THE HALL OF RECORDS

The Hall of Records of Maryland was built as a part of the tercentenary celebration of
the landing of the Ark and the Dove and the founding of Lord Baltimore's colony of Terra
Mariae. It is located in Annapolis on the corner of College Avenue and St. John's Street. It
is controlled and supervised by the Hall of Records Commission, which was created by
Chapter 18, Acts of 1935, and which is composed ex officio of the Governor, the Comptroller
of the Treasury, the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, the Presidents of St. John's College,
the Maryland Historical Society, the Peabody Institute, and The Johns Hopkins University.
The present members of the Hall of Records Commission are Governor J. Millard Tawes, the
Honorable Louis L. Goldstein, Judge Frederick W. Brune (Chairman), Dr. Richard D. Weigle
(Vice-Chairman), Senator George L. Radcliffe, Herbert J. Watt, Esquire, and Dr. Milton S.
Eisenhower.

Every State, county, city, town or other public official in Maryland is permitted to deposit
in the Hall of Records any original papers, official books, records, documents, files, newspapers
or printed books, not in current use. He is required to deposit all records in his custody
created before the date of the adoption of the Federal Constitution by Maryland, April 28,
1788. In addition, the Hall of Records has microfilm copies of much county material after
1788, including land and court records at least through 1850 and of ten beyond; and the major
probate series through 1950. Many State agencies have also deposited records postdating the
mandatory period.

The Records Management program of the State is a responsibility of the Hall of Records
Commission, as is the operation of Maryland's two Record Centers. Among its other functions
the Hall of Records Commission is the historical agency of the State, it compiles and dis-
tributes the State's Manual, and it is a depository for all State publications.

The Hall of Records will furnish, for a fee, photostatic or microfilm copies of records in
its custody. All the materials at the Hall of Records except those whose use is specifically
restricted are available to the public in the Search Room, subject to such regulations for their
safekeeping as have been adopted by the Hall of Records Commission. Inquiries received by
mail will be answered if the research required is confined to the use of our extensive indexes;
however, no family lines will be traced. The Hall of Records is open to the public Mondays
through Saturdays.

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