Hall of Records Commission
Minutes

of a Meeting 
at the Maryland State Archives
Electronic Classroom
12 Noon, June 6, 2001

Chairman Bell called the meeting to order at 12:24 p.m. in the words of Dr. Ridgway, "D-day at the Archives."

Attendees & Introduction of Special Guests
 

Chairman Bell welcomed special guests John Lyon, Outerbridge Horsey and Mrs. Hamilton Lee Horsey.

Reports and Minutes of Previous Meetings

• October 31, 2000

 
Chairman Bell asked the Commission members for any corrections, additions, omissions to the minutes of the last meeting held on October 31, 2000.  There being none, Dr. Phillips offered a motion of approval of the minutes, seconded by Secretary Richkus and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.
• Special Meetings and Celebratory Events
• January 9:  Dedication of the Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr. Senate Building, 11 Bladen Street, and opening of Archives' exhibits:
• From Private Fortunes to Public Gifts:  Treasures of the Peabody Art Collection of the Maryland State Archives
• A Priceless Legacy:  the Papers of Charles Carroll of Carrollton and the History of Maryland
• Carrollton Viaduct mural for third floor landing.
• January 11:  Presentation of the First Citizen Awards. Speech by Edward C. Papenfuse
• January 12:  Remarks to the House of Delegates:  Too Close to Call: Presidential Electors and Elections in Maryland featuring the Presidential Election of 1904. Remarks by Edward C. Papenfuse
If any Commission members are interested in what was done for the House of Delegates on the question Too Close to Call:  Presidential Electors and Elections in Maryland, Dr. Papenfuse advised that a document packet was given to all of the members.  A copy is also included in today's handout.
• January 22:  Dinner for Chief Justices at Government House at the invitation of Judge Bell.  Remarks by Edward C. Papenfuse
Chairman Bell advised the Commission members that he participated in the dinner of chief justices at Government House on January 22 where Dr. Papenfuse delivered a brilliant speech.  He said Dr. Papenfuse wowed the chief justices from across the country with his knowledge of the Maryland judiciary he brought to bear, especially to a chief justice from the state of Delaware, E. Norman Veasey.  Dr. Papenfuse also talked about a Maryland judge, Alexander H. Handy, who served on the high court of Mississippi.
• February 19:  George Washington's Birthday Celebration.  Speech by Senator Van Hollen
• Maryland Day Event
• Annual Maryland Colonial Society Essay Contest Award


Mr. Kenderdine offered a motion of approval and recognition of the special meetings of the Commission as defined by standing resolution, seconded by Secretary Richkus and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Records Retention and Disposal Schedules

• Retention
• Disposal
Dr. Papenfuse invited the Commission members to review and ask questions about the Records Retention and Disposal Schedules received since the last meeting.  There being none, Dr. Phillips offered a motion of approval of the Records Retention and Disposal Schedules as presented, seconded by Ms. Kronk and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Old Business

• Newspaper preservation (on hold)

Archivist's Report & Staff Activities 
     (see the Maryland State Archives Bulldog for additional details)

• March 1:  Speaker's Society Awards
• April 18:  Board of Public Works approval of grant from Maryland Historical Trust to the Archives for Phase I of the Historic Structure Report on the Maryland State House:
Dr. Papenfuse noted that the Board of Public Works approved the Archives receiving a $150,000 grant from the Maryland Historic Trust to do a thorough documentation and history of the State House.  It will be available as a web and research site for all future work on the State House. This is just the first phase. The second phase concerning renovation will be handled by the Trust.
• May 1:  Address to the spring meeting of the Court Clerk's Association:
Dr. Papenfuse advised that he is using the address to the spring meeting of the Court Clerk's Association as a ruse to offer thanks to a number of people on the Archives' staff who have worked exceedingly hard over the last several months to make certain that plats.net, our primary source of special fund income, and wholeheartedly supported by Judge Bell as a service to the courts of this state, is actually very close to being on target.  Because of the extraordinarily hard work by Kim Moreno, Dawn Steeley, Joyce Riddle, Ray Connor, and Dave Shackelford, we have been able to meet our goals and will shortly present the Administrative Office of the Courts with a $1.73 million invoice for the work we have done.


