ED'S NEWS
Ed has been in London this past week for the dedication of the plaque to Cecil Calvert in the church where he is burried, St. Giles in the Fields. The Governor also took part in the ceremonies and appeared on the Today Show on Friday, May 10 where he was able to tell the world about Cecil Calvert and his accomplishments. More about this event is a later issue.
STAFF NEWS Welcome to Betty Ann Blanchard who is working with plats and other imaging projects.
GRAND JURY INSPECTIONS OF PENAL INSTITUTIONS
by Pat Melville
[Continuation of analysis of ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
(Grand Jury Reports) 1933-1966 [MSA C2137] and ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY
BOARD OF EDUCATION (Grand Jury Reports) 1969-1981 [MSA CM1178].]
The Anne Arundel County grand juries inspected all penal institutions, state and local, located within the county. The state facilities, all located in the Jessup area, included the House of Correction, Correctional Institution for Women, Correctional Camp Center, Patuxent Institution, and pre-release units. For two years there was a state prison camp located at Sandy Point. The County Jail was located in Annapolis. The grand jury usually inspected each institution and reported on conditions biennially until the 1970s when the jurors began to rely increasingly on annual inspections to fulfill their obligations.
The reports of the grand juries reveal the extent of the inspections which encompassed physical conditions of the buildings, living conditions and work opportunities for the inmates, and administration of the institutions. Some reports contain summary information about a facility, while others give detailed descriptions and analyses.
The House of Correction was the oldest state penal institution in Anne Arundel County. It was built in 1878 and expanded periodically during the next century. The original building was constructed of quarried granite, stone, and brick. Until 1942 both men and women were incarcerated at the House of Correction. From the 1950s onward overcrowding was a perennial problem. In 1955 the jury noted that the prison, meant to accommodate 700 inmates, was housing twice that number and that the new wing under construction was designed to handle only 400 more men. By 1965 normal capacity had reached 1500, but the population had risen to 1904. In 1977 the facility was 59% over capacity.
The grand juries often expressed concern about work opportunities for the inmates to keep them occupied and out of trouble. A jury in 1938 lamented the withdrawal of inmates from work on farms in the neighborhood of the House of Correction. The men had been performing wholesome work, the institution receiving produce, and the farmers saving crops. In 1955 prison labor was used for maintenance on state roads, building walks and other projects at state facilities, and working on the prison farm and in prison shops. The jury in 1965 commended the House of Correction for supplying food for its kitchen and furnishing milk to other state institutions.
The grand jury of the April 1965 Term conducted an especially thorough inspection of the House of Correction and produced a detailed, descriptive report. It covered administration, custody and security, inmate control and discipline, buildings and equipment, food, housekeeping and sanitation, medical and health services, and inmate employment and activities. Included were copies of handbooks for correctional employees and inmates. The report contained recommendations concerning preventive maintenance, public relations program to inform Marylanders about the facility, personnel procedures, and overcrowding.
Sometimes a grand jury would describe a penal institution in terms not usually associated with a prison. A 1977 report said the Correctional Institution for Women "resembles a boarding school in a rural setting, with dormitories and a chapel around a grassy rectangle...." In 1973 the Maryland Correctional Camp Center was praised as being "very close to the ultimate in the search for the rehabilitation of inmates before they are returned to society."
Prior to construction of the County Detention Center in the mid-1960s inmates at the local level were housed in the County Jail, a three story stone and brick structure built in 1913 on Calvert St. in Annapolis. Almost every grand jury report described deplorable conditions at the old jail, that were seldom corrected despite repeated recommendations. The jurors in 1933 noted poor ventilation in the cells and cell tiers, bedding in need of sterilization, lack of paint on cell bars, and debris in the basement. A 1946 jury called attention to a front door without a lock, "a ludicrous situation" that earlier had led to an escape. In 1957, the jail was described as "overrun with vermin, and those confined in many cases have venereal diseases; the cots are filthy and there is no chance for privacy...." In 1960, the problems included leaking toilets, no separate bathrooms for female prisoners, no laundry facilities, and dirty mattresses.
Many grand juries attributed poor jail conditions to lack of interest by the county commissioners and inefficient administration. The sheriff operated the jail, but not until 1946 did he have the authority to appoint the warden and deputy wardens. In 1957 there were only four guards during any one 24-hour period to oversee between 75 and 85 inmates. Prisoners were used to perform several functions in the jail, including maintenance and cooking. One jury wondered what would happen if no qualified cooks were incarcerated. Record keeping remained an issue until 1965 when the warden established a system of individual folders for each prisoner and segregated them into active and inactive files.
Calls for a new county jail appeared throughout the grand jury reports for many years. In 1951 it was deemed inadvisable to expend capital funds for remodeling an old, inadequate structure. The county commissioners obtained authorization to build a new jail in 1957, but failed to acquire a site until 1964. The April 1965 jury report contained the preliminary drawings for the proposed detention center. This same report presented a detailed description of the county jail, in which the jury examined the administration and management, building, cleanliness and sanitation, food, health service, and inmate activity, recreation, and employment.
Even relatively new penal facilities were not immune to failings and criticisms. By 1978 the grand jury was finding fault with the Detention Center by citing poor sanitation, insufficient staff, inoperable closed-circuit monitoring system, and ineffective supervision of inmates on work furlough.
