Archives burst at seams with Maryland history

The Washington Times ^ | June 17, 2012 | David Hill

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland State Archives collection is among the largest in the country with nearly 400 years of history, including Colonial-era paintings, keepsakes of the state’s governors, and thousands of land, court and genealogy records.

With all that history, the Archives has run out of space.

The agency first filled its Annapolis headquarters to capacity in 2000, then leased and filled a warehouse. It leased a second warehouse and a third before brokering a deal to store some of its property at the Baltimore City Archives.

All of the facilities are now full, and state archivists have been pushing for more space since 2005.

Agency officials say that the lack of space and “substandard” conditions at the warehouses have damaged some of the older items, and that employees are trying to avoid losing their grip on history.

“I hope that as the economy turns around we’re going to be able to request some more conservation money,” said Deputy State Archivist Tim Baker. “We really need to finally own up to our responsibility to take care of these treasures and store them adequately.”

Mr. Baker said well-maintained archives serve a valuable purpose in a democracy.

“I don’t think we have as much appreciation as we should for the fact that it wasn’t that long ago that kings and military people ruled and decreed,” he said. “We decided a different course and said that we’re going to write it down and document the rights and responsibilities of people.”

The Maryland State Archives was formed in 1934, but has grown exponentially in the past 20 years because it has taken on greater numbers of documents from increasingly records-conscious county and local governments.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Maryland “Freak State” PING!

[SampleMan]

Maryland is a horder.

Seriously, I think they have confused items of historical value with old stuff.

[rovenstinez]

Have they ever heard of scanners? Then go rent some space at the Salt Mines in Hutchinson, Ks. There the paper will be kept safe and light and right humidity. Put it all ONLINE... Save the warehouse, the lights, security and move on.

[Lionheartusa1]

Now you can add a 40.7 billion dollar debt to the archives handed down soley by the 0’malley admin.

If you think I’m incorrect about the amount google MARYLAND DEBT CLOCK ,,, but first sit down .

SHAMEFUL !!!!!!!

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“”The agency first filled its Annapolis headquarters to capacity in 2000, then leased and filled a warehouse. It leased a second warehouse and a third before brokering a deal to store some of its property at the Baltimore City Archives. All of the facilities are now full,””

---

What is wrong with this picture? It took Maryland 400 years to fill the Headquarters archive in 2000.

In the ensuing 12 years they have filled two warehouses and leased space at the Baltimore City archives.

It is clear to me that Maryland has too many employees creating too much paper.

This is another example of why the voters need to purge the government employee ranks. Government employees at all levels are bankrupting us.

[Smokin' Joe]

That which will be lost or damaged to the point of illegibility will concern the fundamental Rights of Marylanders, founding documents, early families, land records, etc. This is better than a courthouse fire...But they’ll have every traffic ticket for the last 50 years.

[maddog55]

This is Maryland... perfect time for them to eliminate a lot of history and change it to what they want it to be.

[knarf]

Yeah, that's about what I was thinking.

More like, they keep adding to the list of what constitutes history ...

Hey Fred, here's letter from some guy to his queer lover ... looks like around 1820 ... should we include it?

I dunno ... do we have a queer file?

I dunno ... should we make one?

Yeah, sure

Instant history

[Dudoight]

Years ago I obtained records about my Maryland revolutionary ancestor from there. It was a list of items confiscated for the revolution...including ‘dung hill fowls’. This stuff is great! It had wills of my ancestors...

I don’t think its all ‘stuff’.

[Vigilanteman]

Reasonable solution. Beyond the salt mines in Kansas, there are granite vaults in the Rocky Mountain States, superb preservation climates available in the deserts of Nevada or New Mexico at abandoned military installations and a host of other possibilities.

I am not one to pooh-pooh the value of keeping original records, but 99% of your researchers will have their needs met with a certified digital copy. The remaining 1% can travel to Kansas, Nevada or where ever.

[lack-of-trust]

Why is it filling so fast?

High School Records (you really do have a permanent record and “this” will not look good on it)
Paper transcripts of County Council and Town council mtgs

every level of Gov generating more paper and shipping it to the State Archives.

[sauropod]

Actually, collections such as that are very valuable to historians and family history writers such as myself.

I’ve been to both the Pennsylvania and New Jersey State Archives myself and plan on going to the MD one. I recently discovered that i have ancestors from both Harford and Cecil Counties.

[sauropod]

It is always best to use original sources whenever possible.

Sometimes the microfilm copy is really crappy. Having the documents housed in a salt mine is entirely unsatisfactory, in my opinion.

[SunkenCiv]

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