Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Wilmington has an online, searchable burial database, which contains records for All Saints, Gate of Heaven, and Cathedral cemeteries. A query is able to yield basic information such as the name of the deceased, the date of death, location of the grave, and in many cases a photo of the memorial.
While the cemetery database went online around 2012, the Diocese recently added a new feature, a smartphone app. This tiny piece of software uses the phone’s GPS to direct you to the grave and it provides an aerial map view of the location, the essential information, and any images.
Anyone seeking genealogical information at one of these Catholic cemeteries will find these to be helpful.
I did some fieldwork in Bel Air last week, and that investigation took me to the Harford County Public Library (HCPL). Over the decades, I have used this branch many times to access research materials, such as newspapers on microfilm and resources in the local history room. These include a long run of the Aegis, the Baltimore Sun starting in 1959, and a number of helpful materials in the local history room.
At the Harford County Public Library, a new state-of-the-art Image Data ScanPro 2000 makes it easy to ready the county, the Aegis.
This is a fine Harford County agency, which has always provided excellent service. So I shouldn’t have been surprised to find that they had replaced a cranky, decades old analog microfilm reader with a state-of-the-art device. The aging analog machine was in constant use by genealogist, local history researchers and curious types.
HCPL unveiled the new digital microfilm reader/scanner, sometime during the past year. It doesn’t look anything like the old clunky ones most researchers have used somewhere. It consists of a computer, image management software, a small desktop scanner, and a large horizontal monitor, which allows you to see the full-page.
It not only reads and prints the microfilm, but allows for extensive image manipulation and creation of PDFs and JPGS, which you may save to a flash drive. You may also enhance the image digitally, an important addition as most of us are familiar with the eye strain created by trying to read film that is too light or too dark.
The new unit makes the data collection process much easier, and it is a user-friendly machine. Without any instruction I was effortlessly using it and acquiring the evidence I needed for my study. There are a number of models of the digitally units in the marketplace, and this one was easy to use so I could speed through the reading and image manipulation.
Since many titles were published in Harford County over the centuries, there are literally hundreds of rolls of microfilm. Researchers are going to be using this tired 1950s era analog technology for a long time as archives and special collections institutions transition to the next generation products. These state-of-the-art readers bridge the gap as our heritage materials become more widely available in special online repositories.
More broadly, there is good news on the horizon as the virtual research revolution continues. The University of Maryland libraries are working to have newspapers made available online. In the upcoming year, there are plans to have the Aegis (Bel Air), the Cecil Whig (Elkton), the Banner (Cambridge) and other rural Maryland newspapers made available on the Library of Congress website. Already some Western Maryland and Baltimore serials are there.
But this work takes time and each county has many titles, the various serials all being important to the study of our past. Meanwhile Harford County Public Library has taken an important step, helping patrons with family or local history bridge the gap as the research revolution advances.
Other helpful locations for working with Harford County newspapers include:
Historical Society of Harford County – The Society has the largest collection of county newspapers available to researchers. According to the Maryland Archives, weeklies were published in Aberdeen, Abingdon, Bel Air Darlington, Havre de Grace and Joppa and many of those titles are available at the Society, either on film or in bound volumes of broadsheets. You should check with the Society for details on exact inventory and availability.
Aberdeen Room Archives & Museum – One of the major strengths is the newspaper collection. Bound volumes of the “Harford Democrat and Aberdeen Enterprise” (1919 to 1986) are available and patrons may take photographs of the pages.
The Harford Democrat thanks the papers newsboy. Source: Harford Democrat, Oct 10, 1957, Aberdeen Room
The region has many helpful research repositories for anyone studying the past and one of those is the Aberdeen Room Archives and Museum. Established in 1987, this bustling heritage group connects people to the Harford County community’s past through “active learning as an educational and research resource.”
The growing research collection with over 5,000 original items will help anyone investigating Aberdeen and Harford county history. Published works, bound newspaper volumes, photographs, maps, scrapbooks, clipping files, and more are available. Couple that with the extremely knowledgeable, friendly staff, and you have the perfect place for someone inquiring about genealogy or the area’s history.
One of the major strengths is the newspaper collection. Bound volumes of the “Harford Democrat and Aberdeen Enterprise” (1919 to 1986) are available. This weekly newspaper provided excellent coverage of southern Harford County.
The Aberdeen Enterprise was established in 1891, according to a history written by Charlotte Cronin. “In 1919, the Aberdeen Enterprise was purchased by J. Wilmer Cronin and Earle Jacobs. Later the two purchased the Harford Democrat and the two papers were consolidated. In time Mr. Jacobs retired, Mr. Cronin continued as the owner, and years later his son, Bill, took over the business. In 1952, officials at Aberdeen Proving Group arranged to have a section added, the Aberdeen Proving Ground Observer. In 1982, the paper was sold to the Susquehanna Publishing Company and merged with the Record.
The Aberdeen Room welcomes visitors to research and enjoy materials, share personal stories and memorabilia, discuss topics of interest, and ask questions. And there they have a great group of subject matter experts, eager to help patrons investigating some subject in the area.
Be sure to visit the Aberdeen Room when you want to learn more about the community’s heritage.
The newspaper, the Harford Democrat, is available at the Aberdeen Room.The archives is staffed with lots of subject matter experts and they are eager to help.
The Peters Papers and the Oxford Press on microfilm are two excellent resources for doing genealogical and local history research at the Oxford Public Library.
The region has many helpful research repositories for those studying the past and many are found tucked away in the corner of our community libraries. One of those great places for studying Chester County’s and the area’s heritage is the Katherine B. Alexander Memorial Library in Oxford, PA. Serving Southern Chester County, it is an old institution, the first in the County and the third oldest in PA, it having been established in 1784.
Over the decades I have stopped there periodically to use the local history resources, and a project I am working on took me up that way a few days ago. Each time, I visit I am reminded of the value of these local history collections, tucked away in the corner of our public institutions. In addition, the Oxford Area Historical Association maintains its materials there, strengthening resource for studying genealogy and local history.
In the collection is a long run of the Oxford Press, a particularly well-produced weekly newspaper. The publisher knew what sold newspapers, cram them with creative, original copy from a broad area. They succeeded and each week the broadsheet covered the main stories, while also providing the “local news of three counties – Chester and Lancaster, Penna, and Cecil County, MD.”
It is one of the best papers in this region that I encounter for getting column from many of the smaller villages in the tri-state region. Each week the pages are filled with social happenings and smaller news pieces, as the special correspondents wrote in from out-of-the-way places, making sure virtually nothing was missed. Or as the Press noted in its masthead: “happenings in town and country condensed by alert correspondents for busy readers.” This serial is available at the Oxford Library from 1866 to 1970s.
The Peters’ Papers are another excellent resource, making the past accessible. Sometime back in the 1980s or so a Mr. Peters spent untold hours examining those old weeklies to carefully extracting the local reporting and create indexes. His nearly 30 notebooks are very helpful, as the Oxford Pa is not on microfilm and thus is not text searchable. But thanks to the labors of Mr. Peters, there is an index and I am able to quickly find topical materials.
Of course, there are plenty of 19th and early 20th century maps, business directories, local histories and lots more. Thank you Oxford Public Library for preserving the region’s past and making it broadly available to everyone as we study genealogy, local history or some other subject.
The Oxford Press and its local columns are an excellent resource for family and local history research.The Peters Papers at the Oxford Public LIbrary
