SLRC Treasures: African American Department

The African American Department has a wealth of hidden treasures! For starters, the collection contains several rare and out of print books, dating back to the 1800s. Some of these books are so fragile that they have to be kept in a secure location and handled with extreme care.

We also have an extensive autographed book collection including the signatures of prominent Americans such as Gordon Parks, Lena Horne, John Hope Franklin and Langston Hughes. Our ephemera file has hundreds of brochures, transcripts, playbills, funeral programs and more. A significant amount focuses on the events and accomplishments of Marylanders.

The African American Department also maintain a large set of colorful drawings, posters, photographs and reproductions depicting the rich history and pioneers of African American culture.

SLRC Treasures: Maryland Department

What are some of the hidden treasures of SLRC in the Maryland Department?

There are many collections held in the Maryland Department that are not apparent when one searches the catalog. Since the 1930’s the Department’s staff has been collecting and organizing materials exclusive to Maryland. Some of the interesting collections include:

Maryland Telephone Directories: Phone books dating as far back as the World War I era for every county in the state. Many of these are quite brief but, in addition to telephone listings, contain interesting advertisements from local businesses.

Annual Reports: Business and non-profit organization reports for entities that are not included in the Pratt catalog. The date range of these reports is wide, but some date from the early 19th century.

Music and Theater Programs: Actually, two separate collections that include programs back to 1795. Some contain beautiful cover art and details of famous actors (e.g., Edwin Booth) who played in the area.

Photographs: More than 20,000 black-and-white photos from all over Maryland with emphasis on the Baltimore area. Particularly strong in the 1930’s. Many are available for reproduction. In addition, there are smaller, photographer based collections from A. Aubrey Bodine and M. Robert Rappaport.

Campaign Literature: A growing collection of election advertising in many shapes and sizes for Maryland state elections and national campaigns in Maryland. Material covers mid-19th century to date.

Yearbooks: High school and college yearbooks from educational intuitions in Maryland. Dates vary, but a current list is always available.

Postcards and Stereoscopic Views: Hundreds of postcards from places and points of interest from around the state- many with personal notes. Two hundred stereoscope views of Maryland sites.

Ephemera: Almost 6000 items of material that can be viewed as time sensitive, but provide a fascinating look at life in the past. Menus, programs, invitations, awards, posters, etc. from actual events. Useful for creating displays or exhibiting with other historical material.

Think about these collections as a supplement to other SLRC materials. Since most are composed of primary source documents, they are useful for students and make excellent display material-especially when mixed and matched!

Contact the staff of the Maryland Department to talk about access to these and other collections.

I have customers who are interested in learning more about specific state regulations...

...such as those that regulate the establishment of day care centers. Where can I find this information? And is it available online?

There are times when customers want legal information, but what they are seeking is not a law. As confusing as that sounds, state regulations are significant department policies that have the force of law but are not actually statues (laws). Black’s Law Dictionary defines a regulation as “a rule or order, having legal force, usually issued by an administrative agency.” For example, in the Family Law volume of the Maryland Code, Title 5, Subtitle 5 (FL 5-550-557.1) states that the Department of Education shall have authority to register family day care homes and adopt regulations that relate to the registration of family day care. But this law does not lay out the regulations one must follow to obtain that license. Those rules can be found in the Code of Maryland Regulations, more commonly referred to as COMAR. The details for the licensing procedure are found in COMAR under the title for the State Board of Education (Title 13A of COMAR). There is a hierarchical code number system, which makes it easy to identify where to find regulations. Here’s the explanation from the Division of State Documents (DSD) in the Secretary of State’s office.

DSD manages the system, which is identical to the federal practice of issuing regulations. First proposed regulations are published in the Maryland Register and later codified into COMAR.

