ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 2 5

County land records whenever her other duties permit. The land records of
Calvert County were filmed by a member of our staff who visited the County
with a portable camera.

The several odd items of recent county records, such as chattel mort-
gages, equity records and corporation records came to us as by-products of
the projection print method of recording used in many of our counties. The
Hall & McChesney Company which makes the prints sends us the film from
which they are made after it has served this purpose.

When we were called upon two years ago to consult with the Register
of Wills of Montgomery County in a general study of the recordkceping
practices of that office, one of the more pressing problems was the proper
disposition of the old records. Last year the Register solved the problem and
also gained much-needed storage space by transferring to our custody the
records predating the middle of the nineteenth century. The records of this
period were kept in two series. One contains the minutes of the Orphans'
Court and the other, entitled "Records" or "Record Books," is comprised of
wills, inventories, accounts and the sundry other instruments recorded by the
Court. We have furnished microfilm copies to replace these records.

Other originals acquired were the marriage license records of Talbot
County for the years 1794-1886 and of Cecil County for 1840-1886. The
accession from Cecil County also included eleven small volumes containing
returns by the justices of the peace of the names of persons who had subscribed
to the Oath of Fidelity in 1778.

Microfilm also made it possible for us to collect church records on a scale
far beyond our highest expectations. The records of forty-three Protestant
Episcopal parishes and churches and six Quaker meetings were acquired. Of
the total of 171 volumes only thirty-three were originals, the remaining 138
were on microfilm. Many of the vestries are still considering the possibility
of depositing their original records in our custody and they would be willing
to receive microfilm in return if a reader were available locally. We wish to
express our appreciation to the many ministers, rectors, vestries and other
church officials who cooperated with us in this project, and especially to thank
the Maryland Diocesan Library Committee for permitting us to film the
church records in its custody.

Emphasis has been placed on the collection of the records of Protestant
Eapiscopal churches because this was the established church of the Province
from 1692 to the end of the colonial period. Unfortunately, there have been
serious losses in the records of some parishes. Fairly complete sets of parish
registers have been obtained, however, for St. George's Parish in Harford