LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

November 2, 1950

To THE HONORABLE

HALL OF RECORDS COMMISSION
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

Gentlemen:

Fiscal year 1950, which ended June 30 last, proved to be an excep-
tionally interesting one for the staff of the Hall of Records. As this report
will indicate we did not neglect any of the forms of archival work which
have by now, after fifteen years, become the established pattern at the
Hall of Records. The quantity of materials which passed through the
repair room increased again, approximately the same number of persons
came to the Hall of Records to do research of one kind or another, and
the number of inquiries to which we responded also continued at a high
level. Accessions of public records were brought in as rapidly as we could
take care of them. The county land record photostating program came
within sight of the end, and important additions to our collection of finding
aids were made.

What is perhaps of more interest to you, however, is that we have
become more seriously committed to other archival projects as our control
of the older records has progressed. Your attention is called, for example,
to our efforts to collect a complete set of the publications of State agencies
which I have reported in some detail. You will also be interested, I am
sure, in our endeavors to improve the Maryland Manual and in our progress
with the microfilming of county records. Insofar as the other governmental
agencies of the State are concerned nothing we have ever accomplished is
so important as our new work in the scheduling and disposal of noncurrent
records. Since this work is so new to us we have reported on it at length
in the expectation that you will want to give us the benefit of your counsel
in a matter of so much importance. How important this problem is to us
is indicated by the fact that any one of several decisions which we made for
records disposal saved the State more than the annual budget of the Hall
of Records.

Finally, I know that you will be interested in the fact that the Hall
of Records, its staff and its work, is receiving increased recognition from