Hall of Records Commission Minutes for a Meeting  at the Maryland State Archives Electronic Classroom 12 Noon April 28, 2004

Chairman Bell called the meeting to order at 12:19 p.m.  He welcomed everyone to the newly-named Edward C. Papenfuse State Archives Building and said that this was a well deserved honor for Dr. Papenfuse.  He also said that Del. Ted Sophocleus was instrumental in having the building named in Dr. Papenfuse's honor.

Attendees and Introduction of Special Guests

The following Commission members, alternates and staff of the Archives were present:

    The Honorable Robert M. Bell, Chief Judge, Court of Appeals and Chairman of the Hall of Records Commission
    Mr. Howard Freedlander, representing The Honorable Nancy K. Kopp, Treasurer
    Mr. R. Dean Kenderdine, representing The Honorable William Donald Schaefer, Comptroller of the Treasury
    The Honorable Thomas V. Mike Miller, President of the Senate
    The Honorable Mary A. Conroy, House of Delegates
    Ms. Pat Bruce, Aide to Delegate Mary A. Conroy
    Mr. Boyd Rutherford, Secretary, Department of General Services
    Dr. Glenn Phillips, representing Dr. Earl S. Richardson, President, Morgan State University
    Dr. Whitman H. Ridgway, representing Dr. William E. Kirwan,Chancellor, University of Maryland
    Winston Tabb, representing Dr. William R. Brody, President, The Johns Hopkins University

Staff:

    Mr. Timothy D. Baker, Deputy State Archivist
    Ms. Elaine Rice Bachmann, Archivist IV, Maryland State Archives
    Ms. Kathy Beard, Executive Associate and Recording Secretary, Maryland State Archives
    Ms. Mimi Calver, Archivist V, Maryland State Archives
    Mr. Jim Hefelfinger, Photographer III, Maryland State Archives
    Mr. Van Lewis, Director, Fiscal Administration, Maryland State Archives
    Ms. Lynne MacAdam, Computer Network Specialist Manager, Maryland State Archives
    Ms. Pat Melville, Archivist V, Maryland State Archives
    Mr. Michael McCormick, Archivist V, Maryland State Archives
    Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse, State Archivist and Secretary, Hall of Records Commission
    Ms. Emily Oland Squires, Archivist V, Maryland State Archives

Reports and Minutes of Previous Meetings

• October 17, 2003

Dr. Phillips offered a motion of approval of the minutes (as amended, if amended), seconded by Mr. Freedlander and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

• Special Meetings and Celebratory Events
• November 21:  Staff attended reception for the Foundation for the Preservation of Government House at Government House.
• December 2:  Holiday History Happening at the Archives.  Dr. Papenfuse reported that the Holiday History Happening at the Archives was very successful.  The occasion celebrated the publication of a number of local books, including the map book, as well as making available for public sale maps and prints from the Archives' collection. It was so successful that the Annapolis History Consortium, which helped organize it, asked that the Archives do it again next year.
• January 28:  Address to the House of Delegates re:  Putting Maryland on the Map.  Dr. Papenfuse was honored to be asked by the House and Senate to present his map book and, thanks to Speaker Busch and President Miller, copies were distributed to every member of the General Assembly.
• February 5:  Address to the Maryland Senate re: Putting Maryland on the Map.
• February 16:  George Washington's Birthday Celebration in Old Senate Chamber.  Speech by Senator John A. Giannetti, Jr.and brochure by Mimi Calver.  Dr. Papenfusenoted showed the brochure Mimi Calver provided for the annual ceremony in the State House for George Washington's birthday celebration.  This is an example of the kinds of things staff does that the public generally doesn't realize.
• March 4:  Presentation of the Speaker's Society Awards.
• March 11: Presentation of First Citizen Awards:  Speech by Dr. Papenfuse.  Dr. Papenfuse reported that the First Citizen Awards were presented to three people who have contributed a great deal to our State:  Benjamin Bradlee, who did a remarkable job on the Historic St. Mary's City Commission; William Henry Cardinal Keeler and Pete Rawlings, posthumously.
• March 25:  Maryland Day, Maryland Colonial Society Annual Essay Contest Awards. Speech by Dr. Papenfuse.
• March 30:  Unveiling of portrait of former Speaker Casper R. Taylor, Jr. in the House chamber.  Remarks by Dr. Papenfuse.  Dr. Papenfuse said that this was the best speech he had ever not given.  He had been asked to prepare remarks, but, when his turn to speak came, many other had already spoken and it was clear that the time had come to unveil the portrait.
• April 21:  Board of Public Works names Archives building in honor of Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse. Dr. Papenfuse said he is enormously grateful to everyone who participated in naming the Archives building in his honor and that it was a complete surprise.  He didn't know about it until Mike Dresser, a Sun reporter called to ask Dr. Papenfuse about the Board of Public Works agenda item.  Dr. Papenfuse told the Commission that he pointed out to the Board of Public Works at their meeting of April 20 that it is the 355th anniversary of the adoption of the Act of Toleration, and he appreciated everyone being as tolerant as they were. Copies of the Board of Public Works transcript, newspaper articles (Sun, Capital) and an editorial on the naming of the building in Dr. Papenfuse's honor have been appended hereto and made part of these minutes.
Mr. Kenderdine offered a motion of recognition of the special meetings of the Commission as defined by standing resolution, seconded by Mr. Freedlander and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Records Retention and Disposal

