Spring/Summer 2007 - Maryland Historical Society

Spring/Summer 2007
Cover
A Publication of the Maryland Historical Society
Telling touching tales of the world of young girls, both black and white,
“Maryland Schoolgirl Samplers
& Embroideries, 1738-1860”
April 14-November 15, 2007
“A Midwinter Night’s Dream” at the Maryland Historical Society
showcased our rental spaces with delectable
fare and Dreamy Drinks from our
Preferred Caterers
Atlantic Caterers
The Brass Elephant
Charles Levine Caterers
The Classic Catering People
Innovative Gourmet
Linwood’s Catering
Wickey’s Caterers
and Approved Vendors
Celadon Event Design
Courtesy Parking
Loane Brothers, Inc.
A Special Thanks to
Atmosphere, Inc.
Baltimore Color Plate
Ground Floor Graphics
Plants Alive! Inc.
Peabody Ragtime Ensemble
Sachs Photography
The Winner Distributing Co.
We have dream venues for weddings, receptions, lunches and other
special events on any night of the year.
410.685.3750 ext. 399
[email protected]
www.mdhs.org/rentals
MdHS News
A publication of the
Maryland Historical Society.
Published three times a year with
Fall, Winter, Spring/Summer issues.
Circulation: 7,000
MdHS News Editor:
Anne Garside,
Director of Communications
[email protected]
Editorial Committee:
Robert W. Rogers,
Acting Director
Jeannine Disviscour,
Deputy Director for
Collections and Curator
Erin Kimes,
Deputy Director for
Educational Outreach
Valerie Wilson,
Deputy Director for Development
Patricia Dockman Anderson,
Editor, Maryland Historical Magazine
Pam Jeffries,
Designer
Christopher Becker,
Photographer
Board of Trustees FY 2007
Barbara P. Katz, Chairperson
Henry Hodges Stansbury, President
Alex. G. Fisher, President Elect
David M. Funk, Vice President
William T. Reynolds, Vice President
Dorothy McI. Scott, Vice President
David Stewart Thaler, Vice President
Thomas A. Collier, Secretary
Frederick M. Hudson, Treasurer
Cecil E. Flamer, Assistant Treasurer
Francis J. Carey, At Large
Louise Lake Hayman, At Large
J. Leo Levy Jr., At Large
Tracy A. Bacigalupo
Gregory H. Barnhill
Marilyn Carp
William F. Chaney
Ann Y. Fenwick
Robert Gregory
David L. Hopkins Jr.
H. Thomas Howell
Lenwood M. Ivey
M. Willis Macgill
Richard T. Moreland
Robert R. Neall
Jayne Plank
Lynn Springer Roberts
George S. Rich
Walter Schamu
Stewart T. Shettle
Jacqueline Smelkinson
Martin Sullivan
The Hon. Casper R. Taylor Jr.
Chairmen Emeriti
L. Patrick Deering
Jack S. Griswold
Samuel Hopkins
Stanard T. Klinefelter
The Hon. J. Fife Symington Jr.
Presidents Emeriti
John L. McShane
Brian B. Topping
Ex-Officio Trustees
The Hon. Wayne T. Gilchrest
The Hon. David R. Craig
The Hon. Sheila Dixon
The Hon. John R. Leopold
Gary B. Ruppert, M.D.
The Hon. James T. Smith Jr.
Printed by:
Mount Royal Printing Company
Advertising:
A limited number of display ads are
accepted at the Editor’s discretion.
For rate information, contact
[email protected]
Front Cover
In 1848, eight-year-old Sarah
Elizabeth Haines stitched a dutiful
rhyme into her sampler.
Designated Purchase Fund.
(MdHS, 1996.14)
Marylander of the Year
The Hon. Thomas V. Mike Miller,
Jr., President of the Senate of the
Maryland General Assembly for the
past twenty years, has been named
“Marylander of the Year” for 2007.
Instituted by the Maryland Colonial
Society in 1973, the custodianship of
the award has now been transferred
to the Maryland Historical Society.
President Miller will receive the
award at our celebration of Maryland Day, Monday, March 26, at
2:00 p.m. at a ceremony in France
Hall at MdHS. The public is invited
to attend.
Past Marylanders of the Year have included U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes, the legendary William Donald Schaefer, Mayor (now Governor)
Martin O’Malley, Comptroller Louis Goldstein, as well as Cardinals
Sheehan and Keeler, and Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson.
Spring/Summer 2007
Dear Friend:
I have great pleasure in reporting that “At Freedom’s Door: Challenging
Slavery in Maryland” has drawn extensive media coverage and been hailed
as a “landmark” exhibition. There was a joyous sense of community at
our opening celebrations, both at the Maryland Historical Society and
at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. I hope we can continue that sense of
community throughout the run of the exhibition and beyond.
I have equal pleasure in reporting a “landmark” statistic as well. In the
first half of the 2007 Fiscal Year, the MdHS Education Department served
over 65,000 school children. That number will reach close to 80,000 by June
30, double the number of children served in the previous Fiscal Year. The
dramatic increase reflects the vision and hard work of Deputy Director for
Educational Outreach Erin Kimes, Jennifer Yaremczak, Associate Director
for School Programs, and their dedicated staff and volunteers.
The spring sees the opening of a delightful exhibition, “Maryland
Schoolgirl Samplers & Embroideries, 1738-1860,” with many fine examples
drawn from our own collections. Samplers and other embroideries offer a
window into the education of girls of all classes and ethnic backgrounds at a
time when Maryland was in the forefront of female education.
Please join me in congratulating The Hon. Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr. who has been named “Marylander of
the Year,” a well deserved tribute to his twenty years of leadership as President of the Senate in the Maryland State
Legislature.
Bringing a festive elegance to a freezing February was “A Mid-Winter Night’s Dream.” On behalf of all the
members who enjoyed this glamorous occasion, I would like to thank the caterers and vendors who so generously
donated their services to showcase our rental spaces. Special thanks also go to Lois Brooks in our Development
Office and Cindy Fischer and Cindy Bernstein, who coordinated the event.
You will see from the previous page that our Board of Trustees has been strengthened this year by the
addition of several new members, among them Martin E. Sullivan, Executive Director of Historic St. Mary’s City,
who is chairing our Strategic Planning Initiative. We hope to share the results of that initiative with our members
in due course.
We are moving forward on many fronts because, as one of our staffers likes to say, “History Never Stops!”
Robert W. Rogers
Acting Director
MdHS News
The Sankofa Dance Theater leads
the procession to celebrate the
opening of “At Freedom’s Door.”
