Around the same time, from 1856 to 1865, John Russell Bartlett, the Secretary of State of Rhode Island, published "Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England", a ten-volume set. In 1862, volume 7, which covered the years 1770–1776 was released. In the 136 pages, the "Gaspee" affair was covered, including a few additional pages of correspondence, not found in Staples, surrounding the destruction of the "Gaspee". George Bancroft assisted Bartlett by securing copies of documents in London. A year earlier, Bartlett had published exactly the same pages under the title "A History of the Destruction of His Britannic Majesty’s Schooner" Gaspee, "in Narragansett Bay, on the 10th June, 1772". Almost identical to Staples's work in content and layout, Bartlett provided more analysis and commentary than the judge's work. Bartlett offered more comments in the footnotes and laid out the text in one column instead of two, making it a 141-page book. In the introduction, Bartlett justified the release of a book similar to Staples's work not because the latter was found wanting but because it was scarce and out of print Given the Whig view of the American Revolution shared by both prestigious Rhode Islanders and most of their readers, they had sufficiently covered the topic for their era, and no full-length treatment for an adult readership of the "Gaspee" was published thereafter. Their work reflected the more celebratory and confident attitude of the earlier part of 19th century, they did not seem to struggle with living in the shadows of the accomplishments of their parents and grandparents, unlike many others of their generation. The period from 1865 to 1900 was a dry spell for historians writing about Rhode Island events leading up to the American War for Independence although there was a significant body of work written on Massachusetts at the time. A great deal of creative energy went into writing about the perceived causes of the Civil War and narratives recalling minute details of every battle Many of the histories were disconnected from longer developments and large secular changes of the 19th century, giving them an antiquarian flavor. Academic historians, on the other hand, were busy professionalizing their discipline. It was during the decades following the Civil War that historical associations (like the American Historical Association in 1884) were founded and many prestigious American universities implemented Ph.D. programs, largely modeled after German institutions. The publication of scholarly journals rose in quantity and quality.