6 TWENTIETH ANNUAL REPORT

There was one meeting of the Hall of Records Commission in the course
of the year. This meeting, held May 17, 1955, was presided over by Judge
Brune. Other members who attended were Dr. Weigle, Senator Radcliffe and
Mr. Tawes. Several items of old business were considered first: the Archivist
reported that the salary scale for the Assistant Archivist had been raised to
the scale approved by the Commission at its last meeting, and that the steno-
graphic position in the Records Management Division had been reclassified
upward from Senior Stenographer to Principal Stenographer. He was also able
to report that the experimental microfilming of the Proceedings of the General
Assembly of 1955, undertaken with the approval of the Commission, had
proved to be a success and would be repeated during each future session,
should the General Assembly so desire. The Archivist regretted to report that
his efforts to have the direction of our publications program assumed by the
Johns Hopkins University Press had been unsuccessful.

The Commission approved the loan to "The Baltimore Bibliophiles" of
an old hand press which had never been used at the Hall of Records. The loan
was made, however, with the understanding that the press remains the proper-
ty of the State and that it can be recalled at any time by the Hall of Records
Commission. The Commission then approved the appointment of three new
staff members: Mr. Beach, Mrs. Martin and Mr. Wilds, all of the Records
Management Division (For details see under "Staff").

Failure of three bills which had been introduced in the General Assembly
at our request was reported. Since we felt that these bills were vital for our
work, it was decided that they should be reintroduced in the 1956 Session,
but only after hearings before the Legislative Council. (The three bills and
pertinent Opinions of the Attorney General are printed elsewhere in this
Report.)

The Commission examined and approved preliminary plans for a Record
Center to be operated by the Hall of Records Commission in the new State
Office Building in Annapolis. It approved in principle the operation of a second
center in Baltimore which would also include a duplication center if the State
provided for such a facility in the new office building, which is not yet in
the land-clearing stage.

As a final item of business the Commission considered a proposal of the
Archivist that the Hall of Records encourage a project for the microfilming
of all county deed records from 1850 to 1949. All deed records prior to 1850
were microfilmed some years ago by the Genealogical Society of Utah and
positive copies were deposited in the Hall of Records. Since 1949, all deed
records have been microfilmed and copies sent to the Land Office in lieu of
the abstracts which had previously been required by law. When the 100-year
gap is filled, insurance copies for all the land records of the State would be in
the vaults of the Hall of Records. The Commission approved the project,
and ways and means of implementing it were considered.

There were no changes in the membership of the Commission.