Vol. 12 No. 15, Newsletter of the Maryland State Archives, August 24, 1998

WHAT WE DID ON OUR SUMMER VACATION (OR, HOW WE LEARNED TO SCAN BULLETS)
by Matt Brown, Laura Lisy, and Leigh Bond

Some students spend their summers flipping burgers. We spent our summer working for Dr. Papenfuse in the Rare Books Room, flipping GIFs to TIFFs to PDFs to MAXs and back again. We enhanced existing document packets, Celebrating Rights and Responsibilities, In the Aftermath of Glory, Is Baltimore Burning, and ones concerning Donald Gaines Murray and Thurgood Marshall. A day trip to the Supreme Court Library yielded several hundred additional pages of briefs and papers relating to the Robert Mack Bell civil rights case of the 1960s. All of these packets are incorporated into a new document packet, Civil Rights in Maryland: A Guide to Archival Resources.

In addition, we created another document packet, A Guide to Six Significant Maryland Appellate Cases, based on a request from the Maryland State Bar Association. The cases include: State v. Buchanan, 5 H. & J. 317 (1821); Baltimore v. State, 15 Md. 386 (1860); Weyler v. Gibson, 110 Md. 636 (1909); University v. Murray, 169 Md. 478 (1936); Schowgurow v. Maryland, 240 Md. 121 (1965); and Stuart v. Board of Elections, 266 Md. 440 (1972). Each case involved an important legal issue addressed by the Court of Appeals. State v. Buchanan concerned the right of the State to prosecute officers of the Baltimore Branch of the Bank of the United States for conspiracy to defraud the bank and its directors. Baltimore v. State pertained to the authority of the General Assembly to eliminate the Baltimore City police force and create a State entity to enforce laws in the city. Weyler v. Gibson addressed whether a landowner was deprived of property without due process if he could not sue state officials for trespassing on his land. University v. Maryland asked the question: Does a racially segregated University of Maryland Law School violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? Schowgurow v. Maryland involved the constitutionality of requiring jurors to profess a belief in God. Stuart v. Board of Elections concerned the right of a married woman to register to vote using her birth name.

For the two-week NEH/Anne Arundel County Teachers' Institute, we provided technical support and helped the participants create websites containing their lesson plans. We joined the teachers for special visits by journalist Juan Williams and Judge Robert Mack Bell, and accompanied them on a field trip to Cambridge, MD to learn about the lives of Harriet Tubman and Gloria Richardson Dandridge.

The team's token male would like to thank his colleagues for the opportunity to play with authentic archival bullets, exhibits in Schowgurow v. Maryland, a murder case. Even after many TIFFs with Paperport and the oversize scanner, and becoming intimately familiar with the many quirks of Netscape Communicator's ../../ editing functions, we were still JAZzed to be here. Before we leave, we promise to bring in a bulldozer to clean up the mess we made in the Rare Books Room. We want to extend our appreciation to the entire MSA staff, in particular the Conservation, Imaging Services, and Information Services Management departments. www. thanksmsa!.com

    -- the MLL HTML (Matt, Laura and Leigh Hate To Make Links).

FIRST LADIES AND OFFICIAL HOSTESSES/GOVERNMENT HOUSE PROJECT
by Amy Robertson

This summer at the Archives I researched Government House and its relationship to the First Ladies of Maryland. I began with a search for records concerning ownership of Jennings House, the first Government House which lay on the grounds of what is now the U.S. Naval Academy, in hope of determining when the building was constructed. Though this date was never discovered, other interesting details came to light. The residence, for instance, was often used for legislative meetings. Jennings House was sold to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1866, in an effort by the State to keep the Academy in Annapolis by offering the institution more land. This move succeeded in its object, but required the General Assembly to provide a new residence for the Governor and his family.

The proceedings of the General Assembly proved to be a path into the history of the current Government House, built soon after the sale of Jennings House. Though offering little regarding the social events at the Executive Mansion, which are of interest because they often furnish particulars about the First Ladies, the proceedings do provide a good account of its physical history, documenting repairs and improvements made to the house and grounds. For example, in 1872 a request was made to the General Assembly for payment for a Knabe grand piano and extra cloth cover

The latter part of the summer was spent seeking out information on the lesser known first ladies, some of whom proved to be quite elusive. For many of the women, we did not know even the barest details. My task was to attempt to fill in the most glaring gaps. The internship has been a wonderful learning experience. I am now familiar with the organization of Government records. The work was pleasurable, though frustrating at times when the expectation and anticipation of finding a particular record proved to be only a pipe dream. My time at the Archives passed far too quickly. I hope in the future, I will be able to do work of this nature again.

