The Archivist's Bulldog

Vol. 12 No. 16, Newsletter of the Maryland State Archives, September 14, 1998


HALL OF RECORDS COMMISSION MEETING
by Pat Melville

The Hall of Records Commission, meeting on September 1 at the Archives, was called to order by Robert Mack Bell, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals and Acting Chairman. A moment of silence was observed for Louis L. Goldstein, the former Chair of the Commission. Richard N. Dixon, on behalf of the nominating committee, nominated Judge Bell as the new Chairman of the Commission and he was elected unanimously. Ed showed an image of the plinth, which the Archives had made, dedicating the Courts of Appeal Building in honor of Judge Robert C. Murphy.

The Subcommittee on Newspaper Preservation was given an additional charge to investigate ways to centrally preserve master negative films of newspapers, serials, and periodicals published in Maryland. The same resolution authorized the Archives to expand its newspaper guide to include serials and periodicals such as Niles' Register and Universal Genius of Emancipation. The latter was an abolitionist journal published by Benjamin Lundy in Baltimore, 1821-1839. For one year, 1828-1829, William Lloyd Garrison wrote several articles for the journal. His career in Baltimore ended because of legal troubles stemming from an article about the shipment of slaves from Baltimore to New Orleans. Garrison was convicted of libel against the owner of the ship, Francis Todd, and the captain, Nicholas Brown, and spent several weeks in jail because he lacked the funds to pay the $50 fine.

Highlighted were two recent Special Collections acquisitions - Susanna Kyner Cristofane Collection [MSA SC4885] and Michael Mitchell Collection of Clarence and Juanita Jackson Mitchell Family [MSA SC5078]. Susanna Yatman, donor of the former collection, and her husband were special guests at the Commission meeting. The Cristofane Collection contains mostly records pertaining to the town of Bladensburg and the Brice Family. The town records include two transcripts of proceedings of the commissioners for 1787-1836 and a tax book for 1875-1889. One transcript was made in 1787 by order of the town commissioners and added to in later years. At the same time a second transcript was prepared. This one, whose whereabouts is unknown, was used in 1897 to create another transcript. This second copy contains a few entries and a plat not found in the surviving 1787 transcript. Also found in the collection are photographs and other images of Bladensburg and a letter to Daniel Dulany from a doctor whose friends and acquaintenances included the actor Garrick and Lord Chesterfield. The Mitchell Collection contains materials relating to the family of Clarence and Juanita Jackson Mitchell, including a metro edition of the newspaper Afro-American for September 10, 1938, that has never been filmed.

Volunteers contribute greatly to the overall effectiveness of programs at the Archives. Of prime concern to its patrons is the availability of parking. Due to the skills of Douglas deKeyser, a former engineer, the Archives was able to increase the number of parking spaces by 40% by reconfiguring the lines in the parking lot. He and his wife Betty were special guests at the Commission meeting.

In recent weeks the Archives has worked closely with the Comptroller's office to appraise administrative records accumulated during Goldstein's many years in office from 1958 to 1998. Coming to the Archives in the near future will be correspondence with county and state agencies, clipping files, Board of Public Works materials, appointment books, retirement systems files, and speeches, press releases, and press conference presentations. Inventory control will be maintained on-line based on existing card files, box listings, and database entries.

Ed outlined the many successes of the summer internship program. [For a review of the program,  readers are referred to the August 24 issue of the Bulldog].

The Commission discussed and approved several resolutions concerning administrative and fiscal matters. It urged the Task Force for the Creation and Communication of Verified and Authentic Electronic Files to address the issue of security of permanently valuable electronic files that can be used for verification of content and the problem of secure identification for the transmission of electronic mail and other electronic records. The Commission authorized the Archives to create a program for electronic archives and recruit a director. The Commission confirmed its support of the Archives' request to the Information Technology Fund for a grant to fund the placement of over a million pages of primary source material on-line for research. In addition, it was recommended that the Year 2000 Program Management Office provide funding for the redesign and conversion of the Archives' database management system, currently with 12,000 component parts. The meeting ended with a review of the upcoming exhibit of items from the Peabody Art Collection at Government House.


