164/Mary land Manual
The Archives Division, or Maryland Hall of
Records, is the historical agency for the State of
Maryland. It serves as the central depository for
governmental records of permanent value. Among
its holdings are colonial and State executive, leg-
islative, and judicial records; county probate,
land, and court records; church records; business
records; and special collections of private papers,
newspapers, and maps. Records are stored in a
humidity- and temperature-controlled stack area,
and preservation requirements, including deacidi-
fication, lamination, mylar encapsulation, and ar-
chival bookbinding, are undertaken by the staff of
an inhouse conservation laboratory. Records are
made accessible to the public in a search room
that is open six days each week, through photo-
copies produced in an inhouse photolab, and
through the interlibrary loan of microform. The
Hall of Records produces a variety of finding
aids and guides to records, as well as historical
monographs, essays, and directories. A brochure
describing Hall of Records publications and an-
other giving guidance for doing research in the
public search room or by mail are available on
request.
The Hall of Records building, located on the
corner of College Avenue and St. John's Street on
St. John's College Campus in Annapolis, opened
to the public in 1935. State agencies, counties, cit-
ies, and towns in Maryland are authorized to of-
fer for deposit at the Hall of Records all files,
documents, and records not in current use.
State agencies are required by law to have their
records placed on retention and disposal sched-
ules. No records of State agencies can be
destroyed without scheduling and the prior ap-
proval of the Hall of Records Commission.
All records that are in the courthouses of the
State and that were created prior to April 28,
1788, the date of ratification of the U. S. Consti-
tution by Maryland, must be deposited at the
Hall of Records. The records of all State agen-
cies, boards, and commissions that are abolished
or otherwise cease to function must also be trans-
ferred to the custody of the Hall of Records
Commission.
All current deeds, mortgages, and releases re-
corded in the courthouses of the State are
microfilmed and preserved at the Hall of Records
for security purposes. Limited facilities are avail-
able for the filming of records of State agencies.
By several Acts of Assembly, the Hall of Re-
cords has been designated as an official deposito-
ry for the publications and reports of State agen-
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cies (Code 1957, Art. 40, sec. 53) and for all
codes published by local governments, both coun-
ty and municipal (Code 1957, Art. 23A, sec. 9A;
Art. 25, sec. 32A, Art. 25A, sec. 7; Art. 25B,
secs. 7, 12). Since 1967, the Hall of Records has
been a depository for charter amendments and
annexations of municipal corporations (Code
1957, Art. 23A, secs. 9, 17, 17A and 19). The
Hall of Records issues a monthly list and biennial
compendium of State Publications Received.
The Archives Division compiles, edits, pub-
lishes, and distributes the MARYLAND MAN-
UAL (Code 1957, Art. 41, secs. 104-106).
Chapter 488, Acts of 1966, transferred the
functions, records, responsibilities, and employees
of the Commissioner of the Land Office to the
Hall of Records Commission. Under the provi-
sions of Chapter 355 of the Acts of 1967, the Ar-
chivist was designated as the Commissioner of
Land Patents and assigned the responsibility of
issuing land patents and conducting court hear-
ings. In performing these duties, he acts indepen-
dently of the duties imposed on him as Archivist
(Real Property Art., secs. 13-101 to 13-504). The
Hall of Records Commission serves as the official
depository for the duplicate copies of subdivision
plats formerly sent to the Land Office as insur-
ance against the loss of the originals.
Records Management Division
Philip F. Schneider, Records Administrator
State Records Management Center
Routes 175 and U.S. 1
Waterloo 20794 Telephone: 799-1379
The Records Management Division develops
programs and policies for the efficient manage-
ment of the records of all departments and agen-
cies of the Maryland State government and pro-
vides assistance in the preparation of records
retention and disposal schedules.
The Division operates a central Records Center
located at Waterloo for the storage of inactive
State records, which must be retained for speci-
fied periods of time to meet the State's legal and
administrative needs. The Records Center opened
for operation during Fiscal Year 1981 and re-
placed four smaller centers located in Baltimore,
Annapolis, Waterloo, and Cheltenham.
Chapter 981, Acts of 1978, gave the Records
Management Division responsibility for coordi-
nating the State's Forms Management Program
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