15. Liber W. H. Laws: erroneously lettered on the back 1676-1678. This volume contains laws made at different Assemblies from 1640 to 1688. They are not placed in strict chronological order. These copies were made in the seventeenth century, and many of the transcripts are attested by Philip Calvert as Cancellarius.
16. W. H. and L. 1640-1692. Laws made at some of the Assemblies held during these years.
17. C. and W. H. 1638-1678. Laws. A copy from older books made in 1726, and certified to be correct.
The two following original volumes are in the State Library at Annapolis:—
18. Proprietary, 1642-1644. Contains proceedings of the Council sitting as the Provincial Court, proclamations, commissions, etc. A part of this volume has been transcribed into one of the Land-Office Records.
19. Provincial Court of Maryland. Records. March, 1658-November, 1662. This volume is in bad condition and several pages are wanting. It contains the records of the Council as a Court, oaths of officers, depositions, etc.
A calendar of the state papers contained in Nos. 1-13 of the above volumes, and in some of a later date, was compiled in 1860 by the Rev. Ethan Allen, under the direction of J. H. Alexander.[886] No systematic publication of extracts from these records has ever been made. After the death of Mr. S. F. Streeter, in 1864, his large collection of manuscripts pertaining to the provincial history of Maryland was placed in the hands of Henry Stockbridge Esq., who prepared them for publication, and in 1876 some extracts from these with notes by Mr. Stockbridge were published by the Maryland Historical Society in a volume entitled, Papers Relating to the Early History of Maryland, by S. F. Streeter. This volume contains the proceedings and acts of the Assembly of 1638, with a list of the members and their occupations, the record of the case against William Lewis, the first will, the first marriage license and various court proceedings.
The Legislature of Maryland at its January session, 1882, passed an act directing that all the records and state papers belonging to the period prior to the Revolution be transferred to the custody of the Maryland Historical Society, and appropriating the sum of two thousand dollars to be expended by the Society in the publication of extracts from these documents.
In 1694, when the capital was removed from St. Mary’s to Annapolis,—then called Anne Arundel Town,—the Assembly directed that the records should be transported on horses, and in bags sealed with the great seal and covered with hides. The persons charged with this duty afterward reported to the Assembly that they had safely delivered the books to the sheriff of Anne Arundel County. There is a full list of these volumes in the Journal of the Lower House, and one perceives with regret that the greater part of them no longer exist. Many state papers were greatly damaged during this removal, and others were lost in the fire which destroyed the State House in 1704. When the government of the Province was restored to Lord Baltimore in 1716, an act was passed appointing commissioners to inspect the records and to employ clerks to transcribe and bind them. The preamble to the act set forth the loss of several important records, and that a great part of what remained was “much worn and damnified;” which was partly owing to the want of proper books at first. On such general revisions of the laws as were made in 1676, 1692, and at other times, it was customary to make transcripts in a “Book of Laws” only of those acts which were continued in force. The record of the laws not re-enacted was then neglected.
Very little care was bestowed upon the state papers generally. Many of the volumes cited by Bacon in his Laws of Maryland, published in 1765, are not now to be found. In 1836 the State librarian (Ridgely) made three reports to the governor and council upon the early records, which contain a partial list of those then discovered. He says that in the treasury department he found “the remains of two large sea-chests and one box which had contained records and files of papers which were in a state of total ruin.” He also discovered many early records, whose existence had not been suspected, in different public offices, and some “under the stairway as you ascend the dome.”[887]