Archives' Newsletter, The Archivists' Bulldog

Vol. 9, No. 24, July 24, 1995

GOVERNOR GLENDENING VISITS THE ARCHIVES' ELECTRONIC CLASSROOM
by Mimi Calver
On Monday, July 17, Governor Parris N. Glendening spent an hour and a quarter here at the Archives, having a hands-on demonstration of the electronic classroom which has been set up as a joint Archives/Boys' Latin School project for the Summer Teachers' Institute. After a few welcoming remarks from Ed, the Governor took off his jacket and settled down with two of the teachers at a monitor where he was shown the document packet "In the Aftermath of Glory" in its electronic format, complete with TV interviews of scholars and a film clip from the movie Glory. The two teachers: Charlie Flanagan from the Key School and David Mitchell from Fr. Charles Hall Middle School in Baltimore City gave him an excellent, and very enthusiastic, overview of the work the Teachers' Institute has been engaged in this summer. After working with Charlie and David for a while, the Governor went around the room and talked to each of the teachers about their work. Governor Glendening is very interested in the work we are doing here to incorporate the technology of the Internet into teaching history because computer literacy is an important part of his new educational initiatives which he issued in June. He was very impressed with the electronic classroom and was especially intrigued by the public/private partnership aspect of it. The visit also attracted attention from the press. It was reported by Lou Davis of Channel 2, and the Capital had a wonderful story and picture on the front page of the Arundel Section. The concept of the electronic classroom was created by Ed and Mercer Neale, headmaster of Boys' Latin School. Boys' Latin gave the Archives a grant to buy and assemble the computers, and it was all put together in short order by Chris, Glenn, and Betsy. Ed spent a great deal of time putting the content of the document packets which were used into the format of the World Wide Web, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). Under the terms of the partnership, seven of the eight computers used in the electronic classroom will be installed at Boys' Latin School in September, and the Archives will be working very hard to find the funds to recreate it here to use for on-going staff and teacher training. The 1995 Summer Teachers' Institute on Teaching With Original Sources is funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which also funded last summer's institute. Rocky and Ed have managed the institutes since they began five years ago.

REFERENCE REPORT

by Pat Melville
Among the topics being researched in June were institutional studies of the sheriff in Wicomico County, Blackwater Presbyterian Church in Worcester County, Hiss Church in Parkville, and the Royal Theater. Political and legal themes figured in the study of the Maryland Constitution and Declaration of Rights and elections in Maryland from 1787 to 1824. Local research topics, prominent throughout the month, included military lots in Garrett County, Federal Hill in Baltimore City, Jefferson Patterson Park area in Calvert County, courthouse block in Annapolis, Providence in Anne Arundel County, and Fells Point in Baltimore City. Societal studies involved ethnic relationships during the Great Depression in Baltimore City, slave community in Washington, DC, Puritan and Quaker activities in Anne Arundel County, and Acadian immigration into Annapolis. Economic subjects included furniture makers in Baltimore during the federal period, land ownership in Calvert County, railroads in Annapolis, and stores of the 1800s. Biographical studies concerned John Hanson, Thomas Stone, and Stringfellow Barr. Other topics pertained to frontier Maryland, corporal punishment, Confederate surgeons, and patterns in decisions regarding burial and cremation. In June a lesser number of researchers used a greater quantity of record material. Total circulation in the search room rose 15.8%, 11,488 compared to 9,924 in June 1994. Library usage climbed 29.8%, 1,888 compared to 1,454. The use of original records increased 28%, 3,359 compared to 2,625. Circulation of microfilm rose 6.8%, 6,261 compared to 5,845. The total number of researchers fell 7.6%, 1,294 compared to 1,401. New patrons decreased 8.3%, 407 compared to 444. Returning researchers declined 7.3%, 887 compared to 957. Each patron used an average of nine records; in 1994 the average was seven records. As expected income from reader printer copies jumped 216.7%, $1,091.00 compared to $344.50. Photoduplication orders taken in the search room rose 21.3%, $2,316.50 compared to $1,909.45. Telephone reference remained as popular as ever, going up in June 43.1%, 1,203 compared to 841 calls last year. The daily average then was 38; last month it was 55.