• Retention
• Retention Schedules
• Acquisitions
• Disposal
Dr. Papenfuse said that it is important to get a sense of what the Archives does every year in terms of the actual transfer of paper material.  He is very grateful for the support of DGS for helping the Archives look for more warehouse space and for helping in acquiring more shelving for the space the Archives already has.  The Archives needs to find more warehouse space for the storage of paper record material.  Dr. Papenfuse paid tribute to Doris Byrne and her staff for the remarkable job they do in managing the warehouses.  He suggested that some time in the future the Commission visit one of the warehouses in conjunction with the scanning facility located there, as well as to see the operation.
Dr. Phillips offered a motion of approval of Records Retention and Disposal Schedules as presented, seconded by Dr. Ridgway and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Old Business

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

• October 21:  Governor's Consulting Committee Meeting on Historic Sites;
• October 23:  Paul W. Comfort, Esq.  Governor's Commission on the Structure and Efficiency of State Government visited the Archives;
• October 26:  Book Bash at Border's Bookstore in Towson where copies of the map book were sold to benefit the Archives;
• October 31:  Private tour of the State House for The Friends of Franklin;
• November 6:  Address to the Washington Map Society at the Library of Congress re:  Putting Maryland on the Map:  A New Edition of the Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland after 20 years;
• November 13:  Open house at the Maryland Historical Society;
• November 18:  Meeting with Governor's staff re:  Records Retention and Disposal;
• November 20:  David Taft Terry participated in a conference re: Maryland and the Road to Brown at the University of Maryland School of Law;
• November 22 and 23:  Map book signing and sale at the Evergreen House;
• December 15:  Book signing at The Johns Hopkins University Press;
• December 17:  Visit of four Russian librarians, an interpreter and a facilitator and members of the League of Women Voters for an orientation program and tour of the Archives;
• January 12:  Two new exhibitions of state-owned artwork and special collections, organized by the staff of the Commission on Artistic Property, opened in the Miller Senate Building:
• Treasures Revealed: Images from the Peabody Collection of Works on Paper
• Putting Maryland on the Map;
• January 13:  Address to the Berwyn Heights Historical Committee including a tour of the Archives;
• February 5:  Dr. Papenfuse and Tim Baker attended entrance meeting with the legislative auditor;
• February 13:  Johns Hopkins University Medical Archives meeting;
• February 26:  Visit of students from Maryland Institute College of Art for an orientation program;
• March 1:  Senate confirmation of Dr. Papenfuse's appointment to the Historic St. Mary's City Commission. Dr. Papenfuse reported that he has been appointed by the Governor to the Historic St. Mary's City Commission. He serves on the Commission as an official member, which is a great pleasure for Dr. Papenfuse and very enlightening to be part of one of the most interesting and effective museum enterprises that the State has ever undertaken.  It is now a joint enterprise between the St. Mary's City Commission and the College, which means the educational component is enhanced.
• March 2:  ELROI briefing in Judge Bell's Baltimore chambers;
• March 16:  OAH Electronic Records Policy focus group at the National Archives;
• March 22:  Dr. Papenfuse and Mimi Calver met with Secretary Rutherford and Dennis Castleman re:  Old Treasury Building and Visitor's Center;
• March 26:  Dr. Papenfuse attended the 2004 OAH Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, as a member of the OAH Committee on Access;
• March 27 and 28:  Dr. Papenfuse attended the St. Mary's City Commission Board meeting as a confirmed member of the commission;
• April 1:  MLA Advisory Board meeting;
• April 24:  Tim Baker and Kim Moreno presented at the MARAC Spring Conference, Arlington, VA re:  Vital Signs: Implementing an Archives Vital Records Plan;
• April 26:  Michael McCormick hosted a tour of the Archives for the DC Library Association.  The Archives' new head of Reference, Mike McCormick, hosted a group of librarians from Washington, DC.  Dr. Papenfuse read an excerpt from a thank you letter he received from the DC Library Association as follows:
On behalf of the D.C. Library Association, I would like to thank you for spending such valuable time with us during our tour of the Maryland State Archives yesterday.  We were all very impressed by the progress MSA has made in the digital arena over the past 10 years.  It is certainly a model of what can be done on a shoestring budget, which was particularly heartening for those of us who have great concerns about the plight of the DC Archives.

