NUMBER 126, SEPT" 1979

spected for hi s authorship of Archaeology inBritain, T reasure in the Th ames, Great Arti factsof Colonial A merica and hi s series of pamphletsabout the archaeology of Col onial Will iamsburg,In 1959 he became a Research Associa te of theSmithsonian Institu tion, an honorary positionwh ich he still holds .

In 1970, wh en Colonial Williamsburg acquiredCarter's Grove, work was begun ex ploring the500 surrounding acres along the James River.In searchi ng for artifacts which would demon­strate eighteenth-century plantation lif e, Wil­liamsburg archaeologists found evidence of amuch older, seventeenth-century English settle­me nt. The exciting story of th e 'WolstenholmeTowne discovery is told by Mr. Noel H ume inhis article, "First Look at a Lost Virginia Sett le­me n t" in th e June 1979 N ational Geograph ic:

"For close on 350 years the remain s of Wolsten­holm e Towne would lie buried and forgotten­until archaeologists looking for something quitedifferent came upon them. But even then , a fewdirty marks in the soil and a h andful of potsherdsdid not hint th at we h ad stumbled upon one ofthe most dramatic incidents in American colonialhistory-or that there we would uncover post­ho les offering evidence of the earliest town planyet excavated in British America, together withsome truly astoni shing artifacts."

After three years of the most painstak in g d ig­ging, and skillful, almost miraculou s restorationof fragments of pottery and metal 1Ilr. NoelHume can specula te about th e value of hi s latesttriumph. "Whenever we open a door into anunknown world, everything we see inside is im­portan t, Althou gh traces of the 1622 massacre areintensely interesting and dramatic, and findingthe colonis ts" arms and armor is exci ting. whatreally matters is the new light shed on Britishlife in America in the second decade of coloniza­tion:"

uartoThe

- T ED QU ARTER LY FO R TilE CLE MEN TS LI BRARY ASSOCIATES

l vor Noel H ume

c,m..o" "',\. "hU..\ AM' ''URG i s preeminent in tbefield of eighteenth-century architectural restora­tion. Buildi ng and restorative work has alwaysbeen preceded by detailed archaeo logica l work,No w, under Ivor Noel Hurne, Director of theDepar tment of Archaeol ogy since 1957, exci ti ngnew archaeological discoveries arc being madefor the seventeenth century as well . Mr. NoelHum e is guiding the excavation of the old estBritish dom estic settlement yet to be found inAmerica- Wolstenholme Towne, found ed in1619 along the ba nks of the J ames R iver , about10 miles east of J amestown ,

Mr. Noel H ume came to Williamsburg fromthe Guildhall Museum in London, where he h adbeen a staff archaeologis t since 1949. In th atposition he was responsible for the recovery andrecording of antiquities discovered as a result ofwartime bombings in London. His radio andtelevisi onbroad casts for the British Broadcastin gCorporation, and his numerous articl es in Con­noisseur, Antiques, Country Life and Collector' sGuide have earned him a wide popul ar audience .T housands of visitors to Will iamsburg haveheard his superb narration for the film "Searchfor a Century" describing the archaeology atCarter's Grove, Mr. Noel Hume is high ly re-

-rr p I NTO THE T REN CHES for an archaeo logicalereasure hunt with us on Tuesday, October 16,at 8:30 p.m. Ivor Noel Hurne, a masterful lee­tu rer, wi ll give us an up-to-date report on hisexcavations of Wolstenholme Town on theJames Ri ver. It is the most important seven­teenth-century site to be discovered and is be­ginning to revolution ize historical interpreta­tions of the earlies t Europea n settlements inVirginia. Don't miss itl

THE CLEMENTS LIBRARY ASSOCIATESof The University of Michigan

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Appointed by the Regents of th e University

