60 TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT

Archivist and shall be available at reasonable times to inspection by the mem-
bers of the public. Nothing in this section shall authorize the destruction of
(a) papers, books, documents or files which have been in custody for a period
of less than three years or such other period as may be expressly prescribed by
statute, (b) public records expressly required by statute to be maintained
permanently, except in those cases where the original record has been photo-
graphed, photocopied, or microphot o graphed in accordance with the provisions
of Section 1 57 of Article 41 provided that the copy or reproduction of the
original record be available upon request in the same manner as the original
record, (c) permanent books of account, (d) the records of any court of
record in this State, (E) THE LAND RECORDS RECORDED BY THE
RESPECTIVE CLERKS OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SEVERAL
COUNTIES AND THE CLERK OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
BALTIMORE CITY; but old records of which accurate transcriptions have
been made and placed in use, under the terms of Article 26, Section 14, and
the "housekeeping" records or the records of internal management of the
offices of clerks of court and registers of wills shall not be considered "records
of a court" for the purpose of this section and Sections 155 and 156 and shall
be subject to disposal as described above, provided, however, that the books,
accounts, and records pertaining to the financial operations of any agency or
department, officers, boards and commissions of the State of Maryland, and of
all clerks of courts, registers of wills, and all collectors of the State taxes of
the State of Maryland, including the City of Baltimore, in so far as they affect
the collection of State taxes, shall not be destroyed until such time as the re-
quirements of Article 19, Sections 29 to 34, inclusive (1951 Annotated
Code), relating to the audit of such books, accounts and records by the State
Auditor, shall have been complied with.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect June
1, 1956.

Approved March 8, 1956.

EXPLANATION:

Italics indicate new matter added to existing law.
[Brackets] indicate matter stricken from existing law.
CAPITALS indicate amendments to bill.

The Hall of Records has sometimes found it difficult in the past to per-
suade agencies of the State government, especially ad hoc commissions and
committees, to deposit their records with us when they ceased to function.
In order that there should be no misunderstanding on this score in the future
we felt that there should be some legislation making this procedure mandatory.