In a curious way, it may be apropos that one of the most confusing dispersal of lands in US history would be reflected in an equally confusing dispersal of its records. The Anderson collection is only one of several touching on the Virginia Military District. The most useful records for land research in the Virginia Military District are found at the Library of Virginia (LVA); the Kentucky Land Office at the Office of the Secretary of State (KSOS); the Ohio Historical Society (OHS), which in 1995 took over the records that had resided for many years with the State Auditor; and the National Archives (in particular, Record Group 49, Bureau of Land Management). (If one were to trace related personal papers, such as those of Duncan McArthur and Nathaniel Massie, the number of collections to be consulted would rise even further.)

Even the papers of Richard Clough Anderson and his successor (and son-in-law) Allen Latham are spread out in several collections. Rather than offer the collection as a whole, Dr. Richard G. Lewis sold the collection off in installments. The Illinois Historical Survey was the first purchaser, starting around 1911, but finally refused to keep paying for further installments in 1914. In that same year, Dr. Lewis then sold some (or possibly all) of the remaining papers to the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS).

The Anderson-Latham papers at LVA are also part of the principal surveyor’s records but their finding aid does not say that they came via Dr. Lewis. Smaller collections can also be found at the Henry E. Huntington Library, the Filson Club Historical Society, and the Ohio Historical Society, as shown in the table below. Of these six collections (listed below in more detail), the Anderson collection in the Illinois Historical Survey, at least to this point, has probably always been the most inaccessible (as well as the most voluminous).