ARCHIVIST or THE HALL or RECORDS 29

brought in thirty-three volumes of Assessment Books dating from 1793
to 1876. This should be a useful series even though it is far from com-
plete.

On the State level, we are pleased to report another of the periodic
transfers of Executive Correspondence which have come to us regularly
since 1947 when Governor Herbert R. O'Conor established a precedent
by leaving all of his official papers in State custody. The most recent
transfer comprises the correspondence of Governor Theodore R.
McKeldin for the calendar years 1955 and 1956.

The earlier Executive Papers are present in large quantities, but
are obviously incomplete. Just last year an item belonging to this
series was located among the papers of the Maryland Historical Society
and returned to the State. It is a letter written after the Battle of
Yorktown by George Washington to Governor Thomas Sim Lee.
It transmits the terms of the surrender signed by Lord Cornwallis and
reports the disposition of the prisoners. Unfortunately, the enclosure
is missing. This letter ties in closely with another written by Wash-
ington a month later in which he expressed his appreciation for the
vote of thanks conferred on him for his victory at Yorktown by the
General Assembly of Maryland. This second letter had strayed even
further afield, having been purchased at a London auction in 1929 by a
group of Maryland residents who presented it to the Hall of Records in
1937.

By preparing microfilm copies of the Minutes of the Board of
Public Works for the period 1904-1958, we have extended our holdings
of this important series from 1851 when the Commissioners of Public
Works, as the agency was originally called, commenced operating to
1958 when the current volume begins.

A volume deposited by the Reverend Robert F. Henry, Rector of
St. Barnabas Church in King George's Parish, contains both the Vestry
Minutes and the Parish Register for approximately the first century of
the Parish's history. This was one of the thirty original Protestant
Episcopal Parishes established under the Act of 1692. It was then
known as Piscataway Parish in Charles County (Prince George's
County was not erected until 16%). Later it was called St. John's
Parish. The present name was adopted in 1902. The Reverend Mr.
Henry is preparing an index to the Parish Register which contains
entries dating from 1689 to 1801. He was kind enough to let us micro-
film this index which is about three-fourths complete.