MICHAEL PIPER, ANNAPOLIS SCHOOLMASTER
by Robert Barnes

Colonial schoolmasters have tended to be an under-appreciated, if not invisible, group. The Reverend Jonathan Boucher, writing in the 1770's, described most of them as being mere "indentured servants and convicts." 19th century historians such as John Thomas Scharf tended to repeat Boucher's remarks. My own research has revealed that many were second generation inhabitants of the Province. Some acquired property, some held office, some moved on to other careers, and some married and established families. One such schoolmaster was Michael Piper of Annapolis. No one knows where he came from, but he was here in Annapolis by 1721 when his son, a wee lad of 10 years old, died. Piper was a schoolmaster and the register of St. Anne's Parish. He was married to a woman named Rose, who died the 29th of November, 1724, in her 35th year. [Anne Arundel County Church Records of the 18th Century, by F. Edward Wright, p. 92]

The vestry proceedings of St. Anne's Parish show that Piper was chosen clerk of the parish on 7 November 1720. In March 1720/1 he brought an order from the sheriff that he be paid 900 pounds of tobacco for one years salary as clerk. By 1721 he was not only register of the parish, but schoolmaster of Annapolis. In December he petitioned the vestry for a small quantity of land where his son was buried at the east end of the church for himself and his family. He was allowed to take a 7 foot square piece of land providing he did not encroach on any other burial ground. In 1723 Michael Piper paid 5 shillings for a pew in St. Anne's for his wife and daughter. In January 1724 the vestry authorized an extra payment of 150 lbs. of tobacco to Piper for transcribing the two tables hanging in the church: one was a table of marriages (showing which marriages fell with the bounds of consanguinity) and the other a table showing donations of several men for the public buildings of Annapolis. ["Vestry Proceedings of St. Anne's," Maryland Historical Magazine 7: 74-75, 79-80, 174, 178, 270, 273]

Michael Piper must have been well thought of by his fellow Annapolitans, because when Edward Smith of Annapolis made a will on 27 April 1723, he named Piper and Daniel Dulany as executors and guardians of his children. Piper declined to act as executor, but claimed the right to see that the children were brought up in the Protestant religion . Between 1723 and 1724, Piper received payments from the estates of several individuals: Margaret Slater and Thomas Holmes in 1723 and Cornelius Brooksby in 1724. When Henry Carter made his will on 2 Sep 1724 he left one pistole to Michael Piper of Annapolis, schoolmaster, for writing the will. Like many other Marylanders, Piper sometimes lived beyond his income. In 1726 he was listed as a debtor to several estates, including that of Daniel Thompson, innholder. [Prerogative Court (Wills) 18, pp. 149, 355, MSA SM16 and Prerogative Court (Accounts) 5, pp. 213, 334, 416; 7, p. 388; 8, p. 474; 10, p. 125; MSA S531]

A search of the indexes to patents and Anne Arundel County land records failed to find any record of land ownership. His daughter Rose Anne was born in December 1723, and the clerk recorded that at her baptism on the 29th, her godparents were Capt. Thomas Larkin, Elizabeth Beale, and Mrs. Transum. Godparents were seldom recorded in the records of Anglican baptisms; when they were so recorded, it was because either the child's parents or one or more of the godparents had some standing in the community. Michael Piper disappears from the available records after 1726. He does not seem to have left a will, administration account, or inventory. What happened to him?


