A search for Dover Delaware delivered this page from the Los Angeles Herald. It was published on February 22, 1899.
Efficiencies for researchers continue evolving at a rapid pace as important resources are digitized, allowing the materials to move beyond the confines of libraries, historical societies, and archives. These open sourced, easily accessible collections on the web, greatly enhance our ability to study the past, as often untapped materials are available on-demand from a classroom, office, or home.
The current evolution is in the area of newspapers as an untold number of old, yellowing pages are digitized and rolled into databases each month so scholars, students, genealogist, and curious types may have easy access.
Now, a new newspaper search engine, Elephind.com, is helping with this by providing one specialized Google-type site for querying newspapers from many collections. Until recently the search required knowing which place to surf over to in order to dig into the collections. With this service, it is possible to search digital newspapers collections from around the globe in aggregate.
Elephind has just launched so this new web portal is in the early stage of its growth.
A search for Dover, Delaware on Elephind, a newspaper search engine
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.
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.
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.
