Discusses the Massachusetts Historical Society's various photostat and microfilming projects and describes how they grew out of the philosophy of the society's founder, the Reverend Jeremy Belknap. Topics include the preservation of the papers of presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and collaboration with other repositories. (Author/JKP)

Argues that the quality of information provided to scholars by microform sets of manuscript collections, as compared to original manuscripts and critical editions, does not justify the expansion of research libraries' collection boundaries and fiscal responsibilities to include such materials. (CLB)