A Salute to Our
Corporate & Foundation
Supporters
The Maryland Historical Society is unusually fortunate in receiving broad-based support from over
100 local and national corporations, foundations
and organizations. Their gifts benefit the Annual
Fund, exhibits, educational programming and a
variety of special projects, including research.
Many corporate leaders, such as Jim Themides, Regional President of Wachovia Bank, believe volunteer service enhances philanthropic support, as evidenced by the participation of Wachovia
managers Willis Macgill and Stewart Shettle, who
serve on our Board of Trustees.
We would like to give special recognition to
several corporations who have provided annual
gifts of $10,000 and more: AEGON/Transamerica
Foundation, Agency Services, Inc., Funk & Bolton,
Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Company Fund,
Northrop Grumman Corporation, T. Rowe Price
Associates Foundation, Inc., the W. P. Carey Foundation and Wachovia Foundation.
Make Your Gift to the
Annual Fund Today
As of mid-February, over 1,700 gifts had been
received for the 2007 Annual Fund totaling over
$550,000, and we would like to thank all of you
once again for your generosity.
The good news is that trustees, members and
friends have increased their giving to help us reach
our $750,000 goal. The 40 members of the Board
of Trustees have pledged $257,000 towards the
drive, demonstrating their leadership and commitment to MdHS.
The budget for the Maryland Historical Society is $4.1 million and Annual Fund gifts provide
about 18 percent of the total revenue necessary to
support the Museum, Library, Educational Programming, and the Press.
Whether your gift is $25, $250 or $2,500, it
does make a tremendous difference in meeting our
expenses – so please make your gift now! If you
need help with your cash, stock or credit card gift
arrangements, please contact Kathy Anglemyer, Annual Fund Manager, at 410-685-3750, ext. 319 or
[email protected].
“As a collector of old decoys, this
wooden swan, made around 1910,
is one of my favorite objects at
the Maryland Historical Society.
During its life as a decoy on Kent
Island, the swan would bang
around in the bottom of a boat
and float in the water in all
kinds of wintry weather. I am
always amused that curators
now handle it with white gloves.”
--Henry H. Stansbury
President, MdHS Board of Trustees
Chairman, Agency Holding. Co.
Photographed in the
Symington Library at MdHS
The swan graced the cover of Chesapeake Wildfowl Hunting: Maryland’sSpring/Summer
Finest Decoys, 2007
published by MdHS Press in 1991. Copies are still available from www.asionline.com/decoys
Educational Outreach
Halfway through the current 2006-2007 school year, MdHS education programs have reached over 65,000 students
and teachers. It is likely that the final number for the year will be close to 80,000 by June 30, 2007, an astounding
increase over the previous school year, when just over 41,000 students and teachers were served.
Teacher Workshops bring
MdHS Resources to Classrooms
across Maryland
MdHS staffers have dramatically
expanded the number of professional
development workshops for teachers, taking lesson plans and primary
source documents from our archives
into classrooms statewide. Combining their own knowledge and
experience with the archives, they
have helped Maryland schoolteachers
integrate primary sources into their
regular classroom teaching.
The increased effort in the
teacher workshop program, spearheaded by Jennifer Yaremczak, Associate Director for School Programs,
helps to combat the decline in recent
years in the amount of time spent on
social studies in the classroom. Jen
says, “Teachers from across the state
have said that they cannot always
afford the time or expense to take
a field trip. Our staff hopes that by
giving teachers lots of primary source
‘tools’ to use in the classroom, Maryland students can keep learning with
the great resources of MdHS.”
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
continues funding for SeaRCH
The Student Research Center for
History at the Maryland Historical
Society (SeaRCH) is entering the
third year of a project with the Doris
M. Johnson High School, funded
through a continuing grant from the
Annie E. Casey Foundation. The
partnership with this Baltimore City
Public School began in 2005, bringing students into the MdHS Library
to do primary source research and
conduct oral history interviews to
create a public exhibit on the history
of their neighborhoods.
In the second year of the
program, students focused on the
Civil Rights movement in Baltimore.
During the third year, the students
Celebrating “At Freedom’s Door”
These youngsters watch
attentively while the Sankofa
Dance Theater demonstrates
African dances.
A Community Festival on Sunday, February 11, offered both painting
and quilting workshops, led by Artists-in-Residence Joan Gaither and
Arvie Smith.
MdHS News
will examine housing discrimination
and the role of Morgan State University students and various Baltimore
churches in the movement. Their final project will be a website dedicated to preserving the history of Civil
Rights in Baltimore. The website
will hold information collected over
the course of the project, including
audio clips of oral history interviews,
photographs, and images of documents from the MdHS Library.
The public is invited to attend
the students’ final presentation on
Tuesday, May 15, 2007, at 10 a.m.
in France Hall at the Maryland
Historical Society, with a free
reception. Call 410-685-3750 ext. 336
for more information.
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Spring/Summer 2007
At Freedom’s Door:
Challenging Slavery in
Maryland— Stitched into
Joan Gaither’s
Quilts is an
Iconography
of Slavery
he first question she gets asked by
an awestruck visitor is “How many
hours did it take you?” MdHS
Artist-in-Residence Joan Gaither estimates that she worked for eighteen
hours a day for about seven months
to create “The Poulson Slaver Quilt.”
The quilt takes its name from
the painting that hangs alongside it
in the “At Freedom’s Door” exhibition at the Maryland Historical Society. On loan from the Penobscot Marine Museum in Maine, the painting
depicts a stirring chase at sea as a
British Navy brig chases a Baltimore
clipper laden with slaves. The slaves
have been brought up on deck to be
MdHS News
thrown overboard should the British
ship catch up with the slaver. Little is
known about the artist, E. Poulson,
except that he was a British mariner
who witnessed such a chase sometime
between 1840 and 1860.
Even before she set a single
stitch to her “Poulson Slaver,” Joan
Gaither took over a year to research
the history of slavery in Maryland.
Then she began looking for materials, ranging from authentic African
weaves to batiks and velvets. The
Poulson slave ship is depicted in
the center square of the quilt, while
radiating out diagonally are famous
actors in the drama of slavery. The
corner squares represent the four
methods by which a slave might gain
his freedom—manumission, a will
document, running away, or joining
the military as a Union soldier.
The entire quilt is framed by
quadruple borders. A border of African mud cloth is attached by safety
pins to a blue border representing
the sea of the Middle Passage, with
golden tassels hanging down like
the oars of the slave galleys. “Sometimes I leave the safety pins open,”
says Gaither, “to symbolize the pain
slaves felt at being uprooted from
their motherland.” Then comes a
border of railroad ties to represent
the Underground Railroad. Next is a
surround of panels for every county
in the State of Maryland, with appropriate historical imagery.
