In honor of the departure of Mame Warren from the Archives staff later this month, this report will focus on the published works of the Warren family that the Archives sells. The photographs of Marion Warren and the words of his daughter have immortalized people and places in Maryland. The faces and voices of Maryland can be seen and heard in the pages of the books below.
Bringing Back the Bay: The Chesapeake in the Photographs of Marion E. Warren and the Voices of Its People is a virtual autobiography of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed as told by Marion's photographs and the oral histories recorded by Mame. The book tells the story of this modern natural treasure known as the Bay, of the rich rewards the inhabitants of its shores have reaped from it, and of its current struggle to survive.
The city of Annapolis is portrayed through the words and pictures of Then Again...Annapolis, 1900-1965. In this sequel to The Annapolis I Remember, Mame documents the dramatic changes in the city and its people over the course of the twentieth century. Not even Marion was around to get some of the pictures included in Maryland Time Exposures, 1840-1940 which includes photographs from many archival collections. Organized geographically, each part of the state's history is documented in this book. It reminds us that people make and lived history by focusing on so many aspects of everyday life.
The photographs in Baltimore, When She Was What She Used to Be: A Pictorial History, 1850-1930, covering the city from 1850-1930, constitute a history otherwise lost to the Great Fire of 1904, urban renewal, and the ravages of time. The pictorial history is so valuable that it overrides their tongue-twisting title.
The Warrens have helped preserve the heritage of which they remind us. Mame served for nine years as the our curator of photographs and Marion has generously donated his collections to the Archives. Through their published works, they have made parts of this treasury of Marylandia readily available to add to public and personal libraries.
NEW ADDITIONS TO LIBRARY
Baltimore Archives Network, Baltimore's Past: A Directory of Historical Sources 1995.
Bates, Marlene Strawser, Early Charles County Maryland Settlers, 1658-1745, 1995.
Bergen, William Sawyer, Jacob Milton Bergen, Sr. Family of Long Island, New York: Ancestors and Descendants, 1995.
Carroll County Genealogical Society, Carroll County Cemeteries, vol. 4: Northeast, 1995.
Chaille, Jack Harry, The Chailles in France and America, 1995.
Coldham, Peter Wilson. Settlers of Maryland, 1679-1700, 1995.
Delaware Historical Records Advisory Board, Directory of Historical Records in Delaware, 1995.
Groff, Clifford E., Jr., Stairs Families of Westmoreland and Somerset Counties of Pennsylvania, 1995.
Harper, Irma Sweitzer, Genealogical Abstracts from Newspapers of Maryland's Eastern Shore, 1835-1850, 1995.
Harper, Irma Sweitzer. Omega Connections: Obituaries from Eastern Shore of Maryland Newspapers, 1850-1900, 2 vols., 1995.
Horn, James P. P., Adapting to a New World: English Society in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake, 1994.
Linscombe, Rhodri Windsor, Altogether American: Robert Mills, Architect and Engineer, 1781-1855 1994,
Long, Trudie Davis, Jacob Engelbrecht Marriage Ledger of Frederick County, Maryland, 1820-1890, 1994.
Maryland Association of Counties, Directory of County Officials, 1995-1996.
Neff, Samuel Gannett, George's Creek Trilogy: Photoactual Genealogical History of Three Families, vol. 1: Henrietta's Five Sons and the Civil War.
Neff, Samuel Gannett, George's Creek Trilogy: Photoactual Genealogical History of Three Families, vol. 2: To George's Creek and Beyond.
Neff, Samuel Gannett, George's Creek Trilogy: Photoactual Genealogical History of Three Families, vol. 3: Farewell With Love.
Orrell, Reverdy Lewin, III, Ancestors and Relatives of Reverdy Lewin Orrell, IV, 1995.
Peden, Henry C., Methodist Records of Baltimore City, Maryland, vol. 2: 1830-1839, 1994.
Peden, Henry C., Methodist Records of Baltimore City, Maryland, vol. 1: 1799-1829, 1994.
Potter, Parker B., Jr., Public Archaeology in Annapolis: A Critical Approach to History in Maryland's Ancient City, 1994.
Shackel, Paul L., Historical Archaeology of the Chesapeake, 1994.
Sherwood, John, Maryland's Vanishing Lives, 1994.
Wright, F. Edward, Maryland Calendar of Wills, vol. 16: 1774-1777, 1995.