Dr. Papenfuse said that the letter goes on to explain how the DC Library Association is trying to do something similar, and they are most grateful for the help the Archives has given them.  It is the kind of thing that the Archives tries to do as part of its outreach to other professionals who are dealing with some of the same kinds of issues.

Special Announcements

Recent Gifts and Acquisitions

• Special Collections:

Dr. Papenfuse reported that the Archives has been extremely active since the last meeting in terms of the kinds of things it is receiving.  Dr. Phillips asked to view the Frederick Douglass papers, and Dr. Papenfuse responded that the Archives acquired the North Star microfilm because it is being used for the Underground Railroad project.
• Government Records

Dr. Papenfuse advised that the Archives has received a great deal of government record material, calling the Commission's attention to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  One of the Archives' accomplishments over the last legislative session was to encourage the legislature to be considerate with regard to the sale of any land at Crownsville that might encompass the graves of people who died at Crownsville Hospital.  It is sacred ground and it is also an important reminder of the history of the hospital. It was served as a community hospital for the African American community in Anne Arundel County and at least two very distinguished individuals, John B. Anderson and William H. Howard, died there in the early 19th century.  They were both principals in the voting rights cases that came before the Supreme Court and were decided in favor of the African American community in 1915. Dr. Papenfuse has discovered  records turned over to the Archives by DHMH that are, in fact, the health records relating to the people who are buried there.  That means there is a good chance of being able to identify a lot of the graves and the people who are buried there.  Dr. Papenfuse is pleased to be able to preserve these records and make them accessible.
• Archives Endowment Fund

Dr. Papenfuse stated that Archives tries to add to its Endowment Fund each year based upon the work it does with services to the government and the public.  Obviously, it does not have much in the way of interest based on the current interest rate.

Dr. Papenfuse advised the Commission that Delegate Conroy brought to today's meeting two gifts from her husband's papers that will be placed in a special collection in memory of Senator Conroy.  The first item was muster rolls with signatures relating to Pennsylvania's 187th regiment.  Dr. Papenfuse said these Civil War era muster rolls are remarkable and not only is the Archives pleased to have them, but it will notify its colleagues in Pennsylvania that they are here so they can also make use of them.  The other item came out of the Maryland State Library: the original Senate of Maryland bills as they were kept for 1886.  The Chairman thanked Delegate Conroy for these gifts.

Mr. Rutherford offered a Resolution of Appreciation for the recent gifts, including other special collections received but not described, seconded by Mr. Freedlander and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Archives of Maryland On Line

Dr. Papenfuse told the Commission that any of the publication and outreach work the Archives does, including any of the archival services it performs, are all related to the Archives of Maryland Fund and the law that created this fund.  When Dr. Papenfuse talks about the Archives of Maryland On-Line, he is talking about a number of things that are being done as a result of the Archives' ability to keep and use that money for public purposes.

