EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT

Although Judge Ogle Marbury's retirement as Chief Judge of the
Maryland Court of Appeals occurred August 23, 1952, proper note was
taken of it in the last Annual Report of the Archivist. Judge Marbury was
succeeded by Judge Charles Markell, who became Chief Judge September 8,
1952, and retired December 16 of the same year. Judge Markell was a mem-
ber of the Hall of Records Commission for these few months, but unfortun-
ately, there was no meeting of the Commission during this period. Judge
Markell was succeeded by Judge Simon E. Sobeloff, who was appointed Chief
Judge December 29, 1952. Otherwise there were no changes in the Hall of
Records Commission, but the resignation of Dr. Bronk as President of The
Johns Hopkins University occurred September 1, 1953, or shortly after the
beginning of fiscal year 1954. He was succeeded by Dr. Lowell J. Reed.

A meeting of the Commission was held May 21, 1953. Those present
were Governor McKeldin, Judge Sobeloff, Dr. Weigle and Senator Radcliffe.
The meeting was called to order at 4:30 P. M. by the Vice-Chairman, Dr.
Weigle. Judge Sobeloff was elected Chairman of the Commission and Dr.
Weigle was reelected Vice-Chairman. Since the Minutes of Commission
meetings are sent to each member, no detailed account is given in the
Annual Report of the Archivist; however, a short summary may be useful.
The Archivist submitted the Auditor's report to the Chairman for examina-
tion. The work of the Governor's Special Commission on Records Manage-
ment, of which the Archivist was Chairman, was explained. (The final
report of this Commission will be found under "Survey of State Records.")
Edward N. Johnson was appointed Assistant Records Administrator to take
effect July 1, 1953. The Archivist then brought to the attention of the
Commission plans for establishing records centers in the new office buildings
to be built in Baltimore and Annapolis, as well as the possibility of the Land
Office being assigned quarters in the office building at Annapolis. Following
a brief discussion of certain general problems affecting the Hall of Records,
the meeting was adjourned at 5:15 P. M.

On several occasions during the year the Archivist benefited from
the advice and guidance of individual members of the Commission: the
Acting Chairman was especially helpful in this respect. It was also necessary
on March 12, 1953, to ask the opinion of all the members before the intro-
duction of legislation setting up our Records Management Program. The
Acts of Assembly which were approved are reproduced elsewhere in this
report.