20 TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT

ARRANGEMENT

During the past year, we were able to arrange on shelves,
list, and accession all the material received both from public and
private sources, except the records transferred from Talbot
County just before the end of the year.

We also arranged or perfected the arrangement of several
collections of original papers. The Admiralty Court Papers, 1776-
1905 especially, needed attention. They were in folders, but some
of the folders contained papers relating to several cases while
papers relating to the same case were scattered in several folders.
We placed each case in a folder, labeled the folders, and arranged
them chronologically. The papers from 1782 to 1789 bore case
numbers, and it is interesting to note that these numbers now
run in sequence, which would indicate that the papers have been
restored to their original order. There are about 200 cases al-
together. A card index has been made to the names of the ships
and to those individuals who are plaintiffs or defendants in the
cases.

The papers of the Prince George's County Register of Wills
were flattened, placed in folders, the folders labeled and arranged
chronologically by series. (See list of accessions.)

The original wills of the Register of Wills for Talbot County
were likewise flattened and labeled; but, since the papers were
already in chronological order under the letters of the alphabet,
no changes were made in the arrangement except to correct
errors.

The number of new employees on the staff and the increas-
ing amount of material on hand has made it necessary to prepare
or revise shelf lists as soon as possible after new material is
received. Accordingly we have prepared lists for the following
offices:

Charles County Clerk of Court

Dorchester County Clerk of Court

Kent County Clerk of Court