18 TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

When the Hall of Records opened its doors in 1935 there was as
yet no single professional organization which devoted its full attention
to recordkeeping. The need was present—it had been described strik-
ingly by the public records commissions of the American Historical
Association beginning at the turn of the century. A catalyst was needed
to bring together the widely scattered archival interests in the country
and this came only with the establishment of the National Archives in
1934. By 1937, there were enough active archivists to justify the
organization of the Society of American Archivists—the late Dr. James
A. Robertson, first Archivist of Maryland was a charter member. This
Society is still flourishing, but so many specialties have been needed
to care for our modern records problems that many new groups have
appeared concerned with such things—unheard of things years ago—as
records management, microfilming, data processing and many others. It
has now become impossible for any one individual to keep abreast of all
these fields; it is next to impossible even to scan the journals and to
attend the meetings. As you will see we have tried to divide the
responsibility among the members of our staff.

The Archivist continued to serve on several committees of the
Society of American Archivists: the Long Range Planning Committee,
The Committee on Professional Standards and Training, and the Com-
mittee on State and Federal Relations. He served for the first time this
year on the Waldo GifFord Leland Prize Committee and as Chairman
of the Advisory Committee on the Study of State Archival Programs.
The last-named is an ad hoc committee constituted to council with the
Director of the Project, Dr. Ernst Posner. The study is being financed
by a generous grant from the Council of Library Resources, Incorporated
and will be completed by the end of calendar year 1963. The Archivist
is also serving on the Editorial Board of the American Archivist.

At the invitation of Dr. Kent Roberts Greenfield the Archivist ac-
cepted membership in a seminar organized at the Maryland Historical
Society for the purpose of assisting scholars who are presently writing
in Maryland History. Other members of the seminar are Professor
Aubrey C. Land, Department of History, University of Maryland,
Professor F. Wilson Smith of the same department at the Johns
Hopkins University and Professor Rhoda Dorsey of Goucher College.
The late James W. Foster, Director of the Maryland Historical Society