Museum Online
 
 

Writing It All Down: Basic Archival Sources of Maryland History

The Founding of Maryland: original sources at the Maryland State Archives
• A Relation of the Successefull beginnings of the Lord Baltemore's Plantation in Mary-land
• The original official Maryland charter language in English - June 1632
• The Charter of Maryland
• Maryland's First Governor, Leonard Calvert - served from 1633 to 1647
• Examples of Early Laws of Government - 1637-1664
• Maryland Day Celebrations, March 25


• Putting Maryland on the Map - Charts and Maps the Colonists would have used, taken from Edward C. Papenfuse and Joseph M. Coale III. The Maryland State Archives Atlas of Historical Maps of Maryland 1608-1908. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. (11/02)

Religious and Civil Freedom Under Law: original sources at the Maryland State Archives
• Act Concerning Religion [known as the Act of Toleration] (April 21, 1649). GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL (Proceedings) 1637-1657 MSA S1071-4 (original) and GENERAL ASSEMBLY, UPPER HOUSE (Proceedings) MSA S 977-1, ff. 354-359 (official recorded version).  For an introduction and a transcription and illustrations (8mb) of the Act see: Gerald W. Johnson, The Maryland Act of Toleration (Annapolis: Maryland Hall of Records, 1973).   The original was on exhibit at the Library of Congress in Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, which continues as an electronic exhibit at http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01-2.html.
Images of the original (1649)
Images of the official recorded version
• See also: An Act Concerning Religion, April 21, 1649 An Interpretation and Tribute to the Citizen Legislators of Maryland. Archives of Maryland (Documents for the Classroom) MSA SC 2221-25.
• "The Lord Baltimore's Case concerning his Plantation in Mary-Land"  -  February 1649/50
• The Bush River Declaration - March 22, 1775
• First copy of the Declaration of Independence including the names of the signers, printed by Mary Katherine Goddard, January 18, 1777.
• Washington Resigns his Commission, December 23, 1784
• Proclaiming Peace, January 14, 1784
• The United States Constitution - first printing in Maryland, September 22, 1787
• The Bill of Rights - signed by Thomas Jefferson (1791)
• Current Maryland Constitution
Documents for the Classroom - Captain Berry's Will  Debauchery, Miscegenation, & Family Strife Among 18th Century Gentry transcribed and introduced by Carson Gibb, Ph.D. (c. 1784)

Letter from John Hewes to his father Edward discussing his sale of the
Baltimore newspaper Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser to William Gwynn,  November 6, 1812

One Man's Civil War: A Letter from Bull Run, July 26, 1861

Federal pardon for Benjamin Brown, African American sailor, signed by Abraham Lincoln and William Seward - June 18, 1863

The Road From Frederick to Thurgood:   Black Baltimore in Transition, 1870-1920

Images of the Titanic From Maryland Newspapers  (1912)
 

Remarks by Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse for the Rededication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Oak Tree, at the State House, February 28, 2007
Remarks by Governor Parris N. Glendening at the ceremony of the Maryland Senate celebrating George Washington's birthday in the Old Senate Chamber of the Maryland State House, February 21, 2000.

George Washington's Farewell Address September 17, 1796
1796 Maryland Session Laws

Remarks by Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse to the Opening Day of the Maryland General Assembly, January 12, 2000:
    Maryland Centennial Legislatures of 1700, 1800, and 1900.

"What's in A Name? Why Should We Remember?"
Reflections on the history of Prince Georges County, Queen Anne's County, and the Liberty Tree on St. John's College Campus by Dr. Edward C.Papenfuse, State Archivist.

See also:  State Archivist's speeches
 

Straddling Secession: Thomas Holliday Hicks and the Civil War in Maryland

Documenting a Legacy: Governor Thomas Sim Lee, 1745-1819

The Baltimore City Circuit Court & Baltimore Bar Library Art Collection

Study of the Legacy of Slavery Exhibits Online
Exhibits on this site are initially presented in the Maryland State Archives searchroom in Annapolis, Maryland.  The goal of the Legacy of Slavery Exhibits Online is to inform, promote and display the varied people, places and events that have created African American history in Maryland since it's 1634 colonization.

A Character of the Province of Maryland by George Alsop
1902 reprint of original 1666 edition. Also features the map, "A Land-Skip of the Province of Maryland or the Lord Baltimors Plantation neere Virginia."

A RECORD OF HEROISM: The Maryland State Fair for U.S. Soldier Relief
April 19, 1864 -April 30, 1864

The Use and Implications of Photographs for Mental Health Care Reform:
The Maryland State Lunacy Commission State Care Campaign, 1908-1910

Clara Barton and missing Civil War soldiers of Maryland
Correspondence with the adjutant general of Maryland, 1865

State-Owned Artwork on Exhibit in Government House (2002)
Works from the Annapolis Collection and the Peabody Collection on display in Government House

Charting the Chesapeake: 1590-1990
A presentation derived from the permanent exhibition at the Maryland State Archives

Maryland Women's Hall of Fame
An exhibit co-sponsored by the Maryland State Archives and the Maryland Commission for Women

Maryland In Focus: A Virtual Exhibit of the Maryland State Archives

Baltimore Benevolence: A Record of Nineteenth Century Philanthropy & Humane Giving
A presentation derived from the exhibition at Clifton Mansion, Baltimore, Maryland, September 10, 2000-August 13, 2002.

Lady of the House: First Ladies and Official Hostesses of Maryland, 1777-2000
An exhibit in Government House, March - May, 2000

A Taste for the Fine Arts: George Peabody's Gift to Maryland
An exhibit in Government House, July - December, 1998

Women's History at the Maryland State Archives
An exhibit in honor of Women's History Month, March 1998

African American History at the Maryland State Archives
An exhibit in honor of Black History Month, February 1998

Sisters' Passion for the Arts: A Glimpse of the Cone Collection
Exhibition in Government House from September 1996 - January 1997

Exhibit of Governors' Portraits in the Governor's Reception Room

The Maryland Federalist: Replica of 1788 Baltimore parade ship

A Baltimore Watchman: Drawings by Alfred Jacob Miller from the Walters Art Gallery.
Exhibition in Government House from January - July 1996

Portraits of First Ladies & Official Hostesses of Maryland from the State Collection
Exhibition in Government House from March 1995 - January 1996. A number of these portraits are still on display there.

The Eye of the Beholder
Photographs by Marion E. Warren, 1940-1988. The electronic version of an exhibit assembled in 1987 by Marion E. Warren and his daughter Mame Warren.

Traveling Exhibit

Colonial Encounters in the Chesapeake: The Natural World of Native American, Europeans and Africans, 1585-1800