The Honorable Parris N. Glendening
Governor of Maryland
State House
100 State Circle
Annapolis, MD 21401

Dear Governor Glendening:

In light of the important role that the Archives plays in the care and preservation of the historical record, I would like to offer a suggestion for the use of $10,000,000 of the revenue surplus as a wise investment and reasonable hedge against a volatile economy.

Because we are only two-thirds funded by general fund appropriations and must find ways to earn the balance, several years ago a law was passed creating a Maryland State Archives Endowment Fund (see the attached sections from the code) that permitted us to use the interest from the endowment for records indexing, preservation, and exposition. To date, we have been able to save approximately one quarter of a million dollars, which provides interest enough to support some student intern help each summer, but which falls far short of what it costs us to keep the Archives’ doors open. With the endowment increased by $10,000,000 we would be ensuring our ability to continue our educational programs which are designed to bring our rich archival heritage within reach of all Marylanders by utilizing only the interest the fund generates.

Our endowment legislation provides for the augmentation of the endowment by appropriation. By placing some of the surplus in an interest bearing account for the benefit of the Archives, you would be contributing to the care and preservation of one of our most precious gifts to the future: the collective memory of what we were, what we are, and what we are yet to be.

On my office wall, in fading ink, is a collection of sayings that our then nine year old son (now 28) neatly transcribed for "your office in work." One of my favorites is one attributed to Thomas Jefferson:

History, by apprising (people) of the past, will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations.

How wonderful it would be if the prosperity of the present could be invested in ensuring that there is a record to which we can turn with assurance and an expectation of good advice from those who have gone before us.

Sincerely yours,

Edward C. Papenfuse
State Archivist and
Commissioner of Land Patents

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cc w/attachment: Hall of Records Commission