Executive Department, Richmond Virginia, August 19, 1845.
Sir,
Your letter of the 28th December last to the Governor of Virginia has been placed in my hands and will be submitted to the committee of the Legislature on the state library at its annual meeting in December next.
This Institution, founded by the state for the use of several departments of the government comprises the departments of Law, literature, science and arts. It is under the direction of the Legislature through a committee of both houses, and possesses the following works which have been published by the state, and which are occasionally interchanged with other states, and public institutions, viz:
The statutes at large being a collection of all the laws of Virginia from the year 1619 to 1808, in 16 volumes;
Laws of a later date;
Reports of the state convention in 1776;
Journals of the legislature from 1776 to 1790 and from 1831 to the present time, a map of Virginia published in 1826, and consequently at this day incomplete, yet probably valuable for your purpose.
The geological survey of the state has been completed and will probably be published in the course of another year.