ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 13

He was aided in this task by the members of the Hall of Records
Commission and especially by the late Chief Judge Carroll Taney
Bond who was the first chairman of the Commission. The com-
bined efforts of Judge Bond and the Archivist were admittedly
disappointing.

Judge Bond was able to persuade the Supreme Bench of
Baltimore City to transfer the old Court and Land Records to
Annapolis over the protests of many lawyers, court employees
and others who were interested in the retention of these records.
Th Archivist was able to bring to the Hall of Records the Court
and Land Records of Anne Arundel County which had previously
been housed in the courthouse only a few squares away. In the
latter case the judges of this circuit and the sympathetic Clerk of
the court were able to persuade local opponents of this move that
the advantages offered by the Hall of Records were sufficient to
counterbalance the inconvenience of walking a few hundred
yards.

Baltimore and Anne Arundel were therefore exceptions.
Efforts to bring in other local records met with total failure. In
1940, five years after the Hall of Records opened its doors, no
other county records had been transferred. Since that time we
have received all or part of the records of the following Coun-
ties: Prince George's, Frederick, Charles, Somerset, and Wor-
cester. Since the passage of Chapter 248, Acts of 1945 mak-
ing the transfer of county records created before 1788 manda-
tory, other county records will all be here in Annapolis within
the next few years.

In the meantime, the question of whether such local records
should be centralized at all has aroused much discussion through-
out the country. The basic reason for this discussion is, of
course, the fact that since 1935 a good many States have built
archival institutions and many others are planning to do so
immediately after the end of the war. Whether local records
shall be housed in such institutions has enormous bearing on
the size of the physical plant, the training of personnel, and the
relationship of the institution with the other administrative
units of state and local government. It is natural therefore for
the question to be posted and at this time. It is timely, more-
over, because the destructiveness of modern warfare has shaken