ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 33

visitors was noted in my last annual report, thus reversing a trend of
increases year after year excepting only the war years. There are several
possible causes which suggest themselves. The entire past fiscal year was
again a war year in spite of the lack of a formal declaration; and again
young men who might have begun their graduate work in history and
government are being called to service in the armed forces and in the
expanded war-time civilian agencies in Washington.

From time to time, we learn from correspondents of their use of our
more important series which we have deposited in microfilm copy at the
Library of Congress, the Huntington Library, the Utah Genealogical
Society and the British Museum. We cannot, of course, guess what the
circulation of these films is, but it must be increasing from year to year
as their presence becomes known. It is also worth noting that within
the past few years many genealogical studies of Maryland families have
found their way into print thus saving descendants of these families from
pursuing independent searches. Finally, as the years go by, more and more
documented family lines are filed in the libraries of the various patriotic
societies so that instead of tracing a whole family line, new candidates for
membership need only prove a connection with an established line. Perhaps
the time is not far off when our genealogical materials will become increas-
ingly less conspicuous in the tally of documents circulated.

The number of visitors for the last three fiscal years is as follows:
Fiscal year 1949 ........................... 1,308

Fiscal year 1950 ........................... 1,143

Fiscal year 1951 ........................... 1,050

The circulation of documents continued at a very high level although a
slight decrease from the previous year is to be noted. Among the mate-
rials circulated during the year and included in the figures given here
below were 551 reels of microfilm, a slight increase over the previous year
and a large increase over any other year.

Documents Circulated Fiscal Year 1949........ 6,733

Documents Circulated Fiscal Year 1950........ 7,244

Documents Circulated Fiscal Year 1951........ 6,961

Although we maintain an exact record of ail materials requested, we
do not feel that it is worthwhile for this report to list the names of the