28 TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT

			Times Circulated
	Record Series	1958-59	1957-58	1956-57
	Baltimore County Marriage License Records.... Baltimore County Administration Accounts,	26	18	20
	Original ............................................................	24	21	13
	Talbot County Administration Accounts...........	24	6	11
	Talbot County Distributions..............................	24	3	12
	Baltimore City Wills...........................................	23	5	H
	Caroline County Wills .......................................	22	20	19
	Frederick County Marriage License Records....	22	22	2
	Laws of Maryland ..............................................	22	10	4
	Talbot County Wills, Original .......................	22	21	29
	Baltimore County Guardian Accounts ...........	21	14	3
	Depreciation Pay ..................................................	20	9	6

ARCHIVAL AND MANUSCRIPT ACCESSIONS

The additional stack space gained by the removal of the Land
Office to the new State Office Building made it possible for us to accept
many valuable county records which had been awaiting transfer for
several years. For example, it will be noted that we have accessioned
several series transferred from the office of the Clerk of the Circuit
Court of Talbot County. Among them are the Minutes of the Court
dating from 1826 to 1916. The earlier Minutes were transferred some
years ago. The Test Books, dating from 1794 to 1942, contain the
signatures of various county officers to the oaths they are required to
take in qualifying for office. The commissions of many of these officials
are recorded in the Records of Officers Commissions, which run from
1800 to 1895.

The Minute Books received from the County Commissioners of
Wicomico County extend to 1932. It was dismaying, however, to
learn that the volumes dating before 1896 are missing. The Assess-
ment Books have been better preserved and date back to the origin of
the County in 1867.

In surveying the records of the County Commissioners of Worcester
County, we made another unhappy discovery. None of the Com-
missioners Proceedings dating before 1869 have survived. The Pro-
ceedings from 1869 to 1936 were transferred to our stacks.

We also acquired two volumes of Minutes of the County Com-
missioners of Caroline County dated 1850-1853 and 1896-1916 respec-
tively. But, here again, serious losses have occurred: witness the
absence of any record before 1850 and the long gap between 1853 and
18%.

Receipt of the Proceedings of the Somerset County Commissioners
was reported in my Twenty-Tkird Annual Report. Last year we