LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

November 9, 1953
To THE HONORABLE

THE HALL OF RECORDS COMMISSION
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

Gentlemen:

You will find in the following pages a detailed account of the work of
the Hall of Records for the period from July 1, 1952, to June 30, 1953.
Because it would be burdensome for an ex officio body such as the Hall of
Records Commission to keep itself informed otherwise, the Archivist has
always felt it his duty to make his annual report as full as possible, and
wherever feasible, to compare the activities of one year with those of pre-
ceding years so that the members of the Commission might judge trends as
well as annual performance.

Almost all of the following chapters are devoted to special activities
which are by now well known to you. Here it seems proper only to bring
to your attention new or unusual developments. You will note that for the
first time in many years the quantity of material laminated decreased. This
was due to the fact that one of our two repair technicians devoted much of
her time to installing a bindery in our building. Less microfilming was done
by the Hall of Records proper because our photographer spent much of the
year producing the remarkable Index to Maryland Laws which you will find
described in detail in "Aids to Research."

Microfilming of county records, however, became a major function of
the Hall of Records with the creation at the beginning of the year of the
Microfilm Division. I am sure you will be interested in the account of how
we accomplished a microfilming project for three State agencies at one time
and our plans for continuing the work in the future. A full report of the
Governor's Special Commission for Records Management, which finished its
work with the passage of the Records Management Act, will make it clear
to you how far we have moved from the purely historical objectives which
were described in the original Hall of Records law and, on the other hand,
how useful our work has become in the day by day business of the State
government.