ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 51

Other travel and tourist attraction folders were provided by Ocean
City Bureau of Information, Triton Beach, the Annapolis and Anne
Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, the Deep Creek Lake As-
sociation, the Department of Forests and Parks, and the Baltimore
Association of Commerce Tourist Bureau.

It was apparent that a greater effort in providing tourist informa-
tion would be necessary in the future. No attempt was made by the
department to stimulate the demand for its tourist material. On the
contrary, in several instances it was necessary to discourage travel
agencies and tourist information centers from deluging the department
with requests for tourist literature. These organizations were informed
that the supply of material was limited, but that the department was
answering to the best of its ability all spontaneous individual requests.
They were told also that wherever there was any particular problem of
obtaining tourist information about some little-publicized area in the
state, the department would do what it could to help.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND FILMS

One of the early constant demands on the department was for
photographs. On this subject, too, there is a great variety of opinion,
not only among State officials, but also among citizens interested in
the problem. The pertinent questions are: what photographs are to be
distributed free and to whom, and what photographs are to be made
generally available at cost. Some officials and other citizens think that
the department ought not to give photographs without charge; others
hold that photographs offered free to writers of magazine articles,
atlases, almanacs, encyclopedias, and advertisers provide one of the least
expensive means of publicizing the state.

It appears that there is in any case a need for a collection of
photographs of Maryland, an official collection that can be preserved
for posterity. At present the Maryland Department of the Pratt Library
has approximately 18,000 photographs of state scenes. It has also a
large number of negatives. Although some of these are available for
public use without charge, others are restricted. But the State itself has
no central photographic collection. Official photographs are scattered
among the various departments some catalogued, others not. There is
apparently a need for a state-wide coordination of photographic activity.