16 TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT

Baltimore's Avalon colony; and some items of the Thomas Bray Collection
not found in the large collection now held by St. John's College. Among the
manuscripts an original letter of George Plater was of most interest.

PUBLICATIONS

The Twentieth Annual Report of the Archivist appeared May 7, 1956.
It contained a detailed account of the work of the Hall of Records for the fis-
cal year beginning July 1, 1954, and ending June 30, 1955. While this report
has always as its first objective to inform the members of the Hall of Records
Commission, it is useful to the staff too because it inevitably confronts us with
an austere statistical judment of the work we have accomplished or left un-
done in the course of the year. We are also hopeful that the lists of accessions,
finding aids and publications will prove of value to searchers. Finally, we in-
vite through the wide distribution of these reports to fellow archivists, com-
ment and criticism which ought to prove useful to us.

The Maryland Manual, 1955-56. While all the copy for this edition had
been delivered to the printer before the beginning of fiscal year 1956, it was
not until December 1955 that the book appeared. Since the Manual is issued
only once every two years, we are at pains to make corrections even as late as
page proof. Moreover, a work of this kind can never be forgotten: no sooner
is one edition out than we start collecting material for the next.

Calendar of Maryland Slate Papers Number 4, Part Three, The Red
Books Publication No. 10 of the Hall of Records Commission. This volume,
perhaps the last of the State Paper series, was described in the 1955 Annual
Report because it too had been completed before that fiscal year had ended. It
is listed here again because it did not appear until August 1955 and, therefore,
within the new fiscal year.

Index Holdings, Bulletin No. 10 of the Hall of Records Commission.
This is the latest in our series of short processed finding aids. The series was
begun for the convenience of our own staff but because of a surprisingly wide-
spread interest in these bulletins, the more recent numbers have been distri-
buted to a selected group of libraries and individuals. Bulletin No. 10 appeared
in May 1956.

The Old Line State, A History of Maryland, Historical Record Associa-
tion, Hopkinsville, Kentucky. This three-volume work, while in no way con-
nected with the Hall of Records as such, was made possible by the collabora-
tion of certain members of the staff and is therefore worth reporting. The
Archivist acted as general editor and wrote the first chapter, "The Settle-
ment." The chapter on Southern Maryland was written by Mr Thomas; Mr.
Caton wrote the history of Baltimore city; and Mr. Skordas and Mr. Hively