Up to the close of the Napoleonic Wars, sheep raising, in the United States, was of slight importance. Because of the small population, the demand for mutton was easily supplied. Most of the woolen goods used was imported from England. What little was manufactured in this country was made of wool imported from Spain.

The Erie Canal has always stood as one of the great pioneer works in engineering in America, and for this reason any new material on the history of the project cannot but be of interest. The earliest thoughts concerning the development of an inland waterway which would connect the vast territory between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi with the more populous eastern seaboard run far back into history.

Though the Boston and Albany Railroad was not completed until 1841, and not actually incorporated, as such, until 1867, the idea of a railroad from Boston to Albany was one of the earliest railway projects contemplated in this country.

Along with the articles relative to the Erie Canal and the Boston and Albany Railroad, it seems appropriate to offer some general estimate of canal and railroad material available in the manuscript collection at Baker Library. The two most important groups in this field are the Baldwin papers, the gift of Mr. James R. Baldwin, and the Stabler papers, deposited with Baker Library by the Maryland Historical Society.

There is one type of source material for business history to which members of the Society could and should make valuable contributions. This is in the recording of the significant facts concerning the development of their own business concerns. After a man has spent the best years of his life and much of his talent and energy in administering a business enterprise, it would be of great value if he could sit down and, as clearly as possible, describe all sides of every problem which led to the formulation of important decisions, along with the results of the policies based on those decisions.

Among the more recent volumes received by the Business Historical Society is The Glasgow University Press 1638–1931 by James Maclehose. The author, himself a member of the family that now runs the press, enters into his task with uncommon enthusiasm.