The Maryland Code and COMAR are both online and very much up-to-date. You can also find them and many other legal links on the Maryland Law subject guide at SLRC. There are multiple ways in which COMAR can be searched. You can search by the agency name, through a table of contents structure or by using a keyword. It’s tricky. If you don’t use the keyword as it appears in the regulation, you won’t find it. It can be challenging. There’s another thing you need to know about COMAR online. When you retrieve the citations for a topic, you will get a list of regulation links to view. Regulations can only be opened one at a time because they are listed individually. There is no way to open all the regulations for a subject at once. So if you want, for example, to retrieve all the regulations pertaining to child and family day care you will have to click on each regulation one-by-one to open them. When you have a lot of regulations in one subtitle it can be very labor intensive! So try to be as specific as possible to limit your results.

You can get help from the Maryland Department librarians at SLRC. The Department has a few different indexes to COMAR and a complete set in hard copy. If you want to get a section without opening all the individual regulations they can fax or e-mail pages to you. If you still want more help on understanding COMAR, take a look at the Maryland law section of Legal Reference for Public Libraries e-Learning Module at the LATI site on slrc.info.

A customer at the library is interested in researching her family history. Where is a good place to get started researching Maryland genealogy?

There are some basic sources and databases that will help point a customer in the right direction in researching their Maryland family history. But before you jump in, you need to ask three basic questions. They are:

1. What time period are you interested in?
If the customer wants to know if their ancestor arrived with the first Maryland settlers on the Ark and Dove in 1634, then there is no reason to look at the U.S. Census which began in 1790. You first need to establish the time period before you can direct them to an appropriate source.

2. Which county or region of Maryland are you searching?
The volume of information varies greatly by county. Some have quite a bit, others very little. Establishing the county or area they’re focusing on can help identify where you need to refer. At the very least you can recommend a genealogical or historical society in the county of interest.

3. Where have you already searched?
This is important in establishing whether you have a novice in front of you or someone who is well beyond your expertise. In addition, you don’t want to reinvent the wheel, that is, show them sources that they have already searched.

If the customer is beginning or looking for a place to start your best bet are census records. U.S. Census enumerations are easily available to anyone in the state on HeritageQuest. HeritageQuest can be accessed through most county library systems or via Sailor. You may also be able to find census records online through Ancestry Library Edition. Ancestry is usually only available within the library, so check your system’s database list.

However, the latest census enumerations are from 1930. What if you need something later?

At SLRC, we have done a lot of work with finding aids and how-to and subject guides for genealogy. The best starting point for Maryland genealogy is Starting Your Own Genealogical Research, which is part of the Genealogy subject guide produced by the Maryland Department at SLRC. Don’t forget to search the catalog at SLRC for the type of record. You only need type in the keyword (e.g., death, for death notices), county (e.g., Frederick) and limit the library to Maryland Department. If you find something, contact the department to have them check the source and get you the information if appropriate.

If the customer, or you, still needs assistance contact the Maryland Department at SLRC.

How do you help someone get started in researching their family history in Maryland?

Finding information on a person’s family history, or genealogy, can be easy if they’re related to a prominent family whose history goes way back- but that frequently is not the case.  When a customer approaches and asks if you have files on family names, indexes of death notices or obituaries, or census records that should send a clear message to you that they are looking for genealogical information.

You need to determine what the customer needs as they may already have tons of information already and are looking for a specific fact that has eluded them or, they may be just beginning and do not even know where to start.  Likely they are somewhere in-between.

Begin by asking these three questions:

• Where have you already looked?  This is important not only so that you do not duplicate where they have already searched, but it will give you some idea of how far along they are with their work.
  
  
• How far back have you traced your family?  That is, chronologically.  If someone has traced their ancestors back to the Revolutionary War you don’t want to give them something that only goes back to World War II.
  
  
• What part of the state does the family come from?  Really what you are getting at here is what County or area did they live?  Many resources for family history in Maryland are specific to a town or county.  Some counties have tons written about their families (e.g., Frederick), other very little (Cecil).  Frequently local sources will not only have information on the family they are seeking, but can also identify other relatives living nearby.

