The Archivists' Bulldog

Vol. 9, No. 20, Newsletter of the Maryland State Archives, June 19, 1995

THE ANNAPOLIS I REMEMBER COLLECTION

by Mame Warren
The Annapolis I Remember Collection [MSA SC2140] contains photographs and research notes collected for a book and theater production concerning Annapolis in the 20th century.

The photographs consist of copy negatives, mostly covering the period 1900-1960. See Then Again, Annapolis 1900-1965 and finding aids 4 A&B on guide table in the search room. Many images have copy prints that may be xeroxed.

The research notes consist of directories, programs, articles, topic files, and oral history files. The directories include Annapolis city directories (or excerpts from them) for the years 1896-1897, 1910, 1924, 1934, 1939; the Annapolis section of The First Colored Directory of Baltimore City dated 1925-1926; Annapolis telephone directories for the years 1909, 1932, 1936-1937, 1947-1948; a list of Annapolitans in military service in 1918 found in The Boys of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Who are Serving Uncle Sam; and the Anne Arundel County section of the Directory and Gazetteer of Maryland for 1887 which includes a list of businesses. Programs pertain to the Rambler Athletic Club including advertisements, 1937; the Annapolis Fire Departments's 1925 tournament, and the Maryland State Firemen's Association convention held in Annapolis in 1927. Also included are feature articles by Ann Jensen which appeared in the Annapolitan magazine concerning various neighborhoods, personalities, and ethnic groups: Hell Point, Murray Hill, Trumpy's Yacht Yard, Aris Allen, Joe Alton, Jews, and Greeks.

The topic files relate to ethnic groups, political issues, economic activities, recreation, individuals, neighborhoods, structures, religion, and education. The subjects include African-Americans, African-American Voting Rights, Agriculture, Annexation, Back Creek, Baseball, Wiley H. Bates, Bay Ridge, Brewer Hill Cemetery, Chesapeake Bay Bridge, Severn River Bridge, Spa Creek Bridge, William H. Brown, Annapolis Buildings, Bus Service, Carr's Beach, Carvel Hall, Colonial Day, Cemeteries, Chronology of Events in April 1968, City Dock, Civil War, Colonial Ball, Crime, Depression, Eastport, Fire, Fire Companies, Governor's Mansion, Hall of Records, Highways, Hill Street, History, Hospital, Housing, Housing Authority, Improvements, Industry, Jewish History Project, Jim Crow Laws, Jonas Green Park, Library, Legislature, Maps, Mayor's Reports, Medicine, Murray Hill, North Severn, Ogle Hall, Oral History, People, Photographers, Poetry, Politics, Post Office, Preservation, Prohibition, Railroads, Real Estate, Recreation Center, Sailing, St. John's College, Sands House, Schools, Seafood Industry, John Snowden, State Buildings, Statistics, Stores, Suicides, Suburbs, Synagogue, Theatres, Transportation (ferryboats), U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Naval Aviation, Naval Academy Chapel, Naval Academy Stadium, Naval Academy Expansion, USO, Wars, Weather, Leon Wolfe's Barbershop, and Yacht Basin.

Many Annapolitans were interviewed for The Annapolis I Remember project . The collection contains oral history tapes and transcripts for the following individuals: Cleo Apostol, Marion Borsodi, Tom Branzell, George Bounelis, Lionel Brooks, Robert Campbell, Jack Ladd Carr, Marita Carroll, Flora Chambers, James W. Clark, Rebecca Clatanoff, James B. Collins, Claudia Cullimore, Charles Dodds, "Missy" Weems Dodds, Margaret Dowsett, James Dunleavy, Joseph Alexander Eucare, James Lacey Evans, Lillian Fisher, Jack Flood, Amelia Florestano, Bernard Gessner, Margaret Green, Israel Greengold, Anna Greenberg, Charles Haste, Henry Holland, Carroll Hynson, Jr., Peggy Kimbo, Irving "Buddy" Levy, Jane McWilliams, William McWilliams, Virginia Meridith, Roger "Pip" Moyer, Ellen Moyer, Emily Peake, George Phelps, Henry Robert III, Mary Lee Schab, W. Dean Sears, Sadie Snyder, Lester Trott, and Mary Wiseman.

Publicity for The Annapolis I Remember project and Then Again. . .Annapolis, 1900-1965 include excerpts from interviews published in The Capital and complete Lifestyle sections for July through December 1990.

