Chairman Bell called the meeting to order at 12:18 p.m.Attendees & Introduction of Special Guests
Chairman Bell welcomed the newest member of the Hall of Records Commission, Treasurer Nancy Kopp who was sworn in on February 14, 2002. Treasurer Kopp said she had mixed feelings when she realized what the date was going to be, but now thinks it was a lovely day. She said that the job of Treasurer is multifaceted and diverse, and particularly looks forward to serving on the Commission.
Secretary Richkus advised that there is an inventory of permanent and non-permanent records. This is now available electronically. The Department of General Services set up a web site so that agency records managers could more easily provide the information that is collected every five years. This is the fourth report. Unfortunately, there is still not 100% response from State agencies (the response rate is about the same as in 1995), but the amount, accuracy, and usability of the information much better serves the State. The purpose of the five-year report is to allow State agencies to effectively, efficiently, and properly manage their own records, and also to support the Archives and its requirements for those permanent records.
In the transmittal of this report, an "after action report" was put together to explain what was done, the lessons that were learned, and how to go forward. The report talks about the efforts DGS went through to collect the information and what it was going to be doing in the interim. The electronic enabling of the project allows each agency, on an ongoing basis, as opposed to every five years, to maintain that information. Because the State-wide Records Inventory Report is only required every five years, it had fallen through the cracks, but when it was brought to Secretary Richkus' attention, she got it back on track. As the last report was paper-driven, extra time was taken to re-engineer the process and bring it up to the technology that Dr. Papenfuse and his staff so ably demonstrate. A schedule has been put together to prompt managers to start the process, recheck the technology, retest the system, and notify all agencies, etc., so the July 2, 2005 report will be submitted to the Archives on time.
Dr. Papenfuse gave the report to Pat Melville for review and to accession.
Dr. Papenfuse announced the resignation of Chris Allan as Deputy State Archivist and, at the same time, welcomed the Archives' new Deputy State Archivist, Tim Baker. Dr. Papenfuse said that Chris's leaving is very difficult for him, and that this building would not be here if it were not for Chris Allan's oversight of the project. Chris had been working on the staff as an assistant to Lois Carr and Dr. Papenfuse soon discovered that Chris was interested in research, understood the history of the state, and cared about his work assignments. When it came to designing and building the new Hall of Records, a project that was strongly supported by the Commission, Dr. Papenfuse needed someone who understood construction to make sure things went smoothly. Chris was a natural choice as he came from a construction background. He attended every progress meeting on the building, and the fact that there were very few change orders and the building was brought in at almost $3 million under contract are thanks to Chris' dedication and hard work.Chris also realized that the future of the Archives lay in dealing with the electronic record effectively. He was the first person to think about networking and he was able to build an inexpensive networking system. Chris has built an IT operation at the Archives that has no peer in the state.
Chairman Bell presented Chris Allan with a Governor's Proclamation and thanked him on behalf of the Commission for the many years and contributions he has made, as well as best wishes as he goes on to a new challenge. The Governor's Proclamation reads:
Governor of the State of Maryland to Christopher N. AllanSenator Miller presented Chris with a Senate Resolution congratulating him on 25 years of dedicated service. He said that not only had Chris been diligent in protecting the State's property and history, but he always had a smile on his face. He said that he is proud of what Chris has done for Maryland, and the Archives' facility is much better for Chris's having been here.
Greetings:
Be it known that on behalf of the citizens of this state, in recognition of the dedication and professionalism you have demonstrated during the long and distinguished career as a State employee, in honor of your significant contributions to the great State of Maryland during your association with the Maryland State Archives, and as an expression of our admiration, great respect and gratitude of 26 years of exemplary service to the citizens of Maryland, we are please to confer upon you this Governor's Citation given under my hand and the great seal of the State of Maryland this 4th day of June 2002.
