ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 47

Equipment

Office 300

Total $6,334

Appropriations $6,334.00

Expenditures 3,760.59

Amount to revert $2,573.41

HANDLING REQUESTS

As the department began work it faced immediately the problem
of answering a large number of inquiries flowing into the Executive
Department, which at that time received a large quantity of mail of
uncertain address such as the "Bureau of Information, Maryland
Publicity Commission, Public Relations Department, etc."

A policy of referring all technical questions to departments con-
cerned was adopted at the start. This served to emphasize the general
nature of the work of the Department of Information and kept its
efforts from encroaching on those of other departments.

From March 29 to June 30, 1948, the department received 6,687
requests for information. These inquiries came from every state in
the union, the District of Columbia, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium,
Brazil, Canada, Canal Zone, Cuba, Denmark, England, France, Ger-
many, Hawaii, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Java, Mexico, Rumania, Scotland,
Sweden and Venezuela.

The most frequently requested item was a folder depicting the
State Seal, State House, Flower, Bird, Tree, Song and Flag. Nine
hundred and sixty-two persons asked for this folder. In addition to
these specific requests, there were 50 others for pictures of the state
house and 42 for photographs of the governor which could be filled
by supplying the seal folder.

Other large categories of requests included: maps 912, general
information on Maryland 972, and general tourist information 1,959.
Information requests were received concerning the following: beaches
41, State forests and parks 91, hunting 159, fishing 171, historical
points of interest 161, Eastern Shore 21, Western Maryland 17,
children's camps 2, industry and manufacturing 88, natural resources