SPIRO T. AGNEW, Governor                       705

microfilm, all plats in any of the clerks' offices or any other depart-
ment of city or county where such plats would affect title to land,
that have been heretofore filed in said office before June 1, 1945, and
shall also furnish the said clerks with a copy of such film. There shall
be a new clerk appointed by the said [Commissioner of the Land
Office] Archivist of the Hall of Records to do or supervise this work
who shall receive such salary as may be provided in the budget, and
the sum of $6,000.00 shall be included in the State budget for the
purchase of equipment, supplies and expenses for the preservation of
the State's vital records. Nothing in Sections 59, 60, 61 and 62 shall
apply to Allegany, Carroll, Harford, Montgomery, Prince George's,
Dorchester and Talbot counties.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That Section 132 of Article
41 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1965 Replacement Volume)
title "Executive and Administrative Departments"; subtitle "1. The
Executive Department," subheading "Commissioner of the Land
Office," be, and it is hereby repealed; and Sections 172 and 175 of
said Article, title and subtitle, subheading "Hall of Records Com-
mission" be, and they are hereby, repealed and re-enacted, with
amendments, to read as follows:

172.

(a) The Commission shall have supervision and control of the
Hall of Records building and shall have authority to equip and
furnish the said building and to preserve and repair the records,
documents and archives placed under its supervision, the cost of same
to he paid for out of any funds which may hereafter be appropriated
for that purpose.

    (b) The Commission shall appoint a competent, qualified person,
to be known as Archivist, who shall have charge of the active
management of the building and its contents; provided that the
Commission shall allot and designate a portion of the building for the
use of the Land Office. The Commission shall employ such assistants,
clerks and other employees as may be necessary for the work of
collecting, repairing, indexing, copying, filing and preserving the
records, documents, papers, books and other data under the juris-
diction and supervision of the Commission. The Archivist, his
assistants, clerks and other employees shall receive such salary or
compensation as may be recommended by the Commission and pro-
vided in the budget.

(c) The words "Commissioner of the Land Office" or "Land
Commissioner" as used in this Code shall be construed to mean the
Archivist appointed pursuant to subsection (b).

175.

(a) Papers, records and documents, now in the courthouses of
this State, which were made prior to April 28th, 1788, the date of the
adoption of the Constitution of the United States by the State of
Maryland, shall be transferred as soon as practicable after June 1,
1945, to the Hall of Records Commission, which is hereby made the
official custodian of such papers, records and documents, with full
power to certify the same as provided in Section 177. Every clerk of
court, register of wills, or other public official, now having custody of