Secretary Richkus offered a resolution of thanks by acclamation on behalf of the Hall of Records Commission and citizens of Maryland to the staff that participated and worked so hard on plats.net, seconded by Delegate Conroy and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.
 

• May 16:  Address to delegation from Henan Province, one of the principal agricultural regions in China, at the University of Maryland re:  electronic government and electronic records from the perspective of the state of Maryland:
On May 16, Dr. Papenfuse had the opportunity to address a delegation from Henan Province on the electronic records from the perspective of the state of Maryland.  He said it was a most enjoyable experience, and it is very likely the Archives will get an invitation to the province sometime in the future.
• May 30:  Reference and Research Advisory Committee meeting, at the Archives:
Dr. Papenfuse invited the Commission members to review the minutes of the recent Reference and Research Advisory Committee.  He stated that the Archives is very fortunate to have an enthusiastic group of volunteers who advise us on how we should be handling reference and research matters in the Search Room.
• June 1: First meeting of the Commission to Coordinate the Study, Commemoration and Impact of Slavery's History and Legacy in Maryland at the Archives:
Dr. Papenfuse reported that the first meeting of the Commission to Coordinate the Study, Commemoration and Impact of Slavery's History and Legacy in Maryland took place on June 1.  Maryland is the only state in the union that has a commission dedicated to this objective. It is headed by Stefan Goodwin and supported by people the Commission members may be familiar with, including Agnes Callum and Ira Berlin (an award winning historian on the history of slavery in the United States and a member of the faculty with Dr. Ridgway at the University of Maryland).  The commission is dedicated to documenting the history of slavery and is going to make a tremendous amount of resource material available at the Archives. It will bring the information out and get it before the public, making it searchable and accessible through such projects as Searching for Ancestors who were Slaves introduced at the last Hall of Records Commission meeting.  The Archives is required by law to provide one half of the staff of the commission and its responsibility is to focus that part of the staff on the research objectives, which has already begun.  There will be a web site called mdslaverycom.net which will make all of the records at the Archives that relate to the history of slavery, including muster rolls of the United States Colored Troops and freedom records relating to manumissions and to the interaction of slave and free African Americans, available on line and searchable.  Dr. Papenfuse hopes to have some of this material available by the end of the summer.
• 150th Anniversary to the Comptroller's Office:
Dr. Papenfuse stated that staff has been working hard on the150th anniversary of the Comptroller's Office.  Thanks to Dean Kenderdine and, especially, Comptroller Schaefer, the Archives is supported with a grant to provide really good historical background on the history of the Comptroller's Office.  Dr. Papenfuse mentioned to Mr. Kenderdine just prior to today's meeting, that he has already had an historical inquiry of a great relevance which has lead back to these files to help the Attorney General's office in a current inquiry they have with regard to the granting of tax exempt status to Economic Development.
• Audio/video presentations of the Governor's State of the State and the State of the Judiciary:
Dr. Papenfuse is pleased to be able to bring on-line the Governor's State of the State address, and he demonstrated the State of the Judiciary for the Commission. Dr. Papenfuse feels that it is very important to put a face on our public/private officials to make their assessment of their roles easily available for people in the context of an information web site.  This is what the Archives is doing in conjunction with enlarging the services it offers through the archivesofmaryland.net and also through the Maryland Manual On-Line, which is one of our most popular web sites and from which we are very shortly producing a hard bound volume of the Maryland Manual for distribution to the legislature.  At the Archives' budget hearings, Dr. Papenfuse was asked why the Maryland Manual has not been published lately.  He explained that the low bidder reneged on the contract, resulting in the awarding of the contract to the next lowest bidder.

Special Presentation

Horsey Collection, MSA SC 5362

Dr. Papenfuse reported that, during the Watergate hearings, he had just finished his dissertation and received his degree from Hopkins when he got a call from a Jesuit priest, Father Tom Handley.  Father Handley had written a great deal on Charles Carroll of Carrollton and was interested in the Carroll and Lee families.  He knew that Dr. Papenfuse was interested in the economic history of this period.  He told Dr. Papenfuse about this fabulous collection that Outerbridge Horsey had, and that he knew that there were materials in the collection Dr. Papenfuse would like to see about the tobacco trade and a host of other things.  Dr. Papenfuse called Ambassador Horsey and was advised that this collection was in a wooden chest in his dining room, but Ambassador Horsey was loathe to let these materials out of the house without knowing what they were.  Dr. Papenfuse said that, if given permission to inventory these materials on-site and provide a good inventory, the Maryland Historical Society would publish the inventory, and Ambassador Horsey could decide what to do with the papers while Dr. Papenfuse would have the opportunity to look at those that related to the economic history of the state.

