I spent much of the last week trying to understand what will probably be my last case study for the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland project. Following a review of my techniques in the Schweninger Collection reappraisal I found a handful of potential case studies for myself and one for a colleague. I re-examined a…
This past week was more eventful than usual inasmuch as I was involved with two events–a radio interview on the Eastern Shore and a presentation in Annapolis. On Thursday the 16th, senior Legacy of Slavery in Maryland employee Maya Davis and I traveled to Cambridge, MD in Dorchester County to be interviewed by Dr. Kay…
Even though my fellowship at the Maryland State Archives is wrapping up I still feel the crunch of demands. On April 27, I served as a judge for the state-wide competition of National History Day and for the last several weeks I’ve revised and improved my documents in the classroom exercise. Arranging a ride to…
Just checking in. I have no clever title nor unifying theme to share with everyone. I judged for Maryland History Day on April 27 but I’d prefer to let my thoughts simmer before I publish them. I spent much of my last two weeks performing test queries for the new mdlandrec website. The current website,…
This past week I had the pleasure of hosting my mother, Fran, during her visit to Maryland. Although the purpose of this visit was naturally to see me, I made sure that we saw everything that central and southern Maryland had to offer. We visited: The Baltimore Inner Harbor/Camden Yards (the Twins won the series…
Since August 26, 2012, I have happily lived in Maryland. Technically I was supposed to get a new driver license within 60 days but since I mainly used it to buy drinks I figured the state wasn’t going to come after me. As a state long admired from afar, Maryland always held a special place…
March 25, 2013 marks the 379th Anniversary of the legal entity that is Maryland. On this day in 1634 English Catholic settlers landed on St. Clements Island in the Potomac River, land now belonging to St. Mary’s County, Maryland. As an original state, Maryland’s borders and names for local governance changed over the centuries but…
The Legacy of Slavery in Maryland research project at the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis began with a volunteer effort to digitize runaway slave advertisements published in Maryland newspapers. When volunteer Jerry Henson first showed then reference director Chris Haley a clipping that charged Aaron Salisbury with aiding and abetting a runaway, something clicked. He…
It was an eventful time at the Maryland State Archives these past two weeks. Although I gave my final Queen Anne’s County presentation over a week ago, I can still feel its effects on my daily work. My typical day revolves around researching slave freedom petitions from the Dr. Loren Schweninger Collection—a topic I have…
Like one of my favorite Presidents of the United States, the under-sung James K. Polk, I pulled off quite a bit of work in just four expressions of the sun’s effect on the Earth. In four years Polk facilitated one of the grandest land grabs in American history by seizing swaths of Mexico and settling…
Counterfactual Archivist 