Mrs. Noyes L. Avery, Jr., Grand R ap idsCa rl W . Bonbright, FlintEdward W . Bowen, Bay CityRobert P. Br iggs, Elk R apids, CHAIRMANC. E. Frazer Clark, Jr., Bloomfield H illsBly Corning, FlintThomas N . Cross, Ann ArborDuane N . Diedrich, M un cie, Ind .William C. Finken stae d t, DetroitHarlan H . Hatcher, A nn ArborPet er N. H eydon, Ann ArborJ ames M. Klancn ik, ChicagoJ ames S. Schoff, New YorkRoy M. Tolleson, Jr., DetroitMrs. David F. Upton, St. JosephLee D. van Antwerp, Northbrook, 111.J ohn D . Wheeler, Bay CityJ ohn C. Dann, Director of th e

Library, SECRETARY

New Treasure

As You MAY H AVE a lready noticed fro m wid e­spread newspaper and television coverage. thelibrary has committed itself to purchasing oncof the most importan t histori cal volumes everacquired. William Hack's late seventeenth-cen­tury manu script "South Seas Atl as," copied froma Spa nish derrotero captured by the Engli shpirate Bartholomew Sharp. docu ments a crucia lchapter in Amer ican history recorded in no othersou rce.

Our next issue of th e Quarto will be en ti relydevoted to the atlas, with a history of its creationand evaluation of its importance by Dr. GeorgeKish of the Geography Department. ProfessorKish, who served as part-time curator of maps

und er R andol ph Adams in the mid-1940's, has awide reputa tion for his scholarship in the fieldof h istorical geography and mapmaking in theAge of Di scovery and Exploratio n.

An effort is now underway to raise $50,000 to

complete payment for the new treasure, and as­sista nce on the part of all friends of th e librarywill be most welcome in the coming m onths,

111e atlas, which is as beautiful as it is historicallyimportant, will be on di splay at th e O ctober 16mee ting of the Associa tes.

Wallace J. BonkDR. WALLACE J. BONK, former head of the Schoolof Library Science, di ed in Ann Arbor on July 18after an ex tended ill ness. Professor Bonk , inaddition to his noteworth y contr ibutions as ateacher and administrator, had a scholarly in­terest in the history of rare book libraries andfine print ing. He publi shed several mon ographsbased on research at the Clements Library andco-auth ored a standard work, Bu ild ing LibraryCollec tions, now in its 4th edition .

Professor Bon k took a keen in terest in thelibrary's activi ties. H is wife Jo yce has been ourcatalog librarian since 1956, when Professor Bon kreceived hi s doctorate from the University ofMichigan . On his last visit to the Clemen ts,Professor Bonk shared in the staff's enthusiasmfor the new manuscript atlas whi ch had arrivedthe day before . Hi s effervescen t personality, hiswarm th, a nd hi s deli gh tful sense of humor willbe deeply missed.

Staff Activities

IN EARLYAUGUST Map Curator Dou glas Marshallreturned after six weeks in Los Angeles, wherehe was a post-doctoral fellow at the WilliamAndrews Cla rk Library. The study p rogramfocused on English maritime enterprise in theseventee nth and early eighteenth centuries . Mr.Marshall will spe nd September attendi ng inter­national conferences on historical cartography,maintenance of cartographic archives, and his­tory of nauti cal scien ce in Helsinki, Berlin, andGreenwich.

Barbara Mitchell , assistant manu script cu­rator, became the third generation of C leme ntscurators to atten d the Institute for the Editingof Historical Documents held in Madison, 'Vis4consin, in J ul y. Both John Dann and Arl en eShy were selected to participate in previous in­stitutes. The two-wee k session was sponsored bythe National Historical Publicati ons and RecordsCommissio n.

gellan Revisited

TEn: ~IOST EXPENSIVE book previously purchasedthe library was the accou nt of Magellan'smnavigation of the globe written by a sur­

m or, Antonio Pigafet ta , and published at Paris3bou t 1525. It was bought at auction in 1966

, the Associates for $56,000, Of course. a hand­of books acquired by Mr. Clements early in

me century are wort h that much and more today,wtno simila r amount was ever paid for a singleitle.

