BALTIMORE CITY

Records

When Baltimore City was created a separate governmental entity, all the records of
Baltimore County, of which Baltimore City had been the county seat for almost a century,
remained in the City courthouse. New record books were used for Baltimore County and these
new records were moved to Towson several years later, as soon as there was a proper place
to keep them.

Of the records of Baltimore City since its establishment as a separate governmental unit
there have been only minor losses in the Judgment records of the Courts, otherwise they are
intact.

Note

To what extent men's reason and judgment might be perverted by the bitter contest for a
county seat is strikingly illustrated by the manuscript map of Baltimore County produced
herewith. In the effort to move the seat of government from Joppa to Baltimore Town in
1768 it was apparently not considered unfair by this supporter of Baltimore to mark that
town as "center of the County"!

Superior Court

LAND RECORDS, 1661--. Chronology erratic in early volumes. Baltimore City record begins
with Liber E.D. No. 1. Most volumes indexed. C.H. 1800--. L.O. 1949-, microfilm. H.R.
1661-1833, with numerous other volumes dating to 1920; 1661-1949, microfilm.

INDEX TO LAND RECORDS, 1659-1849. Burr Record Index. C.H. 1659-1849. H.R. 1659-
1849, microfilm.

INDEX TO LAND RECORDS, 1851--. Cottco Universal. C.H.
INDEX TO LAND RECORDS, 1659-1800. Liber Index. H.R.

BLOCK BOOKS, 1851--. Supplementary record to Land Records, showing conveyances of City
property on a block by block basis. Under this system, every transfer of property within
a block is entered under the number of the block and reference is given to the liber in
which the transfer is recorded. The numbers of the blocks are shown on the Block Book
Plats. C.H. 1851--. H.R. 1851-1959.

INDEX TO BLOCK BOOKS, 1851--. C.H. 1851--. H.R. 1851-1959, microfilm.

INDEX TO ANNEX BLOCKS, 1888-1913. C.H.

INDEX TO NEW ANNEX BLOCKS, 1918--. C.H.

BLOCK BOOK MAPS, 1851--. Plats of Baltimore City blocks showing the numbers used for
identification purposes in the Block Books. C.H. 1851—. H.R. 1851--.

LAND COMMISSIONS, 1727-62. Each volume indexed. H.R.

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