The worth of contemporary documents for the writing of history needs no discussion. The zeal of Americans in searching out and accumulating such material has steadily increased since the opening of the present century. Historical societies have sprung up representing States or portions of States, groups of States or the nation, particular denominations or the Church at large. Such societies exist for the sake of collecting and preserving contemporary documents, or of securing specially prepared papers to elucidate particular points of history, or to stimulate to greater diligence in the historic field. Thousands of valuable documents have thus been rescued from oblivion or destruction, and many of them published, leading to new investigations, fresh expositions of history, and still further discoveries.