ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 15

were discussion leaders in the session devoted to county records.
Mr. Skordas continued to act at chairman of the technical com-
mittee of The American Archivist, and he published in that journal
a review of Bulletin 16, The British Record Association Technical
Section. The archivist prepared for publication an article on the
transfer of Executive records to the Hall of Records and a manual
on the technique of calendaring. He also served as a member of
the Archival Buildings committee of the Society of American
Archivists.

CIRCULATION

The total circulation of materials at the Hall of Records did
not this year reach the all-time high of the year before. The
drop in the number of visitors was so slight that little explana-
tion is needed; however, it had been anticipated that circulation
would continue to increase with the return of students to the
graduate schools and, of course, with the accessioning of new
records at the Hall of Records. There are two possible explana-
tions worth noting. In the first place, the revival of graduate
studies has for some odd reason not meant the revival of work
in American History. The Archivist has been careful to note
this unexpected development, as it has been reported from simi-
lar institutions over the country. Only recently the Institute of
Early American History and Culture of Williamsburg has under-
taken to determine the causes. A second possible reason for de-
creased circulation is the fact that published finding media, in-
creased house indexes, and the deposit of microfilm copies of our
records elsewhere all do their part to reduce the number of visitors
and the number of items circulated at Annapolis.

The number of visitors for the last three years was as follows:
Fiscal Year 1945...........748
Fiscal Year 1946...........l,045

Fiscal Year 1947...........1,023

During the fiscal year 1947 they came from thirty-two states,
the District of Columbia, and two foreign countries.