LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

August 23, 1949
To THE HONORABLE

HALL OF RECORDS COMMISSION
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

Gentlemen:

An examination of this report for the fiscal year which closed last
June 30 will, I think, indicate that the staff of the Hall of Records has
given the State good service. With the addition of only one new—and thus
far temporary—employee and a budget which has shown no appreciable
change for several years, we were able to accomplish as much, or more, in
every field which we have come to consider as our part in the State govern-
ment and to extend our activities to other tasks assigned to us by the
Legislature, the Governor and the Hall of Records Commission.

The circulation of records, the number of working visitors, the number
cf letters written in reply to historical or archival inquiries, all increased
during the year. The repair room bettered its best previous mark, as it
has done now for several years running. Photostating of the county land
records progressed to the point where we can now see the end of the
project; and we added to our collection 130,000 feet of microfilm of county
records, completing the project begun several years ago by the Genealogical
Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Our collection of publications of other State agencies doubled in the
course of the year, and our holdings of State and county records continued
to increase at a rate which, while not spectacular, was as much as we could
care for. Nor have we neglected the genealogist, as the list of finding aids
will indicate. We found time also to bring out a second printing of the
Maryland Manual, to offer a course, with the St. John's College, in Annap-
olis History, to continue our participation with the American University
and the National Archives, in an intensive training course for archivists,
and to take a large part in the celebration of the Annapolis Tercentenary.

At the very end of the year, after having pressed for legislation pro-
viding for some sort of records disposal plan in Maryland, especially in the
counties, we began visiting the various county seats, explaining the new
Acts of Assembly to records custodians, and in general preparing ourselves
for what, at least during the first few years, will be an absorbing task.
The Archivist suggested to the Legislative Committees that perhaps records