If the safety pins represent the
pain of being torn away from Africa,
two adjoining panels in the quilt
show another kind of pain—the tearing apart of African-American families, as members are sold separately.
Written on the branches of a “Tree of
Life” panel are all the types of work
that slaves performed, from manual
labor in the fields to skilled crafts.
One must look carefully at each
square of the quilt to decipher hidden
meanings. Panels with beautiful arrangements of flowers and vegetables
recall slave labor on the land. Sewn
into this produce of the earth are authentic “pickers’ checks” that Gaither
was given by members of her own
family or purchased at the historic
Benson-Hammond House in Anne
Arundel County. Pickers’ checks were
tokens used by farmers and landowners to pay seasonal laborers for
harvesting crops. “The checks were
used well into the 1930s and ’40s,”
says Gaither. “My aunt Anne, who
is now 82, worked as a child picking
strawberries and tomatoes in Anne
Arundel County. She talks about
getting in trouble with her Mom
when she lost her pickers’ checks.” In
one panel, the tokens are lying in one
of the pans of a scales of justice, but
they are too light to weigh down the
scales. The pan at the other end is
heavy with symbols of the powers of
the ruling class.
A second Gaither quilt hanging
at the Maryland Historical Society
conveys a simpler message. Titled
“Maryland, My Maryland,” one side
of the quilt displays richly ornate
panels of gold silk, representing the
wealth and treasure of the State.
Stitched into each panel is the wording of one of the statutes of the 1860
Maryland Code of Law. The statutes
lay down the same treatments and
punishments for free negroes as for
slaves. The reverse side of the quilt is
blood red, traversed by slave shackles, representing that Maryland’s
wealth was resting on the labor of
slaves.
“At Freedom’s Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland” is
presented jointly by the Reginald F.
Lewis Museum of Maryland African-American History and Culture
and the Maryland Historical Society
in collaboration with the Maryland
Institute College of Art. It runs until
October 28, 2007. Make sure to visit
both museums. Joan Gaither is a
faculty member at MICA.
Schamu
Machowski
Greco
Celebrating
25
years
preservation
adaptive use
custom residential
410-685-3582
Www.smgarch.com
Joan Gaither leads a tour of the exhibition.
Spring/Summer 2007
Tell Us Your Stories
“Aunt Pauline’s Gospel Ministry”
Sponsored by
The exhibition on Pauline Wells
Lewis (1912-98), known simply as
“Aunt Pauline” to the thousands who
listened to her gospel radio ministry,
continues through July 29, 2007.
Aunt Pauline’s radio shows featured local gospel music performers
alongside gospel artists from across
the country, including the Dixie
Hummingbirds, Mahalia Jackson,
and the Caravans, who performed
what would become Aunt Pauline’s
theme song, “Lord Keep Me Day by
Day in a Pure and Spiritual Way.”
Pupils at the New Song Academy,
have carried out interviews with
people who knew Aunt Pauline,
both as a radio personality and choir
director at Gillis Memorial Christian
Community Church.
Shawnice Savage and Montanique Sims, students from New Song
Academy, interview Thomas Roberts, Sr. Mr. Roberts, who was one
of Aunt Pauline’s drivers, is the founder of the American Gospel
Music Heritage Foundation, an organization inspired by Aunt
Pauline and committed to preserving materials related to gospel
music, especially gospel music in the Baltimore metropolitan area.
The Extensions of Faith
Choir celebrates the
opening of “At Freedom’s
Door” with resounding
songs of praise.
10
MdHS News
Aunt Pauline’s
daughter, Margaret
Wells Harris, shares
memories of her
mother with MdHS
staffer, Naomi
Coquillon, New
Song students,
Cierra White, Latora
Brockington, Ashley
Brown and their
teacher, Jen Goulston.
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Samplers & Embro
Telling touching tales of the
world of young girls, both black and
white, “Maryland Schoolgirl Samplers & Embroideries, 1738-1860”
displays over 100 samples of needlework, selected by guest curator Dr.
Gloria Seaman Allen. The examples
chosen are a tangible reflection of the
rich mixture of cultures that contributed to Maryland’s history.
For over 120 years in Maryland,
from the mid 18th to the mid 19th
century, needlework was considered
an indispensable subject in the female curriculum. Whether taught in
the home or in a seminary or other
institution, girls as young as six labored over their samplers as a means
of teaching them the rudiments of
reading and writing.
Usually woven in silks on a
linen ground, samplers provide
glimpses into the joys and tragedies
of daily life. With the passage of
time, the colors are now soft and
muted. Young girls painstakingly
worked their names and ages into
their samplers, often with rhymes
and mottos, or precepts to instill
exemplary conduct. Sometimes they
stitched the whole alphabet, row
after row.
Biblical verses abound. In 1807,
two pairs of sisters—Anna and Mary
Browne and Ann and Elisabeth
Gould—labored over four samplers,
each depicting a brick house flanked
by trees in a fenced yard. Each girl
stitched a different line of verse from
the Book of Proverbs, under the
heading “A Virtuous Woman.”
All kinds of history is recorded
in the samplers. Young Mary Hickley, thought to be the daughter of
an Irish immigrant stonecutter who
may have worked on the Baltimore
Basilica, stitched an image of the
cathedral in 1814, when the building was still in progress.
While enrolled in St. Joseph’s
Academy and Free School in Emmitsburg from 1810 to 1813,
thirteen-year-old Mary Jamison
captured one of the three earliest
known images of St. Joseph’s House.
She produced an ambitious sampler
in Gobelin satin, showing a substantial log building with chimneys,
gables and mullioned windows and
April 14-November 15, 2007
Margaret Ogle of Frederick County
in 1791 briefly inscribed her sampler:
“Marg[ ]gle he[ ]emple[ ]ade in the
14 y[ ]r of her age 1791.”Collection
of Christopher and Lynn Granzyk
Spring/Summer 2007
11
a small chapel attached to one end.
The school had been founded by
Elizabeth Seton, the first Americanborn saint.
Sometimes the samplers
contain vignettes of family history.
In an age of high infant mortality,
one nine-year-old recorded in her
sampler the untimely death of five
younger siblings. Mourning samples
were, in fact, a whole genre of their
own, as were memorial embroideries
that incorporated popular romantic
motifs like female figures drooping
over tombs, weeping willows, and
classical urns.
More sophisticated embroideries
use some of the stitching techniques
learned from sewing samplers. An
exquisitely embroidered picture by
16-year-old Susan Hinkle, executed
at the Carmelite Sisters Academy in
Baltimore around 1850, depicts the
story of Christ at the well with the
woman of Samaria.
