ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

To THE HONORABLE

THE HALL OF RECORDS COMMISSION

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

Gentlemen:

As this Annual Report is being written the Hall of Records com-
pletes its first twenty-five years of life. It is the hope of the Archivist
that the members of the Hall of Records Commission will welcome a
brief review of this first quarter century in this space which is normally
reserved for a summary of the accomplishments of a single year.

When Dr. James A. Robertson, the first Archivist of Maryland,
opened the doors of the Hall of Records, October 1, 1935, he had four
assistants—three more were appointed shortly thereafter—& budget of
$10,000, the handsome furniture provided by the architect, and some
scanty equipment including one typewriter, and little else. Some few
records were already in the vaults. Judge Carroll T. Bond, the first
Chairman of the Commission, had transferred the older records of the
Court of Appeals itself, as well as the records of other agencies, mainly
defunct, which the Court had in its custody: the original Acts of the
General Assembly, the Proceedings and Judgments of the Provincial
and the General Courts.

Soon other records came from the Land Office and the Maryland
Historical Society, records which had been entrusted to their care for-
mally as well as informally by Act and Resolution of the General
Assembly, by Executive Order and otherwise: the Colonial Prerogative
(probate) Court records, The Rainbow Series of State Papers, the ear-
liest Proceedings of the General Assembly and of the Governor and
Council. All of these records, and some others which were added
during Dr. Robertson's lifetime and shortly after his death in 1939,
are listed in Publication No. 2 of the Hall of Records Commission,
Catalogue of Archival Material, Hall of Records (1942). While all
of these records are of prime interest they formed only a small col-
lection, filling altogether perhaps a single stack level. Moreover, they
had been gathered together from other depositories rather than from
the offices of origin (excepting some records of Anne Arundel and
Baltimore Counties).