ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 61

Shortly after the end of the fiscal year, the Attorney General again
made a difficult decision for us. However, since the opinion had been asked
before the end of the year and since it involves the business of the past year,
it is included in this report. The circumstances are interesting. Several
years ago, the Secretary to the Board of Medical Examiners (Homeopathic)
died, and the records of the Board were left, informally, in the custody of
a relative. After several years, during which time the Board did not func-
tion, the records, on the order of the Attorney General, were deposited at
the Hall of Records, which has always acted as records custodian of defunct
State agencies. Some months before the end of the fiscal year, a group of
homeopathic physicians asked for the return of the records, advising us
that it considered itself the legal successor to the previous Board. The
Archivist asked the Attorney General whether he should accede to this re-
quest and was advised that he should not. The reasons for this decision are
found in the opinion here below. How this problem will be resolved
ultimately it is difficult to say. Perhaps this case will be settled by the
courts or by the General Assembly; however, the Archivist feels that an
extremely important issue has been raised: the Hall of Records Commission
has authority to collect records, but not to return them. So fas as I know,
no other archival agency has its powers restricted in this fashion.

July H,1954

Dr. Morris L. Radoff

Archivist

Hall of Records

Annapolis, Maryland

Dear Dr. Radoff

On June 10th you forwarded to us a photostatic copy of a
letter addressed to you by Dr. Robert H. Reddick, bearing date
of June 8th, informing you that the Maryland State Homeopathic
Medical Society had been reactivated and a Board of Examiners
appointed. Dr. Reddick requested that you turn over to him re-
cords now in your custody which were formerly the property of
the Maryland State Board of the Homeopathic Medical Society
and the Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners of the State.

At the 1954 Session of the General Assembly, a Bill was in-
troduced to amend the various Sections of the Medical Practice
Act to delete therefrom all reference to Homeopathic Medicine.