The Horseys welcomed Dr. Papenfuse into their home and allowed him to pull documents out of the chest.  He was just enthralled with what he found there and, as promised, prepared a complete inventory of the collection.  In his brashness and youthfulness, he thought they should go to the Maryland Historical Society (at that point, he had not been hired to work at the Archives).  The Historical Society never published the guide, but the Archives did.  It is available on-line and takes you to the bulk of the collection, which is at the Historical Society.

Last fall, Dr. Papenfuse received a call from Outerbridge Horsey advising him that the family had retained some of the papers and were looking for a good home for them.  After suggesting the Maryland Historical Society and some other institutions, Dr. Papenfuse said that the Archives would be interested as well.  What was wonderful is that the family kept back from the collection some choice items that illustrate different aspects of the history of the state. Dr. Papenfuse distributed color reproductions of the items given to the Archives, and they are available off the Archives' web site so that scholars can get to use them immediately.  These seven documents are worth about $82,000 and consist of:

A letter from George Washington at Mount Vernon to Governor Thomas Sim Lee, who was the first Catholic Governor of Maryland.  Governor Lee was extremely important in later years in terms of negotiating with Virginia over the terms of the Potomac River;

An exquisite thank you letter from the Marquis de Lafayette to Thomas Sim Lee;

Another letter from GeorgeWashington, written in his own hand at New Windsor, to Thomas Sim Lee;

A letter from Chief Justice John Marshall to his son, John Marshall, Jr., telling him what he should be doing -- not in terms of the law -- but in terms of managing the family plantation and estate;

A letter from Robert E. Lee to Mrs. M. C. Lee written at Petersburg in the middle of the war where he is telling Mrs. Lee his position.  Dr. Papenfuse said this letter made it through the lines and to the Lee family;

A letter from Jefferson Davis to Miss Horsey written from prison on July 4, 1866;

A letter from the President Madison's wife, Dolly Madison (in her own hand), to Miss Lee saying she was terribly sorry that Miss Lee couldn't do what she promised to do.  Dolly was asked to write a letter on Miss Lee's behalf.  The person she was writing to also needed to have it translated into French.  Dr. Papenfuse pointed out the French translation on the handout.

Mr. Horsey told the Commission that he is glad the collection is at the Maryland State Archives.

Secretary Richkus offered a resolution of thanks, adopted by acclamation, to the Horsey family for providing the Maryland State Archives with such a splendid contribution to its Special Collections, seconded by Dr. Phillips and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Recent Acquisitions

• Special Collections:
• Senator Boyer's request concerning the reproduction on paper of the records of his church:
Dr. Papenfuse advised that many members of the Commission received a letter from former Senator Boyer regarding his church records.  The matter has been resolved very amicably.  What Dr. Papenfuse tried to explained to Senator Boyer is the importance of the care and preservation of the original records themselves.  The Archives can and will provide him copies from microfilm at a nominal fee.  However, Senator Boyer needs to make sure the original church records the Archives filmed are in good shape and in one place.  Senator Boyer wrote a thoughtful thank you letter to the Archives.  He is in the process of bringing together all of the original records of the church he is interested in.  The Archives will compare them against the film done 20 years ago.

A Resolution of Appreciation for the recent gifts, including other special collections received but not described, was offered by Dr. Ridgway, seconded by Dr. Phillips and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.
 

• Government Records

Finding Aids, Reference Services, and Publications

• Speaker's Society
• Documents for the Classroom - Too Close to Call: Presidential Electors and Elections in Maryland featuring the Presidential Election of 1904:

Dr. Papenfuse stated that the Archives is always making changes to its web site.  All of its finding aids are directed to making these finding aids publicly available on the web.  He encouraged the Commission members to look at the web site and is more than happy to take any suggestions for improvements and changes.

