ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 31

Charles .................... 6

Dorchester ................. 3

Frederick .................. 10

Howard ................... 9

Kent ...................... 4

Queen Anne's ............... 5

St. Mary's .................. 10

Talbot .................... 7

Worcester .................. 7

Total: .......... 67

AIDS TO RESEARCH

The Seventeenth Annual Report of the Archivist appeared in March
1953. It is useful for us and for others interested in our records because it
contains annual lists of accessions as well as a description of indexes, calendars
and other aids added in the course of the year. Of late, it has had research
interest for librarians and some other specialists because of the lists of new
printed acquisitions, including public documents. The Maryland Manual has
also proved useful because of its list of current printed State documents.

Calendar of Maryland State Papers Number 4, Part 2, The Red Books,
the eighth volume in our series of publications, appeared May 5, 1953. The
copy had been sent to the printer on the last day of the previous fiscal year,
but seeing the book through the press and preparing the index were part of
the work of fiscal year 1953. This volume contains abstracts of 1,787 items
in our collection of bound Revolutionary materials; it will be followed by a
third and last volume, now in preparation, which will complete our work
with the so-called "Rainbow Series." That this series of calendars is useful is
attested by the fact that our list of standing orders now includes the libraries
of many of the major research institutions of the country.

Index to the Original Wills of Somerset County. Several years ago we
transferred to the Hall of Records from the office of the Register of Wills
of Somerset County a complete set of the Original Wills of that County,
from 1664 through 1788. The index has now been completed on cards and
was inter-filed in our two probate indexes in the catalogue room.

Index to the Laws of Maryland, 1800-1920. The Historical Records Sur-
vey of the WPA, working under the direction of the Department of Legis-
lative Reference prepared a card index to all the laws of Maryland for the