Hall of Records Commission Minutes of Meeting  at the Maryland State Archives Electronic Classroom 12 Noon, June 20, 2006 Maryland Charter Day

Call to Order by the Chairman

The spring meeting of the Hall of Records Commission began at 12:13 pm, Jun 20, 2006, at the Maryland State Archives, with Chief Judge Robert M. Bell welcoming the newest member of the Commission, Steve Cassard, Secretary for the Department of General Services.

Ms. Pat Melville
Mr. George S. Wills
The Honorable John Carroll Byrnes
Ms. Irene Padilla

Chief Judge Bell also welcomed special guests George Wills, who is donating to the Archives his collection of the Citizens Commission; the Honorable John Carroll Byrnes who will speak to his time with the Citizens Commission; Irene Padilla, representing Dr. Nancy Grasmick; and Pat Melville, who is retiring from the Archives' staff.

Special Announcements/Opening Remarks

• Maryland Charter Day, June 20
Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse noted the significance of June 20 as Maryland Charter Day. On June 20, 1632, the Charter of the colony of Maryland was issued and it was the beginning of representative government in America.  He distributed a pamphlet entitled The Charter of Maryland which represents the very first printing of the Charter in English.  He also gave the members the printed version of the 2006 Maryland Manual, which describes Maryland state government.
• Introduction of Staff
Dr. Papenfuse introduced several new staff members: Reginald Shorter, the Archives’ deputy chief information officer who came from the Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation where he was the director of communications; and Kim Moreno who is returning to the Archives as director of appraisal and description.
• Retirement of Pat Melville
Pat Melville, director of appraisal and description, is retiring from the after almost 39 years of service. Dr. Papenfuse presented her with a token of appreciation from the Hall of Records Commission and the Friends of the Archives – a medallion of of the 1632 Cecil Calvert Medal.

Reports and Minutes of Previous Meetings

• November 22, 2005
• Special Meetings and Celebratory Events
• January 17:  Dr. Papenfuse gave remarks on behalf of the Commission at the ceremony marking the installation of the Capt John Smith shallop in the State House;
• February 20:  Dr. Papenfuse gave remarks at George Washington's birthday celebration in the Old Senate Chamber;
• February 24:  Dr. Papenfuse presented the First Citizen Award on behalf of the Maryland Senate;
• March 24:  Dr. Papenfuse gave remarks at the ceremony to honor the 2006 Marylander of the Year, Senator Paul Sarbanes, and presented the annual prizes to winners of the 2006 Maryland Colonial Society Essay Contest;
• March 31:  Dr. Papenfuse gave remarks in the State House at the Governor's Proclamation ceremonies relating to the forthcoming 200th Anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of the Basilica of the Assumption;
• April 20:  Dr. Papenfuse hosted Governor Ehrlich and the Commission at the Archives for  a press conference to announce plans for the 300th Anniversary Celebration of the granting of the Annapolis Charter (1708);
• April 21:  Dr. Papenfuse provided the introduction for Allan Weinstein, archivist of the United States, for the plenary address of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC);
• April 21:  Dr. Papenfuse made remarks regarding the Washington document at the American Antiquarian Society Semiannual Meeting in Baltimore.
Dr. Ridgway offered a motion of approval of the minutes as amended, if amended, and 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 Schedules
• Disposals

Mr. Tabb offered a motion of approval of Records Retention and Disposal Schedules as presented, seconded by Dr. Ridgeway and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Archivist's Report and Staff Activities
 (see the Maryland State Archives' Bulldog and the Staff Activities since last Hall of Records Commission meeting for additional details)

