Advertisements for Maltby House, Baltimore and twelve other hotels

 

 

1869 (Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries)

Budget Cuts Hobble Library of Congress

 

(NYTimes) ... Just as military contractors, air traffic controllers and federal workers are coping with the grim results of a partisan impasse over the federal deficit, the Library of Congress, whose services range from copyrighting written works — whether famous novels or poems scribbled on napkins — to the collection, preservation and digitalization of millions of books, photographs, maps and other materials, faces deep cuts that threaten its historic mission. Continued

Ma & Pa Railroad artifacts, photos, documents sought by preservation group

 

(Aegis) A new effort is under way to preserve the history of the iconic Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad that ran through the heart of Harford County more than 50 years ago.
A group responsible for the annual Maryland & Pennsylvania Month celebration in Delta, Pa., has begun a drive to locate, acquire, authenticate, preserve and display material relating to the Ma & Pa Railroad and its predecessors.
"So much material relating to the railroad's history has already been lost that steps must be taken to prevent further losses," Jerome Murphy, a Fork resident who is a member of the group and a collector of Ma & Pa photographs and documents, said. Continued

Rare 1865 Baseball Card to Be Auctioned in Maine

 

BIDDEFORD, Maine (AP) Six-figure bids are expected when a rare 148-year-old baseball card discovered at a rural Maine yard sale is auctioned.
Saco River Auction Co. in Biddeford is holding an auction Wednesday that includes a card depicting the Brooklyn Atlantics amateur baseball club. Continued

The Paper Trail Through History

 

(NYTBR) ... it’s representative of an emerging body of work that might be called “paperwork studies.” True, there are not yet any dedicated journals or conferences. But in history, anthropology, literature and media studies departments and beyond, a group of loosely connected scholars are taking a fresh look at office memos, government documents and corporate records, not just for what they say but also for how they circulate and the sometimes unpredictable things they do. Continued

RR Auction's Gangsters, Outlaws & Lawmen Preview for Live Auction on Sept 30th

(Part 1 of 2) The American Gangsters, Outlaws and Lawmen live auction will take place on Sunday, September 30, 2012, beginning at 10am. For more information, please visit the RR Auction web site (www.rrauction.com).

What's in York's attic?

(YDR) York, PA - A thick layer of dust and dirt coats nearly every surface in the attic of York's former city hall.
A canopy of exposed beams spans the expanse, sheltering thousands of yellowing folders and stacks of hardbound books. The lights are dim, and the air is heavy with the scent of aging paper.
For the last 70 years, the third floor of York's city hall has been a catch all for records of the city's history -- tax assessments, license applications and even criminal histories.
This week, those records have been unearthed for the first time in decades, as city officials prepare to renovate the building for the use of the city's police department. Continued

Take a trip through the Grateful Dead Archive Online

(boingboing) UC Santa Cruz launched the Grateful Dead Archive Online last Friday with tens of thousands of items. But it wouldn't be a Grateful Dead archive if all you could do was look at stuff, so you can also:
• Add your own photos and stories - you can even tell us a story over voicemail.
• Use the map to search for things related to a particular Dead show and venue - like photos, backstage passes, and envelopes that fans sent in to request tickets, and tapes from performances hosted at archive.org. Continued

Photo of Jerry Garcia by Susana Millman

As Coins Disappear During Civil War in Cecil County, Port Deposit and Elkton Issue "Shinplasters"

(WoCCP) As that bloody conflict, the Civil War, smoldered in 1862, a serious shortage of coins for everyday commerce had Cecil County merchants shuffling around trying to find ways to make change. You could blame penny pinchers, hoarders or simply the scarcity of the war, but whatever the cause there was a shortage of gold, silver, and cooper to make change.
With coins largely out of circulation, the hue and cry for small change was at its height as the nation faced the second year of the tragic struggle. If silver did not become more plentiful, one Elkton merchant told the Cecil Democrat he would be forced to issue shinplasters. Continued

Books for Congress

(LoC) Today, the Library of Congress celebrates its birthday. On April 24, 1800, President John Adams approved the appropriation of $5,000 for the purchase of "such books as may be necessary for the use of congress."The books, the first purchased for the Library of Congress, were ordered from London and arrived in 1801. The collection of 740 volumes and three maps was stored in the U.S. Capitol, the Library's first home. Continued

Thief may have sold more historic documents

(Baltimore Sun) Document thief Barry Landau may have sold more of the national treasures he stole from museums — including the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore, where his scheme unraveled — than previously thought, according to the National Archives inspector general, who said Wednesday that his investigators have uncovered new evidence.
Members of the agency's Archival Recovery Team are now targeting historic document dealers who illegally, if unknowingly, bought pieces from Landau for $500 to $6,000 apiece, based on the disgraced collector's own sales records, which were found during an FBI search of Landau's Manhattan apartment.
"We're giving them the opportunity now to play right" and return the goods, said Inspector General Paul Brachfeld, urging holders of stolen items to come forward before they're contacted. Continued

Piece of Martha Washington's dress on sale in Pa.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) A piece of one of Martha Washington's dresses is for sale.
The Raab Collection, a Philadelphia historic documents dealer, said Wednesday that it's selling the 5-inch-by-9-inch piece of silk brocade for $40,000. Other pieces of the same dress are at George Washington's home, Mount Vernon. Continued