STATE AND LOCAL RECORDS REFERENCE REPORT
by Kevin Swanson
The March total of 1077 reference requests, although impressive, represents a minimal decrease from the March 1995 total of 1085. Not surprisingly, this decrease in requests was accompanied by a 5.5% decrease in the number of records circulated, from 1635 last year to 1545 in 1996. Even granting the fact that last March was one of our biggest and busiest months ever, the overall picture is mixed. There were 107 fewer vital records requests in March 1996 (395) than in 1995 (502). Circulation of district court records decreased by .9%, 323 compared to 326. Requests for records of the circuit courts and other agencies increased by 2.5%, 827 compared to 807.
Overall, the judiciary continues as the largest single user of SLR reference services. The number of reference requests received from the courts increased by 19.5% (264 compared to 221), while the number of records requested increased by 12.8% (477 compared to 423). Court requests accounted for 24.5% of all requests received and 30.9% of total record circulation.
Requests received by phone decreased in March (369 compared to 392) accounting for 34.3% of total requests. The number of requests faxed to the Archives decreased from 113 to 69. Overall, fax requests made up 6.4% of the March 1996 total, while accounting for 10.4% of the March 1995 total. More requests were generated from the search room (148) than had been the case in March 1995 (124). Search room requests accounted for 13.7% of March 1996 reference activity as compared to 11.4% last year, an increase of 2.3%. We also received 15 requests handled in the lobby without requiring the patron to register for the search room.
The number of phone/fax requests (438) fell well short of the number of requests received through the mail (476). Phone/fax requests accounted for 40.7% of total requests, with the mail accounting for 44.2%.
Revenue from reference activity was down 12.7%, $8256 compared to $9462.
SEARCH ROOM ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Pat Melville
The Search Room Advisory Committee held its spring meeting on Monday, April 22. Five new members were welcomed - Lois Green Carr, Eleanor Cook, Jane McWilliams, Mary Meyer, Vernon Skinner, and Geneva Sparks. Guests included Roy Whiteley, Jewel Whiteley, Elsie Clements, Charlie Clements, Marilyn Helmers, Ed Wright, and Robin Wilde DeGraf.
Chris Allan recounted the effort to revise the Archives' vital records law. The revised law passed both houses of the General Assembly [and was signed into law by the Governor on April 30]. The amendments, which take effect on October 1, will remove all restrictions from marriage certificates and divorce records received from the Division of Vital Records and will reduce the restriction on death records from 20 to 10 years. The restriction on birth records will remain 100 years. The amount of information provided on an extract of a restricted record will be reduced in order to prevent fraudulent use of the document. An extract will be limited to the full names, birthplaces of parents, and date and place of birth or death.
The effort was prompted by the initiative of Roy Whiteley, a genealogist and Archives' volunteer. Roy participated in meetings with the Archives and Division of Vital Records to consider the proposal, informed genealogical societies about the bill, and testified at the House committee hearing. Elaine Zimmerman, a member of the Advisory Committee and a reference volunteer, advised us on the death record section and gave testimony at the committee hearing.
Since September 1995, a committee consisting of Roy and representatives from the Archives and Division of Vital Records has been meeting regularly. Much time has been spent in sharing our mutual concerns and in coming to an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of our two agencies. We have dealt with issues of transfers of records to the Archives, both in hard copy and on film. Increasingly the discussion has focused on two issues - indexing and the sharing of electronic records.
When the new law takes effect in October, the Archives will have additional death record films ready for circulation. In addition, we will acquire most death, marriage, and divorce indexes not currently available. Both agencies share a concern for the preservation of permanently valuable electronic records. Vital record indexing since 1973 is derived from databases. The committee is working to be certain that this information is cared for in an archival context, and made accessible.
Diane Feldman, one of the Archives' volunteers, has begun entering cards from the Genealogist's Wish List into a database so that eventually we can make the information available electronically.
Chris Allan and Nancy Bramucci discussed the recent acquisition of Catholic records from the Diocese of Wilmington, made possible through the efforts of Gene Clements prior to his death in December 1995. Gene's contributions to the genealogical community included service as an officer in several genealogical societies, co-author with F. Edward Wright of Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War, member of the Advisory Committee, and reference volunteer at the Archives. Gene realized the importance of having Eastern Shore parishes in the Archives' Catholic church records collection. Knowing that budgetary limitations prevented the Archives from purchasing the film, he committed himself to the acquisition of the film from the Diocese of Wilmington as a gift to the Archives. He also arranged for the acquisition of the same film by the Maryland Historical Society.
The twenty-two reels of Catholic record film include the records of over forty churches, encompassing parishes on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Eastern Shore of Virginia, and Delaware. The film is available to researchers through finding aids in the search room and has been incorporated in the Archives' Guide to Maryland Church Records on the World Wide Web which was demonstrated at the meeting.
Gene's widow, Elsie, and two of his children, Charlie Clements and Marilyn Helmers, were present at the meeting to receive official recognition of his generosity.
A fourth reader printer has been added to the search room by moving one from the State and Local Records office. In addition, a motorized reader has been acquired for the film room through the generous contribution of Robin Wilde DeGraf, a genealogist from Alexandria, VA. In her honor a plaque will be placed on the reader, and when she visits the search room, the machine will be reserved for her use. In addition, we will designate the reader for use by physically disabled persons, when necessary.
The Committee discussed ways for the Archives to acquire readers to replace those that cannot be repaired and others that will not last much longer. Members also looked at security measures to be assumed by the Archives as of June 1 when guards will be removed from our building due to staff reductions within the Department of General Services.
Betsy Bodziak demonstrated the newest finding aid being formatted for access on the Archives' Web site. It links and makes available A Guide to Government Records, A Guide to State Agency Records, unpublished series lists, and unpublished series unit lists.
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