ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 9

the reduction in circulation which we have experienced: (1) restrictions
on travel especially important in the case of Annapolis which is fairly
difficult to reach under the best of circumstances, (2) amateur genealo-
gists and historians have found other activities directly related to the
war effort especially in civil defense and Red Cross organizations
which restrict the time for research, (3) academic historians and stu-
dents of history who are preponderantlly young and male have been
called into the various armed services at an ever accelerating rate. On
the other hand, there has been a slight increase in postal inquiries and
a large increase in the use of records by other state offices either in
person or by telephone. We must look forward during the next year
to further decreases in visitors and perhaps a growing volume of
inquiries by mail and telephone.

Total number of visitors exclusive of tourists and of governmental

officers who consult the records of their own departments..... 726
Total number of visitors for 1940-1941..... 994

Total circulation of materials ..... 3,751

Total circulation of materials for 1940-1941 ...... 5,137

Of the total decrease in circulation over one-third was in the
recorded Wills, indicating that genealogy is to be accounted the heaviest
loser because of war conditions.

The total number of postal inquiries concerning Maryland records
or history was 657 this year as compared with 516 for the previous
year.

In addition to the extraordinary reasons for a decline in circula-
tion of the records themselves, it should be noted here that the tre-
mendous increase in our index cards has made it possible for many
researchers to abandon the use of records altogether. No record can
be made of visitors who confine their research to the Index Room.

The geographical distribution of researchers who have come to the
Hall of Records indicates again the difficulties of travel, only twenty-
three states were represented this year as compared with forty-three
the previous year. In addition, there were visitors from Canada and
Czecho-Slovakia.