Congratulations to Rocky Rockefeller who was awarded his PhD degree
in History from the University of Maryland College Park on
May 22 after successfully defending his dissertation "Their Magistrates
and Officials: Executive Government in Colonial Maryland, 1715-1775."
We welcome our new crop of summer interns: Saskia Bakker (Maryland Institute
College of Art), Leigh Bond (Washington), Matt Brown (UMCP), Josh Civin
(Oxford), Jonelle Cruse (Morgan), Sarah Duran (UMCP), Kevin Henry (Towson),
Chantele Joseph (Morgan), Andrew Krug (Chicago), Laura Lisy (Harvard),
Craig Patterson (Western Maryland), Amy Robertson (St. John's), and Michael
Spara, Meade Senior High.
The program on Maryland Public Television about the life and work of
Marion Warren has won a regional emmy for documentaries. Produced by Marilyn
Phillips, "The Eye of the Beholder" traced Marion's distinguished career
in photography from his early days in Washington and Annapolis to his recent
work documenting the Chesapeake Bay and its people. Emily Murphy was very
involved in its production, from pulling photographs to supervising the
videotaping here. She and her volunteers were interviewed for it, as was
Ed.
When the early settlers arrived in Maryland and were granted land by Lord Baltimore's agents, they named their tracts of land, sometimes giving unusual or distinctive names. From time to time an individual would name his grant after his place of origin in Europe. For example, James Phillips of Baltimore County named one of his grants Sedgely, after the Staffordshire parish where he had been born. Thomas Cradock of Baltimore County named his estate Trentham, after his native parish.
A Genealogical Gazetteer of England, by Frank Smith (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Repr. 1987), can help locate the source of an English place name. Henry Snowden may have named his 150 acres called Shoreditch after Shoreditch St. Leonard's in Middlesex. Thomas Ringgold took up a tract called Huntingfield, possibly for the parish of the same name in Suffolk. In consulting this book, keep in mind variations in spelling. James Wyatt patented 224 acres, called Ryhall, in Queen Anne's Co. in 1724. Smith does not list a Ryhall, but he lists two Ryalls.
Tract names do not always point the way, but may prove helpful in combination with other factors discovered during research.
On June 4th, Joyce Riddle and I went to a free Adobe Photoshop 5.0 and Adobe Premiere 5.0 seminar in Arlington, VA. As a rule, the presenters at these events pass out evaluation sheets to be filled out by the participants, from which the involved companies can obtain feedback. Normally, these sheets are used at the end of the seminar to conduct a prize raffle. This, of course, is done to promote the companies and leave the lucky receipients with warm, fuzzy feelings. Adobe followed suit. At the first pass, after the presenter announced he was ready to begin awarding the prizes, Joyce and I had not finished our evaluations. The Adobe representative began calling out the names of winners.
Sitting against the wall, four rows from the front of the auditorium, Joyce repeatedly waved our two sheets in the air. I sat with my head down, as it appeared the presenter had all the sheets from which he was going to call winners. A $295 software package of Adobe ImageMaker was given out. Joyce waved and said, "Can we still get these in?" One of the presenters scurried off the stage and grabbed our sheets saying, "Let's see if last one in, first one out, wins?" He hustled back. A different Adobe rep grabbed our evaluations and vigorously reshuffled them with the remaining sheets. Another winner was announced. Nope. One more? No, again.
Then the presenter stepped back from the podium with another sheet. "This next prize is for a workshop through EEI training. It could be taken for any Adobe class such as Photoshop 5.0, Premiere, Illustrator. It's worth $595." He stepped back and held the paper out in front. "You're going to get it, Chris!", Joyce said. "Yeah, right," I thought. Then the announcement: "The workshop goes to...Chris Haley, Maryland State Archives." I got up slowly to a smattering of applause and approached the stage. Joyce laughed and shook in her seat. The presenter motioned to me and said "Come up and see me after we're through." On the way back to my seat, I think the audience remembered our sheets had been taken mere moments ago, and an ominous ground swell of "Wheeeeeeew"(s) escorted me back to my chair.
I asked Joyce later how she knew. "You just gotta have more confidence in yourself, Chris." Only two weeks earlier, I had checked with EEI about scheduling Adobe Photoshop classes for Joyce in her new positon as Imaging Specialist. Now, I still will, but free of charge.
Next week, we're attending a seminar on Powerball!
MSA SC 4883: Fort McHenry Reference Collection. Plans of the grounds of Fort McHenry, Baltimore. Do not circulate without the permission of the Registrar
MSA SC 4884: Woodworth Collection. 1860-1870 ca. Two Civil War era pennants, one flag, one sword and scabbard, and one munitions belt.
MSA SC 4885: Susanna Kyner Cristofane/ Bostwick Collection of Bladensburg Town Records and Lowndes, Dulany, and Brice Family Papers. 1726-1984. Family papers of the Lowndes, Brice, and Dulaney families, and papers relating to the city of Bladensburg.
MSA SC 4886 Vienna Record Book Collection. 1853-1855. VIENNA COMMISSIONERS (Property Records) 1853-1855.
MSA SC 4888: Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church Collection. 1840-1924. Church records, Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church, Gardenville, BA: registers (in German) 1842-1875, 1876-1895, 1895-1921; parish register (translation) 1875-1895; cemetery register (in German) 1875-1924; [treasurer's accounts?] (in German) 1876-1914; [vestry minutes/treasurer's accounts?] 1840-1874. Do not circulate originals without the permission of the Registrar.