Map of the City and County of Baltimore, Maryland, from Original Surveys, 1850

By Christopher N. Allan and Hanna Szczepanowksa
J.C.Sidney and P.J. Brown, 1850, published James M. Stephens, Baltimore. Copyright, Robert P. Smith, Philadelphia [MSA SC 4386]

Joseph M. Coale III, a Baltimore collector of maps and co-author of The Hammond-Harwood House Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland, 1608-1908, recently lent the Archives a map of Baltimore County, published in 1850, for conservation treatment. This allowed the Archives' conservator, Hanna Szczepanowska, the opportunity to work with a unique object and one that the Archives did not have in its collection.

The map depicts Baltimore County with an inset of Baltimore City. There is a decorative floral border with illustrations of sites and buildings in corner and center medallions. The engraving is enhanced with watercolor.

Historical Context
The Map of the City and County of Baltimore is representative of a number of maps published from mid to late nineteenth century. The publisher's goal was to provide information about roads, election districts, towns, homes, farms, and businesses for local residents. In addition to soliciting subscriptions, marketing efforts also extended to those who were willing, for an additional fee, to have the location of their home, business, or property placed on the map.

James M. Stephens, the publisher of the map, retained the services of Robert P. Smith to undertake the cartography and printing. Smith was involved in the preparation of many county maps from 1846 to 1864. Although he appears as publisher on only few maps, he was instrumental in the publication of 100 or more land ownership maps with others. In many instances, he provided survey and mapping expertise to local businessmen, such as Stephens, who were responsible for subscription sales and marketing. James C. Sidney, the surveyor of the map, also prepared maps of Essex County, New Jersey, and Dutchess and Richmond counties, New York, and Philadelphia.

Conservation Analysis
The map that Mr. Coale brought to the Archives was folded and assembled in 35 sections which were mounted on canvas. The map was printed on two sheets, top and bottom, which were glued together for flat display. An earlier owner decided it would be more useful as a pocket map and had it cut in sections. In addition to gluing the sections onto canvas, at least one cover board, and likely a second, were attached to the canvas. The map was coated with shellac which yellowed unevenly. Brown discoloration from the glue used for mounting was visible on verso of the map in a pattern of brush strokes.

The map was soiled unevenly with small, light brown stains scattered throughout. A stain at the top left portion, probably caused by liquid, weakened the paper causing it to tear in the center of the stain. The top and bottom margins were cut off at some point in the past, removing part of the medallions. The top right section of the map was torn, abraded, and creased. This was the most severely damaged area of the map.

The metal plate engraving was enhanced with hand-applied watercolors and watercolor wash. Verdigris was applied to the vignette, around the insert map of Baltimore City, top right, and along top border of the county map. The verdigris had partially darkened and discolored. One portion of the map's cover was attached to the verso, at the top left side. It was made of poor quality composition board covered with black bookbinding cloth.

Proposed Conservation Treatment
The proposed conservation treatment was based on three factors. First, the glue used to attach sections of the map to the canvas was highly acidic. Unless corrected, the adhesive would weaken the paper over time. As a result, portions of the map would begin to crumble and flake. Second, the shellac coating would darken unless removed. Shellac was commonly applied to such objects in the nineteenth century to enhance or brighten images and text. It was also considered to make maps more durable. It was fortunate that the map had been kept folded since the exposure of the shellac to ambient light would have caused it to darken, obscuring features of the map. The owner wished to have the map matted and framed for display. The third objective for the conservation process was to accurately reassemble the sections of the map with a support that was suitable for framing.

The proposed treatment included surface cleaning of the map, removal of the shellac coating with organic solvents, separation of the map from the canvas, removal of stains, discoloration, and acidity from the paper in a course of aqueous treatment, lining with Japanese tissue, and final assembly of 35 sections.

Conservation
The proposed treatment had to be modified once work was undertaken. It was discovered that the map was lined with two layers of canvas rather than the one sheet anticipated. This second layer was severely discolored, nearly brown, strongly bound to the paper, and saturated with heavy layer of acidic glue which tested at pH 3.5.

The other concern during treatment was the effect of solvents on the stability of the watercolors. Numerous tests were made prior to the application of solvents to be certain these would not damage the map. Even after determining that the solvents employed would be acceptable, exposure was limited to less than three minutes at one time.