• Paper by Richard E. Israel, Esq., on the origins of the balanced budget amendment
Dr. Papenfuse reported on a gift from the Archives' former attorney, Dick Israel.  Mr. Israel did a remarkable research job researching the origins of the balanced budget amendment.  Dr. Papenfuse demonstrated for the Commission how it can be accessed on-line through the Archives of Maryland web site.  Chairman Bell agreed that it is a remarkable piece of work.
• Finding Aids, Reference Services, and Publications:
• mdvitalrec.net
Dr. Papenfuse advised that by last fall the Archives' Reference Services were inundated with requests for copies of death, birth and marriage certificates, which were inherited from DHMH.  The records were not well-organized which made it very time-consuming to fill these requests.  An in-house committee was formed to resolve this problem, and a plan was developed to put all of the indices on the web.  This will give people a way to order vital records directly.  Dr. Papenfuse called on Emily Squires, head of the in-house committee, to demonstrate how the mdvitalrec.net web site works.  Dr. Papenfuse reported that the Archives is earning approximately $1,700 a week from this service, and it is only about 10% through the death indexes.
• on-line comprehensive guide to records
Dr. Papenfuse asked that the on-line comprehensive guide to records be deferred to the next Hall of Records Commission meeting.
• MOU and archival service-related projects:
• NICS research
Dr. Papenfuse introduced the new head of Reference Services, Michael McCormick, who came to the Archives from Western Reserve Historical Society, Ohio.  Mr. McCormick gave a brief presentation on one of the projects that the Archives is being paid for through Federal monies to perform background checks for the FBI.  A copy of Mr. McCormick's report is appended hereto and made part of these minutes.
• Presentation on mdlandrec.net - Howard County
Dr. Papenfuse stated that the largest single component of income for Special Funds comes out of the Archives' efforts to make land records in Maryland more accessible by putting indices on-line.  Since the last Hall of Records Commission meeting, the Archives was asked by the courts to conduct a full experiment in Howard County to provide all Howard County land records on-line through mdlandrec.net.  Howard County was selected because they do not have room in the courthouse for their land records division which is being moved off-site.  The clerk asked the court if mdlandrec could be made into a total reference system and that ELROI be a recordation system that feeds into mdlandrec.net.  Despite the stress and strain this has put on Archives staff, and without asking for additional funds, the system is scheduled for installation in June 2004.  Dr. Papenfuse is pleased with mdlandrec.net, thinks it has great promise and hopes this proves to be the kind of answer that both the Judiciary and the Archives need to report to the General Assembly at the end of September.
• plats.net - certificates of survey
Dr. Papenfuse reported on the cost savings to the State from electronic archives services of the Archives, using plats.net as an example. A copy of this report is appended hereto and made part of these minutes.

Education and Outreach

• Courses taught and lectures given by State Archivist (see prior resolution on 4/19/2000):
• Fall 2003:  Legal History Seminar: Building Baltimore, University of Maryland School of Law;
• Spring 2004:  Race and the Law: The Maryland Experience, University of Maryland School of Law;
• Spring 2004:  Teaching Putting Maryland on the Map:  The Cartographic and Geological History of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus.
Dr. Papenfuse announced the courses he teaches so that the Commission is aware of his teaching program outside of the Archives. To access the links, a user name may be required and password that Dr. Papenfuse will be happy to provide to anyone who is interested.  Mr. Freedlander asked if other staff of the Archives teach and Dr. Papenfuse said that Nancy Bramucci teaches at UMBC and David Taft Terry teaches at Morgan State University.  Staff participating in teaching programs outside of the Archives will be included on future agendas.
• March 8:  Dr. Papenfuse presented a Johns Hopkins University Odyssey course on the Great Baltimore Fire.
• Commission to Coordinate the Study, Commemoration, and Impact of Slavery's History and Legacy in Maryland.
• October 22, 2003:  Meeting canceled.  Resignation of Dr. Stephan Goodwin, Chair. Work proceeds on U.S. Department of Education grant.
Dr. Papenfuse advised that at this time there is no Chair of the Commission, and a number of the members' terms have expired.  He is not sure what the governor's approach is going to be to the Slavery Commission.  In the meantime, the Archives is proceeding on the grant and anyone interested in following along with the activities in terms of what information is being added on slaves, slavery and the flight to freedom can do so by going to the mdslavery.net web site.

• Summer Internship Program, Plans for summer 2004
Dr. Papenfuse expressed his appreciation to the Secretary of the Department of Budget and Management for approving the Archives' plan for hiring interns this summer as an exception to the hiring freeze.  He also noted the Archives' efforts in finding matching funds, for example, Morgan State University and private support from the Moss Family Foundation.  Dr. Papenfuse introduced Emily Oland Squires to report on this summer's internship program.  Ms. Squires is looking ahead to anther very exciting summer with the biggest group of applicants ever (105 applicants) from all over the country (the student must be a Maryland resident or attend a Maryland school), with a nice mix of high school, graduate and undergraduate students.  There will be 30 students working on various projects from artwork and conservation of records to on-line activities such as mapping counties.  The Underground Railroad program is going to have the largest number of interns, because of the Federal grant.  A partnership has been established with the Maryland Commission for Women  to work on the Women's Hall of Fame and the on-line Women's Hall of Fame exhibit.  Many interns will also be conducting more traditional archival work such as records processing, handling, creating on-line finding aids and catalogues.  Some interns will also be working with plats and special collections.

