 
Hall of Records Commission
Minutes of Meeting
at the Maryland State Archives
Electronic Classroom
12 Noon, December 19, 2006
|
Call to Order by the Chairman
The fall meeting of the Hall of Records
Commission began at 12:19 pm, December 19, 2006, at the Maryland State
Archives, with Chief Judge Robert M. Bell presiding.
Attendees
and Introduction of Special Guests
Special Announcements/Opening Remarks
Reports and Minutes of Previous Meetings
-
June
20, 2006
Mr. Freedlander offered a motion of
approval of the minutes as amended, if amended, seconded by Dr. Ridgway
and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.
-
Special Meetings and Celebratory Events
-
October 8: Dr. Papenfuse attended the Baltimore
City Historical Society’s Sixth Annual Mayor’s Brunch Reception and History
Honors recognizing the contributions of Nanette (Mrs. Kieffer) Mitchell,
the good shepherd of the DuBois Circle, the oldest book club of African
American women in the city of Baltimore
-
November 4: Dr. Papenfuse attended the Grand
Reopening Ceremony for the Baltimore Basilica, providing tours of the undercroft
to Governor-Elect O'Malley and his family
Dr. Ridgway offered a motion 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
Dr. Phillips offered a motion
of approval of Records Retention and Disposal Schedules as presented, seconded
by Dr. Ridgeway and unanimously approved, the Chairman concurring.
Old Business
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)
-
September 13: Dr. Papenfuse, Tim Baker, Mimi
Calver, Elaine Bachmann, and Sasha Lourie hosted a meeting of the Maryland
Commission on Artistic Property
Elaine Bachmann reported that the
Maryland Commission on Artistic Property conducted its semi-annual meeting
in September. The Commission is beginning to receive some conservation
funds again for the collection, and important preservation activities are
underway for several high profile paintings in the State House. As
there are some vacancies on the Commission, Dr. Papenfuse will submit nominations
to the Appointment Secretary.
-
September 18-19: Dr. Papenfuse hosted Adam
Jansen, Washington State Archives, who conducted a Peer Review of Mdlandrec.net
-
October 26: Dr. Papenfuse, Tim Baker, and Kim
Moreno met with Comptroller Schaefer and his staff concerning archiving
official documents
-
November 29: Dr. Papenfuse and Diane Evartt
met with Mary Kane, Secretary of State concerning preserving the current
State Seal and implementing new casts of the Great Seal for use by the
General Assembly
-
November 29: Dr. Papenfuse and Nancy Bramucci
met with the Governor’s Senior Staff concerning archiving
official documents and unveiling an automated inventory system for
the transfer of permanent records to
the Archives
Dr. Papenfuse related that, at the
behest of the Governor’s Senior Staff, he and Nancy Bramucci spoke to the
Governor's senior staff about how to archive work, bringing the permanent
records into the Archives. At that meeting, Dr. Papenfuse unveiled
an automated inventory system which will be disseminated as the means of
transferring all records throughout the state that are of permanent value.
Dr. Papenfuse asked that further discussion of the software be deferred
until the next Hall of Records Commission meeting, at which time he will
demonstrate the software. In the meantime, Dr. Papenfuse will work
very closely with the Department of General Services Records Management
staff so that this software not only becomes part of the means of transferring
records to the Archives, but the vehicle by which the Archives will do
the appraisal and inventory that needs to be done.
Elaine Bachmann updated her report from the last
Hall of Records Commission meeting concerning the portrait of Leonard Calvert
for which the Friends of the Maryland State Archives had received funds
to purchase. The portrait was immediately sent for conservation which
revealed that, rather than being a late 19th century portrait, it very
well could be a 17th century portrait. It has been confirmed that
the frame is a 17th century frame. When conservation is complete, this
will be a very significant addition to the state’s art collection as a
gift from the Friends of the Maryland State Archives.