Any misgivings the director had th en abou tauthorizing such a high bid were di spelled tilenext day, when a di sappointed private collectoroIfered $75,000 for the hook. It was the seventhknown cop y. and the on ly on e in private hands .That was the end of the story for eleven years.until December 1977, when Sotheby Parke BernetGalleries announced the di scovery of anothercopy in Europe and offered it at auction . Mr.Peckham adm itted to feeling some uneasiness,because if this copy shou ld bring a good dealless than $56.000 the Associates would appear tohave bee n extra vagan t and his judgment ques·tioned . However. it did n't. In fact the bookbrought the astonishi ng price of $130.000 andwent to Yale University. \ Ve were pleased thatanother university found it a desi rable invest­ment.

Equally astonishing, Sotheby Parke Bernet h asjust offered another copy-the ni nth-from "thesame European priva te library" as the eigh thcopy. Imagine, two copies in one colle ction! Witha repaired title page , it was auctioned on May 23,1979 and was p urcha sed for $100.000 by a dealer,presumably acti ng for some one else.

The rise in monetary value of our copy in adozen years is due in part to inflation, no doubt.but it also makes our copy look like a basementbargain. The Associates are to be congratulatedagain on their daring decision in 1966. The bigplunges payoff in a ver y few years , and theyprovide the item s th at add luster to this library.

Stretching Our Funds

WE A LWAYS Do a good job of stret ching our rarebook acquisitions budget as far as possible. Withstaff expertise ancl a superb reference library ofbibliographies and dealers' catalogs , we have aconsiderable knowledge of the values of Ameri ­cana and we stay away from overpriced items.Particularly rewarding are those occasion s, once

or twice a year, whe n we acquire an outstandi ngpiece at a fraction of its true value.

A New York au ction catalog arrived in earlyMay contai ning a manuscript "Map of the Cou n­ties of Newcastle, Kent and Sussex upon theDelaware according to a Lawful Survey madein the Year 1737," drawn by Benjamin Eastburnand measuring 27 X 38 in ches. The descriptionnoted that Eastburn published a survey map ofthe region in 1740. and suggested that it waspossibl y "a preliminary draft, an engraver'smaster, or just a slightly la ter copy of that printedmap ."

I t was a case where our collections gave us anadvan tage not shared by the auction galle ryca ta loger. We have a copy of th e prin ted East­burn map, and the Delaware portion of itmeasures only 7 X 14 inches, is little more thanan outline map of boundaries, and is clearlydat ed 1740. It simp ly made no sense that a mapof 2 ~ X 3% feet in size, dated 1737, would bea cop y of a much smaller one dated three yearslater. Carnegie Book Shop looked a t the map forus, guaranteed that it was indeed a contemporarymanuscript, and assured us that "some loss ofpaper" noted in the catalog di d not affect theimportant portions of the surface.

Early American manuscript maps are high onour priorities , and we authorized a bid of slightlyover 2.000. We got it for 4001

\ Vhen the map arrived , it was clear that it wasa very important map drawn by a professio nalsurveyor. presumably Eastburn, who had per­sonaBy visited the territory. It is far and away thelargest , most detailed map of present-da y Dela­ware done in the colonial period.

Playing on hunches, we again turned to oursuperb reference collection. In Febru ary andMarch of 1872. Puttick & Simpson, a uc tioneersof London, sold the library and archives ofWilham Penn and hi s descendan ts. \Ve havethe ca ta log, and lo t 570 is th e very same map,i ts whereabouts lost to scholars for more than acentury.

The acquisi tion, therefore, turned out to bethe original survey of the "three lower cou ntieson th e Delaware," done for th e Penn familyproprietors at a time when they were squabblingover boundaries with the Calverts, proprietors ofMaryland. Careful research and superior libraryresources enabled us to acquire an exceptionali tem for five to ten percent of its true marketvalue.

Tory Printer

JAMES H UMPHREYS was a prudent man. \Vhenhe hega n publishing hi s newspaper The Penn­sylvonia Ledger in J anuary 1775 he announcedto hi s Philadelphia readers that he in tended toreport political news impartially. However. hissen timen ts soon became public knowledge; hesigned th e oath of a llegia nce to George III andrefused to bear arms against hi s king. In 1776Humphreys published a pamphlet, St rictures onPaine's Common Sense, which sold severa l thou­sand copies in a few months. Coming underincreasing attack from Philadelphia patriots, thepublisher closed hi s paper before the yea r wasout a nd retired to the coun try.