Need to provide some good Web sites?  The genealogy subject guide on the homepage of the Maryland Department at SLRC can get you started.  There you will find a list of basic genealogy sites like Cyndi’s List and the GenWeb Project that are useful in finding family history information for Marylanders and are great jumping off points.  The Maryland Department’s genealogy page also has a link to a useful how-to guide called Starting Your Own Genealogical Research that describes the resources and access to material in the State Library Resource Center.

If you want to direct a customer to a database, remember everyone with a valid Maryland library card can access HeritageQuest through Sailor.  You may also subscribe to Ancestry Library Edition in your library.  These two databases form a foundation for relevant genealogy information like census records, city directories and passenger arrivals.

Essential Resources and Other Sources: Maryland

The Maryland Department of the State Library Resource Center focuses on all things Maryland.  From historical records to legal information to genealogical sources, the Maryland Department is the best source for all things Maryland.

Essential Resources

The Annotated Code of the Public General Laws of Maryland (the Code, not annotated, is also available online) is necessary in a public library for customers to check up-to-date laws in force.

Maryland, a Middle Temperament, 1634-1980 is the most comprehensive and best history of Maryland written in the past half century.

File for Divorce in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.  A plain language reference for complicated family law questions that includes copies of the forms that customers need.

Directory of Maryland Church Records identifies where records from churches around the state are held, including records that pre-date official genealogical records.

The Place Names of Maryland, Their Origin and Meaning is one of the few books that identifies where Maryland locations got their name.

Maryland Business Directory (online as Reference USA) has basic information on every individual establishment and is arranged geographically and by type of business.

An Index of the Source Records of Maryland, Genealogical, Biographical, Historical.
Originally printed in 1940, this book contains citations to identify where information on people and surnames can be found.  An indispensible resource and a last resort when other genealogical information cannot be located.

History of Maryland, From the Earliest Period to the Present Day is a 3 volume set, published in 1879 and simply the most comprehensive history of the state written up to the late nineteenth century.

The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy is the one book to turn to when you need to learn about any type of genealogical record or method.

Maryland Practice Forms is the most useful book of legal forms containing blank copies of subjects like power of attorney, adoption, name change and various motions.

Other Sources

Maryland Guide to Local, State and Federal Laws Governing Tenant-Landlord Relations: Including Laws Prohibiting Discrimination in Housing breaks down renter’s law into terms everyone can understand but also cites the appropriate sections of the Maryland code.

How to Start a Business in Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia an all-in-one guide for customers needing information on starting any form of business in the state.

Criss-Cross Directories are reverse telephone directories that are arranged by address rather than name.  They are invaluable for finding people and businesses in past years.

Black’s Law Dictionary is the most authoritative source when looking for definitions or synonyms for legal terms.  If you have law in your library, you must have Black’s. 

Motion Picture Exhibition in Baltimore: An Illustrated History and Directory of Theaters, 1895-2004 is an encyclopedic work on movie and stage theaters in the Baltimore area that provides historical information and photos.  There is a volume for the Washington area too.

International Building Code is a necessary reference as the state, counties and local jurisdictions are adopting these national standardized codes.

Maryland Operating Budget.  Aside from the obvious financial information the budget has information on personnel detail, salaries, departmental objectives and statistics.

West’s Maryland Law Encyclopedia: Based on Maryland Statutes, Case law, State and Federal; Attorney General Opinions and Law Reviews.  The savior for those who are not versed in the law, this encyclopedia has explanatory chapters for each area of the law and cites statutes in the Code as well as court precedents

What to Do About Personnel Problems in Maryland is an up-to-date digest of federal and state laws that relate to work and employment in Maryland. 

Maryland, a Guide to the Old Line State.  Published as part of the WPA state guide series in 1940, this is the definitive guide to places and historical locations in Maryland