Education and Outreach

• Teaching in the Age of Internet: web-based courses taught by the State Archivist:
• Maryland History (Fall 2000, Johns Hopkins University)
• American History as Fact and Fiction (Spring 2001, Johns Hopkins University)
• The History and Future of Public History (Spring 2001, University of Maryland)
• Dr. Papenfuse has been advised by the State Ethics Commission that his teaching appears to be separate and distinct from his work as State Archivist and that, based upon the information he supplied, it is appropriate and within the guidelines of the ethics laws of Maryland for him to be compensated in addition to his salary as State Archivist for teaching.
• February 5:  Library of Congress/Association of Independent Schools session in the electronic classroom, organized by Charlie Flanagan, member of the Archives of Maryland Advisory Board, for 20 AIMS social studies teachers from all levels.  Dr. Papenfuse presented primary sources for education such as documents for the classroom;
• March 1:  Dr. Papenfuse talk to the Maryland Law School faculty at the University of Maryland re:  A Revolution in Archives:  New Sources For Legal and Administrative History on the Web at the Maryland State Archives;
• March 25:  Dr. Papenfuse gave a multimedia presentation, American History as Fact and Fiction, at Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus for Talented Youth Odyssey;
• April 19:  Dr. Papenfuse and Professor David Bogen taught a Judicial Institute course at the Judicial Training Institute on Maryland Legal History from the early colonial period to present;
• April 19:  Dr. Papenfuse addressed the Wranglers Club at the request of Judge Martha G. Kavanuagh at the Hamilton Street Club in Baltimore on a mysterious file of newspaper clippings.
• 2001 Summer Internship Program
Dr. Papenfuse advised that the Summer Internship Program, managed by Emily Squires, begins on June 13 and runs for ten weeks.  Last year and again this year, the Archives is trying to get matching funds for all of its appropriated funds.  The Archives has interested different groups in helping with its Summer Internship Program.  For example, the Anne Arundel County Court Clerk's project is being solely supported by the clerk's office to do biographical research as well as research on the courts and court cases.  The reason for helping is two fold:  to help at the request of the clerk, and Anne Arundel County has a wonderfully reconstructed 19th century court room that could be used for educational outreach purposes, i.e., reconstruction of important trials and/or teaching law in a very living history way.

Emily Squires developed a proposal for the 150th Anniversary of the Comptroller's office which they have funded.  The Archives is providing partial matching funds, as well as putting together a packet of research materials for the anniversary.

The Archives has the only fully complete set of State Government Publications anywhere.  An intern will be working on the Government Publications Library as we want to make them more readily accessible and easy to use and available in a web-based environment.

Interns will be working on the legacy of slavery project.  There are a number of record groups which contain important information about the history of slavery which the Archives will be indexing and making available live on-line.

A high school intern will be working as a volunteer editor for the on-going project of the Maryland Manual On-Line.

The Register of Wills project is one in which the Archives has been asked to look at the historical record of the Register of Wills and find ways to bring materials on-line in a cooperative venture.  Unfortunately, the Register of Wills lost one of their major sources of income with the repeal of the inheritance tax.  Therefore, there are far fewer funds available to help the Archives with this project.


At this time (12:56 p.m.), Treasurer Dixon arrived at the meeting.  He reminded everyone that this is the anniversary of the day men landed on the beaches of Normandy.  He specifically mentioned the National Guard's 29th Division from Virginia and asked that a moment of silence be observed for all those heroes.

 
Dr. Papenfuse continued by advising that the Archives is continuing with the Somerset Mapping project.  He thanked John Lyon for supporting interns for the second year and one winter period.  The Archives is most grateful to Mr. Lyon.

With regard to Special Collections, Dr. Papenfuse reported that the Archives has support promised by the Friends of Governor Mandel to help bring on-line some of the Governor's archival material.  Jim Roland served on the Governor's staff and was a reporter for the Star.  Mr. Roland covered all of Governor Mandel's press conferences in the critical period of controversy and maintained a press library as well as being assigned to Edmund Muskie.  This collection contains not only all of Governor Mandel's press conferences, but most of Muskie's campaign speeches.  The Archives has taken those audio tapes and converted them to web accessible audio files so that it will be possible to listen to and work with them.

