6 THIRTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT

In the period from January 25th to June 30th, we granted eleven
patents. There were caveat hearings scheduled with notifications to the
caveators and caveatees and all other interested parties, then the notifi-
cation of the inevitable continuances. Since the end of the fiscal year,
there have been several hearings and one caveat case has been appealed
to the Circuit Court of Prince George's County. This means transcribing
the record, listing the exhibits which have been filed, and much more.

We have now finished moving the records of the Land Office to the
Hall of Records. We left only the microfilm copies of deeds, mortgages,
and releases from 1949 to the present, plats of subdivisions which must
be filed by the clerks of many counties, and the documentation for the
annexation of contiguous areas by municipalities (Art. 23A, Sec. 19,
Annotated Code of Maryland, 1957, 1966 Replacement Volume). We
moved the newer records of the Comptroller's Office to the Land Office.
Then we transferred the abstracts of deeds, mortgages, and releases to
1949 which we had held in our stacks for the Land Office, to the
McKeldin Library of the University of Maryland. It was only because
of these complicated transfers and shifts of records that we were able to
find space in the Hall of Records for the Patents, Debt Books, Rent
Rolls, and other old and valuable records of the Land Office.

Efforts to repossess the Maryland records now in the custody of the
Librarian of Congress were continued. At the request of Governor
Tawes, five members of our delegation in the House of Representatives
introduced Joint Resolutions instructing the Librarian of Congress to
release the records to the State of Maryland. Thus far, there have been
no hearings on the Resolutions although there was one scheduled for
early last fall. At present, The Honorable Clarence D. Long is still
interested and active in our behalf. His bill (House Bill 209), is prob-
ably the one that will be considered.

In spite of the turmoil, physical as well as spiritual of the year,
it was also a year of accomplishment: the number of visitors, the num-
ber of postal inquiries, were greater than ever before. There were more
receipts, we acquired more records, and we published two books.

Respectfully submitted,

MORRIS L. RADOFF
Archivist and Records Administrator