tasks essential to the compilation of the Manual. Able assistance with proofreading was provided by
Sue Cook, Rae Ingrain, Mary Lipham, Laurie Suba, and Carol Tilles, all on the Hall of Records staff.

After the data for the Maryland Manual had been keyboarded, it was still necessary to convert the
material on magnetic tape to camera-ready pages for printing. Eileen Pancoast and her staff at Interna-
tional Computaprint Corporation were consistently courteous, knowledgeable, and efficient at their
task of producing pages for the Manual, and we were always able to turn to Tony Pazio of ICC for
advice and encouragement.

Finally, a new addition to the graphics in this edition of the Maryland Manual is the seals of the
Maryland counties and Baltimore City. Artwork for the seals was prepared by Julia Jones Bryan from
original color art generously supplied by Frederick T. Wehr, author of Flags and Seals of Maryland
and of the United States (Baltimore, 1975). The cover of the book, as well as much of the layout design
for the text, was the creation of Carleton B. Hayek of the Department of General Services.

It is impossible to thank by name all of the hundreds of people throughout the State of Maryland who
contributed information contained in this edition of the Maryland Manual. The Hall of Records has
compiled the Maryland Manual for forty years, and what is good about the book is to a large extent due
to help we receive from outside our agency, because to date it has not been possible to establish a perma-
nent editorial staff to handle the work of constantly updating and preparing information for each succes-
sive edition. It is our hope that at some point in the near future one or more staff positions can be creat-
ed to undertake on a full-time basis the compilation of the Maryland Manual and other Hall of Records
publications, at which time the amount of editorial control and original descriptive material can be sub-
stantially increased. While it remains necessary for us to allocate resources from our existing staff to pro-
duce the Manual every two years, however, we must continue to rely on the host of government officials
who patiently respond to our questionnaires and telephone calls for the bulk of the information con-
tained in the Manual, and to all of them we express our deepest appreciation.

When Elihu Riley embarked on his project of writing a manual of Maryland government for the year
1896, he was convinced as a private citizen that such a handbook would prove useful to the people of the
State. The legislature agreed and appropriated the funds required for the publication of that first Mary-
land Manual. The kind of commitment displayed by Riley was exemplified by another individual inti-
mately associated with more recent editions of the Maryland Manual, Frank F. White, Jr. Frank White
was a senior archivist on the staff of the Hall of Records for nineteen years, a recognized authority on
the history of Maryland and of his home county of Prince George's, author of a book on the governors
of the Free State, an officer and active member of the Masons, Boy Scouts of America, and many histori-
cal groups. He was best known throughout the State, however, for his role as editor of the Maryland
Manual, and it was he who was principally responsible for the issues that appeared between 1961 and
1978. Frank died suddenly on January 30, 1978. His expertise in so many fields has been missed by
many, but none more so than by the compilers of this edition of the Maryland Manual. Frank would rec-
ognize much of his handiwork in the pages that follow—updated and slightly changed, but essentially
the way he had presented the information in previous Manuals. He would also note some changes we
have made of which, at least at first glance, he would disapprove, but he would certainly agree with our
goal, which was to do everything within our limited resources to improve the Manual and to make it
even more useful. Most of all, Frank would appreciate the challenges and frustrations, the periods of
depression and the ultimate sense of accomplishment, that are all part of compiling a book like this.
Completing this volume would have been easier, and the final results might have been better, had Frank
White lived, and those of us assoicated with this Manual we acutely conscious of the enormous labor he
expended over nearly two decades in work on earlier editions of this book. Frank fervently believed in
the people's right to be informed, and he was convinced that the Maryland Manual was a vital publica-
tion to assist people in understanding their government and its public officials. We concur, and while we
reserve the responsibility for errors and omissions to ourselves, we believe it is only fitting to dedicate
what is good about this volume to the memory of Frank F. White, Jr.

Edward C. Papenfuse
Managing Editor

Gregory A. Stiverson
Editor