![[Color photograph of Government House]](/msa/mdmanual/25ind/images/38govh.jpg)
Chair: Peta N. Richkus, Secretary of General Services
Ex officio: vacancy, designee of Governor; Joy R. Walker, designee of Senate President; Casper R. Taylor, Jr., House Speaker; J. Rodney Little, Director, Maryland Historical Trust.
Nonvoting members appointed by Governor: not yet appointed
Ex officio nonvoting members: Edward C. Papenfuse, Ph.D., State Archivist; John Lampe, Ph.D., Chair, History Department, University of Maryland, College Park; Martin E. Sullivan, Executive Director, Historic St. Mary's City Commission; Doreen Bolger, Director, Baltimore Museum of Art; William Johnston, designee of Director, Walters Art Gallery; Jean Woods, Director, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts; Dennis Fiori, Director, Maryland Historical Society; Joan Reynolds Hoge, Director, Talbot County Historical Society; Elizabeth D. Brewster, Head Gardener, William Paca Gardens.
Secretary: Edward C. Papenfuse, Ph.D., State Archivist
c/o State Archives
350 Rowe Blvd.
Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 260-6401
e-mail: mimic@mdarchives.state.md.us
web: www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/homepage/html/govhouse.html
Government House Trust began in 1980 (Chapter 267, Acts of 1980). It was reorganized as the Governor's Mansion Trust in 1988 and resumed its earlier name in 1995 (Chapter 494, Acts of 1988; Chapter 130, Acts of 1995).
The Trust supervises and directs the renovation, design, and furnishing of the seven State rooms of Government House, the official residence of the Governor. The State rooms include the center hall, the conservatory, the private reception room, the State dining room, the State drawing room, the State parlor, and the State reception room. The Trust also is responsible for landscaping the grounds of Government House; conserving and restoring objects in the State rooms; and maintaining the State rooms. An inventory of furnishings in Government House is kept by the Department of General Services.
On behalf of the State, the Trust may receive and accept gifts and loans of property for use in the State rooms of Government House. No improvement, alteration, addition, removal, or other change in the internal design or furnishings of any State room of Government House is authorized unless approved by the Trust. In performing its duties and responsibilities, the Trust consults with and seeks the advice of the Commission on Artistic Property, and the Board of Trustees and Council of the Maryland Historical Society.
The Trust consists of seventeen members. Five voting members include the Governor, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Delegates, the Secretary of General Services, and the Director of the Maryland Historical Trust, or their designees. Nine advisory nonvoting members also serve on the Trust with three nonvoting public members appointed by the Governor. The Secretary of General Services serves as chair (Code State Government Article, secs. 9-601 through 9-606).
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