Dr. Papenfuse also expressed thanks to the Murphy family.  With the passing of Judge Murphy, the Archives lost a strong supporter, as well as an outstanding Chief Judge of Special Appeals. Judge Murphy's family brought together a lot of his papers and memorabilia, and the Archives will fund the inventorying of this special collection.

The State House project was discussed earlier in the meeting.

Finally, Dr. Papenfuse discussed the multi-faceted cooperative project relating to women's history that involves three projects:

• Maryland Women's Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Maryland Commission for Women (MCW), with the goal of creating an attractive, user-friendly online exhibit of the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame, hosted by the Archives and linked from the Museum Without Walls;
• Maryland Women in the Judiciary, sponsored by the Maryland Chapter of the National Association of Women Judges, the Maryland Bar Foundation, and the Baltimore Bar Association, with the goal of providing a complete biographical dictionary of Maryland Women in the Judiciary. It will provide an historical profile of the contribution of women to the judiciary through their opinions and other writings. It will also nominate the first female judge of Maryland,  Judge Kathryn J. Lawlor Shook DuFour, to the Women's Hall of Fame.  Dr. Papenfuse advised that Judge Friedman raised about $12,000 for this project;
• Career files of Dr. Lois Carr, sponsored by the Society of the Ark and the Dove and the Maryland State Archives, to provide online access to the St. Mary's City career files, the work of Dr. Lois Green Carr.

 
Secretary Richkus offered a Resolution of Appreciation for providing funds for the 2001 Internship Program to St. John's College, the Maryland State Bar Foundation/Baltimore Bar Association, the Maryland Commission for Women, the Anne Arundel County Court Clerk's Office, Friends of Governor Marvin Mandel, John Lyon, and the Comptroller's Office, seconded by Dr. Ridgway and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Administrative & Fiscal Matters

• The Archives Endowment
• Status Report:
• Donation by Tim Maloney to the Archives Trust Fund in memory of Judge Murphy
• Mabel Crisp bequest
Dr. Papenfuse reported that there is approximately $350,000 in the Archives Endowment fund.  This money cannot be touched; however, the interest can be used towards educational activities of the Archives. From time to time, the Archives receives much appreciated donations from small ones, as in Tim Maloney's donation in memory of Judge Murphy, to large ones, such as Mabel Crisp's bequest of $25,000.
• Budget Issues, Present and Future:
• FY 2003 budget preparations are underway with an indication of baseline needs for the next fiscal year (2003) due to the Department of Budget and Management by May 4.  Discussion of FY 2002 budget and comment by the Commission is scheduled for the fall meeting.
• Publication of the Maryland Manual:
Dr. Papenfuse reported that the Archives is about to publish the 2001 Maryland Manual.  It is going to be a slimmer volume at around 600 pages accompanied by a self-activating CD that includes everything on the web site.  Barring any further problems with printing, the Manual should be available in two months.
• Completion of the five year report by DGS:
Dr. Papenfuse advised that the Department of General Services is very much engaged in completing its five year assessment of records accumulation.  They developed a web site for entering the data making it as easy as possible for people to put in their information.  Secretary Richkus reported that, to date, 15 agencies have used the web-based system to update their information.  An additional 12 agencies have submitted hard copy updates.  For the record, Secretary Richkus brought along screen prints of this web site, with a copy for Dr. Papenfuse.  Secretary Richkus had her staff put together a sample draft report page for the Commission members to see that it meets the state's requirements.  While DGS is making progress, over 50 percent of the agencies did not respond or could not make the June 1 deadline for submission of their data.  Secretary Richkus is now targeting the end of the month.
• Update on the Potomac River research, including the $50,000 deficiency appropriation:
As far as the Potomac River research which was discussed at length at the last meeting, Dr. Papenfuse said the Archives did not get the full funding it asked for but received a $50,000 deficiency appropriation this year and is in the budget for the coming year for a like amount.  Dr. Papenfuse is also very grateful to the budget committees for placing sufficient funds in the Archives budget for him to conduct research on the Maryland Charter in England this July.
• Contract to make much needed repairs to the flashing and the roof of the Hall of Records building:
Dr. Papenfuse thanked DGS for the contract to make much needed repairs to the flashing and the roof of the Hall of Records building.  Secretary Rickhus reported that there was a contract awarded in the amount of $731,000 to repair the roof and metal flashing.  The pre-construction meeting was held in the spring.  There has been a delay due to a matching brick issue, but the project is scheduled to be completed in early January.

