HALL OF RECORDS COMMISSION MEETING by Pat Melville
The Hall of Records Commission met at the Archives on Thursday, March 14. Ed noted that the Commission was meeting in a conference room that is equipped as an electronic classroom which is part of a cooperative project with the Anne Arundel County Board of Education to train teachers in the use of archival materials available on the Internet at the Archives and elsewhere. The Archives has provided the expertise in computer networks and document presentation. Anne Arundel County furnished the computers and software for the project.
In the past few months there have been four ceremonial meetings of the Commission. These include the presentation of the model of the Thurgood Marshall Memorial in Annapolis, the First Citizen Award given by the Senate to Judge Robert C. Murphy and Judge Robert F. Sweeney, the Speaker's Medallion given by the House of Delegates to the same two judges and the Thomas Kennedy Award given by the House to former State Treasurer Lucille Maurer, and the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The Hall of Records Commission approved a resolution of gratitude to Mrs. Maurer for her years of service on the Commission.
Ed told the Commission about the biographical work that the Archives has undertaken to document the lives of First Ladies and Official Hostesses. Mary Digges Lee, wife of Governor Thomas Sim Lee and recently accepted into the Women's Hall of Fame, was a remarkable individual. She was a correspondent of George Washington, raised money for supplies for the army during the Revolution, and insisted that her slaves be instructed in Catholicism. Emily Oland, an Archives intern working on the First Ladies Biographical Project, suggested the nomination of Mrs. Lee. For her efforts, Emily was presented with a silver bowl which she then gave to Mrs. Glendening for display in Government House.
Among the staff activities, mention was made of the Archives' efforts to manage the electronic records of state government. As a part of this effort, our staff has worked with the Department of General Services to link offices in the Annapolis Complex on a fiber optic communications network for Internet access. The Archives has installed a computer with 'firewall' software that permits secure internal communications within the Complex and permits outbound traffic to other agencies and the Internet. The network will also serve as a means to transfer permanently valuable electronic records to the Archives for preservation and retrieval.
A new service of the Archives is maintaining Internet sites for the Governor's Office, Secretary of State, and State Administrative Board of Election Laws. Cooperative efforts are also underway to link the Comptroller of the Treasury and Department of Budget and Fiscal Planning to the Internet through the facilities of the Archives.
Commission members reviewed recent acquisitions of government records and special collections. Ed highlighted the 1st Fidelity Collection which included records of the Savings Bank of Baltimore. This bank was established in 1818 and was notable for handling accounts of the working poor regardless of race. The processing of the collection, described previously in the Bulldog, was an example of a cooperative venture with private industry. Funds for the project were provided by 1st Union Bank and the Maryland Historical Trust. The finding aid is available on the Archives' web site and contains descriptions at both the series and box or volume levels.
The ongoing appraisal work with the Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund (MDIF) records was discussed. The Archives is assisting MDIF with the management of more than 19,000 cubic feet of records at an adjunct archival facility. The remaining receiverships are being closed except for Old Court which will continue for some time. As audits are completed on closed receiverships, the non-permanent records are destroyed. The Commission approved a motion to continue this work with the financial support of the receiverships.
Other appraisal presentations involved electronic records, imaging projects, and vital records legislation. Rules and regulations concerning electronic records, including CD ROM, are available on the Archives' web site. Chris Allan has been asked by the Comptroller's Office to participate in the technical evaluation of bids received to establish an image management program for the Registers of Wills offices throughout the state. In cooperation with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, departmental legislation, House Bill 1246, has been introduced to amend the vital records law that governs access to these records at the Archives. The bill removes restrictions on marriage and divorce records filed with the Division of Vital records, reduces the restriction on death records from twenty to ten years, and reduces the amount of information made available on an extract of a restricted record. The hearing before the House Environmental Matters Committee went well. [Since then the Committee has reported the bill to the floor of the House where it received unanimous approval.]
Ed described the processing and preservation work being done with plats from the circuit courts of Allegany and Baltimore counties, and illustrated his remarks with a scanned image of the facade of the courthouse in Cumberland.
The Maryland Manual will be published in book form in June so that substantive changes in state government now being considered by the legislature can be incorporated into the finished product. The paper publication will be a limited edition to cover mandated distributions and sales. The reference edition for libraries, schools, and other users will be available on CD ROM. State Treasurer Dixon suggested an enhancement to the "Maryland Historical Chronology" section, concerning the importance of the meeting of the General Assembly in Frederick on April 29, 1861 for keeping the state in the Union.
Discussion of educational and public outreach activities, besides the electronic classroom, centered around the summer internship program and biographical research. The announcement for the internship program appears on the Archives' web site. The summer project will continue the research of African-American Civil War soldiers. Also continuing will be the First Ladies biographical project. Ed reported on research on the office of the State Treasurer. It includes a history of the office, list of officeholders, and biographies of Dixon, Maurer, and William James. Biographies and illustrations of other treasurers will be added in the near future. Comptroller Goldstein requested that a similar project be done with the Comptroller's office; the Commission approved the idea.
The Archives will take custody of the Peabody art collection on behalf of the state in June. Most of the collection will stay with participating institutions. Some pieces will come to the Archives and others will be placed on display at other museums in the state. The Commission on Artistic Properties was reorganized last year to include representation from the institutions that have cared for the Peabody collection.
Other business considered by the Commission included plans to develop a facility for the care and preservation of electronic records, management of an adjunct archival facility for the records of the Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund, publication of the Civil Office List and Documents for the Classroom as part of the Archives of Maryland, and work with the Department of General Services to address long term maintenance for the Hall of Records building. Chris discussed the endowment fund, highlighting contributions from Comptroller Goldstein, the genealogy workshops, and 1st Union Bank. The Comptroller and Treasurer offered their assistance in work to clarify the tax exempt status of donations received for the Archives' Endowment Fund. The Commission approved plans for a celebration on September 11, 1996, the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Hall of Records building.
STAFF NEWS
Don Williams has been appointed Archival Assistant Supervisor.
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