GENERAL STAFF MEETING
Ed opened the meeting with a theme: transitions. First he mentioned the birthday of an employee who shall remain nameless. Next, he acknowledged the loss of a valued archivist, Mame Warren, curator of photographs, who is moving on to another institution. She will be working on a history of Washington and Lee University in the 20th century. Her last day at the Archives will be October 23rd. This month marks Mame's ninth year as a member of the Archives staff.
Ed acknowledged the following new employees and anniversaries. New employees include Phillip Brown and Michelle Mason in State and Local Records, Barbara Prehn in the Accounting office, Debbie Williams in the Maryland Manual office, and Sharon Watson in Geographical Services. Emily Oland, an intern this summer in the First Ladies and Official Hostesses project, is continuing the research on a volunteer basis for the Artistic Property Commission.
Anniversaries for May include Chris Allan - 18 years, Ann Baker - 8 years, Glenn Dalgliesh - 2 years, Shirley Salisbury - 9 years, Barbara Schisler - 14 years, and Don Williams - 9 years. Anniversaries for June include Ellen Alers - 5 years, Mimi Calver -9 years, Ray Connor - 3 years, Lee Evans - 5 years, Julie Price - 5 years, Hanna Szczepanowska - 1 year, Shashi Thapar - 8 years, and Heather Ravanbakhsh - 2 years. Anniversaries for July include Nancy Bramucci - 14 years, Teresa Fountain - 22 years, Diane Frese - 24 years, Connie Neale - 10 years, and Wilder Stewart - 8 years. Anniversaries for August include Rob MacAdam - 7 years, Pat Melville - 28 years, Ed Papenfuse - 22 years, Arian Ravanbakhsh - 2 years, Cecelia Smith - 3 years, and Dawn Steeley - 1 year. Anniversaries for September include Vickie Allan - 12 years, Ronald Doyle - 2 years, Oscar Dufrene - 4 years, Elizabeth Newell - 2 years, Leanda Phillips - 6 years, Kim Saville - 9 years, and Betsy Steele - 3 years. Anniversaries for October include Shirley Bodziak - 10 years, Elaine Hunt - 13 years, Mame Warren - 9 years, Mattie Wallace - 11 years, Rocky Rockefeller - 6 years, Rona Bell - 3 years, and Doris Byrne - 1 year.
Ed announced the annual publication of the Organization of Maryland State Government, edited by Diane Frese for the Department of Budget and Fiscal Planning. The volume presents the current structure of state government and eventually will be available through the Archives' home page. Diane thanked her editorial assistants - Elizabeth Newell, Ann Baker, and Christine Alvey. Computer Services also deserves enormous thanks for the assistance provided by Lynne, Betsy, Oscar, and Glenn.
Staff members were given the opportunity to sample the electronic classroom the Archives housed for much of the summer. It was an example of some of the educational advantages we can utilize thanks to outside financial aid.
Mimi spoke briefly about the September 30 genealogical workshop. This session, conducted by Pat Anderson and Bob Barnes, focused on doing research at the Archives. Thirty-seven people attended the event. The next workshop is scheduled for October 14. The funds brought in by these workshops go into the Archives Trust Fund.
Ed thanked Jane McWilliams and Ann Jensen for their editorial work on the new Studies in Local History series. Two publications have been completed thus far - "Doing Good to Posterity": The Move of the Capital of Maryland From St. Mary's City to Ann Arundell Towne, Now Called Annapolis by Ed and Providence 1649: The History and Archaeology of Anne Arundel County, Maryland's First European Settlement by Al Luckenbach. These publications were made possible because of a joint venture between the Archives and the Maryland Historical Trust.
Chris Allan reported that the proposed budget for FY1997 has been submitted to the Governor's office. The funding is similar in amount to that for FY1996. He thanked Lynne, Betsy, Barbara, and Richard for their help in compiling the budget. Ed reminded everyone how important privately generated funds are to our survival since we are only 50% funded by the state.
Ed stressed that personal phone calls should be kept to a minimum. The cost of our phone service is enormous and the number of reference calls, which are potentially income generating, has grown. We need to keep that availability open.
