ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 17

Records Engineering, Incorporated, was signed on April 28, 1952. Work on
the survey began immediately.

Governor McKeldin appointed a "Special Commission on Records
Management" to maintain liaison between the State and Records Engineer-
ing, Incorporated. The Commission members were: Joseph O'C. McCusker,
Chief Deputy Comptroller and Secretary to the Board of Public Works,
James G. Rennie, Director of the Department of Budget and Procurement,
Michael J. Potthast, Assistant State Auditor, and Morris L. RadofT, Archivist,
Chairman.

The survey of records and record-keeping practices of the State govern-
ment, which was started by Records Engineering during the last quarter
of Fiscal Year 1952, was completed in January 1953. On March 2, 1953, the
Governor's Special Commission found that the terms of the contract had
been met and recommended that the contractor be paid in full and released
from any further obligation to the State. Records Engineering, on March 9,
1953, was notified that the contract had been completed.

The survey, which was conducted under the direction of Irving Zitmore,
General Manager, Records Engineering, Inc., and Albert Rosenfeld, Field
Supervisor, covered 98 different State and county agencies and was presented
in 35 separate reports. In addition, seven other reports were prepared con-
sisting of a summary report and specialized reports on records management
practices. During the course of the survey, orientation conferences were held
within the agencies being studied so that agency personnel were acquainted
with the purposes of the analysis as well as the methods used and the results
desired. Following the conferences, the first step in the preparation of the
report was an inventory of the principal files and records of the agency.
Employees were then interviewed to ascertain the use made of the individual
records. Drafts of the reports were submitted, with a request for comments,
to the agency heads, the Commission members and to Robert M. Thomas,
Assistant Attorney General, assigned as legal consultant to the Commission.
All agencies surveyed received final copies of the reports.

The Governor's Special Commission at its March meeting proposed,
subject to the approval of the Governor and the Hall of Records Com-
mission, that the Hall of Records Commission assume the administration of
the State Records Management Program. The Governor's Special Commission,