While the Ridgely name appears frequently in published letters and biographies of Maryland notables, little has been published on this extraordinary family. This is surprising as there is an enormous wealth of Ridgely family papers, ranging from ones that pre-date the American Revolution and continuing through the mid-twentieth century. The Ridgelys began making their mark in the colony when Robert Ridgely of St. Inegoes, Secretary of the Province of Maryland under Lord Baltimore, became Keeper of the Great Seal on June 16th, 1670.
A succession of three Charles Ridgelys created a fortune in land investments and ironworks. The earliest was Colonel Charles Ridgely (1702/3-1772), a merchant who began acquiring land in 1726 in what is now Baltimore County. He brought his sons, Captain Charles and John, into partnership in 1761, establishing the Northampton Iron Works. Captain Ridgely (1733-1790) was a colorful personality who had a varied career as a sea captain, planter, iron master and politician. He represented Baltimore County at the Annapolis Convention in 1774 and spent several years in the Legislature. Ridgely became the political boss of Baltimore County in the years after the Revolution. He was elected to the House of Delegates for the county ten times between 1777 and 1787. Ridgely sold iron kettles, shot, and cannon to the American forces during the Revolution and speculated in confiscated English property in the 1780s. He used a combination of hired, convict, slave and indentured laborers to man his ironworks. It was he who built the family home of Hampton, the present historic site.
While the Ridgelys were a commanding presence in the Maryland countryside, they were also strongly involved in the development and urbanization of the City of Baltimore. The third Charles Ridgely (1760-1829) served a term as Governor of Maryland from 1815-1817 and joined with Alexander Brown, Isaac McKim, George Brown, Thomas Ellicott, Benjamin C. Howard and other civic leaders to establish the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Ridgely vigorously opposed the development of the area of Canton, complaining that it would obstruct the view of the harbor from his Baltimore townhouse. He was a competitor of inventor Peter Cooper, another provider of iron for the nation's expanding network of railroads. Ridgely's name appeared on the listing of the 200 most worthy and intelligent men of Baltimore, chosen by George Peabody from his vast circle of friends to lead his newly founded Institute.
The nature of the Ridgelys' economic interests, their public careers, domestic life, and the contributions of the forceful Ridgely women present fertile fields of study. The family played notable roles in politics, in economic affairs and in society when America was coming of age. The Ridgely women made their mark in religious and civic pursuits and were actively involved in operating the extensive Hampton estate. The list of family correspondents reads like a Who's Who of influential Maryland families, including the Brownes, Carrolls, Chews, Claggetts, Dorseys, Eichelbergers, Gilmors, Howards and Shaws. On a broader perspective, the documents chronicling this remarkable family provide an expansive view of the social and cultural history of the 1850s and 1860s, an area which has received relatively slight notice in the teaching and writing of American history because of the understandable preoccupation of historians with the American Civil War. There are a few important books that follow single strands throughout the 19th century; but overwhelmingly the histories of American life and thought either end in the 1850s or begin in the 1870s.
Many of the changes that propelled America into the modern age were taking place in the early decades of the 19th century. During that period America was transformed from a pre-industrial society to a modern capitalistic state. The revolutions in industry and transportation spawned by modern technology were nowhere more evident than in Baltimore. The railroads and the telegraph symbolized the power and speed that would mark this modern age. The Ridgely's involvement in this changing world has yet to be explored.
The achievements of the Ridgely family in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, coincident with Baltimore's rise in national and international prominence, deserve serious study. The Ridgely family papers, along with the related papers of the powerful families with whom they were allied, and the records of the institutions they created, provide rich resources for historians interested in exploring the transitions that American culture and its institutions underwent between the Jacksonian period and the Gilded Age.
The public interpretation at the Site emphasizes a view of the Ridgelys at the Hampton Site that tends to look inward at life on the estate, focusing primarily on the objects and furnishings that decorate the house and on the family's business interests at Northampton. This point of view is valid and interesting to the public and should be maintained. However, a broader view of the influence of this powerful family on the economic and political developments of Baltimore and the State of Maryland should be presented to visitors at Hampton.
