24 TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT

ARCHIVAL AND MANUSCRIPT ACCESSIONS

In surveying the records of state or local agencies the members of our
records management staff are ever conscious of the importance of preserving
the records that have continuing legal, administrative or historical value. The
fact that the schedules they prepare are called "retention schedules" rather
than "disposal" or "destruction schedules" reflects their approach. Frequently
they recommend that permanent records which are no longer actively used by
the agency be transferred to the Hall of Records to assure their preservation.

This procedure accounts for the several accessions of county commission-
ers* records listed below. We are always glad to acquire the minutes of the
county commissioners and of their predecessors, the levy courts, as they are
valuable and relatively unexplored sources of information on the history of
the county. The assessment records also are of historical interest and are oc-
casionally useful in tracing land titles. Unfortunately, many of these records
have been lost. It will be noted that even among the Talbot County records,
which are unusually well preserved, the levy court proceedings predating 1815
are missing and there are two sizable gaps in the proceedings of the county
commissioners.

A records management survey of the records of the Board of Natural
Resources led to the acquisition of the minute books and other records of sev-
eral of its predecessor agencies: the Shell Fish Commission, the Conservation
Commission, and the Conservation Commisioner.

When the records of the Spring Grove State Hospital were being survey-
ed, a member of the archival staff accompanied the Public Records Examiner
to the Hospital to select and bring back the records which were considered
to have archival value. For the most part the records transferred were created
by the Maryland Hospital and the Maryland State Hospital which preceded
Spring Grove.

The earliest minute book, 1851-1883, and some other records of the
Board of Public Works were discovered in a wooden chest in the basement of
the State Office Building during the course of a survey of the records of an-
other agency. The minute book dating from 1883 to 1905 had been included
among a group of Executive records transferred from the State House in 1944,
and we had long feared the earlier volume was lost. The minute books from
1904 are now being indexed by the staff of the Board of Public Works and
will not be transferred until the index is completed. Meanwhile arrangements
have been made to prepare microfilm copies for use at the Hall of Records.

Another most welcome acquisition is the correspondence file of Governor