12 TWENTIETH ANNUAL REPORT

With the exception of Miss Gardner, none of those who left during fiscal
year 1955 had been at the Hall of Records for as much as a year. Almost all
our other staflf members are now veterans. Last year, the State awarded certi-
ficates of merit to employees who had been in its service over a certain mini-
mum period, and on that occasion we listed the length of service of each em-
ployee. I am sure the members of the Commission will be interested in what we
found: Mr. Skordas, eighteen years; Mr. Thomas, thirteen years; Mrs. White,
thirteen years; Mrs. Tollevik, eight years; Mr. Hively, seven years; Mrs.
Rucker, six years; Mrs. Hiltabidle, five years; Mrs. Cullinane four years; Mr.
Caton, three years; Mrs. DiStefano, two years. Of course, the employees of
the Records Management Division, with the exception of Mr. Caton, have
all come since the initiation of that program in 1953. The Archivist was
appointed in 1939; and we are still profiting from the volunteer work of Mrs.
Jane R. Moss, who came to the Hall of Records in 1937 and retired in 1949.

No new positions were added, but the classification of one member of the
staff of the Records Management Division was raised from Senior Stenographer
to Principal Stenographer.

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

SOCIETY OF AMERICAN ARCHIVISTS

Members of the professional staff of the Hall of Records have been en-
couraged to participate in the work of The Society of American Archivists
for two reasons, first so that we may learn from our colleagues in the same
field and second so that we may help to promote the continued research in
methods and techniques which is the proper function of a professional society.
The annual meeting of the SAA was held in Williamsburg, Virginia, Septem-
ber 12-14, 1954. The following members of our staff attended: the Archivist,
Mr. Skordas, Mr. Beach, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Caton and Mr. Hively. The Archi-
vist, who had been a member of the Council and chairman of the Program
Committee for the Williamsburg meeting, was elected President of the Socie-
ty. At this same meeting Mr. Beach participated in a panel discussion on the
uses of microfilm in records management.

Most of the productive work of the Society is accomplished through its
standing committees, and our staff members also contributed their share to
this work: Mr. Skordas served on the Committee on State Records and the
Committee on Preservation Methods; Mr. Thomas, on the Publicity Commit-
tee; Mr. Hively, on the Committee on Church Records; and Mr. Beach, on
the Auditing Committee and the Committee on Microphotography. The
Society of American Archivists publishes a quarterly journal, The American
Archivist, as its major endeavor. In the October 1954 issue of this journal
the Archivist attempted to list and assess the value of the reports published by
state archival establishments in this country. The full reference is "Reports
of State Archivists/' by Morris L. RadofT, The American Archivist, XVII,
p. 331.