Recent Gifts, Deposits and Acquisitions
-
Ellefson Endowment gift - proposed resolution
Dr. Papenfuse informed the Commission
that several years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Ashley Ellefson donated $20,000 to
the Archives of Maryland. The Archives uses the interest from this
donation to help support the Internship Program. In November 2006,
Dr. Papenfuse received another call from Mr. and Mrs. Ellefson, who wanted
to donate another $20,000. This donation was received on 5 December
2006.
-
Jim Bready Collection
of Whiskey Bottles
Chris Kintzel gave the Commission
members a brief description of this collection. Jim Bready, a former
Baltimore Sun reporter who once wrote a wonderful article about the Archives’
efforts to do “Maryland, A New Guide to the Old Line State,” has a collecting
sideline that was his passion – whiskey bottles. Mr. Bready had previously
written a scholarly article on the Whiskey Industry in Maryland, which
was very important to the economy of this state, and Maryland Rye Whiskey
still has a reputation of being some of the best Rye whiskey ever made.
Chris Kintzel described the collection as containing approximately 700
bottles dating from the 1870’s to the 1940’s, almost all unique.
He displayed a few of the bottles for the Commission, one of which was
distributed by Fleischmann’s on North Avenue, which would have occurred
after the fire in 1904 that destroyed much of the docks. Mr. Kintzel
described the process being used to accession the bottles. Based on a recommendation
from the Corning Museum of Glass, special boxes were procured to assist
in the transportation and storage of the bottles.
-
Judge Friedman's Collection of Equal Rights Amendment
Commission records and research on the implementation of the ERA in Maryland
Dr. Papenfuse mentioned the recent
interest in the research work from the 1970s of the Governor’s Commission
to Study the Implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment, especially as
it related to same sex marriage. Jen Hafner explained that the Commission,
created in 1973, the year after the Maryland General Assembly passed the
Equal Rights Amendment, was formed to examine Maryland’s laws and how they
were affected by the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment. She located
a microfiche of the Commission’s research files at the State Law Library.
In addition, Jen Hafner contacted Judge Kathleen O'Ferrall Friedman, who
was one of the Chairs for the Commission. Judge Friedman discovered
that she had a box of materials from her time with the Commission, such
as memorandums and secondary sources, that she donated to the Archives.
-
Washington Document-Progress Report
Dr. Papenfuse explained that the
Washington Document is probably one of the most important documents in
American History. It is the bow to civil authority; it is the argument
that the military should always be governed by civil authority and that
what is supreme in America is the civil authority. George Washington
crafted his words very, very carefully, changing "final farewell" to just
"farewell" in the phrase: “Having now finished the work assigned
me, I now retire from the great theater of action and bidding an affectionate
farewell to this august body and under whose orders I have so long acted,
I here offer my commission and take my leave of all the employments of
public life.” With that change, George Washington was leaving himself
open to being called back to service, which of course, he was. The
first appraisal of the document was $1.25 million. The official appraisal
is now $1.5 million, half a million dollars of which is being gifted by
the owners as part of the matching funds for the grant. The public
funds that will go to the acquisition of this document are $750,000, $600,000
of which we are asking the Board of Public Works to transfer as Appropriated
Funds, and the remaining $150,000 as Special Funds. The rest of the
monies have been raised by the Friends of the Maryland State Archives as
matching funds. The Board of Public Works' approval on 20 December
will authorize the transfer of the money to the Friends. The document’s
final appraisal was by William Reese of New Haven, Connecticut, who said:
“In my opinion, the fair market value of the George Washington resignation
manuscript is $1.5 million, and the fair market value of the James McHenry
letter is $25,000. Fair market value is defined in IRS publication
… as the price at which the property would change hands between a willing
buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or
sell, and both having a reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts.”
The document is currently at the Archives. The actual transfer of
title and the issuance of checks from the Friends is expected to take place
on 22 January 2007.
-
Special
Collections
-
Government
Records
Dr. Ridgeway offered a Resolution
of Appreciation for the recent gifts, seconded by Mr. Freedlander and unanimously
approved, the Chairman concurring.