The Ridgely collection is located in the Long House Granary Room, a stone farm building on the Hampton grounds used to store an assortment of collections (bound volumes, prints, photographs, furniture, textiles, etc). There is no space for processing collections or for accommodating researchers. The Archivist has been officially assigned other duties in development, but continues to volunteer time to service the needs of staff members and outside researchers. Effectively, there is no professional staff assigned to the collection. A museum technician, Dolores Lake, serves as keeper for all of the varied Hampton collections, from fine arts to farm implements, including the Archives. She is responsible for overseeing their physical condition and general housekeeping. Experienced and dedicated volunteers also help with collections management; two of them assisted with the arrangement and description project and continue to work with the archival collection.
The original archival order of the papers does not survive. The present arrangement of the papers was created to satisfy the needs of the primary user of the papers, namely the site curator. The papers at Hampton have been used primarily for internal use to interpret objects within the house.
The papers have been indexed at the item level. Worksheets devised for three-dimensional objects (involving approximately 35 entries each) were compiled on each item. The National Park Service uses an Automated National Cataloguing System (designed to manage three-dimensional objects); a code was devised to make archival descriptions fit this system. It is hoped that the system will ultimately allow keyword searches. Hampton has on-site personal computers but they are not networked to other National Park Service sites nor to the Internet. In any event, the worksheets have not even been entered into Hampton's local computer (data entry was to have been assigned to a museum technician but the position was not filled before being frozen).
While the Ridgely papers were indexed to the item level, the usefulness of this cataloguing is severely undermined by the fact that no series descriptions have been created to help guide researchers through the collection. The person who organized the papers as Archivist, Pamela Burrow, is still on the Hampton staff - it is vital that the series descriptions be created while she is still available, either as a reinstated archivist, or as a consultant.
Hampton has a small but dedicated and knowledgeable staff that has accomplished much with very limited resources. To say that they are hampered by lack of adequate workspace and financial resources is to understate the situation.
Hampton maintains a reference library for staff use. There is an extensive collection of published materials relating to the estate, the family, the buildings and their contents. The Site's collection of government documents includes records related to the operation of the site; planning and study reports; historic structure reports; and park history. The Hampton library contains approximately 5,000 books, reports, magazines and other published materials in addition to unpublished family diaries and journals (original to Hampton). These materials are uncatalogued and there is no one monitoring there use.
The "reference library" is presently located in the office of Lynn Hastings, the Site Curator and in an adjacent room. She should be relieved of the burden and inconvenience of having to accommodate staff members and outside researchers within her limited workspace. Hampton is in urgent need of adequate work space for members of staff and outside researchers.
It is likely to prove more difficult to find the relatively modest funds needed to alleviate these conditions than it would to support a more ambitious program that would establish a research center on the Hampton site. The prestige of such a center at the Hampton Site would be more appealing to a foundation or major donor.
Ridgely Family Papers, Hampton National Historic Site:
The Ridgely papers came to the Hampton Site in small batches between 1935 and 1966. It is especially rich in documentation on the women of the family. The Ridgely women had a strong hand in managing the estate, many of them travelled widely and were well connected with important political figures. Margaretta S. Ridgely's (1824-1904) letters from relatives in London and Paris contain descriptions of social life in the mid to late-19th century. The collection also contains approximately 8,000 historic photographs related to the Ridgely family and the estate.
Maryland Historical Society:
The Maryland Historical Society has nine major collections of papers pertaining to the Ridgely family. Collections MS692 and MS1127 provide detailed information on the operation of the Northampton furnace, the acquisition of forge workers and evidence of Ridgely's mistreatment of the workers he hired and bought. The Harry Dorsey Gough collection (MS400) includes an inventory book of Charles Ridgely of Hampton. The papers of Captain Charles Ridgely (MS692, MS692.1 and MS1127) shed light on his political career. Other Ridgely papers contain business and personal correspondence with Daniel Dulany, William Paca, Samuel Chase, William Pinkney and other leading Maryland figures. Extensive documentation on the Ridgely relations, including the Dorseys, Howards, Chews, and Eichelbergers can also be found at the Society. There are also related records that reflect on the Ridgely family. for example, there are the records of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Towson, built by the Ridgelys. Correspondents include architect Edmund G. Lind and Charles Ridgely. The more recent papers documenting the Ridgely empire's twilight years reflect the wide-spread changes taking place in urban and suburban life in Maryland.