Bringing up the topic of open enrollment for health benefits, Ed encouraged everyone to attend the health fairs and carefully read about the plans being offered employees. Richard and Barbara can try to help, but they cannot analyze all the available options. The health fairs at which representatives of the various plans will hand out literature and answer questions will be held on Wednesday, October 11 at the Tawes Building from 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and on Thursday, October 12 at the Treasury Building from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Pat handed out Bulldog profile portraits to employees: Kim Saville, Shirley Bodziak, Julie Price, and Elaine Hunt. Leanda Phillips will receive hers when she returns from caring for her baby girl. From the ranks of the volunteers, Jane McWilliams was present to accept her framed portrait. Other volunteers to receive such photographs include Ken and Elaine Zimmerman, Doris Jackson, Pat Bausell, and Harrison Sayre.
STATE AND LOCAL RECORDS REPORT
In August two more shipments of seldom used materials were sent to the off-site storage facility in Linthicum. This allowed us to receive a records transfer from Charles County which included thirty seven volumes of plat books consisting of photostatic copies for the years 1933-1989. Other transfers were small, only adding to existing series from the District Court and other state agencies.
Microfilm, as always, arrived in great quantities - chiefly land records, as several counties continue the process of refilming their older books. The courts eventually plan to use 16mm film exclusively and a very few, led by Charles County, have almost reached this goal. Calvert and Dorchester counties are in the process of converting to 16mm film for their current land records.
In Geographical Services retrospective work was completed on two plat projects, one for TRW-Redi involving Anne Arundel County records and the other for the Carroll County GIS office. Work also continued on the Baltimore and Allegany county plat projects being done for the clerks' offices. Staff also visited the courthouses in both Charles and Montgomery counti*es to review progress on a variety of issues and in the case of Charles, to prepare for a retrospective plat processing and filming project.
STATE AND LOCAL RECORDS REFERENCE REPORT
The August total of 1091 reference requests represents a 9.2% increase over the August 1994 total of 999. Not surprisingly, this increase in requests was accompanied by a 37.2% rise in the number of records circulated, from 1539 last year to 2111 in 1995.
There were 13 more vital records requests in August 1995 (512) than in 1994 (499), up 2.6%. Circulation of district court records decreased by 7.3%, 353 compared to 381. Requests for records of the circuit courts and other agencies rose by an impressive 89.1%, 1246 compared to 659.
Overall, the judiciary continues as the largest single user of SLR reference services. The number of reference requests received from the courts increased by 10.8% (327 compared to 295), thus accounting for 30% of all requests received and 24.6% of total record circulation.
Requests received by phone again increased in August, accounting for 36.6% of total requests, compared to 29.6% in 1994. Surprisingly, the number of requests faxed to the Archives decreased from 80 to 67. Overall, fax requests made up only 6.1% of the August 1995 total, while accounting for 8% of the August 1994 total. Fewer requests were generated from the search room (79) than had been the case in August 1994 (142). Search room requests accounted for 7.2% of August 1995 reference activity as compared to 14.2% last year, a decrease of 7%. We also received 36 requests handled in the lobby without requiring the patron to register for the search room.
The number of phone/fax requests (466) again fell short of the number of requests received through the mail (510), but far exceeded those received through in-person visits (115). Phone/fax requests accounted for 42.7% of total requests, with the mail accounting for 46.7%.
Revenue from reference activity was up 81.6%, $11,121 compared to $6124, in part because SLR is copying many records formerly done in the photo lab.
RECENT RECORD TRANSFERS
DEPARTMENT OF LICENSING AND REGULATION, MARYLAND DEPOSIT INSURANCE FUND CORPORATION (Mortgage File, Old Court Savings and Loan), var.d. [MSA T2656]
DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL (Grievance File), 1977-1993 [MSA T2356]
DISTRICT COURT (Tapes), 1972-1991 [MSA T230]
DISTRICT COURT 1, BC (Criminal Docket), 1983-1987 [MSA T1072]
SECRETARY OF STATE (Notary Public Applications), 1995 [MSA T861]
SECRETARY OF STATE (Vetoed Bills), 1994 [MSA T2669]
CARROLL COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Land Records, Image Files), 1995 [MSA T2644]
CHARLES COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Adoption Papers), 1969-1974 [MSA T2143]
CHARLES COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Mortgage Records), 1953 [MSA T2456]
CHARLES COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Plat Book), 1933-1989 [MSA T2670]
CHARLES COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Sale Notice Requests), 1981-1995 [MSA T2671]
ST. MARY'S COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT (Adoption Papers), 1959-1995 [MSA T2308]
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