INTRODUCTION TO THE GUIDE TO GOVERNMENT RECORDS
The Maryland State Archives is the central repository for state government records of permanent value with a broad legal mandate to acquire and care for both public and private records relating to the history of Maryland from the earliest times of Lord Baltimore to the present. Its mission is to
A. Protect records considered essential to the continuing operation of government;
B. Guarantee the integrity and preservation of permanent records;
C. Ensure the legal admissibility of the permanent record;
D. Secure the rights and privileges of citizens;
E. Assure public access to the records of government;
F. Promote legal and fiscal accountability of government agencies; and
G. Provide a means to document administrative history of government agencies.
The Guide to Government Records is the finding aid created to assist users in accessing these records. It describes series of records which have been created by state, county, or municipal agencies. Note that over half the records listed in the Guide are stored in remote facilities outside Annapolis, including all records housed separately at the Baltimore City Archives, a subsidiary of the Maryland State Archives. When using the Guide in planning a visit to the Archives, pay heed to the storage location. Records stored in remote locations cannot be available on the day of your visit to Annapolis unless requested at least two work days in advance of your visit. Records in the Archives building in Annapolis have a location that begins with a two digit number. All other records stored elsewhere begin with letter acronyms. For example, BA means that the records are stored in Baltimore. In addition, all records with MSA citations of BRG, BTR, and BMS are available in the original only at the Baltimore City Archives, by appointment only as explained at http://baltimorecityhistory.net.
SEARCHING THE GUIDE
There are a variety of ways to search the Guide. For the most frequently used records, the tab "Reference and Research" is the recommended first step. The Reference and Research page lists the major record series by type and links each type to descriptions of its most important individual record series and information about how they can be accessed, with links to those that are online. This page also provides general guidelines for research using the holdings of the Maryland State Archives.
On the right hand side of the guide is a box to jump directly to a series if you know the series number (For example: “S1179” is the series number for county death records for the years 1910-1951).
To do a more in-depth search for records, there are three types of search available: Display by Series, Display by Agency, and Display by Qualifier.
Display by Series has organized the records alphabetically by type of record. For example, clicking on “T” will result in all record series beginning with “T,” such as Tax Assessments, Testamentary Papers, Tobacco Inspection Papers, etc.
TIP: Beware of synonyms for the series title given to a record. (Articles of Incorporation can be listed as Charter records, pre-1851; Equity Cases as Chancery Papers; Divorce Papers as Equity Papers in some counties, etc.)
Display by Agency has organized the records alphabetically by the agency that created the record. (For example: a county Circuit Court, Prerogative Court, Secretary of State, etc.)
Display by Qualifier is an arrangement of government records as used by the previous Guide to Government Records finding aid. It is divided into records created at the county, state, and municipal levels. County, State, and Municipal Agency records are exactly what they sound like: records created at those levels of government. The Transferred Series is the listing of record series transferred to the Maryland State Archives that have not been fully described through archival accessioning procedures.
Five means of filtering the results are provided for all three of these search types. More than one filter can be used at a time.
Jurisdiction: Limit your search to a specific County or Municipality
Series Name: Specify that you want only Testamentary Papers
TIP: If you are not sure of the exact record series title, just type a part of the series name (“testamentary” or "testa")
Agency: The entity that created the record (Circuit Court, Register of Wills, etc.)
TIP: If you are not sure of the Agency’s exact title, just type a part of the title (“register”)
Date: Date of record creation
Form: Paper, Microfilm, Electronic
SERIES CITATION INFORMATION
The Society of American Archivists describes a “series” as A group of similar records that are arranged according to a filing system and that are related as the result of being created, received, or used in the same activity; a file group; record series. When records are inventoried by, or transferred to, the Maryland State Archives, their original arrangement and order, as intended by the creating agency, is maintained as much as possible, although some series are artificial creations by the Archives to bring a semblance of order out of records that have been poorly managed and cared for prior to transfer. The citation for every series unit is uniformly structured whether it be records in the custody of the Archives or records in another repository managed by the State Archives, such as the Baltimore City Archives. For example:
Level of Government = BALTIMORE CITY
Collecting Agency = BALTIMORE CITY ARCHIVES
Record Group = (Mayor's Office)
Series Content Description = Calhoun Correspondence to the City Counsel
Date Span = 1797-1802
MSA Designated Series Number/citaton = BRG9-1
or
Level of Government = FREDERICK COUNTY
Creating Agency = REGISTER OF WILLS
Series Name= (Inventories)
Date Span = 1749-1851
MSA Designated Series Number/citation = C807
Note on Series Numbers: The letter at the beginning of each series number identifies the type of record it is. As shown:
C = County Record
CM = County Record on Microfilm
CE = County Record in Electronic Format |
T = Transferred Record
TM = Transferred Record on Microfilm
TE = Transferred Record in Electronic Format |
S = State Record
SM = State Record on Microfilm
SE = State Record in Electronic Format |
M = Municipal Record
MM = Municipal Record on Microfilm
ME = Municipal Record in Electronic Format |
|
BRG=Baltimore City Archives Record Group
BMS=Baltiimore City Manuscript Collections
BRT=Baltimore City Records Transfers |
|
This Introduction hopes to make your search as resourceful as possible. Suggestions for improvement and clarification are welcome and should be address to msa.helpdesk@maryland.gov.
This information resource of the Maryland State Archives is presented here for fair use in the public domain. When this material is used, in whole or in part, proper citation and credit must be attributed to the Maryland State Archives. PLEASE NOTE: Rights assessment for associated source material is the responsibility of the user.
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