will be given in tabular form followed by an account of changes
which occurred duringthe years in question. Exceptions will be made
only in the case of accessions. There is no need now to repeat the
lists of manuscript record which were received at the Hall of Rec-
ords for those early years since they are all included in the Cat-
alogue of Archival Material at the Hall of Records which was pub-
lished in 1942. Major accessions will, however, be noted. The printed
book collection, which was nothing to begin with, grew hardly at all
during these years, and in any case since no printed materials were
accessioned until later, it would be pointless to try to separate the
early from the late at this time.

One new section will be added: an account of the Hall of Re-
cords before the building itself was occupied. There will also be an
appendix in which will be found the various Acts of Assembly hav-
ing to do with the Hall of Records through 1943. Later Acts are,
of course, included in the printed Annual Reports. Finally, instead
of titling this sketch The Early History of the Hall of Records or
something similar, it has been decided to call it First to Fourth An-
nual Reports in order to relieve the difficulty of librarians who are
constantly in search of those reports which appeared before the
Fifth, the first one printed. For the same reason its format will be
the same as later Reports.

Doubtless errors both of omission and commission will be found
here by those who were witnesses of or principals in this minute
chapter of Maryland institutional history. I ask their forgiveness in
advance and to all others I add the caution "errors excepted."

Respectfully submitted,

MORRIS L. RADOFF,

Archivist.

HALL OF RECORDS,
Annapolis, Maryland.