20 FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

3. Balance and Final Distribution 1751-1777: Card index transcribed from
volume index, 6,500 cards.

4. Inventories 1718-1777: Card index transcribed from volume index, 18,000
cards.

5. Testamentary Proceedings 1657-1777: Card index in preparation. Five of
the nineteen volumes of this index have been transcribed and the cards
placed in the files.

These card indexes are obvious improvements over the volume in-
dexes especially where the volume indexes are divided chronologically,
for example in the Testamentary Proceedings one volume of the index
may cover no more than two or three years of the records so that a
researcher who does not know the exact date may be put to considerable
pains to find a reference. Perhaps these improved indexes are not so
immediately necessary as some other types of work; however, this is the
type of work that the young typists of the National Youth Administra-
tion can do well and it has been thought wise to get this work done while
the labor was available.

6. Marriage References: The Hodges marriage reference files were entirely
overhauled. Whenever corrections had been made and new cards in-
serted these new cards were withdrawn and the old index reestablished.
In addition some 15,000 cards with references to the Chancery Papers,
now being rearranged and reindexed by the Land Office, which had
been withdrawn four years ago were replaced. All additions and cor-
rections made by the Hall of Records have been placed in a separate
file.

MIMEOGRAPHED AIDS

1. Guide to the Index Holdings at the Hall of Records, February 1940 (re-
vised November 1940).

2. Guide to Church Record Holdings, St. Anne's Parish Records, March 1940.

3. Guide to Gift and Deposit Holdings: (1) Allen Papers, April 1940, (2)
Gist Papers. September 1940.

PRINTED AIDS

"Early Annapolis Records." Reprint from Maryland Historical Magazine
XXXV (March 1940).

MANUSCRIPT AIDS

In order to facilitate the use of the Gist papers a manuscript history of the
(iist family compiled by Mrs. Branford Gist Lynch was copied for the
Hall of Records. One copy was given to Mrs. Lynch and another to
the Maryland Historical Society.

In the course of the next year it is hoped to complete the index
to Revolutionary records now in progress, to complete the index to