Among the more fancy styles
of needlework are embroideries on
samplers provide glimpses into the joys and tragedies of daily life
silk made by Baltimore girls between 1805 and 1825. One depicts
a romantic scene in the Scottish
highlands, likely copied from a print,
with the elements of the landscape
carefully rendered in French knots,
bullion knots, split, seed, and
straight stitches.
Silk embroidery on paper was
an even more intricate art. One can
see how twelve-year-old Mary Berry
TOP
Ann Elizabeth Himes of Washington County
acknowledged her tutor in a sampler worked
in 1829:
“A. Elisabeth Himes worked /
this in her 15th Year. August 27th /
1829. Mary Gross Tutor.”
Collection of Gary W. Parks
BOTTOM
A testament to “Martha Fonerden / Aged 12
Years/ 1788,” this sampler added another
name, “Sarah C,” into the hem. Gift of Miss
Emma L. Stokes. (MdHS, 1953.39.1)
12
MdHS News
worked her composition of a hummingbird and floral spay, using a
combination of outline, satin, and
single stitches, on a challenging stiff
card ground.
Embroidered maps form a
whole separate category of needlework. In 1795, with the topographically accurate, highly detailed work
of Dennis Griffith, Maryland
mapmaking reached its 18th-century
zenith. The embroidered maps in the
exhibition, all worked between 1797
and the early 1800s, form a recognizable group. In 1797, Mary Leypold
created one such map, forming her
county and water boundaries with
five closely stitched rows of chain
stitches in four colors of silk to give
the appearance of shading.
The samples of embroidery are
grouped by region or religion. Notably, two large groups of Maryland
needlework survive from Catholic
schools that remained in operation
for decades, providing instruction
in the needle arts. Unique to Maryland are the antebellum samplers
and needlework pictures worked by
African American girls —primarily
daughters of Baltimore’s free blacks.
Maryland was one of the most progressive states in America in terms of
educating girls.
A large number of Catholic
immigrants from Europe, attracted
to Baltimore as the center of the Roman Catholic Church in the United
States, found a haven in the town.
Many individuals started private
schools for Catholic children, while
religious societies and churches
sponsored a number of free schools
for the poor. Sewing, considered a
practical skill for daughters of the
working class, was usually part of the
basic curriculum.
The Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first order of black nuns
in the world, opened their School for
Colored Girls in Baltimore in 1828;
the Carmelites from Charles County
began their Academy for the Education of Young Ladies in 1831; and the
Visitation Sisters from Georgetown
extended their mission to Baltimore
when they started the Ladies’ Academy of the Visitation in 1837.
Sampler Happenings
Sponsored by the Francis Scott Key Society
Sampler Preview Party
Friday, April 13, 2007, 6-9 p.m.
Light Fare & Cocktails, $75 per person
Afternoon Tea & Children’s Embroidery Workshop
Sunday, April 15, 2007, 1-3 p.m.
Tea only $20 per person. Tea and Children Embroidery workshop $50
for adult and one child; Additional children $20 each.
For both events, respond by April 5 to Lois Brooks 410-685-3750 x329
or lbrooks @mdhs.org.
Symposium
Maryland Girlhood Samplers, A Historical Perspective
Friday & Saturday, April 27 & 28, 2007
Register via phone at 410-685-3750 ext. 321.
Cost: MdHS Members $210; Non-members $260
For full details of all events, see the calendar on pages 22&23
Coming soon from MdHS Press
A Maryland Sampling:
Girlhood Embroidery 1738-1860
By Gloria Seaman Allen
An exquisitely beautiful book, A Maryland Sampling:
Girlhood Embroidery 1738-1860 is the work of one of the
country’s premier textile scholars.
By the early 19th century, the
town of Frederick in Western Maryland had both English- and Germanspeaking teachers in needlework.
More samplers are known from Frederick County than from any other region in Maryland except Baltimore.
Saint Joseph’s Academy and Free
School in Emmitsburg, Frederick
County, was established in 1810 as
the first free Catholic school for girls
staffed by religious women in the
United States. Pictorial embroideries
and samplers made by Saint Joseph’s
students form the largest surviving
group of needlework associated with
a Maryland school.
Another distinctive body of
work came out of the Quaker schools
established in various counties.
The Religious Society of Friends
in Maryland can be traced back to
1656. Particularly influential was
the Westtown Boarding School,
which opened in Chester County,
Pennsylvania, in 1799. Many former
students and teachers started their
own schools, carrying with them
Spring/Summer 2007
13
designs, individual motifs, and pious
verses common to samplers worked
at the Ackworth School, established
in 1779 in Yorkshire, England.
In the years leading up to the
Civil War, Baltimore was a magnet
for free African Americans seeking opportunities. In the early 19th
century, the African Methodist
Episcopal Church established schools
that taught both boys and girls. One
of the most famous was the Rev.
William M. Lively’s school on Sharp
Street. Some of the work produced
by black students was as fine as the
work of young girls of the upper
classes.
The earliest known Maryland
sampler comes from the Annapolis
area and was created by Mary Clare
Carroll, age eleven, in 1738-39, as
a New Year’s gift. The verse on the
sampler includes the lines:
“This New Years gift your sampler may adorn, aAnd pattern be to
others yet unborn.”
Mary would undoubtedly
be pleased to know that her work
is highly prized by a much later
generation.
For details of opening events and
symposium, see calendar pages 22-23.
TOP
This sampler worked in silk and crinkled
silk by Ann Lewser (Lewfer?) Roberts is
attributed to Saint James School, Baltimore,
1829. It is inscribed: “Ann. Lewfer. Roberts.
Her. Sampler.worked / In. The. Year. Of. Our.
Lord. In The. Year. Of / 1829.” Collection of
the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first
African American order of nuns in the world.
14
MdHS News
BOTTOM
A poignant family record of infant mortality
is recorded by Rebecca Jane Hennicks of
Baltimore County in 1818: “Henry Hennicks
died August / 13th 1802 aged ten months / and
22 days / Henrietta Hennicks died/ September
fourth th 1805 / aged one year and two days /
George Hennicks Jnr. died / September fourth
th 1807 / aged twenty months and twenty
days / Mary Ann Hennicks died September
/ thirteenth th 1813 aged one day / Rebecca
Hennicks aged 9 Febry 1818.” Photograph
courtesy Stephen and Carol Huber.