Maryland State Archives On Line
-
Finding Aids, Reference Services, and Publications:
-
Archives is participating in State Electronic Documents
Task Force
-
Assisting with regulations overview and enhancing
Records Appraisal Program
Dr. Papenfuse reintroduced Kim Moreno,
head of Appraisal and Description. Kim Moreno is in the process of
greatly expanding the Archives' ability to appraise documents, and is developing
a staff with the strength to give very good advice with regard to what
ought to be kept permanently.
-
Currently seeking grant opportunities to replace
the US DOE grant funding that ends in January 2007
-
Began partnership to assist the Women in Law research
project, suggested by Judge Battaglia and Judge Eyler
Emily Squires and Jen Hafner are
working with Judge Lynne A. Battaglia and Judge Deborah Sweet Eyler to
create a book about women in the law. A nonprofit organization will
pay for the production of the book through the research and writing phases,
much as was done for Governor Hughes’ book.
-
Providing documentation on past inaugurations
Dr. Papenfuse reported that the Research
Department had received inquiries about previous inaugurations.
The results of the Research were posted on line and made available to the
Inauguration Committee.
Education and Outreach
-
The rising costs of scholarly research (travel) and imaging of documents
-
Pressing need for research scholarships for serious scholars using the
archival resources of the Maryland State Archives and related collections
-
Summer 2006 Internship Report
and Bulldog Article for August
2006
-
Courses taught and lectures given by State Archivist (see prior resolution
on 4/19/2000)
-
June 26-27: Dr. Papenfuse attended 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” in Bellevue, Washington
-
June 28: Chris Haley and Justin Demski attended
the Grand Opening of the Frederick Douglas-Isaac Myers Maritime Park
-
July 7: Dr. Papenfuse gave remarks
at the 200th anniversary procession and ceremony recreating the laying
of the cornerstone of the Basilica of the Assumption
-
July 8-9: Chris Haley gave remarks on African
American History at the Howard County Parks and Recreation Civil War Weekend
-
July 17: Rob Schoeberlein presented a seminar
to Archives staff on "Mental Illness in Maryland: Public Perception,
Discourse, and Treatment, from the Colonial Period to 1964"
-
July 18: Dr. Papenfuse and Nancy Bramucci participated
in the Anne Arundel Teaching American History Summer Institute
-
August 1-6: Dr. Papenfuse, Tim Baker, Kim Moreno,
and Mike McCormick attended the 2006 Joint Meeting of the Council of State
Archivists – Society of American Archivists – National Association of Government
Archives and Records Administrators (CoSA-SAA-NAGARA)
-
August 4: Dr. Papenfuse spoke at the Calvert
County Professional Development Program on “The Evolution of American Society”
-
August 7: Kim Moreno presented a Seminar to
the Archives staff on “Margaret Tighlman Carroll and Women’s Control over
Land and Capital in Early National Maryland”
-
August 21: Maya Davis attended the National
Park Service Network to Freedom Gathering in Woodlawn
-
August 27: Chris Haley attended the unveiling
of the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial at Anne Arundel Community College
-
August 31: Chris Haley made a presentation
about his family and “Roots” at the 2006 Federation Genealogical Society
and the New England Historic Genealogical Society
-
September 8-9: Maya Davis attended the African-American
Genealogy Symposium at the National Archives
-
September 9: Mike McCormick presented a class
on “Research at the Maryland State Archives” at the Baltimore Stake Family
History & Genealogy Workshop
-
September 14-15: Dr. Papenfuse attended the
American Association for State and Local History Annual Meeting in Phoenix
on behalf of Chief Judge Bell
-
September 20: Dr. Papenfuse, Tim Baker, Christine
Alvey, Jen Hafner, and Jenn Cruickshank attended the Reception to Celebrate
the New Special Collections Room of the Maryland State Law Library
-
September 20: Elaine Bachmann participated
in a reading of “While a Tree Grew … the Story of Maryland’s Wye Oak” with
