LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

October 17, 1946
To THE HONORABLE
HALL OF RECORDS COMMISSION,
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

Gentlemen:

The first three Annual Reports of the Archivist of the Hall of
Records were prepared by Dr. James Alexander Robertson, the first
Archivist, and copies in typescript were distributed only to the mem-
bers of the Hall of Records Commission. The Fourth Annual Re-
port was prepared by the writer who took office June 16, 1939 fol-
lowing the death of Dr. Robertson the preceding March 20. This
report was modeled after the earlier ones and it also was in the nature
of a confidential report to the members of the Commission and
destined only for their use. The following year the Annual Report
was printed and distributed to other agencies of the State Govern-
ment as well as to archival and historical institutions throughout
the country and abroad. This policy of printing the Annual Report
has continued since that time, the Eleventh Annual Report for the
fiscal year July 1, 1945 through September 30, 1946 having just ap-
peared.

It has long been the thought of the writer that some account
of the first years of the Hall of Records should be made available.
Since the Hall of Records was built, many states have created ar-
chival establishments, some others are now being built or planned,
and in the near future it must be anticipated that every state gov-
ernment will have to provide for the professional care of its records.
This new interest in the care of official records has stimulated an
ever increasing number of requests for information about the Hall of
Records, its origin, its purpose, its equipment, its legal status and
so forth. Some of the information for which there has been most de-
mand has been inserted, howbeit out of place, in later reports of the
Archivist. On many occasions it has been necessary to search through
the early reports, the Minutes of the Hall of Records Commission