The lives of many of the Ridgely women can be examined in the papers of Helen West Stewart Ridgely (MS.715); Helen Ridgely Family Papers (MS.715.1); Eliza [Eichelberger] Ridgely Letters (MS692); Ridgely-Pue Papers (MS.693); the Eliza E. Ridgely Records (MS.691 and MS.692); Leonice [Sampson] Moulton Papers and Josephine [Moulton] Stewart Papers (MS.715.1) and the papers of Margaretta S. Ridgely (1869-1949), an Episcopal missionary to Liberia who founded and ran a boarding school for young girls (MS.1127).
The papers of Helen West Stewart Ridgely (1854-1929) describe the life and responsibilities of a Baltimore society matron in the late 19th century. Her diaries chronicle her life as Mistress of Hampton and her associations with political leaders at the state and national level. In 1894 she published The Old Brick Churches of Maryland. She was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to assist with the Jamestown Exposition and was friends with President and Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt.
Some of this material has been microfilmed by the Maryland State Archives and copies of the film have been placed at the Hampton site. Additional Ridgely material is scheduled for microfilming.
Maryland State Archives, Hall of Records:
An introduction to some of the Ridgely men can be found in the Legislative History Project Collection, SC1138, which contains biographies of Charles Ridgely, (1700-1772); Charles Ridgely, (1733-1790); Charles Ridgely of John, (1749-1786); Charles Ridgely of William (d.1810); Henry Ridgely (1728-1791); John Ridgely (fl. ca. 1724); Richard Ridgely (1755-1824); and Charles Ridgely of Hampton (1760-1829).
The G. Howard White Collection of Ridgely family papers include a letterbook which lists slaves by name and records their ages and the clothing they were issued. Also of interest is the Harry Wright Newman Collection microfilm genealogy of the Ridgely family (SC2821).
Additional information on the family can also be found in county and state records, land patents and probate records as well as the Records of the Governor and Council and Maryland State Papers.
Much of the extensive collection of Ridgely material at the Maryland State Archives is on microfilm. The collection also includes microfilm copies of some of the Ridgely papers at Maryland Historical Society.
The Johns Hopkins University, Special Collections, Milton S. Eisenhower Library:
Approximately 10.5 linear feet of Ridgely family papers can be found in the Howard-Ridgely-Maynard Family Papers. The papers consist of family correspondence, land and legal documents, photographs, and family bibles of three related families.
University of Maryland College Park Libraries; Marylandia Department, McKeldin Library:
The Ridgely family papers include documentation on indentured servants and slaves held by Charles Ridgely; the rape of a Ridgely slave is recorded. There are also papers of the related Dorsey family.
Ridgely Papers at Other Repositories:
A Ridgely holding has been found at the Library of Congress and their collections should be surveyed for other Ridgely-related materials.
Other fertile areas are indicated. The archives of Alexander Brown and Sons; the Morgan Library in New York; the Essex Institute Library at the Peabody & Essex Museum at Salem, Massachusetts, and the United Methodist Historical Society at Lovely Lane in Baltimore are likely to contain Ridgely material. If and when the archives at B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore are processed, it is likely that additional Ridgely material will emerge. The B&O Museum has submitted a grant proposal to the NHPRC for funding to arrange and describe their archival collections. These records hold promise for scholars interested in Ridgely's dealings with the railroad.
Ideally, the Ridgely papers would be consolidated at a single repository with a qualified staff to serve researchers. While this is unlikely to happen in physical form, microfilming, or more likely digitizing the various scattered records might provide a practical alternative. Copies could be made available at sites such as the Maryland Historical Society and the Maryland Hall of Records. A CD-ROM publication, and/or an Internet posting, could make these records even more widely available.
Hampton is known for its ornate Georgian house, historic outbuildings, elegant furnishings and pleasant surroundings. The creation of a study center and residency program for advanced scholars would add an important dimension to the Hampton Site, making it a center for scholarly research. The work of visiting and resident scholars would cast light on life at the estate and the contributions of the Ridgelys in the world at large. Similar programs in place at Peabody Essex Museum and Winterthur could provide a model for a program at Hampton (see Appendix B).
The possibility of linking the center to a univeristy such as Hopkins or to a State agency should be explored.
Efforts should be made as soon as possible to obtain the staffing needed to complete the arrangement and description project at Hampton. If the Hampton Ridgely papers are to be maintained on the site, the hiring of an archivist or manuscripts curator and an archives technician to oversee their care and to serve the needs of outside researchers must be made a priority. Staffing must be in place when the collection is moved to a study center.