Dr. Papenfuse noted that the Baltimore City courthouse art inventory is designed to help out Judge Holland who is responsible, as Administrative Judge, for maintaining all of the artwork in the courthouse.  Judge Holland will raise the money, and the Archives will provide the supervision and perform a visual inventory and brief conservation report.

Dr. Papenfuse informed the Commission that the Archives has very good programming staff thanks to our Special Funds.  Kyle McClean and Sean Neubert came to the Archives as high school interns and put together the Archives' General Guide to its holdings on-line, which Dr. Papenfuse will demonstrate at the fall Hall of Records Commission meeting.

Mr. Freedlander asked if the Archives internship program has an evaluation process on the interns' performance and asked if the interns get feedback at the end of the program.  Ms. Squires answered in the affirmative and explained that she is the overall internship coordinator.  Each project also has an immediate supervisor so all along the way, the interns are in touch with both.  At the end of the program, the interns have a one-on-one meeting with Dr. Papenfuse where supervisors need not be present.  They also fill out a written, anonymous feedback survey, and their written comments are reviewed after the students have gone.  Dr. Papenfuse added that the interns also write an article for the Bulldog about their experiences.

Mr. Tabb offered a Resolution of Appreciation for providing funds for the 2004 Internship Program to Morgan State University, Senator Julian Lapides, Maryland Commission for Women, U.S. Department of Education, Judge Holland, Baltimore County Genealogical Society, S. J. Martenet, Kathy Murphy Blue and the Moss Family Foundation, seconded by Dr. Phillips and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.
 
• Archives/APC exhibits in the Miller Senate Office Building (brochures)
At each meeting, Dr. Papenfuse would like to feature one aspect of the work the Archives is doing so that the Commission has a better understanding of the totality of its activities.  At this time, he introduced Mimi Calver to talk about the Archives' role in terms of doing exhibits in the Miller Senate Building and the kinds of work we do that most people aren't aware and what the response has been.  Ms. Calver said that the Archives is responsible for the art exhibits in both the James and Miller buildings.  She encouraged the Commission to visit as the exhibits change every year.

On the third floor of the Miller Building is an exhibit of county maps called Putting Maryland on the Map drawn from the Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland 1608-1908 and features county maps from the period 1855-1865.  Most of them were done by S. J. Martenet in Baltimore.  Ms. Calver drew the Commission's attention to an Anne Arundel County map and said what is great about most of these maps is that it shows all of the land owners names and where they lived, houses, businesses, crossings, landings, bridges and stores.  Another interesting feature of some of these maps is the drawings around the edges that are wonderful architectural history in that they show buildings that have often not survived.  Ms. Calver also called the Commission's attention to the full-size maps displayed around the room and reported that the Archives is selling them on its web site.  Between the maps and the works on papers the Archives is selling, it has made about $15,000.

Dr. Papenfuse introduced Elaine Rice Bachmann, Curator of the Artistic Property Commission, who advised that the first floor gallery in the Miller Senate Building is devoted to the Peabody Collection.  When the State acquired the Peabody Collection in 1996, part of the collection that was virtually unknown was the almost 1,100 works on paper, including water colors,  pen/ink drawings, pencil sketches that had been collected primarily during the 19th century by Charles James Madison Eden and Robert Gilmore, Baltimoreans living abroad collected the paintings and sculptures, but also went to  flee markets and street vendors to buy small works on paper that, at the time, were regarded almost as postcards by European artists, some of them very well known and some completely unknown.  These all came into the Peabody collection and had been stored since they had been collected.  At the encouragement of Dr. Papenfuse, this extraordinary collection of works on paper was scanned and is now available to be reproduced.  Once reproductions were completed, an exhibition of works on paper was created and is now on display in the Miller Building.  Ms. Bachmann called the Commission's attention to the brochure in today's packet which was paid for by the Senate, as well as the images printed and displayed around the room.  Because these works on paper are now available in electronic format, they are becoming known to scholars around the world who are studying these in the context of the artists who made them.  Next year, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walter's Museum are mounting an entire exhibition of French drawings from Baltimore collections, and the Archives has been able to work with them to make the Peabody collection more accessible.

