GDG- A Question on the Bachelder papers

[Bill Gower]

I am planning to buy the complete set later this month but I have a question
about their history.  Another book that I was reading just the other day
said that Coddington should be recognized as the person who opened up the
Bachelder papers.  My question is did historians and other scholars not use
the papers prior to Coddington?  Were they written and just put away
somewhere and then rediscovered?  Were they considered out of vogue for much
of the early 20th century?  What is the reason why Coddington is credited
with opening up the papers?

 

Bill