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4 million m
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The materials
residing in the
H. Furlong Baldwin
the fabric of
Library form
Maryland History.
residing over this treasure trove for
more than twenty years is the tall,
genial Francis O’Neill. As Senior
Reference Librarian, he tells us that
the Library serves somewhere in the
region of 12,000 users a year. About
a quarter of these patrons come to do
research on the premises; the others
phone in, email, or send letters soliciting help.
One might imagine that most
of the inquiries come from the State
of Maryland. In fact, the Library
serves a global clientele. Take inquiries about the Latrobes, for instance.
“The Latrobes were originally from
Holland by way of England,” explains O’Neill. “One of the Latrobes
emigrated to America and another to
Australia. There is now a La Trobe
University in Melbourne, which
is very interested in our materials.
Many other Australian colleges and
universities have American Studies
departments so calls from Australia
are by no means unusual.”
O’Neill goes on to say that
inquiries from Germany are also
fairly frequent. He relates: “After the
Year of Revolutions in 1848, many
Europeans fled to America. There
was a steamship connection between
Baltimore and Bremen, set up by the
B&O Railroad. You could buy a single ticket that would take you from
Bremen to Baltimore and then on
to wherever the railroad went, as far
west as Chicago or St. Louis. These
poor immigrants, many of whom
could not speak English, could travel
on this one ticket and just hold it up
so that they could get to where they
were going quite easily.”
The Library has records on
microfilm of all the immigrants who
passed through the port of Baltimore from 1819 to 1948. Families
in Europe can use these records to
trace where their great-great grandfathers and mothers, aunts and uncles,
siblings or cousins ended up. That
also works in reverse. “We often get
requests from people in the midWest,” says O’Neill, “who know
that their ancestors came through
Baltimore from Europe. As passenger
records started getting more detailed,
they often record the place of origin
of these immigrants.”
Genealogists are among the
prime users for the Library. The
Spring/Summer 2007
15
Maryland Genealogical Society has
an office at MdHS and is constantly
donating books and manuscripts to
enrich the collections. Many of its
members volunteer for the library.
The Library has strengths in
many other areas. Many of Baltimore’s best known banks, investment houses, corporations and
other businesses have donated their
records, and sometimes fund their
processing. A large number of CEOs
at these venerable institutions have
served as trustees and officers of the
Maryland Historical Society. When
Alex. Brown, Baltimore’s oldest investment banking firm was acquired
by Deutsche Bank, the firm donated
its post-1880 records to MdHS.
(Records prior to 1880 are held in
the Library of Congress.) When H.
Furlong Baldwin stepped down as
chief executive officer of the Mercantile Bank & Trust Company, his
colleagues and friends made generous donations to name the Library
the H. Furlong Baldwin Library.
Fascinating stories come to
light in the course of helping the
public with various research queries.
Archivist David Angerhofer recalls
helping a Ph.D. candidate from the
University of Chicago research a
Maryland shipping merchant named
John Sanders, a producer at WBAL
TV Eleven in Baltimore, has independently made a documentary
“Africa’s Maryland,” which aired
on March 8. Sanders and his team,
which included reporter Tim Tooten
and photojornalist John Brosnan,
researched the documentary at the
Maryland Historical Society with
the assistance of Archivist David
Angerhofer, and also on location in
Liberia.
At MdHS, Sanders filmed
documents relating to the Maryland
Colonization Society. These documents had also formed the basis of
the book On Afric’s Shore: A History
of Maryland in Liberia, 1834-1857,
by Richard L. Hall. The book was
published by MdHS Press in 2003.
Like the book, the documentary
tells the story of the “eleven hundred
brave souls—free men, freed men
16
MdHS News
O rientation Sessions
The Library holds regular orientation sessions for members of
the public on the third Saturday
of every month. Lasting 45 minutes, the sessions begin at 9:10
a.m. and are free with regular
Library admission. No pre-registration is required. Upcoming
orientations include: April 21,
Introduction to Genealogical
Research; May 19, Finding Photographs; June 16, Using Special
Collections; July 21, Introduction to Genealogical Research.
Details are posted on:
www.mdhs.org/explore/library/
research/orientation.html
Duncan McIntosh. It turned out
that during Toussaint L’Ouverture’s
revolt against the French in Haiti,
McIntosh acted as a kind of Scarlet
Pimpernel, sending his ships to Port
au Prince and Cap Haitien to quietly
evacuate French aristocrats fleeing
the revolution.
“The Library,” says Angerhofer,
“has records of a banquet held in
McIntosh’s honor at which these
French refugees celebrated his deeds.
Stories like that happen every week.”
However, one story that gave
the Library an astounding amount of
publicity was apocryphal. Remember
the movie The Blair Witch Project
that enjoyed quite a vogue some
years ago? The Maryland Historical Society figured in the credits as
the library where the book on which
the movie was based resided. Except
there was no such book.
“For weeks every second phone
call was from people wanting to see
the book,” laughs O’Neill. “When
we said we didn’t have it, no one believed us. They got quite angry and
asked, ‘Why are you trying to hide it
from us?’”
The movie claimed to be a
“documentary” but was really a work
of fiction.
Of the scholarly researchers using the library, about half
are undergraduates and the others Ph.D. candidates or faculty.
The Library is also integrated into
history and social studies departments at area colleges. A Lord
Baltimore Fellowship Program
hosts ten scholars annually and an
Internship Program allows several
students a year to receive credit for
work at MdHS.
“Africa’s Maryland”
a WBAL Television Documentary, filmed with the help of the MdHS Library
and slaves; husbands, wives and children—who chose to emigrate to the
land from which their ancestors had
been taken” under the auspices of
the Society, which numbered among
its members such prominent figures
as John H.B. Latrobe and Francis
Scott Key. In spite of the hardships
they encountered on the west coast
of Africa, including the unpredictable behavior of King Freeman, and
the competition for land, trade and
political authority with the local
Greboe people, the colonists created
a settlement that exists to this day.
Archivist David Angerhofer finds himself
tracking down records for researchers on
everything from a Maryland Scarlet Pimpernel
to the apocryphal book on which the movie
The Blair Witch Project was allegedly based
07-BA-030_image 10a
2/26/07
7:31 AM
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Latrobe’s Cathedral:
The Batimore Basilica
Through the Years
continues through May 6, 2007
Visitors to the exhibition can
admire The Founding of Maryland,
painted by Emanuel Leutze in 1861.
The painting is a romantic depiction of the first mass celebrated by
settlers from The Ark and The Dove
on St. Clement’s island on March
25, 1634. Father Andrew White
blesses the colonists and Native
Americans, while Leonard Calvert
greets the Chief.