• Bill of Rights
Dr. Papenfuse showed the Commission a legal copy of Maryland’s Bill of Rights and discussed a recent court case in North Carolina concerning an alleged official copy of North Carolina’s Bill of Rights purported to have been stolen by a Confederate soldier.  Recently, the qualifications of the handwriting expert who read the annotations on the back of the recovered Bill of Rights have come into question, and the court now questions whether this Bill of Rights belongs to North Carolina, or may belong to Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, or New York.  The interesting point is that North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights has a transcription error that is not in any other copy of the Bill of Rights:  in the original Eighth Amendment, North Carolina’s copy says “where” as opposed to other states' copies say “wherein.”  With certified copies of all of the other states’ Bill of Rights, the archivist of North Carolina will be going back to court with proof that the Bill of Rights in question is the official copy for North Carolina.
• Private Visit of the Vice President and Mrs. Cheney
• Marshall Exhibit at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport
Elaine Rice Bachmann described the unveiling of a bust of Thurgood Marshall at the Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, so named by the Legislature earlier this year. Earlier this month, an interpretive exhibit in tribute to Thurgood Marshall opened in Terminal C at the airport. It includes a bust that is a replica of the statue in Lawyer’s Mall and is a link between the memorial in Annapolis and the airport. The bust was paid for with donations received by the Friends of the State Archives. The Friends will transfer ownership of the bust to the Artistic Properties Commission so that it will be on the state’s inventory and the Commission on Artistic Property will inventory and care for it.
• Friends of the Maryland State Archives
Ms. Bachmann also reported on the Friends of the State Archives.  They are very active, thanks in large part to the pending  acquisition of George Washington's Resignation Speech. The Archives hosted a meeting for the Friends’ Board of Directors in April. The Directors expressed great enthusiasm for the acquisition of historic documents, accompanied by a clear mandate to use this as a way to promote educational outreach for the Friends.  The group is actively seeking donations to augment funds for the acquisition of the resignation speech and the Marshall tribute. The Friends are also seeking funds to support other projects, such as conservation of a portrait of Leonard Calvert, the publication of Governor Harry Hughes’ memoirs (scheduled for the fall) and a children’s book about the Wye Oak.
• Seattle Conference of Secretaries of State concerning the digitization of archival material.

• Special Collections:

• George Washington's Resignation Speech & James McHenry's Letter to Margaret Caldwell
• Questors' of Kent County most recent conservation gift
• The George S. Wills Collection of The Citizens Commission on the General Assembly, MSA SC 5653.
Dr. Papenfuse thanked Dr. George S. Wills for bringing to the Archives his collection and memories of the work that his group, The Citizens Commission, accomplished in the restructuring of the General Assembly.  The Citizens Commission started in 1966 as a special study by the Young Democratic Clubs of Maryland, receiving support and guidance from Senator Joseph Tydings and Speaker of the House of Delegates Marvin Mandel. Shortly afterward, the Commission expanded its membership to include the Young Republican Clubs in Maryland as well as business, corporate, labor, and civic leaders. The Citizens Commission sought to reform and modernize the Legislature in order to create a more vigorous government for Maryland. In addition, the Commission served as a notable example of bipartisan cooperation.  Judge John Carroll Byrnes was praised by Dr. Wills for his hard work as a civic leader in Maryland. The George S. Wills Collection of the Citizens Commission on the General Assembly (MSA SC 5653) contains speeches, reports, press releases, newspaper clippings, correspondence, photographs, and other material relating to the Commission from 1966 to 1972. The collection also contains the personal scrapbook of Dr. Wills, as well as his doctoral dissertation, The Reorganization of the Maryland General Assembly, 1966-1968: A Study of the Politics of Reform (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University, 1969).

• Government Records

• Finding Aids, Reference Services, and Publications:
• http://mdsa.net
• http://mdslavery.net (report by Legacy of Slavery Webmaster)
Kara Carter gave the Commission a preview of material that will be posted online at Mdslavery.net as part of the Underground Railroad Project. She demonstrated how the site tracks the stories of individual slaves through runaway ads in newspapers and links them to interactive maps showing property owned by slaveholders. Each map showing property ownership and place names has been indexed, so clicking on a name will show if the property owner had any runaway slaves.  The goal of the Underground Railroad Project is to tell the stories of slaves in Maryland and to show how the geography, laws, and communities of Maryland as a slave state aided or hindered escape. The staff hopes to use every fragmentary record available to more fully document Maryland’s Antebellum African-American community.
• http://lrac.us and http://review.mdlandrec.net
The Archives has made enormous progress with respect to posting land records online via Mdlandrec.net. Before the next Hall of Records Commission Meeting, the Archives will have placed online for every county at least sixty years of all land records with accurate indices related to those land records. By July 2008, all Maryland land records will be online.
• http://www.mopw.net
• mdprobate.net
• Printed and Electronic Edition of the Maryland Manual
• Government Publications On Line