Mrs. Ehrlich at the Naval Academy Primary School
-
September 23: Chris Haley gave a presentation
on “Tracing African American Genealogy at the Maryland State Archives”
at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum
-
September 28: Chris Haley attended the ribbon
cutting for the new Visitors Center at Historic London Town and Gardens
-
September 29: Chris Haley spoke at the Annual
Commemoration Ceremony for Kunta Kinte’s Arrival
-
October 18: Dr. Papenfuse participated in the
Homewood House Museum’s six-part series, titled “Repast as Ritual,” providing
a seminar on the procurement and merchandising of Carroll’s goods
-
October 23: Dr. Papenfuse attended the Fall
MLA Advisory Board meeting
-
October 26-29: Maya Davis attended the Afro-American
Historical and Genealogical Society Conference
-
November 4: Elaine Bachmann participated in
a book signing at the Maritime Museum for “While a Tree Grew … The Story
of Maryland’s Wye Oak”
-
November 11: Elaine Bachmann participated in
a book signing for “While a Tree Grew … The Story of Maryland’s Wye Oak”
at the Fall Family Festival, Adkins Arboretum
-
November 13: Rob Schoeberlein was the Keynote
Speaker at the City of Bowie Annual History Lecture Day, speaking on “Civil
War Benevolent Activities of Maryland Women”
-
November 13: Leslie Frazer and Dottie Zimmerman
participated in a book selling event for “My Unexpected Journey, The Autobiography
of Harry R. Hughes” at the Sheraton Annapolis at a celebration of Governor
Hughes’ 80th birthday
-
December 7: Dr. Papenfuse participated in the
Holiday Book Signing at the Homewood House Museum
-
December 8: Elaine Bachmann participated in
a book signing at the Holy Grounds Youth Center for “While a Tree Grew
… The Story of Maryland’s Wye Oak”
-
December 13: Elaine Bachmann participated in
a book signing at the Tawes Building for “While a Tree Grew … The Story
of Maryland’s Wye Oak”
Forthcoming special meetings of the Commission and events
of interest
-
January 12: Elaine Bachmann will give an illustrated
lecture on the state owned art collection for the Arts and Antiques Association
of Annapolis, at the West Street Library
-
January 25: Rob Schoeberlein gave a lecture
to staff and interns at the Spring Grove Hospital Center Grand Rounds on
"Home and Institutional Care in Maryland"
-
February 1: Dr. Papenfuse will speak to the
Mt Vernon Club on the procurement and merchandising of goods in Annapolis
during the era of the American Revolution
-
February 19: The Archives is scheduled to participate
in the dedication of the Washington Document in the State House
-
February 21: Sasha Lourie will speak to the
Washington Decorative Arts Forum on furniture making for the State House
and Annapolis
-
March 30-31: Dr. Papenfuse will participate
in the spring meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association,
at Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, in the session "Understanding English
Catholic Responses to the Penal Legislation: Was Sir George Calvert a Secret
Catholic?"
April 11: Chris Haley will be the keynote
speaker for the Catholic Library Association's 86th Convention, speaking
on the Legacy of Slavery project
Administrative and Fiscal Matters
-
Deputy State Archivist's Report:
-
State House interpretation and restoration projects
Mimi Calver reported on the State House Master
Plan to improve the visitor’s experience at the State House. After
evaluating more than 15 proposals from exhibit design firms from around
the country, C&G Partners of New York City was selected and have been
working with the Artistic Properties staff in reimagining how people will
experience the State House, its grounds, and the Old Treasury Building.
The exhibit of George Washington’s Resignation Speech is a big part of
the project, as well as the development of an orientation film and audio
tours. Dr. Papenfuse added that every effort has been made to include
all stakeholders, including employees who work in the State House, constituents,
and private tour operators. Tim Baker remarked that all of this work
is being done hand-in-hand with the Department of General Services, who
have been very helpful all along the way.
