14 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT

COURTHOUSES AND COURT RECORDS

The construction of a new courthouse at Leonardtown in St. Mary's
County made it necessary for the staff of the Hall of Records to assist in the
reconstitution of a proper seal to be set above the porch. We were glad to assist
the architect and the artist who made the final design. We were also asked to
comment on the text of the historical plaque containing a chronological list
of earlier St. Mary's County courthouses.

As part of the Tercentenary celebration of Charles County scheduled
for 1958, the Hall of Records has been asked to do considerable research on
the problem of the location of Port Tobacco and the location and form of sev-
eral of the early courthouses of that County. It is hoped that a replica of the
courthouse of 1674 can be built as part of the celebration to stand as a per-
manent museum and point of interest at Port Tobacco.

Elsewhere (Opinions of the Attorney General) I have described an
example of one facet of our work in the county courthouses as advisors to the
Comptroller. In that case, the reindexing of Cecil County Land Records, our
advice was not taken; but in other cases during the year we have had more
success. In Cecil County, we made recommendation for the repair of index
volumes and duplication of plat records; in Worcester County we considered
the need for an index to judgments; in Talbot County we recommended filing
equipment for the new office of the Register of Wills. Other recommendations
concerning the Talbot County Courthouse were made to the Architect in the
hope that better fire and theft protection might be given the records, but
unfortunately the plans could not be altered.

In addition to investigating such requests for assistance which come
through channels, we visit as many of the county recordkeeping agencies as
possible in the course of the year to advise and take counsel with the record
custodians. Because of this procedure only relatively few requests for help
reach the formal stage.

VISITS AND VISITORS

The year brought an unusually large and distinguished group of vistors
to the Hall of Records. Some, including all of those from abroad, came to
study methods and procedures; the others, to do research:

Amando Alba, President of the Geographical and Historical Society of
Bolivia; Frederick H. Arterton, Canon of Washington Cathedral; James H.
Bready, Book Review Editor, Baltimore Sun; Robert D. Bass, author; J. Ninian