Upcoming Events

January Lunch and Learn
Unlocking the Vault: Reopening Maryland's Old Treasury Building

Have you ever wondered what that little building on the State House grounds was, or wished you could go inside it? The Old Treasury Building, the oldest public building in Maryland, will soon reopen after years of careful restoration with a new exhibition. Hear from State Archivist Elaine Rice Bachmann, Maryland Commission on Artistic Property Director Chris Kinzel and Curator Robin Gower how these new exhibits were developed as they share behind-the-scenes stories and images. A short virtual walk-through of the exhibits will also be provided.

Elaine Rice Bachmann was appointed Maryland State Archivist and Commissioner of Land Patents in July 2021. She began at the Archives in 1994 as curator of the Commission on Artistic Property, which manages the state-owned art collection. Previously she served as Director of Artistic Property, as well as Deputy State Archivist, 2016-2021. She also serves as secretary of the State House Trust. Bachmann graduated from Indiana University with a B.A. in Art History and received her M.A. from the University of Delaware Winterthur Program in Early American Culture.

Chris Kintzel, director of the Commission on Artistic Property, joined the Maryland State Archives in the Special Collections department. He has been with the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property since 2007, and was named director in 2023. Kintzel holds a B.A. in History with minors in Classics and Sociology from Western Maryland College, and a M.A in Classics from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a concentration in Roman History, Greek and Roman Mythology, and Roman Religion. In 2003 he earned a graduate certificate in Museum Studies with a concentration in Collections Management from George Washington University.

Robin Gower started as curator of the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property in 2023. Previously she worked for Historic Annapolis, the Baltimore Museum of Industry, and the National Park Service. She received a B.A. in Anthropology with a concentration in Archaeology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and an M.A. in Museum Studies from Indiana University-Indianapolis.

February Lunch and Learn
Father Eugene Patrick O'Grady:
A Baltimore Clergyman in World War II

Military historian Joseph Balkoski tells the story of Eugene Patrick O'Grady, who accompanied Maryland's soldiers as a chaplain throughout World War II. O'Grady was born in 1909 in West Baltimore, one of six children of Irish immigrants, and ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1935. When Maryland's National Guard, as part of the 29th Division was mobilized in February 1941, the division had no chaplains, so O'Grady volunteered for this duty. He remained with the division throughout its stateside training, its overseas movement to Britain, and landed with Maryland's 115th Infantry Regiment on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He was a constant presence in the frontlines, and as one 29er noted, "he always beamed hope into our tormented souls." This is the story of Eugene Patrick O'Grady and his remarkable dedication to the welfare of all 29th Division soldiers.

Joseph Balkoski served for many years as Command Historian of the Maryland National Guard and the US Army's 29th Infantry Division. He is the author of eight widely acclaimed books on World War II history, including a two-volume series on American involvement in the D-Day invasion (Omaha Beach and Utah Beach) and a five-volume series, From Normandy to Victory, on the history of the 29th Infantry Division in World War II.

Balkoski was the founder and curator of the Maryland Museum of Military History at Maryland National Guard headquarters in Baltimore, which includes the 29th Infantry Division Archives, one of the finest collections of archival papers in the United States related to the service of a US Army division in wartime. He served on the Governor of Maryland's Commission on Military Monuments, and was recently awarded the Maryland Distinguished Service Cross and Maryland National Guard Meritorious Service Medal for his lifetime of service to veterans, the state of Maryland, and the Army National Guard. In 2023, he was awarded the Order of St. Maurice, which is issued by the US Army Chief of Infantry for a lifetime of service to US Army infantrymen.