Cover

Spring/Summer 2007

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 MidwinterNight’sDream”at the Maryland Historical Society

showcased our rental spaces with delectable fare and Dreamy Drinks from our

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Spring/Summer 2007 �

Barbara P. Katz, ChairpersonHenry Hodges Stansbury, PresidentAlex. G. Fisher, PresidentElectDavid M. Funk, VicePresidentWilliam T. Reynolds, VicePresidentDorothy McI. Scott, VicePresidentDavid Stewart Thaler, VicePresidentThomas A. Collier, SecretaryFrederick M. Hudson, TreasurerCecil E. Flamer, Assistant TreasurerFrancis J. Carey, AtLargeLouise Lake Hayman, AtLargeJ. Leo Levy Jr., AtLarge

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 agarside@mdhs.org

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

Printed by: Mount Royal Printing Company

Advertising: A limited number of display ads are accepted at the Editor’s discretion. For rate information, contact agarside@mdhs.org

Front CoverIn 1848, eight-year-old Sarah Elizabeth Haines stitched a dutiful rhyme into her sampler.Designated Purchase Fund. (MdHS, 1996.14)

“A MidwinterNight’sDream” BoardofTrusteesFY2007

Tracy A. BacigalupoGregory H. BarnhillMarilyn CarpWilliam F. ChaneyAnn Y. FenwickRobert GregoryDavid L. Hopkins Jr.H. Thomas HowellLenwood M. IveyM. Willis MacgillRichard T. MorelandRobert R. NeallJayne PlankLynn Springer RobertsGeorge S. RichWalter SchamuStewart T. ShettleJacqueline Smelkinson

Martin Sullivan The Hon. Casper R. Taylor Jr.Chairmen EmeritiL. Patrick DeeringJack S. GriswoldSamuel HopkinsStanard T. KlinefelterThe Hon. J. Fife Symington Jr.Presidents EmeritiJohn L. McShaneBrian B. ToppingEx-Officio TrusteesThe Hon. Wayne T. GilchrestThe Hon. David R. CraigThe Hon. Sheila DixonThe Hon. John R. LeopoldGary B. Ruppert, M.D.The Hon. James T. Smith Jr.

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 Mary-land 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 Sar-banes, 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.

Marylander of the Year

� MdHS News

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. RogersActing Director

The Sankofa Dance Theater leads the procession to celebrate the opening of “At Freedom’s Door.”

Spring/Summer 2007 �

A Salute to Our Corporate & Foundation

SupportersThe Maryland Historical Society is unusually for-tunate 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 The-mides, Regional President of Wachovia Bank, be-lieve volunteer service enhances philanthropic sup-port, 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 Foun-dation 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 commit-ment to MdHS.

The budget for the Maryland Historical Soci-ety is $4.1 million and Annual Fund gifts provide about 18 percent of the total revenue necessary to support the Museum, Library, Educational Pro-gramming, 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, An-nual Fund Manager, at 410-685-3750, ext. 319 or kanglemyer@mdhs.org.

“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. StansburyPresident, MdHS Board of TrusteesChairman, Agency Holding. Co.Photographed in the Symington Library at MdHS

The swan graced the cover of Chesapeake Wildfowl Hunting: Maryland’s Finest Decoys, published by MdHS Press in 1991. Copies are still available from www.asionline.com/decoys

� MdHS News

Teacher Workshops bring MdHS Resources to Classrooms across MarylandMdHS staffers have dramatically expanded the number of professional development workshops for teach-ers, taking lesson plans and primary source documents from our archives into classrooms statewide. Com-bining 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, spear-headed by Jennifer Yaremczak, Asso-ciate 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, Mary-land students can keep learning with the great resources of MdHS.”

The Annie E. Casey Foundation continues funding for SeaRCHThe 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, bring-ing 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”

Educational OutreachHalfway 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.

will examine housing discrimination and the role of Morgan State Univer-sity students and various Baltimore churches in the movement. Their fi-nal project will be a website dedicat-ed 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 docu-ments 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.

A Community Festival on Sunday, February 11, offered both painting and quilting workshops, led by Artists-in-Residence Joan Gaither and Arvie Smith.

These youngsters watch attentively while the Sankofa Dance Theater demonstrates African dances.

Spring/Summer 2007 7

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� MdHS News

he first question she gets asked by an awestruck visitor is “How many hours did it take you?” MdHS Artist-in-Residence Joan Gaither es-timates 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” exhibi-tion at the Maryland Historical Soci-ety. On loan from the Penobscot Ma-rine 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

Stitched into Joan Gaither’s Quilts is an Iconography of Slavery

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 materi-als, 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 Afri-can 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. “Some-times 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 ap-propriate 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 tear-ing apart of African-American fami-lies, as members are sold separately. Written on the branches of a “Tree of

At Freedom’s Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland—

Spring/Summer 2007 �

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 ar-rangements of flowers and vegetables recall slave labor on the land. Sewn into this produce of the earth are au-thentic “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 land-owners 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.