GOVERNMENT RECORD TRANSFERS
by Kevin Swanson

ATTORNEY GRIEVANCE COMMISSION

(Case File) var. d. [MSA T1260] BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS (General File) 1975-1987 [MSA T378]
(Meeting File) 1994-1995 [MSA T918]
COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY (Clipping File) 1976-1998 [MSA T2956] COURT OF APPEALS (BV Opinions) 1993 [MSA T1209]
(BV Papers) 1993 [MSA T1218]
COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS (Miscellaneous Papers) 1992 [MSA T1327]
(Opinions) 1992 [MSA T1328]
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE, AL HEALTH DEPARTMENT
(Birth Record) 1901-1934 [MSA T2229]
(Death Record) 1891-1977 [MSA T2942]
(Death Record, Cumberland) 1912-1948 [MSA T2928]
(Deaths Due to Cancer) 1912-1959 [MSA T2929]
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE, BOARD OF DENTAL EXAMINERS (General File) var. d. [MSA T2654]
(License File) 1992-1993 [MSA T2934]
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND MENTAL HYGIENE, MEDICAL CARE FINANCE AND COMPLIANCE ADMINISTRATION (General File) 1987-1996 [MSA T2692] DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, DIVISION OF HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL PROGRAMS (Historic Site Data Layer, Archeological Sites Presence Grids) 1994 [MSA T2927]
(Historic Site Data Layer, Historical Trust Preservation Easements) 1997 [MSA T2925]
(Historic Site Data Layer, Maryland Inventory of Historic Places) 1997 [MSA T2926]
(Historic Site Data Layer, National Register of Historic Places) 1996 [MSA T2924]
DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, BC DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES (Foster Care File) 1988-1992 [MSA T329] DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES, TA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES (Adoption File) 1992-1993 [MSA T2134]
(Foster Care File) 1992-1993 [MSA T2135]
DEPARTMENT OF LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE (Municipal Charter Amendments and Annexations) 1995-1997 [MSA T336] DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES, GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SERVICES (National Wetlands Inventory Guidance Maps) 1989 [MSA T2954]
(Wetlands of Special State Concern, Correction Project, georeferenced) 1997 [MSA T2932]
(Wetlands of Special State Concern, Layout Files) 1998 [MSA T2930]
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY (General File) 1977-1990 [MSA T385] DISTRICT COURT (Tapes) 1972-1994 [MSA T230] DISTRICT COURT 4, CH (Criminal Docket) 1963 [MSA T1078] GENERAL ASSEMBLY (Laws, Original) 1997 [MSA T1833] GENERAL ASSEMBLY, SENATE (Journal and Roll Calls) 1997 [MSA T294] GOVERNOR (General File), 1986-1996 [MSA T2685] HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION (Bond Reports) 1969-1995 [MSA T2931]
(Construction File) 1969-1993 [MSA T2462]
(General File) var. d. [MSA T2422]
(Meeting File) 1986-1992 [MSA T1696]
(Minutes) 1976-1988 [MSA T2332]
MARYLAND AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE FUND (Special Accounting Records) 1991-1994 [MSA T1887] OFFICE OF PLANNING (MdProperty View) 1997 [MSA T2775] STATE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD OF ELECTION LAWS, AA SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS (Petitions) 1990-1992 [MSA T267]
(Voter Registration Record) 1998 [MSA T265]
STATE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD OF ELECTION LAWS, BA SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS (Voter Registration Record) 1987-1992 [MSA T268] STATE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD OF ELECTION LAWS, KE SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS (Voter Registration Record) 1894-1960 [MSA T2933] STATE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD OF ELECTION LAWS, PG SUPERVISOR OF ELECTIONS (Campaign Papers) 1986-1994 [MSA T280]
(Voter Registration Record) 1988-1992 MSA T281]
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SYSTEMS, ACADEMIC AFFAIRS (Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure File) 1958-1987 [MSA T2574]
THE ARCHIVISTS' BULLDOG
Founded 1987

Edward C. Papenfuse, State Archivist
Patricia V. Melville, Editor
Mimi Calver, Assistant Editor
Lynne MacAdam, Production Editor
Rita Molter, Circulation

The Maryland State Archives is an independent agency in the Office of Governor Parris N. Glendening and is advised by the Hall of Records Commission. The Chairman of the Hall of Records Commission is the Honorable Robert Mack Bell, Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals.

The Archivists' Bulldog is issued bi-monthly to publicize records collections, finding aids, and other activities of the Archives and its staff. Subscription cost is $25 per year, and the proceeds go to the State Archives Fund. To subscribe, please send your name, address, and remittance to: the Maryland State Archives, 350 Rowe Boulevard, Annapolis, Maryland 21401-1686. Phone: MD toll free: (800) 235 4045; or (410) 260-6400. FAX: (410) 974 3895. E-mail: archives@mdarchives.state.md.us. The Editor welcomes editorial comments and contributions from the public.

The Archives maintains a Website on the Internet at: http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us