48 TWELFTH ANNUAL REPORT

to the Hall of Records because Maryland has no General Index
to the Acts of Assembly, and the Acts themselves are on deposit
at the Hall of Records. More time-consuming, however, are the
endless requests—almost universally addressed either to the
Governor or the Secretary of State—on the part of Almanacs,
Encyclopedias, Year Books and journals of every kind, asking
for the history of Maryland, its natural resources, its industrial
product, the number of its school children, etc., etc. And these
requests, too, come to the Hall of Records and are answered,
because the transfer of records from an agency immediately
removes from it the raw materials from which replies of this
kind are framed.

There is, then, no question in our minds about what should
be done for other governmental agencies or their clients. In
each case we do all that we can. It is not so easy to decide what
to do with the request of an individual. It is obviously impos-
sible for any archival staff, no matter how extravagantly sup-
ported, to write doctoral dissertations for those ill-equipped
scholars who think it can be done by mail or "themes" for the
ambitious high school boy who has chosen "The History of Mary-
land" for his subject. It is quite as ill-advised, and in addition it
is dangerous, to trace a family line for an aspirant to member-
ship in one of the patriotic societies which demands the pre-
requisite of Colonial or Revolutionary ancestry.

But because we cannot do all that is required there is no
excuse for doing nothing. We make it a point to answer every re-
quest promptly, usually within a day or two. It would seem to
the lay reader that answering the letter is only a courtesy which
should be extended to anyone and which might be expected
from any governmental agency. 'But such is not the case. Among
the most hearfelt letters of appreciation which we receive are
those which remark that, in spite of repeated letters of inquiry
to the director of such-and-such a custodial agency over a period
of months or years, no reply has been forthcoming. In some
cases it is true that letters of this kind are absolutely ignored;
in others they are not answered because the correspondent does