There are no dedicated research facilities at Hampton at present. There is an urgent need for a study center with space sufficient to house the archives, microfilm library, architectural records, site reports and reference collections. The study center should provide comfortable work space for resident and visiting scholars, as well as for outside consultants engaged in research projects on the site and for the Hampton staff (which is presently working in impossibly cramped quarters in the basement of the house and a farm outbuilding). If it is impractical to house the center in an existing building on the site, the possibility of providing ample and secure space in the proposed visitors center should be explored.
Hampton's reference collections should be organized and catalogued under the supervision of a librarian or archivist as they are installed in the new facility. There is no listing of site studies or published reports and no control over the reference material at Hampton.
There is a serious need for a comprehensive guide to the Ridgely papers as well as a listing of important related collections in area repositories. Any effort to encourage research in the vast Ridgely holdings should begin with the organization of the vast collection of Hampton reference material and the publication of a comprehensive guide to the major collections of Ridgely papers. All of the manuscripts curators holding collections of Ridgely papers expressed interest in such a publication.
Major collections of Ridgely papers should be microfilmed or made available on CD-ROM. Copies of the microfilm or CD-ROM should be placed with institutions holding large collections of Ridgely papers and they should be available on inter-library loan.
The center should be furnished with a computer system capable of networking with the outside world. The possibility of having the Internet connections provided by Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland, Goucher College or a commercial server like Charm Net should be explored. The Internet would provide staff and researchers with access to manuscript collections throughout Maryland, to the Library of Congress and to research institutions across the country.
Using a modest computer system (under $2,000), the Ridgely finding aids can be made available to users on the Internet. This can be accomplished by utilizing SAILOR or a gopher server or World Wide Web server at a local institution. Alternatively, Hampton could create its own on-site server, a task that would be well within the capabilities of the staff.
The Internet would serve a two-fold purpose: It would make information on the Hampton site available to a large population of prospective visitors (a World Wide Web page would be good and cost-effective public relations) and it would bring the research opportunities at the Hampton Site and in Ridgely collections to a broad community of scholars.
No precedent within the National Parks System for the problems at the Hampton Site has been indicated. Given the limited staff resources and lack of specialized expertise presently at the Site, an advisory board of curators from the repositories holding major Ridgely collections and representatives from the history faculties of the University of Maryland and The Johns Hopkins University should be established. Such a committee could provide advice and counsel to the curatorial staff and could serve as advocates for Hampton.
In the Long Range Interpretive Plan, the Site vaguely proposed establishing links with Goucher College, which has long supported a variety of programs at Hampton. While its physical proximity is attractive, what is needed are formal links with university history departments with strong research programs. Local resources include The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland (College Park and Baltimore County). The intellectual resources and educational facilities of these institutions should be exploited.
At Johns Hopkins, there are several likely candidates with individual areas of specialization. These include Dr. Jack P. Greene (colonial British America); Dr. Toby Ditz (Women's studies); and Dr. Michael Johnson (19th c. Southern History); Dr. Louis Galambos (economic, business and political /history of the U.S.); and Dr. Ronald G. Walters (social and cultural history of the United States with special interest in reform, race and popular culture). They would undoubtedly have an interest in making their graduate students aware of the research opportunities at Hampton.
At the University of Maryland, College Park, Dr. Miles Bradbury, Dr. Emory Evans, Dr. Alfred Moss, and Dr. Gay Gullickson likely would have an interest encouraging research at Hampton. There should also be candidates at the Baltimore County campus.
Music and dance were a primary form of entertainment and cultural identity at the time of the Ridgelys. The resources of the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the Music Department at the University of Maryland should be explored. Faculty and graduate students could provide special expertise in research, could collaborate on special programs at the Site, including performance opportunities.
One way to initiate interest in such scholarly studies would be for Hampton to host a tour for the history faculties and graduate students of the various institutions at the beginning of the academic year.
Fellowships should be established for advanced scholars, graduate students, independent scholars, and library and museum professionals. Foundation funding should be sought to support stipends and living expenses for visiting researchers. The possibility of housing researchers at nearby Goucher College or at Towson State could be explored. There is the possibility of conducting seminars at the Site (based on the model of those funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities). The possibility of securing the cooperation of The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland and the State of Maryland should be explored.