Parris N. Glendening, Governor
John T. Willis, Secretary of StateAs Delegate Conroy could not attend today's meeting, Dr. Papenfuse presented Chris with a House Resolution on her behalf which read:
In appreciation of your 25 years of dedicated service to the public and your tireless efforts to preserve and protect Maryland's historical records.Lastly, Dr. Papenfuse read the following personal note and presented Chris with a gift certificate from Home Depot:Dear Chris:Chris said how wonderful a group the Commission has been over the years. The support they have offered the Archives is unknown to both the public and often the Archives' staff. The Commission's interest and concern for the welfare of the Archives is commendable and above and beyond the call of duty. He said he is sad to be leaving but, after 25 years, it is time to do something new. He noted that the people who work at the Archives are as dedicated to the work of the agency as in any institution in the country and it has been a great privilege to work with such qualified and exceptional people. He gave special thanks to Lois Carr, historian for the St. Mary's City Commission, for allowing him the opportunity to come to Annapolis and work at the Archives. He also thanked Dr. Papenfuse, without whose assistance and encouragement the Archives could not have accomplished all that is has.
On behalf of myself, the staff, and the Hall of Records Commission, enclosed is a small token of our appreciation for your years of dedicated service to the Archives. The people of Maryland and all our patrons around the world owe you a great debt. You've helped make MSA a viable, lasting collective memory. We could not have done it without you. It goes without saying that we will sorely miss your daily counsel and advice. As you leave here, you can take great pride in what you personally have accomplished. I look forward to working with you on a Friends of the Archives organization.
With all best wishes,
EdNext, Chris introduced his successor, Tim Baker, who he has known since 1995 when Tim was director of support services in the Schaefer administration. Tim then worked with the transition there and became part of the Glendening administration for about a year. Thereafter, he took a job at the Department of Planning where he rose to become its CIO. According to Chris, Tim has many of the skills required to work at the Archives, including understanding IT and government. Chris is very pleased to recommend Tim for the position of Deputy State Archivist. Dr. Papenfuse added that an exception to the hiring freeze was granted in order to hire Tim.
Grant to the Archives for the publication of the Maryland State Archives Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland About 20 years ago, Dr. Papenfuse published a book called The Historical Maps of Maryland. With the assistance of his coauthor, Joe Coale, Dr. Papenfuse was able to obtain a $50,000 grant from the Henry A. Rosenberg, Jr. Foundation to do a 20th anniversary edition of the Atlas. It will be twice as large as the original atlas and will contain every county wall map ever published. There will be a total of 234 color illustrations. The Atlas will be available for distribution next Maryland Day (March 25, 2003), and all of the images will be available for reproduction to scale. Dr. Papenfuse is very grateful to the Rosenberg Foundation for its support.Dr. Nelson offered a resolution of thanks to the Rosenberg Foundation and, in particular, Henry A. Rosenberg, Jr. for his support of the new edition of the "Maryland State Archives Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland," seconded by Dr. Phillips and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.
The Archives will be continuing its largest project, Searching for Ancestors Who Were Slaves, by exploring the history and legacy of slavery as it involves the Underground Railroad in Maryland. Our approach is based on some excellent work that was begun last year by our volunteers, managed by Chris Haley. We will be exploring public documents such as court dockets, jail records, and pardon files to find instances of individuals arrested, charged, and/or tried for attempting to assist slave escapes and resistance. We will follow those cases through by looking at newspaper accounts and traditional biographical research studies. We will also be stripping census data to find population clusters of slave and free African Americans and to find the logical areas were escapes would flee, due to terrain and access to resources such as information, shelter, food, waterways, and other people to blend in with;
To conduct research this summer, the Archives has received funding from Maryland Public Television, Morgan State University, and Goucher College. We have grant proposals in the works to both the National Park Service and the US Department of Education’s Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program. We have cooperative relationships to share resources forming with the new African American History Museum in Baltimore, Slavery Commission, Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, Hampton National Historic Site, and the National Park Service Network to Freedom Program.
Also this summer, under a grant from the Maryland Historical Trust, the Archives will be continuing the complete documentation of the history of the Maryland State House as part of the the Historic Structure Report for the building. The research has succeeded already, over the past 12 months, in assembling a huge quantity of documents and images relating to the design, construction, alterations, maintenance, and restoration of the building from 1769 to the present. These resources are accessible through the web site mdstatehouse.net. The focus of this summer will include Accounting Records, Board of Public Works files, Maryland State Papers, GOVERNOR (General File) S1041, and the records of DGS.