History Research: It’s a New Ball Game as Free Websites Provide Digital Copies of Wills, Maps, Newspapers, and Photos

(WoCCP) In this rapidly expanding world of online information, lots of helpful data is often just a few keystrokes away. The amount is exploding exponentially as a number of for-profit digital publishers, such as Ancestry and GenealogyBank, have taken the lead in making vast amounts of material available instantly. Beyond these excellent data aggregators, there are some free, open source repositories which are helpful too. Since they’re not as well-known, we thought we’d mention a few here in case you’re struggling with fee-based research overload. Continued

Photo: Photograph documenting WPA Project Number 272. Typed text on label on back of photograph reads: Works Progress Administration of Maryland, Division of Operations. Havre de Grace, Harford County. Resurfacing city streets - showing section of Washington St. completed, curb, gutter, and surfacing. (Pratt Library)

QSL cards on exhibit at Harford Community College

(Aegis) Before cell phones and Facebook, there was amateur — or ham — radio. These radio operators would connect with other people around the world and share what daily life was like on their side of the country — or sometimes globe — all from the comfort of their own homes.
One or several radios would take up space on kitchen tables or office desks where plates and papers would normally be and act as the base of these experimental radio stations, called "shacks," just waiting for another person's voice to come in through the airwaves.
Indeed, it's a hobby that persists in some circles, despite the emergence of other instant communication venues like the Internet. Continued

Photo: Radio Age Magazine, Sept 1926, via Library of Congress.

Alleged document thief pleads not guilty

(Baltimore Sun) Barry H. Landau, whom authorities call the mastermind behind a scheme to swipe American treasures from museums throughout the Mid-Atlantic, pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal theft and conspiracy charges that prosecutors now characterize as the country's "single largest" theft of its kind.
The suspected victims and the number of items taken have tripled since the investigation began July 9 with an arrest by Baltimore police at the Maryland Historical Society, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Warwick said during the lengthy, multi-part hearing in the city's U.S. District Court.
Investigators have now identified hundreds of stolen documents, instead of dozens, from at least 11 locations in five states and Washington, Warwick said. Continued

Presidential Historian Charged With Trying To Steal Rare Documents from Maryland Museum

(NewsCore) A presidential historian was held without bail Tuesday after being accused of stealing documents worth millions of dollars from the Maryland Historical Society, including some signed by President Abraham Lincoln.
Barry H. Landau, 63, is considered one of the foremost collectors of presidential memorabilia and artifacts.
Police say he and 24-year-old Jason Savedoff, both of New York City, attended a reviewing of historical papers at the museum Saturday where they attempted to steal a number of documents, The Baltimore Sun reported. Continued

Baseball tickets from 1860s a rare find

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (boston.com) At a local auction, Colin Twing bid $60 on what he thought were two 19th century railroad tickets, figuring each might be worth that much apiece. As it turns out, the Pittsfield man acquired a pair of baseball tickets that two researchers are calling rare finds for the national pastime.
Twing, who has been shopping at auctions for 10 years, is now the owner of what looks like a season ticket from the late 1860s or '70s to the Athletic Club Base Ball Club of Philadelphia and a ticket to the 11th annual National Association of Base-Ball Players convention that took place in Philadelphia on Dec. 11, 1867. Continued

Valentine’s Day

(LoC) On February 14, Americans celebrate love and friendship by exchanging cards, flowers, and candy. Although the origins of Valentine's Day are murky, ancient Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia, a spring festival, on the fifteenth of February. Like so many holidays, a Christian gloss was added to the pagan fete when the holiday moved to the fourteenth of February—the saint day associated with several early Christian martyrs named Valentine.
The romance we associate with Valentine's Day may spring from the medieval belief that birds select their mates on February 14. During the Middle Ages, lovers recited verse or prose to one another in honor of the day.
Handmade valentines, probably the first greeting cards, appeared in the sixteenth century. Mass production of cards began as early as 1800. Initially hand-tinted by factory workers, by the early twentieth century even fancy lace and ribbon-strewn cards were created by machine. Continued

Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Cecil County, Maryland.

Moneymakers: The Wicked Lives and Surprising Adventures of Three Notorious Counterfeiters

(NYTBR) ... what elevates “Moneymakers” from the novelty shelf is Tarnoff’s skillful interweaving of the counterfeiter’s work and America’s revolving enchantment with and disavowal of paper money. Alongside tales of jailbreaks and executions, he examines the nation’s changing relationship to federalism and the democratization of the means of exchange. For example, David Lewis would cheat the poor but was said to often refund their losses after a successful day of bilking the rich. This dramatic sensibility converged with the emerging Jacksonian populism, and its attendant dissatisfaction with a centralized banking authority, to fashion the counterfeiter as an American Robin Hood. Continued

Baltimore native's city memorabilia is highlight of auction

(Baltimore Sun) Civil War sketchings, historical maps, and photographs of the Great Fire of 1904 are among a trove of Baltimore memorabilia that will be sold Saturday at a Towson auction house.
The sale will feature the collections of Michael Isekoff, a Baltimore native whose collection of maps and photographs rivals those found in libraries and museums, and the late Jeffrey Weiss, a local book enthusiast who amassed rare art reference and illustrated books. Continued