Report of Committee on Printing Savannah, Ga., Feb. 3, 1914. Col. A. R. Lawton, President. Georgia Historical Society, Savannah, Ga. Dear Sir: Through its Committee on Printing and Publishing— the Georgia Historical Society issued two volumes during the year, 1913. The first one was-The Spanish Official Account of the Attack on the Colony of Georgia in America, and its Defeat on St. Simons Island, by Gen. James OglethorpeThe Spanish documents were translated by Col. C. DeWitt Wilcox, and the volume is illustrated with a portrait of Gen. Oglethorpe, maps and plans of Forts. It forms part III of Volume VII of the Georgia Historical Society Collections. Later in the year your Committee issued in one volume entitled Volume VIII of The Georgia Historical Collections: "Letters of Joseph Clay, merchant of Savannah 1776-1793, and a List of Ships and Vessels entered at the Port of Savannah for May 1765-17661767. The publishing of the entries of all the months in those years would have made too bulky a volume, while the entries of the three months of May in each year sufficiently serve to illustrate the commerce of the port. This volume is published on fine paper, illustrated with Joseph Clay's portrait, maps, and views of contemporaneous date. Your committee is now considering the value of MSS. in the Society's possession for future publication and it will address you on the subject before the meeting. Your Committee on Printing and Publishing, after examining the MSS. in the possession of the Georgia. Historical Society, has decided that the most important to publish are the Hawkins papers which will make a volume of proper size, and one which will be greatly prized by all Historical Societies. Your truly, W. J. DeRENNE OTIS ASHMORE DR. THOS. J. CHARLTON Librarian's Report An agreement between the City of Savannah and the Georgia Historical Society, made on the 26th of March, 1903, which resulted in the founding of the Savannah Public Library, requires that annual reports shall be made both to the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah and to the Georgia Historical Society. In the reports so submitted that of your Librarian is always included. The statement of the proceedings of the Public Library for the year 1913 was promptly rendered on the 1st of January last, and as it embraced the facts in relation to the progress of the Library of this Society, it is not necessary to repeat here what was recorded therein; but it has been deemed proper that a special report be made at this the seventyfifth annual meeting in which the members shall be informed as to certain articles in our possession of peculiar interest and value. Without doubt, the most valuable of these, considered from the standpoint of Georgia history, is the collection of early newspapers. The Georgia Gazette, the property of James Johnston, was the eighth newspaper to appear in the colonies, and its first number was issued on the 7th of April, 1763. It is our misfortune not to have the first two volumes of that journal, but it is a satisfaction to know that they are to be found in the Library of our sister society, the Historical Society of Massachusetts-the only two volumes of its files owned by that Society. Those volumes are for the years 1763-1770. We have the files, practically complete, from 1774 to the time it suspended, in 1802. Other newspapers were printed in Savannah from that time until the Savannah Georgian was started in 1818, all of which we have, together with the complete office files of the last named from its beginning in 1818 until its suspension in 1854. During the time the Georgian was printed Savannah had another popular newspaper, the Republican; but, with the exception of a few odd volumes, we have no files of it; a complete set, however, is preserved in the Library of Congress. While those two journals existed others sprang up which were short-lived, most of which we have. The next item of value to be mentioned is a copy of the Georgia Colonial Acts, printed by Johnston whose press was the only one in the Province, and from which press the Gazette was issued. This is an excessively rare publication, and is one of only four copies known. It is singular that of those copies not one is complete, each containing some act not to be found in any of the others. So valuable are these volumes considered that a small edition of a fac-simile set of all the acts has been published by the Statute Law Book Company for every copy of which a very large price was paid by the subscribers. who were willing to pay liberally for the privilege of owning one of the rare books. The company, in return for the loan of the original copies, presented to each owner a copy of the acts not in his volume, thus permitting the four to have a full and complete volume. The Library has a number of manuscripts of great value, some of which have been printed and form parts of the Society's Collections. Among them may be mentioned the proceedings of the Georgia Council of Safety, proceedings of the Provincial Assembly, the letter book and order book of General and Governor Samuel Elbert and the letters of Joseph Clay. Others, worthy of being printed, are the letter book of General James Jackson, and the volumes of the journals and letters of Benjamin Hawkins who, in 1785, was appointed a Commissioner to treat with the Cherokees and other Indians south of them with the best results, and afterwards appointed by General Washington Superintendent of Indian Affairs, South. His manuscripts throw much light on matters relating to his duties under those appointments, and all of them are probably of as much interest as the single volume which was printed in 1848, and forms the first part of the third volume of the Collections of this Society. We have other manuscripts which, on a close examination by the Committee on Printing and Publishing, may be considered of sufficient interest and importance to make a volume or more of the Society's Collections. Included in them will be found the letter books of some of the mercantile houses of Savannah before and after the War of the Revolution. Of inestimable value, there is one article in our possession which must not be omitted from this partial list of treasures. That is the portrait of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. Of it we are told that, after being repaired and renovated at an expense of $221.25, it was given to the Georgia Historical Society by the Trustees of Chatham Academy, in the year 1851, the letter accompanying the gift recording the facts that it was "presented by Lady Huntingdon to the Orphan Home in Chatham County, which, as is known, was endowed by her", and that "it is a truly magnificent affair; an original by Sir Joshua Reynolds". The portrait has been temporarily lent to the Huntingdon Club by the Society. Although the most valuable, it is but one of many portraits owned by the Society; but as this is not a catalogue I will mention only one other, that of Mr. Israel Keech Tefft, the Society's founder. It is a perfect likeness, and was bequeathed to the Society by Mr. Tefft's widow. In addition to a good collection of books and pamphlets relating to the history of Georgia, and other subjects, we have a large number of historical relics, some of which are interesting because of their connection with the colonial period and the events of the American Revolution, as well as of more recent times. Of the Revolutionary epoch one object of interest is a drum which was in actual service at the battles of Eutaw, Saratoga, and Cowpens. In the month of June, 1876, by permission of this Society, the drum was |