ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECOBDS 9

President of The Johns Hopkins University:

DR. MILTON S. EISENHOWER......................Baltimore

President of the Peabody Institute:

HERBERT J. WATT, ESQ.......................Baltimore

One meeting of the Hall of Records Commission was held during
the year. It was called by the Chairman, Judge Brune, on September
11, 1962 at the Hall of Records. The Commissioners present were the
following: Judge Brune, Dr. Weigle, Governor Tawes, Mr. Goldstein,
Senator Radcliffe, and Mr. Watt.

Following the reading of the minutes of the last meeting, new
staff members were appointed. The Archivist gave a full account of the
records storage problems in Maryland and of the steps which had been
taken to improve them wherever necessary.

The Chairman was interested in the large turnover in our clerical
and stenographic staff. Mr. Goldstein and the Archivist explained the
difficulty of recruitment and of retention of subprofessional personnel
in an area where the federal government competes with us. The fed-
eral scales are higher and leaves are more liberal; as a result we cannot
blame ourselves or the young women who are normally applicants for
these posts.

The question of the ultimate disposal of the land record abstracts
which we inherited from the Land Office was discussed but a firm
decision was postponed until such time as our land record microfilm
project is completed. After that the Attorney General and the Board of
Public Works will be asked for counsel.

The problem of retrieving archival strays for the State of Mary-
land was discussed at great length. It was decided, on the advice of
the chairman and concurred in by the other Commissioners, that the
Archivist's proposal to sue the Library of Congress for the release of
Maryland records in its possession be done only as a last resort, and
that another effort be made to persuade the federal authorities to
renounce them willingly. Failing in that the Archivist was authorized
by a Resolution of the Commission to seek the return of records in the
Library of Congress through a resolution in the Congress.