-
Status of master contracts for scanning related to
the Maryland Electronic Archives project
Tim Baker stated that the Archives' biggest project
is the development of Mdlandrec.net, and the posting online of all land
records in Maryland; it constitutes the largest percentage in terms of
budget. He briefly noted that, when the Archives began the process
of scanning and placing online the land record images a couple of years
ago, it became apparent that, to put up 170 million images, it would require
not just Archives' scanning expertise, but would probably consume all of
the regionally available scanning operations. The Archives needed
to tap all of those resources to be able to accomplish the task in the
time frame anticipated. With the help of the Department of Budget
and Management, the Archives approached the Board of Public Works and developed
two sets of master contracts, one for paper scanning and one for microfilm
scanning. Task orders were issued based on an analysis of record
groups for the different land record series. One of these led to
the Archives entering into a contract with a sheltered workshop, a division
of IScan, under the banner of Humanim that is involved in a lot of different
social service activities. Tim Baker stated that IScan is the most
reliable, productive contractor, and have always provided well-trained
individuals who were managed by good team leaders. He emphasized
that the Archives wouldn't have been able to meet its deadlines if it weren’t
for competent contractors such as IScan. He further mentioned that
in November 2006, the Board of Public Works approved a renewal of the Archives'
contract with IScan.
-
Status of mdlandrec.net http://lrac.us;
Version
3
Tim Baker stated that the Archives met its goal
to have all available land records indexes covering the period 1634 to
present on line with at least 60 years of retrievable land record instruments
for each jurisdiction, a total of 160 million images. The Archives
is now focusing on records from 1945 and prior, as well as on image improvement
and image enhancement. In addition, the mdlandrec installation team
will complete the roll-out to the remaining jurisdictions by summer 2007.
Tim Baker related that Archives has been busy
developing Version 3 of Mdlandrec.net. Version 3 is being developed
because the software tools that were used to develop previous versions
have evolved, and a number of things are being improved: security,
usability, searchability, navigation, and appearance. Dr. Papenfuse
deferred a demonstration of Version 3 to the next Hall of Records Commission
meeting.
Dr. Papenfuse related how recent interest in ground
rents in Baltimore City sent a lot of people to Mdlandrec.net. Mark
Steiner said some very kind things about Mdlandrec.net on a recent radio
program when he was talking about ground rents. Mdlandrec.net is
a vehicle by which you can begin to examine the question of who owns what
and where, and you can do it from the comfort of your home. Dr. Papenfuse
mentioned that there are currently 25,363 subscribers, 24,984 of whom are
active, and they’re all working on the system without bringing the system
down. The Mdlandrec.net system has had very little in the way of
slowness issues, and downtime has been limited mostly to before 8:30 in
the morning and after 5:00 in the evening. Dr. Papenfuse expressed
satisfaction with what the Archives staff has been able to do, and appreciation
to the Judiciary for helping the Archives get to this point.
-
Building Maintenance/New Facilities/Space Needs
-
Slide show of storage
solution for the Maryland State Archives, and a proposal
for a future home of the Baltimore City Archives
Tim Baker reminded the Commission of the need
for a new Archives building, as half of the Archive’s holdings are in substandard
rental facilities that do not have adequate temperature and humidity control.
The Commission viewed images of a facility built by Johns Hopkins University
(JHU) Library System at the Applied Physics Lab in Howard County.
It is an encapsulated building in which temperature and humidity controls
are maintained. The stacks are 32 feet high and extremely stable.
The facility is not designed for customer service, but for electronic delivery
of records. The JHU facility gets approximately 150 requests for
documents each day. Staff retrieve the records, scan them, and forward
them to the requestor electronically. A recommendation to approve
accelerated funding for a facility similar to this one will be incorporated
in the Archives’ upcoming budget testimony.
Dr. Papenfuse described his visit to another facility that could be
used for archival storage, particularly by the Baltimore City Archives.