Somerset County
In partnership with Salisbury State University and the
Edward Naab Center, the Archives is continuing to build on the good work
of another of our volunteers, John Lyon, and past summer interns who spent
a great deal of time on the historical mapping of Somerset County.
The goal of this summer’s collaboration will be to match the geographical
data to a cultural/biographical study of the residents of this area through
time. Also, in an effort to preserve and to make the primary documents
more accessible, we plan to place the records of the Somerset County land
office and the prerogative court online.
As part of its imaging and book production efforts, the
Archives plans to generate and place land records on-line as part of plats.net
and
mdlandrec.net
for the following jurisdictions in FY 03: Baltimore County, Baltimore
City, Calvert County, and Worcester County. This will be in addition
to Probate Index 1. Following specified procedures for generating
perl volumes, the intern, coupled with the efforts of student programmers,
will assist in processing, post-production editing, and image quality control.
Another way the Archives has dealt with the deficit was to let nine contractual employees go. Dr. Papenfuse has also written a letter to Governor Glendening (included in today's packet) asking him to seriously consider working on a cooperative project with the Judiciary to bring all retrospective land records on-line and let the Archives play a role in doing that work. It is a good program designed for Smart Growth. Judge Bell has kindly offered to support the Archives with a letter to the Governor on our behalf. In addition, the Archives has asked that serious consideration be given to allowing the Archives a deficiency in fiscal year 2003 to deal with this issue, so that the Archives can aggressively pursue additional income. Taking staff away does not allow the Archives to go after new income. Currently, Dr. Papenfuse has not heard back from the Governor, and, unfortunately, he does not have any other solutions at this time. He stated that in August, the Archives might have another round of layoffs in order to be responsible as a State agency with regard to what we have in the way of resources and how we spend those resources. At this time, Dr. Papenfuse entertained questions from the Commission and asked for any suggestions they might have.
Senator Miller asked how you do something so well that you incur a budget deficit of $1 million? Dr. Papenfuse stated that the Archives has, in its proposals to the courts, sufficient work to be done that it could have that income stream if the Judiciary had the money to give to the Archives. However, the legislature reduced the Judiciary's budget by $30 million, so the Judiciary cannot fund what the Archives already has in its contracts with each of the courts. Therefore, the Archives offered another activity to get the land records on-line by proposing that ELROI be used for the prospective land records and let the Archives handle the retrospective work. Next, Senator Miller asked if the bill on land records passed the Senate and Dr. Papenfuse answered in the affirmative. Additionally, Dr. Papenfuse is also asking the Governor and Legislature to come back to the Land Records Improvement Fund next year (which the Archives committee chair said she would do) and pass the increase to the Fund. If that happens next year, and the money is there, the Archives will not need a deficiency appropriation and is prepared to do the work. Using Baltimore County as an example, Dr. Papenfuse demonstrated the mdlandrec.net system to the Commission.
The National Park Service has less money, but they have been impressed with the work the Archives has done on the Underground Railroad. Dr. Papenfuse feel there is a good chance the Archives will get this $30,000 grant, as well.
Dr. Papenfuse personally thanked Emily Squires who was responsible for applying for these two grants. In response to Judge Bell's inquiry as to time frame, Ms. Squires advised that these grants are in the Federal year, FY 2002, and the Archives expects to hear in July about both grants, with the money granted in September 2002. Dr. Papenfuse noted that it is FY 2003 money.
Treasurer Kopp noticed that between FY 1991 and 1992, the Archives managed to cut back technical, special fees, and operating funds and assumes Dr. Papenfuse kept a record of what was done then when going through the present budget. Dr. Papenfuse answered in the affirmative. Treasurer Kopp also asked if other state archives were looked at to see what they were doing. Dr. Papenfuse answered in the affirmative, stating that a Friends group is a very good idea, as other archives have turned to their Friends for help. The State Library of Virginia has been cut to 30% and are laying off people, as they became too dependent on General Funds.
At the call of the Chair for sometime in late fall
Approved by the Hall of Records Commission, November 25, 2002
________________________________________
The Honorable Robert M. Bell, Chairman
________________________________________
Edward C. Papenfuse, Jr., Secretary
Dr.
Edward C. Papenfuse
State Archivist
Email: edp@mdarchives.state.md.us
© Copyright Maryland State Archives