Emanuel Leutze
Founding of Maryland
Oil on canvass
(MdHS 1884.2.1)
Spring/Summer 2007
17
Nine Times before the Supreme
Court--Martha Bradstreet , s
Tenacious Litigation as
documented in the BradstreetMayer Papers
By David S. Thaler
Brantz Mayer, who represented
Martha Bradstreet, was one of
the founders of the Maryland
Historical Society and its
third president. This portrait
of him by Edward McDowell,
Jr., (MdHS, 1996.4.2) hangs in
the Counting Room at MdHS.
n September 26, 1774, Major
General John Bradstreet of his
Majesty’s forces died in the City
of New York. A hero of the French
and Indian War, he had been given
huge tracts of land by the Crown
in the vicinity of Utica in what was
then the Province of New York.
Three days before his death, General
Bradstreet made his last Will and
Testament appointing General Philip
Schuyler as his executor. General
Bradstreet’s estate ultimately passed
to his step-granddaughter, Mrs.
Martha Bradstreet.
In 1776 the United States
declared its independence. Crown
lands became the property of
the United States and General
Bradstreet’s property was seized by
the rebel government of New York.
Mrs. Bradstreet, one of the most
tenacious litigants in the history of
the United States did not quite see
it that way. Trying to reclaim the
18
MdHS News
property she felt was rightfully hers,
she filed 35 separate actions in the
United States District Court for the
Northern District of New York. Her
cases reached the Supreme Court an
astounding nine times.*
Her first attorney was none
other than Aaron Burr, who took on
the case after his return from France.
Their extant letters suggest that their
relationship may have been more
than just that of client and attorney.
Representing her before the
Supreme Court were Daniel Webster
and Charles Mayer of Baltimore
whose law partner was his brother,
Brantz Mayer, one of the founders of
the Maryland Historical Society, and
its third president.
In 1827 Mrs. Bradstreet
published a book entitled, An
Offering at the Altar of Truth: Judicial
Specimens and Brief Explanatory
Correspondence Submitted to the
Consideration of a Free People and
Their Legislative Representatives,
wherein she laid out her claims
and complained of the decisions
of Federal Judge Alfred Conkling,
whom often found against her.
Several of the cases before the
Supreme Court concern Writs
of Mandamus and Findings of
Contempt issued against Judge
Conkling, ordering him to
reconsider parts of her case.
In 1829 she filed “The
Memorial of Martha Bradstreet:
Praying for the Impeachment of
Alfred Conkling, United States
Judge…,” a bill for his impeachment.
The cases went on for 41 years,
but alas, Martha was unsuccessful.
Recently, a large steamer trunk
The Bradstreet-Mayer papers
were offered for sale in New
England and were acquired
and donated to the Maryland
Historical Society by Carolyn
and David S. Thaler in honor
of the long and outstanding
service to the Society by trustee,
Jacqueline Smelkinson.
A civil engineer, David
Thaler, P.E., L.S., Fellow of
ASCE, Fellow of NSPE, is an
officer of the MDHS Board of
Trustees. He is the author of
more than 100 articles and three
books. His latest book, The
Mencken Paradox, is available at
the MdHS Museum Shop.
The Bradstreet-Mayer
papers are available to
researchers (Ms 3059) in the H.
Furlong Baldwin Library of the
Maryland Historical Society.
was discovered in an attic in
Schenectady. In the trunk was a
huge cache of documents saved
by Martha Bradstreet, which also
contained approximately 65 letters
between Martha and the Mayers.
The letters date from 1831 to 1869
and provide a fascinating insight
into domestic and legal life in
Baltimore in the period before and
during the Civil War. On August
17, 1835, Charles Mayer writes
Martha that he is glad that,
“Judge Conkling will be brought
to answer before a jury for his
extraordinary conduct….; His
conduct as related by you seems to
me the boldest Judicial arrogance I
have ever heard of in our country
or within the sphere of English law
anywhere in these times.”
On August 25, 1840, Charles
Mayer writes of trying to have the
case transferred to an adjoining
circuit and states,
“I have called on Judge (Roger B.)
Taney and he concurs with me in my
present ideas.”
In most of the letters, Martha
badgers the Mayers, who have
not responded to her legal needs
quickly enough.
Brantz Mayer was a historian,
lawyer and Major in the Union Army
during the Civil War. His collection
of artifacts and documents formed
the basis of the Maryland Historical
Society’s archive. The Bradstreet
letters provide an interesting insight
into the beginnings of the Society.
He wrote on June 1, 1838,
“May I now take the liberty of
requesting some autograph memorial
of (your friend, Burr). My little
collection is growing finally—and
I shall always be thankful to my
friend(s) for such specimens of
political—literary or historical
interest as they can procure, letters
are preferred above others—then
notes and lastly the simple signature.”
Apparently, the papers were
duly acquired, as Brantz wrote back
on September 4, 1838,
“With best respects to you from all
the members of both families—& a
repetition of my sincere thanks for
the Burr autographs.”
More must have been
forthcoming because Brantz wrote
Martha again on February 21, 1858,
“I thank you heartily, dear Mrs.
Bradstreet for the Burr notes,
(which) you sent, and which, I fear,
is almost a robbery. They seem very
characteristic. You may be sure that,
in my lifetime, they will never go out
of my collection of such memorials.
After we go however, you know, in
this country comes the disbursion!
There is no preservative,—shall I say
conservative—primogeniture to keep
one’s bones even intact.”
The letters also provide insight
into attitudes in Baltimore during
the Civil War. On March 10, 1862,
Brantz writes to Martha,
“We have had news from our
bay today. It is said the rebels
have come out of the Merrimack
Steamer & sunk a 74, & captured
a frigate, in sight of Fortress
Monroe! Alas! poor country.”
On Sunday night, February 23,
1862, he writes of his hopes for the
return to normality,
“I have confidence in the restoration
of the old state of things, with
stronger guarantees of a common
country & government. We have
been too free and too rich. Liberty
grew to license; wealth to license,
and both played into the hands of
power; …the possession of power
became both the means and the
end of political corruption. The fire
of war will burn out a good deal
of wickedness;— & poverty, debt,
and taxes, may bring us back to
that forbearance & frugality which
are the foundation of the public
virtue without which no really free
government can exist.”
An accomplished bagpiper
and champion drum major,
David Stewart Thaler
is Pipe Major Emeritus
of the Baltimore Police
Department Ceremonial
Band Unit. Carolyn Thaler is
an attorney who practices
in Towson. She is the recent
recipient of the 2007 J. Earle
Plumhoff Professionalism
Award of the Baltimore
County Bar Association.