MSA SC 4889: Middleton Valley Ransom Document Collection. 1864/07/08. Document demanding ransom from the town of Middleton by Confederate Troops during the Civil War, by order of General Early and signed by A.J. Pendleton. The confederate troops went to the bank to demand $5000 for ransom, and the bank went to Peter Leatherman, then the wealthiest man in the valley. Mr. Leatherman put up $1500 and the troops wrote out this receipt telling the town when to come up with the rest of the money. The document was found in the back of a book from Peter Leatherman's library by his descendant Mrs. Austin Main and given to the Middleton Valley Historical Society. No copies of photographs are to be made without written permission of the Middleton Valley Historical Society.
MSA SC 4890: William K. Thomas Collection. 1904 ca. Two photographs of the tugboat "M. W. Hunt," which was in service during the Baltimore Fire of 1904.
MSA SC 4911: Lillie Marie Daniels Collection. 1944. Letter of recommendation, Edward Weber, night superintendent, Engineering and Research Corporation, Riverdale, MD for Lillie M. Daniels, 18 Jul. 1944; letter of recommendation, H.H. Millard for Lillie M. Daniels, 20 Jul. 1944. The letters in this collection were used by Lillie Marie (Whipp) Daniels to gain employment after the war. Lillie Daniels was employed by Engineering and Research Corporation, Riverdale, Maryland during the war and made clear gun turrets for airplanes. After the war, Mrs. Daniels went to work for a grocery story and later worked for Food Lane/Fair for over twenty years.
MSA SC 4912: Marcy Dunn Ramsey Collection. 1997. Photographs, Historic St. Mary's City. Do not circulate without permission of the Director of Exhibits.
MSA SC 4915: Jean Elizabeth Spencer Collection. 1976-1988. Presentation pens given to Dr. Jean Elizabeth Spencer in recognition her work in Maryland's education and administrative system, including pens used in signing Senate Bill 347 (now chapter 538, Acts of 1976), House Bills 193 and 397 (now chapters 185 and 208 respectively, Acts of 1983), ) Senate Bill 947 and 960 (now chapters 143 and 144 respectively, Acts of 1984), and Senate Bill 459 (now chapter 246, Acts of 1988).
Jean Elizabeth Spencer made major contributions of benefit to Prince George's County and to all the citizens of Maryland through her life-long commitment to improving governmental public administration, and educational systems and services. She is credited with helping to implement major reforms and was instrumental in re-establishing a state organization to work specifically on behalf of women. In March 1993, she received one of the State's highest honors -- election to the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame. Jean Spencer, 1933-1992, attended the University of Maryland, completing her doctorate in the field of political science. As a faculty member and member of the governmental research bureau of the University of Maryland, she gained wide recognition as an expert on state and local government. Based on her experience and expertise in this area, Governor Tawes selected her to be staff director of the Curlette Commission, created to reorganize Maryland's executive branch. She continued as the Commission's staff director under Governors Agnew and Mandel. Governor Mandel implemented state executive branch reorganization to form a cabinet system based on recommendations from the Commission. Dr. Spencer became the research staff director for the Maryland Constitutional Convention of 1967-1968. This convention drafted a proposed state constitution hailed as a model of state government reform across the nation. Though the proposed constitution was defeated by referendum vote in 1968, it has served as a blueprint for governmental reform in Maryland.
Dr. Spencer served for three years as information and research director for Vice-President Agnew before returning to Maryland as the Executive Director of the Board of Trustees of the State Universities and Colleges. Among other accomplishments, she was instrumental in gaining cost-saving consolidation of programs and services among the member institutions that included Towson, Frostburg, Coppin, and Bowie. In addition, Dr. Spencer was committed to programs for the advancement of women. She was responsible for the reactivation of the State Commission on the Status of Women in 1968 to which she acted as staff advisor. In 1971, it was re-named the Maryland Commission for Women. In later years, Dr. Spencer founded the Women's Forum of the University of Maryland System to bring together, for the first time, a mechanism to raise the concerns of women employees. The Forum remains the primary voice for women in the University of Maryland System today. Dr. Spencer is also generally regarded as instrumental in developing the plan for the 1988 reorganization of Maryland's higher education system, and in 1990 she became the Deputy Chancellor of the system that includes all four-year publicly-funded colleges and universities in Maryland. In her leisure hours, Dr. Spencer was an award-winning photographer and poet and researched and published a family genealogical history.
Edward C. Papenfuse, State Archivist
Patricia V. Melville, Editor
Mimi Calver, Assistant Editor
Lynne MacAdam, Production Editor
Rita Molter, Circulation
The Maryland State Archives is an independent agency in the Office of Governor Parris N. Glendening and is advised by the Hall of Records Commission. The Chairman of the Hall of Records Commission is the Honorable Louis L. Goldstein, Comptroller, and the Vice Chairman is the Honorable Robert M. Bell, Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals.
The Archivists' Bulldog is issued bi-monthly to publicize records collections, finding aids, and other activities of the Archives and its staff. Subscription cost is $25 per year, and the proceeds go to the State Archives Fund. To subscribe, please send your name, address, and remittance to: the Maryland State Archives, 350 Rowe Boulevard, Annapolis, Maryland 21401-1686. Phone: MD toll free: (800) 235 4045; or (410) 260-6400. FAX: (410) 974 3895. E-mail: archives@mdarchives.state.md.us. The Editor welcomes editorial comments and contributions from the public.
The Archives maintains a Website on the Internet at: http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us