8 FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE

had made an effort to acquaint himself and other members of the staff
with other archival establishments, their equipment and procedures.
Visits were made to the National Archives, the Library of Congress and
the Archives of the Treasury at Washington, the Pennsylvania Historical
Society at Philadelphia, the Hall of Records of Delaware at Dover, the
State Library at Richmond, Virginia. The Archivist feels that these
trips were extremely beneficial in breaking down that insularity which
so often handicaps institutions of localized interest. In Maryland re-
peated visits were made to the more important depositories of archival
materials and their holdings have been carefully examined. A study
was begun of the possibilities of a division of function among these
depositories.

In addition to the many distinguished visitors who came to the
Hall during the meeting of the Society of American Archivists, there
have been many others, archivists, historians, or genealogists with pro-
fessional interest. Also many individuals and groups came simply as
tourists, as members of patriotic and civic organizations who are in-
terested as antiquarians or as patriots in the preservation of our ancient
relics or simply as taxpaying citizens anxious to satisfy themselves that
the funds allotted to the maintenance of the Hall of Records are well
spent. The value of the interest of these visitors has been appreciated
by the Hall, and the staff has spared no effort to satisfy curiosity, to
assist research, to inspire interest where there was none before (espe-
cially in the case of very young visitors) and on rare occasions, even to
allay suspicion. Some of the groups of visitors were from the Maryland
Library Association, the Daughters of the American Colonists, the
Penwomen's Association, the Girl Scouts, the Daughters of the Ameri-
can Revolution. In addition, the Hall invited the public to see two
special exhibits of its own work and of the work of the Historical
Records Survey which it sponsored on the occasion of the Archivists'
meeting and again during the national "This Work Pays Your Com-
munity Week" sponsored by the Work Projects Administration. The
Hall was also open during Garden Club Week.

Nor did we hesitate to go abroad to interest other groups. The
Archivist and various other members of the staff visited about half the
counties in the State to speak to governmental officials and to bar asso-
ciations about the problems of preserving records and making them avail-
able. The Archivist spoke to the meeting of the State Council of the
D. A. R. and to the Peggy Stewart Tea Party Chapter of that organiza-