Category: Research Resources

Online Historical Maps of Harford County

Over the past several years there has been an enormous increase in the number of historical maps that are available online.  These digital collections are a great aid for those of us seeking to understand the past, whether it is for a scholarly investigation, local history study, or genealogy project. While the maps, many centuries old, have been available in special collections repositories around the nation, the access was limited as trips to widely scattered archives created obstacles for most researchers.

Recently I needed to examine old drawings from Harford County, and I was able to easily access e-published renderings from a number of universities, historical societies, and libraries around the world.

There are a few helpful starting points, when accessing these primary sources.  One of the best is Old Maps Online, an easy-to-use web portal to historical maps in libraries around the globe.  It allows the user to search across a number of extensive collections, via a geographical search interface.  Another strong one is the Library of Congress.  The products can be downloaded and the scans, which are of high quality, can be magnified, in most instances.  Some of repositories require you to register to get full access.

These and other research e-resources are revolutionizing the way we conduct historical research and are invaluable for those working in the past.  Here are some sites for locating Harford County Maps online, as well as any other place you are examining.

  • Searchable on Old Maps Online, the David Rumsey Map Collection has Simon J. Martenet’s Map of Harford County, along with dozens of other digital products.
  • Old Maps Online also has Brown University Library’s C. P. Hauducoeur’s engraving of the head of the Chesapeake and Susquehanna River.  Of course, many more are found via this web portal.
  • The Library of Congress has L. W. Herrick’s Map of Harford County from 1858 and Martenet’s 1878 Map.  It also has T.M. Fowler’s 1907 birds-eye-view of Havre de Grace.
  • The Enoch Pratt Library has a subscription to the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps. From the 1880s until about World War II, the cartographers for this company visited towns regularly to update drawings and produce sketches at a detailed scale of 1-inch to fifty feet.  With these a researcher is able to observe the changes that took place with a dwelling or a community over generations.  You need a Baltimore City Library card to access the database online.
  • Here is a link to a union catalog, an index, of all the Sanborn Maps published for Maryland.

Check these resources out the next time you are working on a project and need Harford County Maps.  Regardless of where your inquiry takes you you will find many other maps of interest as you start searching these and other databases.

A map of the head of Chesapeake Bay and Susquehanna River by C. P. Hauducoeur; Source: The John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, via: Old Maps Online
A portion of the map of the head of Chesapeake Bay and Susquehanna River by C. P. Hauducoeur; Source: The John Carter Brown Library at Brown University, via: Old Maps Online
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Bel Air, 1897; Source Enoch Pratt Library
Part of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Bel Air, 1897; Source Enoch Pratt Library
Harford County Maps, 1858.
A portion of the map of Harford Co., Maryland, 1858. Entirely from original surveys by L.W. Herrick; Source: Library of Congress
Martenet's Map of Harford County, Maryland, 1878: Source: Library of Congress
A part of Martenet’s Map of Harford County, Maryland, 1878: Source: Library of Congress

Thousands of Digital Delaware Picture Postcards Depict State History at Public Archives

caley 1
The Lighthouse & Keeper’s House at Taylor’s Bridge. Source: Delaware Public Archives, George Caley Postcard Collection

The Delaware Public Archives, a special collections institution that provides outstanding leadership in creating digital products to support the study of First State heritage, has just launched another valuable resource.  It is the George Luther Caley Postcard Collection, a group of almost 7,000 twentieth century images of the State and Delmarva.

George, a Smyrna resident, was a well-known genealogist, author and local historian and an avid postcard collector.  During his life-time, he assembled this valuable assortment of Delaware and Delmarva images.  When he passed away in 2005, his wife generously donated the photos to the Delaware Public Archives.  Now the professionals at this fine repository have made those images available to researchers on the World Wide Web.

Picture postcards caught on about 1906 and remained popular, sought after items throughout the 20th century.  Itinerant photographers traveled the area, from the Peninsula’s wide spots in the road to the larger towns, snapping up pictures of just about everything to supply the market.  When people vacationed, they mailed those tiny items back home.  Or when someone from Delaware corresponded with far away friends, they exchanged picture postcards of their towns.  Toward the end of the 20th century the items that had been stored away in trunks decades earlier started coming out of attics.  Those tiny pieces of cardboard became valuable, sought-after collectibles as local history enthusiasts snapped up the historical pictures of the region, many of them nearly 100-years old.

Now thanks to Mrs. Caley and the Delaware Public Archives this valuable  collection has been carefully preserved and it is available to a wide audience.

Click here to visit the postcard collection

The Caley Postcard Collection Homepage at the Delaware Public Archives website
The Caley Postcard Collection Homepage at the Delaware Public Archives website

Carroll County Library Digitizes Westminster Newspaper

The Carroll County Public Library has digitized its collection of the Carroll County Times.  This online, text searchable resource spans the years 1933 to 1999.  The old, original microfilm was professionally scanned and software was used to allow for easy text-based searching of the collections.  This valuable addition of records for researchers joins a growing body of material around Maryland.

The Carroll County Library has digitized the Carroll County Times.
The Carroll County Library has digitized the Carroll County Times.

Digital Humanities Project Crowdsources a Civil War Chaplains Diary

Civil War Chaplain's Diary
Civil War Chaplain’s Diary

I have had an interesting experience working on a digital humanities initiative, a crowdsourcing project with the University of Delaware Museum Studies Program and History Media Center.  It involves a Civil War chaplain’s diary that has been gathering dust for 150-years and was periodically brought out for some research.

The University digitized the diary and students, faculty and staff are pouring over fading pages from another age, scrutinizing those aging entries line by line.  With students working from many remote locations since the scans are on the Net they review the hand written words and transcribe the entries.  The emerging scholars then submit their contributions which are reviewed and put up on line.  Eventually, the entire diary will be available for anyone to access and read and that will broaden engagement, investigation, and research with this valuable source.

It’s a collaboration with the University of Delaware that I hope to strengthen because it makes largely unused cultural heritage resources available to a wider audience.  The University’s focus is in the area of the digital humanities, which allows us to take largely un-accessed collections and get the material out to a broader audience for study. It is also a preservation method in that it reduces the handling and makes interpretation much easier.

It has been fascinating to watch this new media project unfold.

Crowedsourcing the Civil War chaplain’s diary.