ARCHIVIST OF THE HALL OF RECORDS 55

In 1963 we had a similar case which was submitted to your office
and an opinion given by Honorable Gerard Wm. Wittstadt. Since the
request for an opinion, and the opinion is rather lengthy, I am sending
you a copy of my 29th Annual Report, in which the question and the
reply both appear on pages 48, 49 and 50. I do this because the opinion
was not included in the series Report and Official Opinions of the
Attorney General. This was a case involving the Comptroller of the
City of Cumberland, who had been authorized to set aside certain of
his records for destruction. He was then asked by a private citizen for
the records, and he asked me whether he had authority to dispose of
them in this fashion.

I should appreciate an opinion from you at your earliest
convenience.

Sincerely yours,

Morris L. Radoff
MLR:je

State of Maryland
STATE LAW DEPARTMENT

One Charles Center
Baltimore, Md. 21201

December 9, 1966
Mr. Morris L. Radoff
Archivist and Records Administrator
Hall of Records Commission
Annapolis, Maryland

Dear Mr. Radoff:

Your letter of November 22, 1966 to Attorney General Robert
C. Murphy has been referred to me for reply since I have been the
Assistant assigned to represent the Hall of Records Commission. In
your letter you state that as a result of the constitutional amendment
that %vas approved by the voters on November 8, the duties of the
Commissioner of the Land Office are to be taken over by the Hall of
Records.

This poses a problem in record keeping in that there are many
abstracts of conveyances that are now being kept by the Hall of Records