The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 43, July 1939 - April, 1940 Page: 403

Book Reviews 403
it is highly desirable and a worth while historical advance
for the Legislature to determine and compile an accurate
list of the persons comprising the membership of the Legis-
lature, from the First Session of such Legislature down to
the Forty-sixth Legislature, inclusive. (H. S. R. No. 180,
adopted March 23, 1939.)
Many editors, writers, teachers, members of patriotic societies
and others heartily endorse this statement. Indeed, they would
go farther and assert that lists should be prepared and published
that embrace all the public officials-executive, legislative, and
judicial-from the lowest to the highest, from the beginning to
date, giving the full name, residence, office, and exact term of
service of each.
To carry out its project the House of Representatives resolved
that the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives, without
extra cost and expense, be authorized and instructed to com-
pile an accurate and complete list . .. (and) that in
compiling said list the Chief Clerk arrange the list accord-
ing to districts and alphabetically, so as that said list show
the session or sessions in which such Members served, and
the same shall be properly indexed so as to make such infor-
mation . . . readily and conveniently accessible. . . .
From fifteen to twenty clerks of the House of Representatives
were detailed to collect the data during the time that their
services were not needed elsewhere. Since these clerks were un-
familiar with such work, the archivist and the legislative refer-
ence librarian of the State Library directed them to the sources
and supervised the work as much as their own work permitted.
Much of the data had to be searched out of manuscript records.
The time in which to do this work was too short; the Legislature
adjourned June 23, 1939.
H. S. R. No. 268, adopted May 9, 1939, requested the State
Prison Board to direct the prison print shop to print the list in
pamphlet form, and appropriated a small amount from the con-
tingent expense fund of the House of Representatives to defray
the actual cost of the materials required.
The printed volume suggests that the time for arranging and
annotating the data also was too short. The reviewer would prefer
listing the names of the members of each legislature in the