Volunteer Report 2 for FY 2003
June 4, 2003

Volunteer activity continued to increase throughout FY 2003. Tallied hours as of April 2003 eclipsed the projected total for the entire year. Unpaid staff had contributed 5778 hours of assistance, or  2.8 FTE, an average of 525 hours monthly. The goal for the year had been 2.3 FTE.  We believe that staff diligence and patience in explaining the Archives current fiscal and staffing situation coupled with increased administrative support for outreach efforts has led to this resurgence.  The Archives' active roster in FY 2002 was 39, of which roughly 20 provided some form of help throughout the year. The  current list includes 57 of which approximately 30 offer assistance on a regular basis.

Volunteer Roster 2003

Volunteer Hours 2003
 

2000 2001 2002 2003 EST(As of 5/2003)
.87 FTE 1.8 FTE 2.06 FTE 2.3 FTE    (2.8 FTE)

REFERENCE SERVICES
 

Searchroom
The main thrust of recruitment among volunteers remains geared toward the Archives' searchroom. Budget cuts and staff reductions have worsened, so the need to reinforce our archivist staff remained a priority.  All though consistent volunteer staffing on a daily basis is now possible, there are still frequent occasions when the archivists are alone.

Volunteer SR Staffing:

Wednesday - Frank Potter, 8am - 12/1:00pm; Jean Edwards/Nancy Cherry 10am - 2pm; Joy Biddison, 12p-4p
Thursday    - Ray Ringold (every  other), 8am - 1pm;
Friday        - Nancy Yuill, 9a - 2p; Wayne Ernest, 1- 4:30pm
Saturday    - Norm Koenig, Harry Smith, 8am - 2:30pm; Carson Gibb, 12n - 4:30pm

Hal Leach  - Thursdays, once a month

The following individuals are in training:

    Lynnette Porter, Nancy Daniels - New Trainees
    Pam Rumney - Trained up to Land Records (6/4/2003)
 

Indexing/Assessioning
The 1870 Census keyboarding project Trish Surles adopted has been completed and has been converted into an online searchable database for 1776, 1778, 1880, as well as 1870 entries.

Dave Kaufman and Paula Gugliotta are assessioning and keyboarding the Baltimore City Marriage Licenses, T 317, 1914 - 1940, assuring that the documents are arranged, as described, chronologically by year and month and alphabetically by the groom's name. Subsequent to this project's conclusion, the series will become a state agency series. Approximately 4 out of 50 boxes are complete. We are looking to add more people to this project.

Diane Lasek and Sandra Hopkins continue to work on electronically indexing the County Marriage Certificates for 1886 - 1914 and the Baltimore Marriage Certificates  1851 - 1885, using Microsoft Excel for input.

After conferring with Jane McWilliams and Jean Russo, Eugene Jones has begun assessioning the Phebe Jacobsen Research Files Collection. Jones is in the first stage of topically rearranging the files in their respective containers, notating them for keyboarding and location. These will become a state series upon completion, S1759. Subsequent to the re-organization of these notes, the initial goal will be to create an electronic database for Maryland Native American references.

Ugrr
All UGRR work has largely been assumed by the Archives Research staff and summer interns. Vernon Reynolds continues to work on discovering and cultivating notices of slave trading activity.  Greg Lepore has completed a website with several dozen references stemming from our initial research into the findings on the signatures found in the  Caroline County property.
Somerset
Although slowed down in its progress by volunteer, Melanie Grim's, new arrival, when possible, the new mother continued to provide some assistance to John Lyon's Somerset county mapping project.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS/GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
Both Departments received assistance in the early spring with arranging of library book and photograph materials with Harbour School student, Jack Ostrer. This mutually beneficial, good will program, has been conducted between the Archives Volunteer Program and Harbour School for three years.
 
MARYLAND MANUAL    & GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS
The Maryland Manual and Government Publications have maintained their core group of volunteers assisting in the editing of information and shelving of records.
Volunteer Gathering - October/November
The proposed Volunteer Gathering was postponed to be incorporated into the annual Archives Holiday Party, December 17th. Volunteers and staff seemed uniformly pleased with the public acknowledgement and presentations of state house medallions.