NEW ADDITIONS TO LIBRARY

by Shashi Thapar
Allen, Corben Elko, Allens of Little Egypt, 1995. 0450 A REF C-3-2
Beale, Howard K., Theodore Roosevelt and the Rise of America to World Power, 1956. 1785 15-3-1
Bestor, Arthur, Backwoods Utopias: The Sectarian Origins and the Owenite Phase of Communitarian Socialism in America, 2nd enlarged ed., 1971. 1800 I3 15-4-3
Callow, Alexander B., Jr., American Urban History: American Interpretive Reader with Commentaries, 1969. 1793 15-3-2
Dodd, Rosemary B., Abstracts of Land Records of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, vol. 3, 1994. 1062 REF A-4-1
Freidel, Frank, George Washington: Man and Monument, 1965. 1055 W 9-4-6
Fuller, Grady P., Ezekiel Fuller and Some of His Descendants, 3rd ed., 1994. 0450 F REF C-2-2
Gardiner, Thomas Richard, Gardiner: Generations and Relations, vol. 2: Gardiner Relations, 1991. 0450 G REF C-2-2
Glaab, Charles N. and A. Theodore Brown, History of Urban America, 1967. 1793 15-3-2
Hamilton, Lamar, Pike Connections: From Maryland to Kentucky and Beyond, 1994. 0450 H REF C-1-3
Hansen, Marcus Lee, Atlantic Migration 1607-1860: A History of the Continuing Settlement of the United States, 1961. 1710 13-3-5
Hansen, Marcus Lee. Immigrant in American History, 1964. 1800 I3 15-4-3
Hareven, Tamara K., Anonymous Americans: Explorations in 19th Century Social History, 1971. 1793 15-3-2
Higham, John, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of American Nativism, 1860-1925, 1969. 1750 15-1-1
Holloway, Mark, Heavens on Earth, Utopian Communities in America, 1680-1880, 1966. 1793 15-3-2
Jones, Maldwyn Allen, American Immigration, 1960. 1793 15-3-2
Korean Overseas Information Service, Facts about Korea, 1993. 0697 7-2-5
Korean Overseas Information Service, Handbook of Korea, 1993. 0697 7-2-5
McCurley, James B., Jr., Dehoff of Pennsylvania (1742), vol. 1. 1995. 0450 D REF C-3-6
Merk, Frederick, Manifest Destiny and Mission in American History, 1963. 1700 13-2-3
Miller, John C., Crisis in Freedom: The Alien and Sedation, 1951. 1734 14-3-2
Pearson, Eustace H., Do Not Lie! The Notleys of Somerset and Dorset, 1991. 0450 N REF C-1-2
Pearson, Eustace H., Notleys in Early Maryland, 1995. 0450 N REF C-1-2
Remini, Robert V., Andrew Jackson and the Bank War: A Study in the Growth of Presidential Power, 1967. 1750 15-1-1
Richards, Leonard L., "Gentlemen of Property and Standing": Anti-Abolition Mobs in Jacksonian America, 1975. 1750 15-1-1
Root-Bessenhoffer, Barbara Jean, Demar, Demarr, DeMarr, DeMar: Woodville Methodist Church Cemetery, 1995. 0450 D REF C-3-6
Shomette, Donald, Tidewater Time Capsule: History Beneath the Patuxent, 1995. 1055 R5 9-1-3
Thernstrom, Stephan, Nineteenth-Century Cities: Essays in the New Urban History, 1970. 1793 15-3-2
Ward, David, Cities and Immigrants: A Geography of Change in Nineteenth-Century America, 1971. 1800 G2 15-3-6
Whitcraft, Melissa, Francis Scott Key, 1994. 1055 K 9-3-5
Wiltse, Charles M., The New Nation, 1800-1845, 1961. 1740 14-3-5

PUBLICATION NOTICE

Because of vacations the next two issues of the Bulldog will be published on August 7 and August 21, 1995.

SPORTS NEWS: CROWNSVILLAINS CLOBBER ARCHIVES

by Arian Ravanbakhsh
After losing two consecutive games by one run, the Archives softball team attempted to rebound against the team from Crownsville State hospital on July 19. Coach Emeritus Doug "Louisville Slugger" McElrath, recognizing the importance of this game, had taken the opportunity to unveil his newly acquired offensive weapon, a shining Louisville Slugger aluminum softball bat. Alas, success was not to be achieved on this day. After leaving two runners on base in the first inning, the Archives team and their faithful watched in horror as seven Crownsvillains scored in their half of the inning. The second and third innings were even worse, as the Archives team went down in order twice and gave up an additional 12 runs, making the score after three innings, 19 to 0. It was at this point that our fabled investigator, "Wild" Bill Bodziak added another credit to his resume of investigative triumphs, when he noticed that the home-standing Crownsville team had been using an illegal, high-compression softball that clearly accounted for their five home runs and numerous hits in those three innings. Once the usual league mandated softball had been substituted, the Crownsvillains' bats only accounted for five more runs and the Archives offense began to show signs of awakening. Chuck "Mr. Style" Bodziak led off the fourth inning with a single and scored on Steve "Say Hey" Bennett's third home run of the season. The only other highlight followed in the sixth, when "Wild" Bill singled and drove in "Say Hey" who had doubled. The official league record will reflect a final score of 24-3 in favor of the Crownsvillains. What it will not reflect is the unsportsmanlike conduct and flagrant circumvention of league rules by the victors. The Archives offense was uncharacteristically silent, and the athletes from Crownsville seemed more suited to the professional leagues than our amateur league. The final game of the regular season will be played on Wednesday, July 26 at Freetown. Watch as the Archives begins to gear up for another run at the league title.


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