10 TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT

The question of whether staff members of the Hall of Records
should be included in the State Merit System was then discussed at
length. A motion was made and carried instructing the Archivist to
take steps to accomplish this purpose should it meet with the approval
of Governor Tawes.

The plans of the new Record Center in the State Office Building
at Annapolis, which had been put in operation in September 1958, were
shown to the members of the Commission. The Archivist then an-
nounced the opening of a Record Center in the new State Office Building
at Baltimore; and the Commission was informed that the purpose of
both Record Centers is to house and service the semi-current records of
State and county governmental agencies which are required by law or
usage to be kept for a certain number of years but which have no
permanent historical value. The Archivist reported that he was ex-
tremely pleased with the two Record Centers and that he judged them
tobe among the best equipped and best arranged in this country.

The members of the Commission expressed satisfaction that the
Maryland Manual, which had been a responsibility of the Hall of Records
Commission since 1947 by order of the Governor, had now been made a
statutory responsibility through the passage of Chapter 506 of the
Acts of 1959. This new law provides that the Maryland Manual will
continue to be issued by the Secretary of State, but that the funds for
editing, compiling and printing will, in the future, be included in the
budget of the Hall of Records Commission.

Several suggestions were made for the improvement of the Manual.
Among others, it was proposed that photographs and biographies of the
following officers be included: the Comptroller of the Treasury, the
State Treasurer, the Attorney General and the Secretary of State. The
Archivist was instructed to suggest these additions to the Secretary of
State and to include them in the forthcoming issue of the Manual if
they met with Mr. Finan's approval.

The problem of proprietary rights to the revised edition of the
Maryland Guide was then taken under consideration. The Archivist
was instructed to seek further counsel from the Attorney General before
any steps were taken to publish this volume now being prepared by the
Hall of Records Commission.

The Archivist reported at length on the removal of the Land Office
from the Hall of Records to the new State Office Building at Annapolis,