College to Publish Webster Papers
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE is gathering and intends to publish the collected papers of Daniel Webster, lawyer, statesman, orator, and illustrious alumnus of the College, Class of 1801.
The initial phase of the work is being supported by a grant from the U.S. General Services Administration on the recommendation of the National Historical Publication Commission. Federal funds for the first year total $21,577.
An estimated 30,000 items - letters from and to Webster and other of the statesman's writings will be collected. These will be photocopied and made into a microfilm edition for library and scholarly use.
Later, in a second phase, the College expects to edit and publish on a selective basis, scholarly volumes of Webster's papers with historical annotations.
During the initial phase, Webster Project personnel at Dartmouth's Baker Library hope to be in touch with the known holders of Webster papers and to hear from individuals who have Webster material. The College already has one of the three largest collections of Webster papers.
The project will be housed in Dartmouth's Baker Library and a project director and staff are at work. An advisory board, headed by Francis Brown '25, editor of the New York Times Book Review, has been concerned with the project from its inception. Other advisory board members are:
Richard W. Morin '24, Librarian of the College; U.S. Judge Dudley B. Bonsai '27 of New York; Lyman H. Butterfield, Editor of the Adams Papers; Prof. Marcus Cunliffe at England's University of Sussex; Chicago Attorney Paul W. Cutler '28; Prof. David Donald, Johns Hopkins University; Christian A. Herter, former U.S. Secretary of State; Prof. Herbert W. Hill of the Dartmouth faculty; Oliver W. Holmes, Director of the National Historical Publications Commission; Attorney Francis H. Horan '22 of Falls Village, Connecticut; Prof. Mark DeW. Howe, Harvard Law School; Prof. Walter Johnson '37, University of Hawaii; Prof. Elting E. Morison of Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Prof. Allan Nevins, retired Columbia historian now with the Henry E. Huntington Library in California; Director Stephen T. Riley of Massachusetts Historical Society; William G. Saltonstall, director of special educational programs for Science Research Associates; Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, N. J.; Prof. Charles G. Sellers Jr. of the University of California at Berkeley; and New York attorney Whitney North Seymour, former President of the American Bar Association.