• Summer 2006 Internship Program
• June 8:  Presentation by Pat Melville re:  Finding Records at the MSA - Finding Aides, Indices, Search Engines;
• June 9:  Meet the State Archivist of Maryland, Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse;
• June 12:  Presentation by Vicki Lee re:  Records Handling, Care, Preservation, and Disaster Recovery;
• June 12:  Presentation by Mike McCormick re:  Proper Stacks Usage/Records Retrieval and Storage;
• July 24:  Presentation by Maryland Humanities Council Speaker Dr. Susan Langley, re:  Underwater Archeology in Maryland;
• July 31:  Walking tour of downtown Annapolis by Elaine Rice Bachmann and Sasha Lourie, including the State House, Government House and Miller Senate Building;
• August 7:  Presentation by Kim Moreno re:  Margaret Tilghman Carroll and Women's Control over Land and Capital in Early National Maryland;
• August 14:  Final meeting with Dr. Papenfuse and farewell reception;
• August 15:  Last day of the Summer Internship Program.

• Courses taught and lectures given by State Archivist (see prior resolution on 4/19/2000):
• Spring 2006:  Race and the Law: The Maryland Experience, University of Maryland School of Law;
• Spring 2006:  Teaching Gone with the Wind, The Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus.
• January 19:  Mike McCormick gave remarks at the Annapolis Maryland Family History Center regarding resources of the Archives available to the public and how to use them;
• March 11:  Mike McCormick met with the Montgomery County Historical Society;
• March 15:  Mimi Calver made remarks to the Upper Marlboro Rotary Club regarding Washington's speech;
• March 18:  Pat Melville was a judge for the Calvert County History Fair;
• April 3:  Kim Moreno addressed the Cape St. Claire Community History Committee regarding research on the history of Cape St. Claire with particular interest in land records research;
• April 5:  Nancy Bramucci gave a public history talk to students in HIST 201, Introduction to the Study of History, at the University of Maryland, Baltimore City;
• April 7:  Dr. Papenfuse gave remarks at the annual banquet of the Somerset County Historical Society;
• April 13:  Dr. Papenfuse gave remarks as the Convocation Speaker at Morgan State University Annual History Day and Celebration Luncheon;
• April 19:  Doris Byrne gave remarks to the Register of Wills Conference;
• April 20:  Dr. Papenfuse assisted Russ Morrison with his presentation for the Washington Map Society at the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division Reading Room;
• April 22:  Pat Melville and Kim Moreno were judges at Maryland History Day in Rockville;
• May 5:  Dr. Papenfuse addressed members of the St. Mary's County Historical Society at their Annual Spring Dinner on Forgotten Mothers of Maryland;
• May 8:  Chris Haley gave remarks at the African American History Class at Sojourner Douglass College;
• May 9:  Dr. Papenfuse hosted the Third Grade class from Boys' Latin School on a tour of the Archives, State House, and Naval Academy;
• May 10:  Elaine Rice Bachmann and Sasha Lourie conducted a walking tour "Art of the State: Four Centuries of Patronage in the Maryland State House" sponsored by Historic Annapolis Foundation;
• May 12:  Dr. Papenfuse, Jen Hafner, and Owen Lourie attended the Baltimore Historians Workshop; Dr. Papenfuse gave remarks on Revisiting the First Plot to Assassinate Lincoln in 1861:  Was There One?;
• May 18:  Elaine Rice Bachmann, Sasha Lourie, John Gartrell, and Maya Davis attended the Preservation Maryland "Preservation and Revitalization Conference"; John Gartrell provided a presentation on Underground Railroad in Maryland: New Ventures;
• May 20:  Chris Haley and Justin Demski presented Navigating the Maryland State Archives website to the Anne Arundel County Historical and Genealogical Societies;
• May 30:  Dr. Papenfuse and Mike McCormick hosted a group of Librarians from Julia Rodgers Library, providing a tour of the Archives and a leading a discussion of special collections;
• June 12:  Dr. Papenfuse attended the Special Libraries Association Annual Conference and provided a presentation on the Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland;
• June 13:  Pat Melville served as judge at National History Day, College Park;
• June 14:  Elaine Rice Bachmann and Sasha Lourie provided a tour of the State House as part of the Historic Annapolis Foundation lecture series.