And on March 22, 1863, Brantz
colorfully writes,
“Yet we can only offer our sincere
(hope) That all this sacrifice of life,
comfort, & … will be repaid by
the reestablishment of a regular
government once the whole of
our distracted land. Sometimes
one’s spirits sag, yet I have a
consciousness,—perhaps I ought
rather to say—an instinct, that
all will come right again, & this
glorious Nationality, with all its
vast territorial domains will finally
be confirmed as the inheritance of
our people. The more I see of the
rebellion, the more I am satisfied
of its causelessness originally, & I
now believe that when the cocktraitors are overthrown, the barn
door fowls—hens and roosters—will
come back to their nest as naturally
as of yore.”
*The cases that reached the United States
Supreme Court are:
6 Peters 774 Exparte.
7 Peters 634 Exparte.
8 Peters 588 Exparte.
4 Peters 102 Exparte.
5 Peters 402 Huntington
8 Peters 588 Huntington
16 Peters 317 Potter
4 Peters 102 Thomas
12 Peters 59-174 Thomas
New IRA Law Offers Tax Advantages When Giving to
Maryland Historical Society
An Important New Gift Opportunity for Donors Age 70½ or Older
For the first time ever, donors age 70½ or
older can make gifts of up to $100,000 to
the Maryland Historical Society and other
charities directly from their IR As, without
including the IR A withdrawal in their taxable
income. This provision, available now through
December 31, 2007, is part of the Pension
Protection Act of 2006.
Please see your IRA administrator, attorney
or tax advisor for specific advice about making an
Annual Gift, Endowment Gift or Restricted Gift
to the Maryland Historical Society from your
IRA Account. In the past few months several
supporters have taken advantage of this fine opportunity to make a significant gift to MdHS.
You can do this as well, witness the impact of
your generosity, and realize tax savings.
For more information, please contact Valerie Wilson, Deputy Director for Development at
410-685-3750, ext. 322 or [email protected].
Sleuthing at “A Furniture Affair”
Sponsored by
the Francis Scott Key Society
On February 15, sixty members and friends joined Gregory Weidman, former
MdHS curator, and her husband J. Michael Flanigan, local appraiser and
“Antiques Roadshow” commentator, for “A Furniture Affair.” MdHS Deputy
Director and Chief Curator Jeannine Disviscour added her own expertise and
sparkle to the affair.
This hands-on session about Maryland furniture had participants, who
brought their own flashlights, squeezing into storage areas not normally open
to the public. These would-be furniture Sherlock Holmeses put pieces under
a magnifying glass to detect genuine originals from phonies, evaluate repairs
and restorations (both of the museum-quality and band-aid variety), and
learn from three nationally recognized experts in the field.
The feedback on the event
was positive, with requests for
more seminars on other topics
related to the 350,000 objects in
our collections.
20
MdHS News
BELOW
Jeannine Disviscour
BOTTOM RIGHT
J. Michael Flanigan finds
fascinating artifacts in storage.
BOTTOM LEFT
Gregory Weidman points out
distinctive drawer construction.
Museum Shop
Bring the history home!
We receive numerous donations of antique items to
be sold for the benefit of the MdHS, among them:
��������������������
�����������������
Rare Books and ephemera
Costume Jewelry and Pocket Watches
Porcelain and Silver
Samplers and Fine Needlework
�����������
�����
������������
����������
������������
����
New from
MdHS
Press!
Only $13 for
members
������������
������
Our merchandise is constantly changing and our prices are modest.
10% discount to MdHS members. (35% on MdHS Press books)
Spring/Summer 2007
Visit us at www.mdhs.org/museumshop
21
Calendar
Maryland Schoolgirl
Samplers & Embroideries,
1738-1860
Symposium
Maryland Girlhood Samplers, A
Historical Perspective
Sponsored by the
Francis Scott Key Society
Friday & Saturday, April 27 & 28, 2007
The MdHS will host a symposium to provide
context for Maryland’s numerous schools
and teachers on the education of the state’s
daughters, black as well as white. Six
nationally recognized experts will explore
needlework influences of Pennsylvania; role
of religion in promoting female education
elsewhere in the South; participation
by African Americans in educational
opportunities throughout the South; and
migration of Maryland sampler patterns and
motifs across the Alleghenies into Ohio.
The symposium will begin on Friday evening,
April 27, with a reception and keynote address
by Jeannine Disviscour, MdHS Deputy Director
for Collections. Jeannine will set the scene in
Maryland decorative arts during the period and
highlight important furniture, silver and other
pieces from the MdHS permanent collection. On
Saturday, April 28, stellar speakers, including
Linda Eaton from Winterthur, and guest curator
Gloria Allen, present a comprehensive look at
samplers created in this region.
Registration includes all lectures, admission
to the MdHS and its two satellite sites, Friday
evening reception, and Saturday lunch.
Register via phone at 410-685-3750 ext. 321.
Cost: MdHS Members $210;
Non-members $260
Sampler Preview Party
Friday, April 13, 2007, 6-9 p.m.
Light Fare & Cocktails, $75 per person
Afternoon Tea & Children’s
Embroidery Workshop
Sunday, April 15, 2007, 1-3 p.m.
Join the Francis Scott Key Society for tea
in the Thomas & Hugg Lobby. Children ages
5 and up (accompanied by an adult) will
also enjoy a stitching workshop led by The
Embroiderers’ Guild of America, Constellation
Chapter, beginning at 2 p.m.
Tea only $20 per person. Tea and Children’s
Embroidery workshop $50 for adult and one
child; Additional children $20 each.
For both events respond by April 5 to
Lois Brooks 410-685-3750 x329 or
lbrooks @mdhs.org.
Maryland Day Commemoration
Monday, March 26, 2007
12:30 p.m. W
reath-laying at the Cecilius
Calvert statue at the Clarence
Mitchell Courthouse
1 p.m. Luncheon at the Maryland Historical
Society followed by a formal
ceremony at 2 p.m.
Join the MdHS and the Maryland Colonial
Society to honor Senate President
Thomas V. “Mike” Miller with the
2007 Marylander of the Year award.
Luncheon is $20 per person and
tickets can be reserved at
410-685-3750 ext. 321.
Celebrate Aunt Pauline!
Saturday, May 5, 2007, 3-5 pm
Please join us for a reception marking the
anniversary month of Aunt Pauline’s 95th
birthday. Hear remarks from Curator Jeannine
Disviscour, a gospel performance from the
Gillis Memorial Mass Choir, and enjoy light
refreshments. The reception, which will be
held in the Carey Center at the Maryland
Historical Society, is free and open to the
public.