After a 2-day briefing on our duties as newly appointed interns we were sent to the mysterious world of Speccol, i.e. Special Collections, to receive our specific assignments. Our first job, benignly classified "Speccol Survey", sent us into the underworld of Speccol on a search and rescue mission to locate any wayward collections. While we had been warned of the dangers that lay before us, nothing could prepare us for the lifeforms we were about to encounter.

Halfway through our mission we were suddenly abducted by a race know as the Accessionists and transported aboard the Hughes Mothership. While there, we went through many boxes of materials [MSA SC4975] that belonged to their Supreme Leader, former Governor Harry R. Hughes. We cataloged box after box of unusual papers and interesting artifacts, including one awe inspiring golden hammer.

Upon completion of our survey we were given a new mission which took us to possibly the most unusual part of Speccol, known only as B5, the storage area for maps, plats, and other oversize materials. It is a forbidding place, as it is completely devoid of humanoids. The scant few lifeforms we did encounter offered little hope of rescue. But we were interns, and we had a job to do. Here we were to find boxes full of strange cylinder shaped objects consisting of plans, blueprints, and maps pertaining to several railroads [MSA SC4405]. Our mission: divide and conquer! Divide them into categories and conquer the unknown power that forces them into their cylindrical shape. Weeks upon weeks passed, but we completed our mission and finally emerged from B5 to discover that the sun still shines and the sky is still blue.

We were then transferred to Archive Headquarters, where we worked in the Speccol Embassy as desk jockeys. We created web pages to chronicle our adventures in Speccol and on the Hughes Mothership. Upon the completion of our tour of duty we had a meeting with Archive Headquarters Exalted Leader and Supreme Commander Dr. Papenfuse to give our final reports and receive tremendous words of encouragement.
 
 

AFRICAN AMERICANS IN BALTIMORE
by Jonelle E. Cruse and Chantale J. Joseph

This summer we researched African Americans in Baltimore. In doing so we read scanned images of newspapers: Baltimore Afro-American, the Ledger, and the Afro-American Ledger in search of information pertaining to African Americans who were active in the educational, economical, political and social spheres of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through our research we not only discovered interesting data, but were able to use our analytical skills to produce an extensive database and a web site, Through the Eyes of the Baltimore Afro-American. The web site includes a brief history of the Afro-American and the following types of information gleaned from the newspaper for the years 1863 to 1900: clips of advertisements, timelines of educational and political events, and a summary on the progression of the African American community.

The research that we have conducted this summer has enhanced our knowledge of African American studies and information technology. It has given us the opportunity to experience archival science and its relativity to historiography.

AN INTERNSHIP WITH THE MARYLAND COMMISSION ON ARTISTIC PROPERTY
by Saskia Bakker

This summer much time and energy in Artistic Property at the Archives was spent preparing for and installing the exhibit, A Taste for the Fine Arts: George Peabody's Gift to Maryland, now on view in Government House. This exhibit of selections from the Peabody Collection honors the cultural contributions of George Peabody, founder of the Peabody Institute. The Institute opened in Baltimore in 1857, complete with a Scholars Library, Conservatory of Music and Gallery of Art. The Peabody Collection, rich in portraits of prominent Marylanders, regional scenes, and works by Maryland artists, was assembled and displayed at the Institute's Gallery of Art until its closure in the 1940s. At that time, the collection was placed on loan to several cultural institutions in Baltimore, such as the Walters Art Gallery and the Baltimore Museum of Art. In 1996 the State of Maryland acquired the collection in order to preserve and care for Peabody's wonderful art collection.

The exhibit in Government House marks the first time that works from the Peabody Collection have been exhibited since the state assumed ownership, and the first time that the works have been exhibited together since they were on view at the Peabody Art Gallery. It is also the first time that the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property has sponsored an exhibition of works of art since 1976. Making such a historic occasion possible was not an easy task. Many of the paintings and frames underwent considerable conservation work, photographs were taken for publication and educational purposes, and object files and condition reports were made for each piece of art. Then the exhibition space was planned, and finally the paintings were wrapped for shipping, brought to Government House, hung on the walls, and turned into a beautiful exhibition. The details of such an undertaking are considerable, but everything was pulled off with flying colors!

An online exhibit on the Archives web site was also produced, containing images of the exhibit, the works of art, as will as historical information and commentary about the exhibition from the curators and the sponsors of the show.
 
 
 
 
 

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