In the Long Range Interpretive Plan (page 43), the planning team listed a broad range of reports and guides on the various structures and numerous surveys that should be accomplished. It would be folly to undertake these without first ensuring access to the archives. It is only logical that the archives be given top priority, so as to be able to inform these projects. This content cannot be understood without fundamental changes in the way that the archives is being handled. The Site Curator should be supported in her efforts to place the Site papers in the context of the other holdings of Ridgely papers. The rich archival record that survives must be made available to the people undertaking other studies and projects at Hampton.
While most of the observations above respond to urgent and current needs of the staff at the Hampton site, satisfying these immediate needs would lay a solid basis for future research projects. The establishment of a scholars' research center at Hampton is necessary. The Hampton curatorial staff would be the immediate beneficiaries of their research and the published results of their work would bring recognition to the site. The creation of a study center would be consistent with the goals outlined in the National Park System Advisory Board's Humanities and the National Parks: Adapting to Change. The report emphasized the Board's desire to "raise the quality of research and scholarship in the parks." The establishment of a research center could greatly raise the profile of the Hampton Site within the National Parks Service, transforming it from a minor site to one of major cultural importance. This would be of benefit to the State of Maryland as well.
1. The first decision that must be made is whether the National Parks Service and the Hampton Site have sufficient commitment to the Ridgely Papers. If they are unwilling or unable to provide adequate physical facilities and staff for this important collection, the possibility of depositing the Ridgely papers at a more appropriate repository should be explored. Possible choices include the Maryland State Archives and the Maryland Historical Society. At each of these repositories, there is staffing available to service the collection and there are accommodations for researchers.
2. If the Ridgely papers are to be retained at the Hampton site, a full-time archivist or manuscripts curator and an archival technician should be engaged to complete the processing process (finish box labels, compile series descriptions, etc.) and to serve the ongoing needs of collection. It is imperative that the Site take advantage of the presence of the person who catalogued the items in the first place. The archives technician should be given responsibility for computerizing the completed Archives worksheets. It is essential that a full time archivist and archives technician be retained after this project has been completed to assist and supervise members of staff, researchers and curators who require access to the collections at Hampton. The staff is not equipped to deal with researchers and visiting curators presently needing access to the archival resources at Hampton.
3. A committee of scholars should be assembled to serve as advisors to the curatorial staff. Curators at institutions holding major Ridgely (and related) collections and representatives from college and university history departments should be encouraged to participate.
4. Formal links must be established with the local scholarly community, including the University of Maryland, Goucher College and The Johns Hopkins University and the Peabody Conservatory.
5. Funding should be sought to support a survey of Ridgely family papers and the publication of a guide to the Ridgely papers and major related collections. Prof. Jack Greene, of Johns Hopkins, has indicated that he is likely have an appropriate graduate student available for this project as early as the Autumn of 1995.
6. There is presently a sampling of copies of Ridgely papers from other collections at the Site. Gaps in this research holding should be identified and filled. Major collections of Ridgely papers and business records should be microfilmed or digitized. Copies of the Microfilm (or CD-ROM) should be placed at the Hampton site and at repositories with major Ridgely holdings. The microfilm should be available on interlibrary loan.
7. The need for a proper study area cannot be overstated. The Ridgely papers should be removed from the storage building where they are now housed to a location that could accommodate staff and outside researchers. The Hampton research collection (reference materials, architectural drawings, reports and studies, etc.) should be catalogued and consolidated in a well lit and secure study area with ample room for growth.
8. The study area should be provided with a computer linked to the Internet. The Internet would provide staff and researchers with access to manuscript collections holding Ridgely papers and related records and serve as a link to research libraries. It would also make information on the Hampton site available to a large population of prospective visitors.
9. A fellowship program to encourage research into the collection should be created, based on the models of the programs at Winterthur and at the Peabody & Essex Museum. There is every reason to believe that such a program at Hampton could rival the programs cited as models.
1) There is nothing, for example, even remotely comparable to W. L. Burn's portrait of the England of 1852-67, The Age of Equipoise: A Study of the Mid-Victorian Generation (London, 1964).
2) An example is attached as Appendix A.
3) Judith Kerr located an important Ridgely account book (1740-1800) at the Library of Congress.