At Freedom’s Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland—

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 word-ing 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 shack-les, representing that Maryland’s wealth was resting on the labor of slaves.

“At Freedom’s Door: Chal-lenging Slavery in Maryland” is presented jointly by the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland Afri-can-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.

Joan Gaither leads a tour of the exhibition.

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aryland SchoolgirlSamplers & Embroideries, 1738-1860

10 MdHS News

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 fea-tured 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.

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.

The Extensions of Faith Choir celebrates the opening of “At Freedom’s Door” with resounding songs of praise.

April 14-November 15, 2007

aryland SchoolgirlSamplers & Embroideries, 1738-1860

Spring/Summer 2007 11

Telling touching tales of the world of young girls, both black and white, “Maryland Schoolgirl Sam-plers & Embroideries, 1738-1860” displays over 100 samples of needle-work, selected by guest curator Dr. Gloria Seaman Allen. The examples chosen are a tangible reflection of the rich mixture of cultures that contrib-uted 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 fe-male curriculum. Whether taught in the home or in a seminary or other institution, girls as young as six la-bored 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 Hick-ley, 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 build-ing was still in progress.

While enrolled in St. Joseph’s Academy and Free School in Em-mitsburg 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 sub-stantial log building with chimneys, gables and mullioned windows and

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

12 MdHS News

a small chapel attached to one end. The school had been founded by Elizabeth Seton, the first American-born 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 lifesilk made by Baltimore girls be-tween 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)

worked her composition of a hum-mingbird 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 needle-work. In 1795, with the topographi-cally 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 recogniz-able 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. No-tably, two large groups of Maryland needlework survive from Catholic schools that remained in operation for decades, providing instruction in the needle arts. Unique to Mary-land 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 pro-gressive states in America in terms of educating girls.

A large number of Catholic immigrants from Europe, attracted to Baltimore as the center of the Ro-man 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 Provi-dence, 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 Educa-tion of Young Ladies in 1831; and the Visitation Sisters from Georgetown extended their mission to Baltimore when they started the Ladies’ Acad-emy of the Visitation in 1837.

By Gloria Seaman AllenAn exquisitely beautiful book, A Maryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery 1738-1860 is the work of one of the country’s premier textile scholars.

A aryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery 1738-1860

By the early 19th century, the town of Frederick in Western Mary-land had both English- and German-speaking teachers in needlework. More samplers are known from Fred-erick County than from any other re-gion 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 1�

Sponsored by the Francis Scott Key Society

Sampler Preview PartyFriday, April 13, 2007, 6-9 p.m.Light Fare & Cocktails, $75 per person

Afternoon Tea & Children’s Embroidery WorkshopSunday, 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.

Sampler Happenings

SymposiumMaryland Girlhood Samplers, A Historical PerspectiveFriday & Saturday, April 27 & 28, 2007Register 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

1� MdHS News

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.

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.

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 seek-ing 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 sam-pler 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.

Spring/Summer 2007 1�

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 solic-iting help.

One might imagine that most of the inquiries come from the State of Maryland. In fact, the Library serves a global clientele. Take inqui-ries about the Latrobes, for instance. “The Latrobes were originally from Holland by way of England,” ex-plains 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 sin-gle 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 Balti-more from 1819 to 1948. Families in Europe can use these records to trace where their great-great grandfa-thers and mothers, aunts and uncles, siblings or cousins ended up. That also works in reverse. “We often get requests from people in the mid-West,” 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

H. Furlong Baldwin Library

450,000 photographs

5,500 prints

4 million manuscripts

75,000 books

2,500 broadsides

1.25 million pieces of printed

ephemera

1,000 maps and

city diagrams

1,500 pieces of

old currency

2,000 postcards

20,000 musical scores

2,000 slave and

Civil War pamphlets

500 oral history tapes

A genealogical index

…the first hand-written draft of

“The Star Spangled Banner,”

memorabilia of ragtime

pianist Eubie Blake….

The materials residing in the

form the fabric of Maryland History.

1� MdHS News

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 Balti-more’s best known banks, invest-ment 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 in-vestment 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 Mer-cantile Bank & Trust Company, his colleagues and friends made gener-ous 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

Orientation SessionsThe Library holds regular ori-entation sessions for members of the public on the third Saturday of every month. Lasting 45 min-utes, the sessions begin at 9:10 a.m. and are free with regular Library admission. No pre-reg-istration is required. Upcoming orientations include: April 21, Introduction to Genealogical Research; May 19, Finding Pho-tographs; June 16, Using Special Collections; July 21, Introduc-tion 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.

