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Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2001
Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms001008
Latest revision: 2004-08-27
Correspondence, 1926-1992 | |||||||||||||
Bibliographies, 1929-1992, n.d. | |||||||||||||
Miscellany, 1910-1992, n.d. | |||||||||||||
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
The papers of Henry Putney Beers, archivist, historian, and bibliographer, were given to the Library of Congress in two installments by Beers in 1980 and 1992.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Henry Putney Beers in these papers is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Henry Putney Beers Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Date | Event |
| 1907, May 7 | Born, Scranton, Pa. |
| 1930 | B.S., Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. |
| 1931 | M.A., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. |
| 1933-1934 | Surveyor, supervisor, and bibliographer, Historical Records Survey of Pennsylvania, Civil Works Administration, Philadelphia, Pa. |
| 1935 | Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. |
| 1936-1937 | Research assistant and editor, Survey of Federal Archives, Works Progress Administration, National Archives, Washington, D.C. |
| 1938-1944 | Assistant archivist, National Archives, Washington, D.C. |
| 1944-1946 | Seaman and specialist third class, United States Navy, serving from Jan. 1945 to Jan. 1946 as a historian in the Bureau of Naval Personnel |
| 1946 | Archivist, National Archives, Washington, D.C. |
| 1946-1950 | Historian, Foreign Relations, Diplomatic Papers of the United States (Latin America), State Department, Washington, D.C. |
| 1950-1958 | Historian (assistant editor), The Territorial Papers of the United States (project was transferred from State Department to National Archives in May 1950) |
| 1958-1968 | Archivist, National Archives, Washington, D.C. |
The papers of Henry Putney Beers (1907-1996) span the years 1910-1992, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period between 1930 and 1970. The collection focuses on Beers's professional activity as a bibliographer in American history. It consists of three series: Correspondence, Bibliographies, and Miscellany. Included in the papers are correspondence, reports and memoranda, employment records, office files, academic records, and other material pertaining to Beers's life and career.
The Correspondence series in the collection documents Beers's private and professional life from his college days through 1992. Topics of interest include hardships during the Great Depression and Beers's concern for and assistance to his aging parents, efforts to find a job after receiving his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania in 1935; his persistence and eventual success in getting a position at the National Archives; his personal and professional relationship with his doctoral advisor, St. George L. Sioussat, who later became head of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress; the courtship of his future wife and their early married life; and his detailed accounts of life in the navy during World War II. The series also provides a chronicle of the development of Beers's thirty-year career as an archivist, bibliographer, and historian.
The Bibliographies series reflects Beers's activity as a compiler of historical publications. It consists primarily of correspondence with archival repositories and publishers, reports and memoranda, and book reviews. While a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Beers compiled bibliographies on the American Indian, frontier history, and the trans-Mississippi West, subjects pertinent to his doctoral dissertation. Around this time he also compiled bibliographies on the states of New York and Pennsylvania. Beers's major work, Bibliographies in American History, first published in 1938, was followed by numerous updated editions over the next fifty years. Foreign archival records relevant to American history were compiled in The French and British in the Old Northwest, French and Spanish Records of Louisiana, The French in North America, and Spanish and Mexican Records of the American Southwest. During the centennial of the Civil War, Beers published guides to archival holdings of both the federal and Confederate governments. He also published several works on the United States Navy.
The Miscellany series consists of material relating to Beers's education, employment, and finances. The professional office file chronicles his surveys of federal records while with the Works Progress Administration and the National Archives as well as his stint as project editor with The Territorial Papers of the United States. The series also contains a small section of writings by Beers comprised mostly of book reviews, papers, and material relating to the published version of his doctoral dissertation.
The collection is arranged in three series:
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