ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 27

Ion Waters in Baltimore refers to the building of a railroad from Baltimore to
Ohio. There is even a David Crockett song book.

Additional items to be placed with the Mercer Family Papers already on
deposit were sent to us by Mr. Frank L. Pinney through Mr. J. Reaney Kelly.
They are mainly letters by Mary Swann Mercer, most of them written during
the Civil War.

Two very early parchments patents were among the papers deposited by
Admiral and Mrs. Kenneth H. Noble. One, dated 1654, is signed by Governor
William Stone; the other, dated 1658, bears the signature of Governor Josias
Fendall.

Through the generosity of Mr. Edward S. Corcoran, we were permitted
to make photocopies of a number of the items he exhibited in our lobby in
conjunction with a meeting of The Baltimore Bibliophiles, held at the Hall of
Records. Some idea of the richness of this collection may be had from a partial
listing of the items photocopied:

1. Letter of George Plater to "the Lord Commissioners of their
Majesties Treasury," explaining that the money collected on port
duties was paid over to Sir Edmund Andros while he was acting as
Governor of Maryland.

2. Proclamation of Charles, Lord Baltimore disallowing an Act of
Assembly passed in 1723 which attempted to restrict the importa-
tion of convicts into Maryland.

3. Proceedings of the Commissioners appointed to Inspect the
Public Records, 1724-1725.

4. Map of the World published by Sylvanus in 1511, one of the
earliest to show any part of the North American Continent.

5. Map of the World by Hans Holbein, the younger, showing the
whole Continent of America, published in 1532.

6. Several early maps of Maryland, notably one published by

Ogilby in 1671 and another by Speed in 1676.

Twelve deeds and plats relating to land in St. Mary's County were
photocopied through the courtesy of Admiral Felix L. Johnson. They date
from 1672 to 1833. We are always glad to acquire such records because the
early land records of St. Mary's County were destroyed in the fire of 1831.

The Public Archives of Canada presented us with a photostatic copy of
a Census of Acadians in Maryland, taken July 6-7, 1763. From the same
agency we purchased a microfilm copy of a number of muster rolls of Mary-
land Loyalist companies and regiments for the period 1777-1783.
Considerable local interest was aroused last year when the Family Bible of