Forthcoming special meetings of the Commission & events of interest

• June 26:  Dr. Papenfuse is to serve as a guest lecturer at UMBC's Summer Institute for history teachers at the UMBC Library. The topic is Defining "American" in the Aftermath of World War II:  Whittaker Chambers vs. Alger Hiss;
• June 22:  Dr. Papenfuse is to attend a seminar program that the Maryland Society of Surveyors is sponsoring in Easton/St. Michaels and give a presentation on the Archives in general and the PLATO program;
• July:  Dr. Papenfuse is going to England to do research on the origin of the Charter of Maryland;
• October:  Dr. Papenfuse is going to China at the invitation of the government of Anhui Province:
Dr. Papenfuse stated that Anhui is our Maryland sister-state in China.  The government of Anhui Province is paying for all of Dr. Papenfuse's expenses with the exception of his travel to China.  Over the course of the last year, Dr. Papenfuse has been given opportunities to make honorariums.  These honorariums are placed in the funds of the Maryland State Archives.  With the Commission's permission, Dr. Papenfuse would like to use these honorariums for his personal travel costs to China where he is going to present information and a lecture on the Maryland State Archives.


Delegate Conroy offered a motion of permission for Dr. Papenfuse to use what money he has earned in honorariums for the Commission to go towards his personal travel cost to China, seconded by Dr. Phillips and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.
 

• Dr. Papenfuse and James Demma are to present at the Maryland Society of Surveyors a seminar on Land Patents:
Dr. Papenfuse advised that we do not have much business in our land office because most of the land in Maryland has been patented.  However, in certain areas where there has been enormous growth and economic development, such as Carroll County, there are questions about whether or not there are areas of land that are not patented.  The Archives land office has at least one pending application that it is reviewing.  This is of interest to surveyors who have asked the Archives to give a seminar in the fall.

Next, Dr. Papenfuse demonstrated for the Commission new information now on-line on the Archives of Maryland web site.  He showed the Commission that all of the Annual Reports of the Comptroller's Office, going back to the first comptroller, are now on-line.  Treasurer Dixon asked when the first Comptroller's report was issued and Dr. Papenfuse stated it was in 1852 after the Constitutional Convention.

Also on the Archives of Maryland web site, under Slavery Commission, Searching for Ancestors who were Slaves, there is an index to everyone recorded among the Freedom Records of Prince George's County.  The Archives also put up the history and roster of Maryland volunteers, Volume 2, encompassing all of the people who were recruited/enlisted, slave or free, in the United State Colored Troops from Maryland.  Anyone interested in a cross section of all of the men of the African American community of military age as of the Civil War (1863-1864) should visit this site.  Treasurer Dixon said he was proud to have an ancestor who served in the 39th Regiment.  Dr. Papenfuse said he would send Treasurer Dixon the reference to his ancestor by email.

Finally, Dr. Papenfuse advised the Commission that photographs of Judge Murphy are available for anyone who provides the Archives with a donation in Judge Murphy's name.

Next meeting

Chairman Bell said that the Commission members would be notified of the next meeting and would receive a packet in the mail prior to the meeting.

Adjournment

There being no further business to discuss, Dr. Phillips offered a motion to adjourn the meeting at 1:24 p.m., which was seconded by Secretary Richkus and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Approved by the Hall of Records Commission, November 14, 2001
 
 

                        _______________________________________________________
                                            The Honorable Robert M. Bell, Chairman
 

                        _______________________________________________________
                                            Edward C. Papenfuse, Jr., Secretary

Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse
State Archivist

Email: If you have an Email account linked to your WEB browser, click here to activate your mail program to send an inquiry or message to me at archives@mdarchives.state.md.us or contact me at (410) 260-6403.

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