economic and other broad movements which go far back into the prewar years and which continue to exert a tremendous influence on down to the present time. Moreover, it should emphasize the relation of the war to international trends and events. B.The Commission should set up as its number-one historical publication objective the preparation and publication of a comprehensive syllabus or guide to CivU War history. This should meet tiie highest standards of scholarship and should be of a quality comparable to that of the Harvard Guide to American History. It should exceed the scope of the Harvard Guide in some respects, particularly in that it should attempt to evaluate the books listed ( as does Larned in the Literature of American History), and should...