Forthcoming special meetings of the Commission and events of interest

• May 1:  Law Day at the Judicial Training Center re:  the six significant appellate cases;
Dr. Papenfuse learned right before today's meeting that the Law Day event has been canceled.
• May 6:  Address to The Woman's Club of Roland Park;
• May 13:  Tour of the State House and Annapolis to Boys' Latin students;
• May 17:  Ellis Kitchen, new State CIO, to visit for an overview of the Archives' systems and to discuss our most pressing issues;
• May 18:  Governor's Consulting Committee meeting on Historic Sites;
• May 22:  Address to the Society of Colonial Wars General Delegates, Miller Senate Building;
• May 25:  Address to the Ft. Garrison Chapter of the Colonial Dames of the 17th Century;
• July 14-17:  COSHRC annual meeting in Phoenix, AZ. Dr. Papenfuse hopes to attend the COSHRC annual meeting in Phoenix in July with fellow state archivists and others interested in the care and preservation of records.  Any expenses incurred will be paid for by COSHRC, not the State.
• August 23-28:  International Congress on Archives in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Papenfuse will be in England in August and may attend this Congress if it is possible for him to do so.

Administrative and Fiscal Matters

• Building Maintenance/New Facilities/Space Needs:
• Computer Room.  Mr. Baker reported on some of the facility improvements that the Archives needed to undertake, which were coordinated by the Department of General Services (DGS), including a full electrical upgrade to the server room that also allowed for putting in appropriate computer server room quality HVAC systems.  The fire alarm system has been upgraded and more sophisticated fire detection systems installed in the building.  DGS is also helping the Archives to address some other issues, such as the front doors which were not designed for the kind of traffic they receive, so the framing and locks are beginning to fail.  In fact, all of the locks in the building need to be rekeyed and replaced.  The Archives needs uninterruptable power supplies and generators for its IT equipment.

 

 

Next, Mr. Baker talked a little about records transfers.  In 2003, the Archives took on 21,000 cse (clam shell equivalents), and in this fiscal year alone to date, the Archives took on 28,772 with three months remaining in the fiscal year.  The Archives has a very accelerated amount of material coming in and is about to be entirely out of space, and, sometime between July and December, the Archives will not be able to take on any more records.  However, there is money in the budget to initiate, with DGS, another lease arrangement for additional warehouse space, but this is just a stop-gap measure.  We now have three warehouse facilities under lease and another one potentially on the short-term horizon.  It is time to begin to develop a capital budget item demonstrating that it would be cheaper to build an operating facility than to continue to rent.
 

• Capital budget item. Mr. Baker advised that the Archives' General Fund budget was reduced in FY 2002 by $115,000, in FY 2003 by $164,000 and in FY 2004 by $195,821.  Overall, this represents a $475,363 General Fund reduction over that period which amounts to 18% of the Archives General Fund budget.  The budget analyst for the General Assembly categorized our budget as "austere".  At the same time, the Archives' Special Fund budget has grown to 80% of the Archives budget.  Mr. Baker said that, while the Archives ought to be entrepreneurial, it also should be about a 50-50 percent Special Fund and General Fund match.  The good news is all of the Archives Special Fund projects which allow it to generate those funds are on time and within budget.  For example, for the land records initiative, the Archives actually produced more than it said it would when it set out the work plan in August. Dr. Papenfuse said the Archives will be able to absorb the increased productivity within the same budgetary allocation, which is a remarkable tribute to the staff of the Archives.
• Legislation:
• HB 951, Study Commission to Study the Public's Access to Public Records
• HB 1167 (SB 615), Higher Education, Maryland Digital Library - Established

Dr. Papenfuse pointed out that the Commission on Higher Education has formally recognized a Maryland Digital Library which he feels is a good concept.  The Archives asked to be considered part of that effort and is written in to the law as being a part of the library.
• Budget Issues, Past, Present and Future:
• October 28:  Budget hearing with Neil Bergsman;
• February 27, 1:00 p.m.:  Archives' budget hearing before the Senate Health and Human Services Subcommittee (decision meeting on March 5);
• March 10, 2:00 p.m.:  Archives' budget hearing before the House Public Safety and Administration Subcommittee (decision meeting on March 12).

Next meeting

At the call of the Chair for sometime in late fall.

Adjournment

There being no further business to discuss, Dr. Phillips offered a motion to adjourn at 1:28 p.m., seconded by Senator Miller and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Approved by the Hall of Records Commission, November 22, 2004
 

                                    ________________________________________
                                            The Honorable Robert M. Bell, Chairman
 
 
 

                                    ________________________________________
                                            Edward C. Papenfuse, Jr., Secretary

Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse
State Archivist

Email: edp@mdarchives.state.md.us

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