Report of the Committee. ix

The Assembly Journals to the September session, 1664, are included
in this present volume. Subsequent to this date the Upper House is
represented by Journals of 1666, 1669; March and October, 1671, 1674,
1675, 1676; August and November, 1681; April and October, 1682,
1683, 1684 and 1688.

The Lower House during this period is represented by Journals of
1666, 1675, 1676 and 1678; from December, 1688, to May session,
1692, the Journals of both Houses are missing; whether there were
Assemblies in these years we are unable to say. The Journals of both
Houses from May, 1692, to April 19, 1774, the last day of the session
of the Provincial Assembly, are complete, with the following few excep-
tions: In the Upper House, September, 1693, April, 1716, and Novem-
ber, 1770; in the Lower House, September, 1694, April, 1700, June,
1702, October, 1703, September, 1704, October, 1712, October and
November, 1773.

Of the Laws for the Provincial period, all those passed up to 1664,
with the exception of those before noted, are in the present volume; sub-
sequent to this the laws passed at each session are in the Archives or
can be obtained up to 1678; but between this date and May, 1692, our
searches have revealed nothing but the titles of Laws as recorded in the
Journals; from 1692 to 1774 it is probable that we can find the full text
of all the Laws. The period between April, 1774, and the assembling of
the State Legislature in February, 1777,13 covered by the Convention of
1774-1775-1776, the manuscript of part of which, in a very damaged
condition, is among the Archives, and the Council of Safety from August
29, 1775, to March 20, 1777.

The Senate Journals are represented by the March session, 1778, Oc-
tober, 1780, May, 1781, November, 1781, April, 1782, November, 1782,
April, 1783, November, 1783, and the House of Delegates by February,
June and October, 1777, October, 1778, November, 1779, March, 1780.

The Proceedings of the Governor and Council from March 20, 1777,
to 1788 are perfect, both in the original rough drafts and in fair copies.

From the foregoing brief summary it will be seen that the document-
ary history of the Province and State can be gathered measurably com-
plete from the existing Archives.

The Committee regrets its inability at this time to furnish a full cata-
logue of the Miscellaneous papers, consisting of Letters, Instructions,
Commissions, Lists of inhabitants of the various Hundreds, etc., placed
in their charge; progress has been made in a Calendar of them, and
it is hoped the entire collection will have been noted by the appearance
of the second volume of the Archives, when they will give an account of
them. There are between 8,000 and 10,000 separate papers in the Mis-
cellaneous collection, most of which relate to the Revolution.

The Committee desires to express their appreciation of the ability
and zeal with which the Editor, Dr. William Hand Browne, has con-
ducted the work of preparing and publishing this first volume of the
Archives.