He visited the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple in Baltimore, which is up for
sale. There’s a contract on this building from a developer in Arkansas
who wants to tear it down and put up condominiums. It’s on Charles
Street, not far from Hopkins. Dr. Papenfuse believes it to be designed
in part by the architect who built the National Archives in Washington
, DC. Dr. Papenfuse noted that there are large spaces within the
building that have not been finished. On either side of the building,
there are huge identical vacant spaces which could lend themselves to compact
shelving for storage and reference. There are also spaces that are
suitable for scholarly reference, exhibits, and archival offices for administration
and processing. The center of the building is a 1200-seat auditorium,
so maybe this building could have multiple purposes. It could be
an archival storage environment, or it could also be a fine arts performance
area.
-
Disaster
Recovery / Business Continuity (UMBC site proposal)
Tim Baker noted that, while the Archives has
had a Disaster Recovery plan for some time, work is in progress to replicate
data and load-balance at a separate site. Archives’ IT staff worked
with the Department of Budget and Management and evaluated options at the
Department of Transportation, University of Maryland College Park and University
of Maryland Baltimore City (UMBC). Based on a number of factors,
the site at UMBC was chosen, and an agreement in principle is in place.
Mr. Baker stated that they hope to have an MOU signed and in place by January
for a five year time period, during which UMBC will house the Archives’
servers and storage array.
-
Budget Initiatives:
-
State House Master Plan implementation
Tim Baker related that the Department of Budget
and Management counseled that the Archives should finish the master planning
process and then return with more concrete numbers. The budget request
was put on hold.
-
Old House of Delegates Plan implementation
Tim Baker related that this project is underway.
-
National Criminal Information Background Check System
(NICs)
Tim Baker related that NICS is a federal mandate
that is not funded. The Department of Public Safety was receiving
very substantial grants from the federal government, but that grant was
cut. The Archives is asking for an additional $30,000 to continue
to perform the background checks. The Archives is the place of last
resort if an arrest shows up with no disposition noted in the National
database. Once requested, the Archives has 72 hours to find the record
and provide the disposition of the case. The Department of Budget
and Management staff has given a favorable recommendation on this item.
-
Carroll Papers project
Tim Baker mentioned that the Department of Budget
and Management recommended at the staff level that this is not to be funded.
The Archives then requested that this project be elevated to the Secretary
for discussion with the Governor's Office. This is still pending.
-
Fee structure (overhead charges) for all Archives
of Maryland Publications (following a standard University-based formula
including 7% allocated to the Archives Endowment Fund as an investment
for education and outreach, research, and writing about the Archives and
the history of Maryland)
Tim Baker described to the Commission the Archives'
fairly long-standing policy of attaching a seven percent fee to services
and to publications in the Archives of Maryland Online series. That
money is dedicated and flows directly to the Archives Endowment Fund.
The endowment is now about $3 million.
-
Future potential gifts to the Archives Endowment
Fund
Tim Baker related that he was contacted by the
Treasurer of the Maryland Land Title Association. Because they are
so pleased with the mdlandrec.net initiative, their Board of Directors
wants to donate money to a charity chosen by the Maryland State Archives.
The Archives will recommend that they fund research related to the Legacy
of Slavery project.
Dr. Ridgway offered a motion
of approval for the concept of the Educational and Entrepreneurial Endowments,
public and private, seconded by Dr. Phillips and unanimously approved,
the Chairman concurring.
New Business
Next meeting
The next Hall of Records Commission meeting is scheduled for
Thursday, April 19, 2007.
Adjournment
There being no further business to discuss,
the meeting adjourned at 1:48 p.m.
Approved by the Hall of Records Commission, April
19, 2007.
________________________________________
The Honorable Robert M. Bell, Chairman
________________________________________
Edward C. Papenfuse, Jr., Secretary
State Archivist
Maryland State Archives
350 Rowe Boulevard
(410) 260-6401.
Email: edp@mdarchives.state.md.us
© Copyright Maryland State Archives