Humphreys returned to Philadelphia when theBritish took possession of th e cit y in September.1777. British occupation revived th e city's eco­nomy and Humphreys cap italized on the newburst of prosperity. H e reestablished hi s news­paper as The Pennsylvan ia Ledger or the Phila­delph ia Mar ket /Jay Advertiser. Here Humphreysreported the "progress of the tyranny, knavery,and oppression of congress iona l au thority."

When the British evacuated Phil adelphia inJune, 1778, James Humphreys followed them toNew York , then joined the Loyali st migrationto Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Humphreys was aPhiladelphian by birth a nd he returned to hisbeloved ci ty as soon afte r th e war as he dared .Once again he established a printing house.

Recently we acq uired a set of The Pennsyl­vania Ledger or th e Ph iladelphia M arket DayAdvert iser. 'we are pleased to add it to our otherLoyalist uewspapers such as The Ro yal Gazett e,published in Char leston, South Carolina, b y JohnWells and the numerous publications of thegreat Tory printer J ames Rivington.

Van Deventer Papers

CHRISTOPHER VA N DEVE.~TER'S pa pers were givento the library almost twenty years ago. As deputyquartermaster general during th e W ar of 1812,ch ief clerk in the War Department from 1817to 1827, and a friend of John C. Calhoun, VanDeventer maintained a dose con nec tion with thecom plex political even ts of the time.

Yet on e small group of hi s papers remainedin family hands until a few months ago wh en195 additional items were donated by RobertVan Deventer of Chattanooga , T ennessee. Thisrecent acquisition fully documents the scandalthat ended Christopher Van Deventer's publiccareer.

In 18 18 Van Deventer's brother-in-law, ElijahMix, bid on a \Var Dep artment con tract to

provide stones for th e construction of a fort atthe Rip Rap shoal a t the entrance to HamptonRoads on the Chesapeake. Van Deventer, thenchief clerk under Secretary of War Calhoun.knew nothing of Mix's proposal until after thecon tract was signed with Gen. Joseph Swift.ch ief of Army engineers. But Mix's price, lowen ough to secure the contract, was too low tobring in the work, a nd Mix asked his brother­in-law to underwrite a quarter share.

Van Deventer con sulted Calhoun, who, whilenoting there was nothing illegal in the involve­ment, advised aga inst it. But Van Deventer wentahead and bought in, without informing Cal­houn. A year later he was coerced by the flounder­ing Mi x to purchase another quarter interest.But as Mix's business soon improved, Van Deven­ter sold both shares.

In J anuary 1820, an anonymous letter to Presi­dent James Monroe, which was quickly passeda long to Calhoun, accused Van Deventer of finan­cia l interest in award ing the Rip Rap con tra ctand charged the department with other ir­regularities. Sin ce defen se costs h ad been undera ttack for some time by administration critics,as well as Calhoun's enemies, this affair excitedsome debate in the press. Yet a fter a two-yearcongressiona l invest igation, no formal censurewas brought aga inst anyone, al th ough there wererecommenda tions for upgrading the EngineerDepartment's contract ing procedures.

Within months of the legi slative review, VanDeventer received a blackmail threat, th e first ofseveral from Elijah M ix, whose shady career as aforger, bankrupt, and swindler, was coming tolight.

Calhoun was vice president wh en M ix's perlidywas thoroughly ex posed in 1825. Maj. SatterleeClark, who bore a n old grudge against Calhoun,gave to one of Mix's competitors a Jetter fromMix whi ch claimed Calhoun had been in com­pliance with Van Deventer's involvement in theRip Rap contract. When the letter was publishedin th e Alexandria Gazett e, Calhoun immediatelycalled for a full investi gation.

This time, the legislat ive repor t exone ra tedCalhoun, but was so vague in other respects thatVan Deventer was regarded as a li ability to the'VaT Department and di smissed . Van Deventer,no doubt guilty of "an inadvertency," as Calhounput it, tri ed to clear hi s name from the imputa­tion of wrongdoing genera ted by the di smissal.