Final assembly of the map was complicated by two factors. First, the original map was printed on two sheets joined horizontally with one half inch overlap. There had been distortion along this seam from uneven expansion and contraction. Second, the map had been crudely cut when it was made into the 35 sections. These conditions required careful alignment, particularly in the center row, to accurately reassemble the map. Each section had to be positioned simultaneously in accordance with all neighboring segments to keep all sections in proportion with one another.

The map was separated from the first layer of canvas mechanically. The second layer of canvas was removed after exposure to moisture between humidified blotters for 20 minutes.

NEW LIBRARY ACCESSIONS

by Shashi Thapar
Filby, P. William. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1995 Supplement.
Holland, Patricia. From Seminary to Parish: A History of the Holy Family Catholic Church, 1890-1994, Davidsonville, Maryland.
Meek, Milton P. General Summary Index to Microfilmed Meek Collection of Genealogical Lineages and Materials.
Meek, Milton P. Mitchell-Meek Families, Cecil County, Maryland to Yourk County, South Carolina, 1700's.
Moran, Patrick Edward. Moran Exodus from Offaly.
National Endowment for the Humanities. 1994 Annual Report.
New Hampshire Historical Records Advisory Board. Strategic Plan.
Oszakiewski, Robert Andrew. Maryland Naturalization Abstracts, vol. 1: Baltimore County and Baltimore City.
Petrie, William L. Bibliography of the Frederick Douglass Library at Cedar Hill.

COMING EVENTS

Tue., Jun. 20, USIA International Librarians and Bahamian archivists tour, 9:30 a.m.
Thu., Jun. 22, MARAC, Maryland Caucus meeting, conference room, 3:30 p.m.
Tue., Jun. 27, Hall of Records Commission meeting, conference room, 12:00 noon.
Tue., Jul. 4, Closed for Independence Day.

SPORTS NEWS

Not A Pretty Sight!
One of the great mysteries of softball is how can a team that scores 25 runs in one game only manage a paltry 4 runs one week later? Perhaps the softball fates wished to teach us a lesson in humility, or maybe we need to exorcise the demons from our bats, but whatever the explanation, the Archives suffered an embarrassing offensive collapse on June 14 against an unsavory squad representing McCrone/Russell Toyota. The final score was 11 - 4. Normally in our run-happy league, we would have beaten a team that scored only 11 runs. But with an offense that hardly appeared, we were lucky that the score was as close as it was.

On the mound pitching for this contest was the old hurler Doug "Louisville Slugger" McElrath resplendent in the historic fuchsia shirt that blinded opponents throughout the 1991 and 1992 seasons. Of course only the absence of starting pitcher "Wild" Bill Bodziak would cause the team to resort to such desperate measures. In fact, maybe the shirt unnerved our rookies who could not imagine an entire team so dressed.

With a grand total of four runs there is little to report about great displays of bat skill, but there were two noteworthy events. In the fourth inning, Chuck "Robbin'" Hood reached on a sharp single and scored when Bill "The Thrill" Bodziak drove a liner deep into center field. Bill blazed around the bases and almost passed "Robbin'" Hood who was taking a more leisurely stroll to home plate. Bill just beat the throw to record his second homer of the season. Before that in the third inning, Mariana "The Menace" Toves once again gave an opponent a lesson in respect for female batters when she blasted a liner over the center fielders for a lead-off double. Unfortunately, her colleagues in the Bottom-of-the-Order failed to capitalize on this fine piece of batting and left her stranded.

This loss was all the more galling because the Russeloid team has all the qualities that so endears folks to car dealers and auto repair types; namely, NO CLASS! A number of disputed calls and unsportsmanlike plays confirmed our low opinion of the species, and we certainly hope we get a second chance to redress the injustice in the playoffs! Too bad we looked so weak when we had a great cheering section. Joining stalwarts Betsy "Nerves Of" Steele and Reggie "Radar" Davis were Chris "Hurricane" Haley, Heather "Howler" Ravanbakhsh, Lee "Fog Horn" Evans, and former player Jodie "Chain Saw" Evans. Score keeping responsibilities fell to Frank "The Terror" Toves and we thank him for filling-in.

Next week on June 21 we are back home at Annapolis Junior High Field # 4 to face state agency rival DHCD. Let's hope for a much better performance as we open our campaign for the Defenestration of Reverdy Johnson championship among state teams in the league!


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