ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 43

WALDENMAIER, NELLIE PEOTSMAN, Some o/ the Earliest Oaths of Allegiance
to the United States of America. Privately printed, 1944. Gift of the
author.

THE WASHINGTON AND STONEWALL LITERARY SOCIETY, Charlotte Hall School
Sesquicentennial Program, 1797-1947, of the Washington and Stonewall
Literary Society, Charlotte Hall, Maryland, 1947. Gift of the Char-
lotte Hall School.

WEISS, IGNACIO, Un Incidente Diplomatico en la Epoca de Rosas, Buenos
Aires, South America, 1946. Gift of the Argentina Archives.

ACTS OF ASSEMBLY

There were several bills introduced in the General Assembly
of 1947 in which the Hall of Records was interested. One of
them (H.B. 488) would have permitted the destruction of cer-
tain original records after they had been microfilmed. It was
specified in the bill that the type of record to be treated in this
fashion would be limited to those approved by the Hall of Rec-
ords Commission, and, as an additional safeguard, it was pro-
vided that the kind of film and the method of film storage should
be subject to the approval of the Commission. This bill, which
was modeled after one now enacted into law in Delaware and
some other states, failed of passage. It is hoped that better suc-
cess will be had at the next session.

Of the large number of bills introduced providing for the
recording by photographic process of various types of records
by clerks of court, one passed (Chapter 767), and at this writing
two photostatic cameras are being installed in the office of the
Clerk of the Superior Court in Baltimore, and similar machines
have been ordered by the clerks of court of Anne Arundel and
Prince George's Counties. The advantages of recording by pho-
tographic process over transcribing by typewriter or by hand
are obvious. It is faster, and it is cheaper. It does not, however,
reduce the bulk of the records in any way, and that remains the
most critical problem in record custody in our Maryland court-
houses.

A bill whose purpose was to permit the substitution of a
photostatic or microfilm copy of the deed or recording of the