OF THE 3544 Louisiana Historical Society NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Volume VIII — 1914-15 NEW ORLEANS THE LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1916 F 385055 FROM THE PRESS OF THE NEW ORLEANS, LA. T HE Secretary of the Louisiana Histori cal Society takes great pleasure in pre senting to the members of the Society and historical readers generally the following report, written at her request, by Mr. William Price, the learned and accomplished archivist who was engaged by the Society to perform the very necessary, if not imperative work of rescuing from impending destruction the papers contained in the familiarly designated "Black Boxes," confided to the care of the Society by the State of Louisiana. Mr. Price's work has unfortunately been discontinued for lack of funds; but what he has accomplished speaks volumes for the indefatigable zeal and industry that he devoted to his arduous task. The excellence of the card index system has never been more brilliantly illustrated than in this work, or emergency, as we may call it. Each card contains a clear, concise, condensed statement; a matchless résume, in short, of the contents of some long, intricate, faded document whose worth to the historical student is like that of light in darkness, or a trusty guide in a labyrinth. GRACE KING. |