ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS

Land Commissioner. Since the Land Office occupies part of the stack area
of the Hall of Records, and since the abstract volumes were beginning to
fill this space and would require more within a few years, it was thought
that the Hall of Records was sufficiently involved to justify an expression
of opinion. (The Act as passed is printed in the Appendix as are the
other Acts concerning the Hall of Records.)

A second bill in which we were interested provided for the destruc-
tion of certain types of records after they had been microfilmed with the
consent and approval of the Archivist. Such microfilms might then be
admitted in evidence. Some members of the Commission were not sure
of the weight in evidence of such films, and the Archivist was instructed
to discuss the matter informally with the Law Department. These discus-
sions proved to be inconclusive, for while the Law Department saw no
real objection, in other States where such laws have already been passed
the courts themselves, in view of the lack of precedent, are meeting the
problem as it comes up. Perhaps such a test will be forthcoming shortly
in Maryland, for the bill was passed and is now law.

Scheduling of records disposal in governmental agencies was pro-
vided for in a third bill which the Commission approved. As the bill was
introduced and passed it requires the submission of a schedule by the
county or State agency which created the records and approval of the
disposal schedule by the Archivist and the Board of Public Works. It
was reported by the Archivist that an attempt was being made to establish
such a schedule for Montgomery County.

The sponsorship by the Hall of Records Commission of the Depart-
ment of Information was discussed in the Thirteenth Annual Report of
the Archivist. Members of the Commission agreed that this Department
should be set up as a separate agency under the Executive Department,
and subsequently a bill was introduced and passed in the General Assem-
bly which accomplished this result. The matter of responsibility for die
Maryland Manual was also considered and it was decided to defer to the
wishes of the Governor, who later decided that editorial responsibility
should remain with the Hall of Records.

The Archivist, after reporting that the microfilm project sponsored
jointly by the Hall of Records Commission and the Genealogical Society
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was nearing comple-
tion, proposed that since the Land Records of the State could be replaced