Bodine’s Chesapeake Bay Country
Thursday, May 17, 2007
5:30 p.m. Wine & Cheese Reception
6 p.m. Lecture
Join the MdHS Maritime Committee for this
special Authors & Artifacts event, featuring
a slide presentation with Jennifer Bodine,
daughter of famed Baltimore photographer, A.
Aubrey Bodine. Bodine photographed nearly
every facet of Maryland life, from boating to
oyster shucking and everything in between
Tickets are $8 in advance $10 at the door. Call
410-685-3750 x321 for reservations.
Family History Seminar
Saturday, March 31, 2007, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Join local genealogist and author Robert W.
Barnes for the workshop for the beginner to
intermediate researcher. Learn how to get
started and stay organized, how to use church
and other vital records, how to navigate
libraries and archives in the Baltimore/
Washington area and how to best use the
internet. $50/ MdHS members, $65/ nonmembers. Light breakfast and box lunch
included. Reservations required.
Call 410-685-3750 ext. 321 to register.
Bodine in hi
s studio.
Civil War Recruiting Event
Sunday, June 10, 2007, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Join the Sykes Regulars at the Baltimore Civil
War Museum and experience what it was like
to be enlisted and trained in the US military
during the Civil War. The MdHS is proud to
partner again with the 2nd and 4th US Infantry
“Sykes Regulars,” a reenacting group dedicated
to honoring the heritage of those who served in
those ranks. The program is free.
Call 410-385-5188 for more information.
of Events
Fells Point Maritime Museum
Anniversary Weekend
Saturday & Sunday, June 16 & 17, 2007
Bring your Dad to the Fells Point Maritime
Museum for half -price admission all weekend
long! Sample Chesapeake specialty foods from
the Blue Crab Bay, Co. Meet an author or take
a tour and learn about the Fells Point clipper
ships. Call 410-732-0278 for more information.
Juneteenth Commemoration at the
Baltimore Civil War Museum
Tuesday, June 19, 2007, 2 p.m.
Join the National Juneteenth Museum at the
142nd commemoration of the end of slavery in
the United States. Juneteenth will be held at
the Baltimore Civil War Museum’s President
Street Station, a National Underground Railroad
Network to Freedom site. A limited number of
Juneteenth 2007 posters free to celebrants.
The program is free and the museum will be
free all day to visitors. Call 410-385-5188 for
more information.
Save the Date!
Maryland Historical Society
Annual Meeting
The MdHS will host its annual meeting
for its membership on Thursday, June
28, 2007 from 5-7 p.m. The agenda will
include a business meeting, the election
of trustees, and the presentation of
annual awards including the Sumner A.
Parker Prize and the Norris Harris Prize.
Refreshments will be served. Look for more
information soon.
Events at MdHS
Wednesday, April 18, 2007,
12:00 noon
Art in an Hour
Bring your own lunch to a talk by
commissioned artist Maren Hassinger,
followed by an optional gallery tour led
by the artist.
Thursday, May 3, 2007, 5–8 p.m.
Mixed Media
This special First Thursday event
celebrates Baltimore’s diverse
community, while highlighting AfroBrazilian culture. The evening includes
a demonstration by the Baltimore
Angola Society of Capoeira, a martial
art and form of self defense disguised
as dance that was developed during
the colonial period by slaves in Brazil.
Additionally, a samba dance class will
be followed by a dance party with a
live band, food, and drinks. FREE.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007, noon
Art in an Hour
Bring your own lunch to a talk by
Artist-in-Residence Joan Gaither,
followed by an optional gallery tour
led by the artist.
Events at MICA
Tuesday, April 3, 2007, 7 p.m.
William ChristenberrySweet Home Alabama:
The Pull of Place
Brown Center’s Falvey Hall
Saturday, April 7,
10:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
Young people’s studio
Quilting with Joan
Main Building. This free session is
open to sixth, seventh, and eighth
graders. For information, or to register,
contact Continuing Studies at 410-2252219
Saturday, April 14, 2007, 2 p.m.
Film: 500 Years Later (2005)
Brown Center’s Falvey Hall
Events at RFLM
Thursday, April 5, 2007, 5–8 p.m.
Mixed Media
Pianist Lafayette Gilcrest with the
New Volcanoes responding to Within
Our Gates after a screening of Birth
of a Nation
Saturday, April 28, 2007,
1–4 p.m.
Conversations at
Freedom’s Door, Part II
Talk by Hari Jones, curator of the
African American Civil War Museum
Events at Other Locations
Saturday April 21, 2007, 10.30 a.m.
Quilting for the Soul
St. Mark United Methodist Church
Saturday, May 12, 2007, 2 p.m.
Film: Bamboozled (2000)
Morgan State University,
Communications Building
Spring/Summer 2007
23
News from our satellite Museums
Fells Point
Maritime Museum
Baltimore Civil War Museum
The tradition continues on Saturday, April 21, as the
Maryland Historical Society and our community partners
commemorate the Pratt Street riots.
The riots broke out on April 19, 1861, as Union
soldiers, answering President Lincoln’s call for troops to
secure the nation’s capital, attempted to make their way
through Baltimore amid Southern sympathizing crowds.
The program will start at 10:00 a.m. at the Baltimore Civil
War Museum with a ceremony featuring a color guard from
the Friends of President Street Station. Also on hand will
be Fort McHenry National Monument & Historic Shrine
historian Scott Sheads and members of the Fort McHenry
Guard’s fife & drum corps.
Walking tours, led by Urban Rangers from the Baltimore City Heritage Area, will step off at 11:00 and 11:30
a.m. to trace the path of the riots from President Street to
Camden Station.
A joint admission ticket is available for both the Baltimore Civil War Museum and Fort McHenry’s Civil War
Weekend. Call 410-685-3750 ext. 321.
201 West Monument St.
Baltimore, MD 21201–4674
Phone: 410–685–3750
Membership, ext. 395
Events, group and school tours, ext. 321
Library, ext. 349
Museum Shop, ext. 305
Facilities Rentals, ext. 399
www.mdhs.org
The museum, located at 1724 Thames Street, has
launched a new self-guided tour publication this
spring, developed by MdHS staff to highlight the
museum’s exhibition and the maritime history of
Fells Point. The interactive tour, developed in conjunction with the Maritime Committee, focuses
on the people, trade, ships and privateers that made
Fells Point famous as a “nest of pirates” and caused
British troops to turn their attention on Baltimore
after burning Washington D.C. in September 1814.
For further information, call 410-732-0278.
Non-profit org.
U.S. Postage
PA I D
Baltimore, MD
Permit No. 3810