• June 22:  Dr. Papenfuse to review status of the Baltimore City Archives at the request of Bill Pencek;
• June 23:  Dr. Papenfuse and Nancy Bramucci to conduct workshops at UMBC as part of the Teaching American History program to Baltimore City public elementary, middle and high school high school teachers relating to online primary sources available for incorporation in the classroom;
• June 26-27:  Dr. Papenfuse to attend the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council (NECCC) Symposium 2006 entitled "Digital Archiving: Preserving Institutional Memory and Culture";
• June 28:  Chris Haley and Justin Demski to attend the Grand Opening of Frederick Douglas-Isaac Myers Maritime Park;
• July 7:  Dr. Papenfuse to speak at the ceremony commemorating the 200th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone at the Basilica of the Assumption;
• July 8-9:  Chris Haley to speak on African American History in Howard County, Howard County Parks and Recreation, Civil War weekend;
• July 18:  Dr. Papenfuse and Nancy Bramucci to conduct workshops at UMBC as part of the Teaching American History program to Anne Arundel public elementary, middle and high school high school teachers relating to online primary sources available for incorporation in the classroom;
• September 23:  Chris Haley to give a presentation on "Tracing African American genealogy at the Maryland State Archives";
• October 12:  Dr. Papenfuse to teach Judicial Institute Maryland Legal History course on A More Equitable Society? Maryland Legal History, 1945-near present.  This course will focus on the course of personal liberty, private property, and Civil Rights in the courts of Maryland, Alger HIss, H. Rap Brown, and Frank Marquardt, among others will be featured;
• October 20:  Elaine Rice Bachmann will participate in Maryland Authors' Day with her new Archives publication, a children's book about the Wye Oak.

• Deputy Archivist's Report
• State House interpretation and restoration projects;
• Pending vendor and master contracts relating to the Maryland Electronic Archives project;
• Status of mdlandrec.net billing and progress of mdlandrec.net as reported in http://lrac.us;
• Building Maintenance/New Facilites/Space Needs.
• Capital Projects
• Excerpt from Budget Book

Dr. Papenfuse related to the Commission that approval was received for the Archives’ twin proposals to create a new storage facility and to expand the Hall of Records building. When completed, all archival material will be stored in a climate-controlled environment. The expansion will also include more space for interpretive exhibits and the care of artistic property.

• Budget Issues, Past, Present and Future:
• February 24, 8:30am:  Archives' budget hearing before the Senate Budget and Taxation Subcommittee on Health and Human Services (testimony);
• February 27, 3:00pm:  Archives' budget hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Public Safety and Administration (testimony).

Dr. Ridgway offered a motion of approval for the concept of the Educational and Entrepreneurial Endowments, public and private, seconded by Mr. Freedlander and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.

Next meeting

The next Hall of Records Commission meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 19, 2006.

Adjournment

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 1:25 p.m.

                                    ________________________________________
                                            The Honorable Robert M. Bell, Chairman
 
 
 

                                    ________________________________________
                                            Edward C. Papenfuse, Jr., Secretary
 
 

Email: edp@mdarchives.state.md.us

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