Established in 1985 by the Maryland Commission for Women and the Women Legislators of Maryland, the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame seeks "to honor Maryland women, who have made unique and lasting contributions to the economic, political, cultural and social life of the state, and to provide visible models of achievement for tomorrow's female leaders."  Each year, an independent committee reviews nominations and selects up to five women for induction into the Hall of Fame, who are then honored in an induction ceremony.  A plaque listing the names of the women is on display at the Law Library, which also houses a biographical file on each inductee. 

This summer, sponsored by the Commission, we created a virtual exhibit for the Women's Hall of Fame, linked to the Archives "Museum Online."  Existing biographical information was pulled together and enhanced by additional research on a few of the women, particularly those who overlapped our other project, Maryland Women in the Judiciary. Joanna researched Judge Rita C. Davidson, the first woman to serve on the Court of Special Appeals and the Court of Appeals.  Davidson also had the distinction of being the court's "first Jewish mother." Lisa researched Judge Rosalyn Blake Bell, the first woman to serve on the District Court for Montgomery County.  Alicia researched Etta Maddox, the first woman admitted to the bar in Maryland. 

With the support of the Archives, we plan to nominate two women for induction into the Hall of Fame for 2002. 

This summer I worked with Christine Alvey to catalog several thousand government publications, printed materials from state agencies, that arrive at the Archives on a regular basis.  A backlog of material ranging from state laws to livestock reports to college brochures had accumulated over the past few years.  The cataloging process entailed initial sorting; assigning an accession number to each item using a "stamper," the envy of several other interns; and entering descriptions into the government publications database. The books, pamphlets, and brochures were placed in boxes and assigned locations in the stacks.  It is estimated that over 3,300 publications were catalogued over a ten week period. 

To break up the monotony that came with cataloging, Christine assigned various smaller projects, such as creating spreadsheets, inventorying books in the basement of the Law Library, and inventorying annotated codes. Though my work may not generate as much interest as some of the other intern projects, I enjoyed the feeling of accomplishing something important for the Archives. 

The State Archives has a mission to collect government records.  Private manuscripts get magically whisked into a department of Special Collections.  Here at "Speccol" we like to put the "special" in collecting, and we will thank you not to make up cute rhymes using our abbreviation. 

As an intern in the Special Collections this summer, I have seen some amazing things.  I began by scanning and scanning and scanning, and if you thought that was repetitive, you should try scanning!  I started with the papers of former Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, Robert C. Murphy.  He began his career in the judiciary in the sixties and served as a judge until 1996.  MSA SC 5346 contains newspapers, photographs, ephemera, and speeches, and all have been converted to 1's and 0's for posterity.  Judge Murphy served through a time of great change and made many important contributions to the restructuring of the Judiciary. 

The next large project involved the records of former Governor Marvin Mandel that the Archives staff and interns moved from his house this summer.  The original estimate of six hours of work quickly expanded to twenty and that encompassed only the move.  To that must be added the hours spent cleaning the documents with goat hair brushes, while wearing paper outfits or fending off the governor's energetic black lab. The tasks provided a first hand look at the beginning stages of the processing of records. Among the treasures found was a ticket to Richard Nixon's inaugural ball.  Unfortunately, many of the records had sustained insect and water damage.  Even so, the collection, MSA SC 5394, contains over 2,000 photographs, in addition to audio and video tapes and other materials. 

In sweltering July heat, former Governor Marvin Mandel leads the way to an area within his home.  He pries open a steel door to expose the dark interior, and the Archives special collections staff peers inside. "Don't shut the door," he warns, "I don't have the key." 

With the aid of utility lamps, fresh boxes, and a huge roll of bubble wrap, the Archives moved several truckloads of documents.  Hidden for decades from the light of day were reels of movie film, reel-to-reel tapes, audio cassettes, large format negatives, slide carousels, and finely crafted framed photographs.  There were unopened  packages containing gifts, canvas paintings in stylish poses, box after box of meritorious plaques, and even an example of the much-ballyhooed slot machine. The quantity of salvageable materials far outweighed the initial projection, but was handled effectively with help from staff Emily Squires, Rob Schoeberlein, Nancy Bramucci, and interns Jo Ella Straley and myself. 

Luckily most of my summer was not spent polishing up old slide carousels or peeling dusty photos out of defunct picture frames.  I must extend my gratitude to Jo Ella for all her help preparing materials and entertaining everyone.  I actually spent considerable time carefully recording dated audio cassettes to CD digital audio.  These were meticulously sampled on the computer (unless they snapped) and then compressed using MPeg algorithms. 

The 120 tapes accompanying the Mandal papers contain press conferences, speeches, international travel logs, and comments by the governor, his allies, and his opponents.  The digital counterparts are playable with any media player, including Microsoft Media, Real, Quicktime, or any of the dozens of free MP3 players. 

Our other project for the summer was sponsored by the Maryland Chapter of the National Association of Women Judges, the Maryland Bar Foundation, and the Baltimore Bar Association.  The project's ultimate goal is the creation of a complete biographical dictionary of Maryland women in the judiciary. 

We began by looking through biographical sketches of women judges in the Maryland Manual, searching especially for "firsts" (for example, Marielsa A. Bernard, the first Hispanic judge in Montgomery County).  Once we decided on particular judges to research, we explored a variety of sources, gathering as much information as possible on the lives and careers of these women.  We compiled this information in two places.  Each judge received a web page containing a short biography, list of relevant sources, and any available images.  We also began an online chronology of Maryland women in the judiciary, highlighting important "firsts" and other historic events. 

We have completed biographies of eleven judges.  The most striking characteristic we have observed among these women is their devotion to the welfare of the citizens of Maryland.  In addition to managing full case dockets, each judge used her talents and energies for the betterment of the community. Judge Kathleen O'Ferrall Friedman advocated for battered women and co-founded the House of Ruth.  Judge Rosalyn B. Bell championed economic parity for divorced women and their children.  Judge Charlotte M. Cooksey participated in an innovative truancy prevention program in Baltimore City.  Judge Kathryn Lawlar Shook DuFour was the first Maryland judge to publicly oppose capital punishment. 

This is my second summer working on the Anne Arundel County Court Clerks Project that involves research on the history of the office, biographies of officeholders, and significant court cases.  Research was concentrated on clerks who served during the colonial period, and through the early 18th century.  The earliest clerks were particularly challenging because fewer records exist.  In the research, I came across three clerks who had previously been left off of the list:  Robert Burle (1652-1653), Theophilus Lewis (1664), and Abram Claude (1865).  Also compiled was a timeline of the history of the office that helps place the clerk's office in the context of state and county history. 

The history of fiscal administration of the State of Maryland, what could possibly be more exciting?  In preparation for the office's 150th Anniversary, we have become intimate with the inner psyche of state comptrollers and the issues that plagued their political lives.  Sponsored by the current Comptroller's office, Mary concentrated on the triumphs and trials of Louis Goldstein, and Jen and Nasim worked on other comptrollers and historical aspects of the office.  We discovered ways in which the comptrollers influenced legislation and enforced laws regardless of their unpopularity with the public.  Mary traced technological advances within the comptroller's office and the sustained fiscal stability of the state under Goldstein.  Jen and Nasim discovered that increasing revenue and taxes occupied the terms of William S. Gordy and James J. Lacy, while the Civil War bounty program created problems for comptrollers Henry Goldsborough, Robert Jump, and William Leonard.  Though lacking glamour and scandal, the comptroller is a powerful position with an important history.