John Sanders, a producer at WBAL TV Eleven in Baltimore, has in-dependently 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 docu-ments 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

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 Histori-cal 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 be-lieved 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 research-ers using the library, about half are undergraduates and the oth-ers Ph.D. candidates or faculty. The Library is also integrated into history and social studies depart-ments 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 chil-dren—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 unpredict-able 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

Visitors to the exhibition can admire The Founding of Maryland, painted by Emanuel Leutze in 1861. The painting is a romantic depic-tion 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)

Latrobe’s Cathedral:The Batimore Basilica Through the Yearscontinues through May 6, 2007

Spring/Summer 2007 17

“Africa’s Maryland” a WBAL Television Documentary, filmed with the help of the MdHS Library

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1� MdHS News

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

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.

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.

Nine Times before the Supreme Court--Martha Bradstreet ,s Tenacious Litigation as documented in the Bradstreet-Mayer PapersBy David S. Thaler

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.”

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 cock-traitors 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

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.

20 MdHS News

Sponsored by the Francis Scott Key Society

Sleuthing at “A Furniture Affair”

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.

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 IRAs, without including the IRA 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 op-portunity to make a significant gift to MdHS. You can do this as well, witness the impact of your generosity, and realize tax savings.

New IRA Law Offers Tax Advantages When Giving to Maryland Historical Society

An Important New Gift Opportunity for Donors Age 70½ or Older

For more information, please contact Valerie Wilson, Deputy Director for Development at 410-685-3750, ext. 322 or vwilson@mdhs.org.

BELOW Jeannine Disviscour BOTTOM RIGHT J. Michael Flanigan finds fascinating artifacts in storage. BOTTOM LEFT Gregory Weidman points out distinctive drawer construction.

Spring/Summer 2007 21Our merchandise is constantly changing and our prices are modest.

10% discount to MdHS members. (35% on MdHS Press books)Visit us at www.mdhs.org/museumshop

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 ephemeraCostume Jewelry and Pocket WatchesPorcelain and SilverSamplers and Fine Needlework

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New from MdHS Press!Only $13 for members

Calendar

Sampler Preview Party Friday, April 13, 2007, 6-9 p.m.Light Fare & Cocktails, $75 per person

Afternoon Tea & Children’s Embroidery WorkshopSunday, 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 CommemorationMonday, March 26, 200712:30 p.m. Wreath-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.

Family History SeminarSaturday, 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/ non-members. Light breakfast and box lunch included. Reservations required. Call 410-685-3750 ext. 321 to register.

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 CountryThursday, May 17, 20075:30 p.m. Wine & Cheese Reception6 p.m. LectureJoin 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.

Civil War Recruiting EventSunday, 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.

Symposium Maryland Girlhood Samplers, A Historical PerspectiveFriday & 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

Maryland Schoolgirl Samplers & Embroideries,

1738-1860 Sponsored by the Francis Scott Key Society

Bodine in his studio.

Events at MICATuesday, April 3, 2007, 7 p.m.

William Christenberry- Sweet 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 JoanMain Building. This free session is open to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. For information, or to register, contact Continuing Studies at 410-225-2219

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 MediaPianist 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 IITalk by Hari Jones, curator of the African American Civil War Museum

Events at Other LocationsSaturday April 21, 2007, 10.30 a.m.

Quilting for the SoulSt. Mark United Methodist Church

Saturday, May 12, 2007, 2 p.m.Film: Bamboozled (2000)Morgan State University, Communications Building

Calendar of EventsFells Point Maritime Museum Anniversary WeekendSaturday & Sunday, June 16 & 17, 2007Bring 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.

Events at MdHSWednesday, 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 MediaThis special First Thursday event celebrates Baltimore’s diverse community, while highlighting Afro-Brazilian 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, noonArt 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.

Save the Date!Maryland Historical Society Annual MeetingThe 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.

Spring/Summer 2007 2�

Non-profit org.U.S. PostagePAID

Baltimore, MDPermit No. 3810

201 West Monument St.Baltimore, MD 21201–4674

Phone: 410–685–3750 Membership, ext. 395Events, group and school tours, ext. 321Library, ext. 349Museum Shop, ext. 305Facilities Rentals, ext. 399www.mdhs.org

Baltimore Civil War Museum

News from our satellite Museums

Fells Point Maritime Museum

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 con-junction 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.

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 Balti-more 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 Bal-timore Civil War Museum and Fort McHenry’s Civil War Weekend. Call 410-685-3750 ext. 321.