26 TENTH ANNUAL REPORT

ACCESSIONS FROM PUBLIC SOURCES

County and State records which came to the Hall of Records
this year formed a large and important addition to our holdings.
Since the collection and preservation of governmental records is
our primary function, we are justified, therefore in marking
this year as one of the most successful in the history of the Hall
of Records. An examination of the next section of this report
will indicate that our collection of related historical materials
also continued to grow steadily.

The Anne Arundel County Land Records, listed below, bring
this series at the Hall of Records from the beginning of the
County through the year 1789. The index is a photostatic copy
of the index in the Clerk's office and supplements the index for
the earlier period which had previously been photocopied by the
Hall of Records.

Baltimore County Court Records, judging by their dates,
belonged for the most part in Baltimore City rather than in
Towson. Their value will be very little unless at some future
time the Court Proceedings or Judgments will also find their
way to the Hall of Records. One item, however, has special in-
terest, the "Log of the Barque Commerce for a voyage to Rio
de Janiero and return in the year 1846."

Materials transferred from the County Commissioners of
Baltimore County are, on the other hand, extremely valuable.
The records of the administrative agency of county government
are extremely rare in Maryland and even where they exist they
are usually unavailable for research. The Baltimore County
collection, beginning as it does with the records of the Levy
Court, is rich source material for the first half of the nineteenth
century. It is especially valuable, moreover, because it is un-
usually complete. Attention should be called to certain items
of special interest not normally found in such a collection: there
are several ledgers and day books for Baltimore business houses
for this period and there is a fine record of the "Constitution
Bye Laws and Minutes of the Union Society of Journeymen
Cordwainers of the City and Precincts of Baltimore, 1806-1809."
Such records of early labor organizations are extremely rare.