Category: Research Resources

Nabb Research Center Digitizes Old Newspapers from Lower Delaware & the Eastern Shore of Maryland

Marylander and Herald, January 4, 1916, Princess Anne, from the Nabb Center digital collection
Marylander and Herald, January 4, 1916, Princess Anne, from the Nabb Center digital collection

It was only some 15 to 20 years ago that researchers were getting excited about being able to access the decennial census data on the World Wide Web.  This digital information was going to make Investigations of the past so much easier as the e-schedules would be text searchable and the entire universe of census products would be available.

Now that we are in the second decade of the 21st century, lots of added helpful data is often just a few keystrokes away, as the universe of online information expands rapidly.  The document array is exploding exponentially now as for-profit online publishers and open source providers rush to make valuable research content available to a broader user base.

I learned of another valuable online collection of newspapers at the Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History and Culture at the Salisbury University, while doing a talk in Delmar.  This excellent special collections archives has created a strong group of online historical Delmarva newspapers. It consists of regional weeklies, spanning the years 1745 through 1922.

In the online records group you will find 17 different newspaper serials from Lower Delaware and the mid and Lower Shores of Maryland.   Titles include publications from Salisbury, Easton, Berlin, Snow Hill and elsewhere.  The products are text searchable, and the queries yield PDFs of the pages.

This was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore.  Howard, the president of the Delmar Historical and Art Society tipped me off about this great virtual research warehouse of serials as we talked about such matters.  Thanks Howard and Thanks Nabb.

A Salisbury newspaper from the Nabb Center, Salisbury Advertiser, June 5, 1896
A Salisbury newspaper from the Nabb Center, Salisbury Advertiser, June 5, 1896

Digital University Collections For Researching Delaware History

The Review, the student newspaper of the Unviersity of Delaware, from May 1970. Digital editions of the serial are available online.
The Review, the student newspaper of the University of Delaware, from May 1970. Digital editions of the serial are available online.

The University of Delaware has been working to make digital collections available on the World Wide Web, for some time now.  The scope of those efforts is large and covers a vast amount of different resources, which are helpful when investigating Delaware’s past.

The diverse body of material has many resources.  There are virtual record groups of Civil War era letters and diaries from Delaware families, a University yearbook collection dating back to 1899, Beer Atlas of the State of Delaware from 1868, and Delaware Postcards.  In the area of serials, the Newark Post is available back to 2001, the Review, the student newspaper, goes back to 1970. Delaware Notes an annually scholarly research publication runs from 1931 to 1961, when publication ended.

The oral history collection is helpful.  The Chrysler Corporation Newark Assembly Plant Oral History project contains interviews with twelve former employees of the industrial site.  The Iron Hill Museum collection contains 37 interviews, documenting the history of the Iron Hill School, an African-American school.  Additional interviews in the collection document life in the community and nearby Pleasant Valley.

Back in the 1963, a series of 15 originally broadcasts on WHYY TV in Wilmington focused on the history and government of the First State.   Dr. John Munroe was the scholar and historian narrating this series, which is available online.

There is much more and Delaware researchers will find many helpful resources there.  Here is the link.

Research Treasures Reside in Delmar Public Library Collection

If you are researching local or family history on the Delmarva Peninsula, there are many fine libraries from Wilmington down to Cape Charles that can help.  Some are large, university affiliated repositories, while others are non-profit, stand-alone institutions located in some of the region’s small towns.  Traveling from one end of Delmarva to the other, I often find evidentiary traces to the past in these places so I will highlight a few of the smaller collections that can help you puzzle together narratives from the past.

The railroad town of Delmar, at the southern tip of Delaware, has one of these great assets.  The community, promoting itself as the “little town that is too big for one state,” is located in two states, the boundary line going right down the center of the business district.  It has always had a strong historical connection to the locomotive as the settlement got its start when the Delaware Railroad reached here in 1859.

In the center of the divided town on Bi-State Blvd, there is the Delmar Public Library, a welcoming place with a patron-oriented staff and excellent resources.  Its large collection of books and serials, should make any bookworm happy, but there is much more.  There are clusters of computers, free wi-fi, just about all the services one expects to find in a solid institution. They also have active children and teen programs and all of this seems to make it a strong community center that engages residents.

But in addition to these resources, the library also has a valuable special collection of unique railroad materials.  There are dozens of rare, one-of-a-kind, photographs; notebooks of newspaper clippings compiled over generations; various pieces of ephemera, such as railroad tickets and shipping documents; and other unique items of historical interest.

I was delighted to find some photos that I hadn’t seen as they were relevant to an investigation I was working on.  Just when you think a piece of evidence linking something to the past has been lost to time, there it is in some special collection and that was my experience at the Delmar Public Library.

Be sure to check out this unique special collection if you’re doing some digging into the past around these parts, especially if it relates to the railroad.  You will find an excellent small town library that engages its patrons, takes care of reader needs, has unique special collections, and is a community gathering place.

railroad delmar library 02

The War of 1812 in Delaware: A Helpful Digital Resource from the State Archives.

In commemoration of the First State’s role in the War of 1812 the Delaware Public Archives has launched an online digital repository of primary documents that researchers and those seeking to gain more understanding about the period will find valuable.  This web portal contains many insightful e-resources such as books, military reports, documents, prints, and correspondence.   The always open library includes military journals, papers of the legislature and executive, muster rolls, river pilot logs, judicial documents, guard reports, and war claims.  The e-books are the biography of Captain Thomas Macdonough and two volumes of the military records of the Delaware Archives.

The Archives has been taking a lead in going digital, making records that have historical and research value available online.  This is the latest example of the excellent, ongoing advancements being made by the archivist in Dover.  It’s a valuable, attractive resource with great primary source content that chronicles what happened during that dangerous period when the British were in the Delaware Bay.  This online collection, while preserving original manuscripts, makes these rare resources easily available to the public.  Thank You Delaware Public Archives.

Here is the link.   

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