xii PREFACE

than the men who filled them, and the profits less important than
the people who received and spent them—for the most part well.

My greatest obligations are not to persons but to institutions.
Had it not been for the incomparable labors of the Maryland
Historical Society, beginning more than a century ago, and for
the more recent but not less able work of the state Hall of
Records, many of the sources of our knowledge would not even
have survived. Other materials, more fortunate, would yet be
so ill arranged and inaccessible as to be of very little use to the
inquirer. Time will, I trust, bring us an increased awareness of
how great the debt we owe these bodies and the men who
founded and administered them.

My late father, Samuel MacClure Owings, and my uncle, Allan
Douglas Bonnell, encouraged my efforts and aided me with funds.
Much of the research was done, incident to a doctoral dissertation,
under the inspired direction of Professor Samuel Eliot Morison
of Harvard. Mr. James W. Foster, Director of the Maryland
Historical Society, aided in many ways my earlier searches and has
more recently done me invaluable service in preparing the manu-
script for publication. Mr. Morris L. Radoff, the State Archivist,
and Mr. William B. Marye of Baltimore have frequently helped
out with illuminating suggestions. Mr. Roger Thomas, Senior
Archivist of the Hall of Records, has given generously of his time
to augment my data at many points and to verify for me many
small details. To all of these my hearty thanks.

D. M. O.

University of Oklahoma.
Michaelmas, 1952