16 TENTH ANNUAL REPORT

resent all sorts of centralization. State care of health, of schools,
of roads, State police, have all been opposed. It is the part of
the archival institution to persuade and to demonstrate that a
better and more economical job can be done by a centralized
records agency. The rest may safely be entrusted to the good
sense of the people.

CIRCULATION

In spite of the continuing and growing difficulties of travel,
the number of items used by visitors in the Research Room
during the year not only held its own but even increased slightly.
The number of items circulated and the number of visitors ex-
ceeded the yearly totals in both categories for any years since
1941-1942. The increase over last year is indicated by these
figures: visitors last year, 614, this year, 748; items circulated
last year, 3,515, this year, 3,530.

Visitors came from twenty-eight states and four foreign
countries. It is gratifying, of course, to be of service to resi-
dents of other states, but it becomes increasingly clear that Mary-
land records are almost exclusively helpful to inhabitants of this
state. Of the total number of visitors during the past year 452
came from Maryland, while 66 were from the District of Colum-
bia, leaving only about 200 from all the other states and foreign
countries. Temporary travel difficulties, of course, work a
greater hardship as the distances grow greater, but we should
not fail to admit the fact that the smaller population of Mary-
land and the smaller exodus to the West as compared say with
Virginia or Massachusetts, make our records interesting to fewer
persons outside the State. It should be noted too that while
Maryland's sons have won distinction in many fields, she pro-
duced no great controversial figures like Jefferson, Franklin,
Lincoln or Wilson in whose official lives there is continuing
academic interest.

Correspondence with researchers who are not able to come
to Annapolis in person required 711 letters in reply, a larger
number than in any previous year. The year by year increase
in finding media available to the staff makes it progressively
easier to answer genealogical queries, but since Maryland lacks