War of 1812 Bicentennial Observance Exhibit Opens Feb. 1st With Period Music & Stories Performed by Costumed Interpreters

War of 1812: Bicentennial Observance Exhibit will open on Wednesday, Feb. 1st. The opening is from 3:00- 6:30 p.m. and will feature at lecture by adjunct Professor Mike Dixon at 4:30. Mr. Dixon will speak on the lesser known stories of life in the Upper Bay.
Be sure to stop by before and after the lecture to hear period music and stories performed by costumed interpreters Will and Andrea Priest!

The exhibit will showcase the local history as it relates to the War of 1812, as well as daily life in the early Republic period. New displays and updated information will be added throughout the exhibit run, which will close in December 2012.
This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War – A Reading & Discussion Series

Harford Community College Library and the Hays-Heighe House will host a free, five-part reading and discussion series called, “Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War, beginning March 1, 2012.  The book discussions will be held on Thursdays throughout the spring semester: March 1, March 15, March 29, April 19 and May 3.  Each discussion will take place twice—first at 12:30 p.m. and again at 6:30 p.m.  The discussions will be held at the Hays-Heighe House.

The discussion series is based on three books: March by Geraldine Books, Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam, by James McPherson, and America’s War: Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on Their 150^th Anniversaries, edited by Edward L. Ayers.  James Karmel, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Harford Community College, will lead the discussion at each session.  The discussion series is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association.

Participation in the book discussion series is free, but advance registration is required to receive copies of the books and other materials.  To register, contact Ann Persson at apersson@harford.edu or at 443-412-2495.  Book discussion flyer is attached.

Three related programs are also planned; all are free and open to the general public.  See the summary below and the attached flyers:

• March 6 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. at HCC Student Center, room 243.  Presentation by Colleen Webster, “In a Stranger Place: Louisa May Alcott and other Concordians Respond to the Civil War.”
• March 8 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Harford County Public Library Bel Air Branch: Presentation by Dr. Thomas Clemens, “Marching Through Maryland: Lee’s Campaign of 1862” (sponsored by the Maryland Humanities Council).
• April 26 from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m.  (in the HCC Student Center, room 243) and from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. (in HCC’s Edgewood Hall, room 132).  Presentation on “Harford County and the Fugitive Slave” by Jim Chrismer, with commentary by Christine Tolbert and Dr. T. Stephen Whitman.

 

The Betterton Fire Company

The citizens of Betterton organized a fire company to protect the Chesapeake Bay town in 1938.  In this undated photo four firefighters from those early years staff the company’s fire engine.  Click here for a history of the department.

Ellsworth Shank Havre de Grace History Lecture Series Announced For 2012

Presented by the Susquehanna Museum at the Lock House

• January 19, 2012 – 7PM. Topic: “Towboats Out of Havre de Grace” by Richard Sherrill. Havre de Grace City Hall, 711 Pennington Ave.
•  February 16, 2012 – 7PM. Topic: “Researching Free People of Color in Harford County” by Reggie Bishop. Havre de Grace City Hall, 711 Pennington Ave.
• March 15, 2012 –7PM. Topic: “Havre de Grace in the ‘30s from the Eye of Herbert McCommons” by David Craig. Havre de Grace City Hall, 711 Pennington Ave.
• April 19, 2012 – 7PM. Topic: “Harford County and the Civil War: An Overview” by Jim Chrismer. Havre de Grace City Hall, 711 Pennington Ave.
• May 17, 2012 – 7PM. Topic: “Havre de Grace and the War of 1812” by Chris George and Jeff Korman. Havre de Grace City Hall, 711 Pennington Ave.
•  June 21, 2012 – 7PM. Topic: “Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t” by Jody Argo Schroath. Havre de Grace City Hall, 711 Pennington Ave.

**Please note all lectures are free and are presented by the Lock House Museum! If you have any questions please contact us at 410-939-5780 or lockhousemuseum@gmail.com

January Lecture: Heroes and Villains of 1812: A Look at the Personalities in the War of the Chesapeake

From War of 1812:  Havre de Grace Under Fire

David Healey, local author of 1812: Rediscovering Chesapeake Bay’s Forgotten War, will present an engaging talk at the Havre de Grace Library on Tuesday, January 17 at 6:30 p.m. He will look at the personalities of the War of 1812 – both the “heroes” and the “villains” of the conflict.

Date: Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 6:30 p.m. Location: Havre de Grace Library, 120 N. Union Ave., Havre de Grace Topic: Heroes and Villains of 1812: A Look at the Personalities in the War of the Chesapeake Speaker: David Healey, author

Baltimore City Paper Names Online Collection of Photographs at MD Historical Society One of the Best in 2011

From The City Paper (Baltimore)

The Maryland Historical Society’s photography collection includes more than a million items, ranging from daguerreotypes to postcards, going back to 1850. And with that vast archive at her fingertips, Jennifer Ferretti, digitization coordinator at the MdHS, has created a captivating Tumblr site. The site is updated nearly every weekday with one labeled photograph and, sometimes, commentary. The images run the gamut, from an early 1900s photo of a local oyster-shucking operation to a charming 1960 photo of Eubie Blake’s hands with an attached handwritten note that reads: “These are my hands, I hope they’ve played the music, both semi classic and ragtime you enjoyed.” Ferretti’s choices are often seasonal—Ocean City pics in the summer, a 1915 shot of a flag-festooned Hutzler Bros. department store on Black Friday—and always fascinating. (Andrea Appleton)

click here to read the full article

The Evolution of Energy on the Cheseapeake: From Indian Settlements to the Present

Press Release - Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

Phillip Hesser, PhD will lead a 4 week course for the Academy for Lifelong Learning CBMM entitled “Calories, Kilowatts and Beyond: The Evolution of Energy on the Chesapeake Bay”.  The course will run Tuesday mornings from January 17- February 7.

The course will examine the history of energy on the Chesapeake and its watershed with special reference to the human and natural environment of Talbot County and the Eastern Shore. Topics will include: 1) Calories Do Count: Humans, Animals and their Labor; 2) Taming the Waters, Winds, and Tides: Sails, Mills, and Canals; 3) The First Multipliers: Steam, Oil, and their Sources; and 4) Tapping the Watershed and the Sun: Coal, Petroleum, the Atom, and the New Solar Sources. Participants in the Course will explore how the evolution of new energy sources has shaped development and our future on the Bay The “excellent and very advantageous” “situation of the country” (as one chronicler described the Chesapeake shores) supplied energies that produced plenty and prosperity from the earliest Indian settlements to the communities of the present day. The course will explore the questions: what can we learn about life and livelihood on the Bay from the changing nature of those energy sources that transformed the land and shaped the destiny of its people? And, what can we learn about the future of the land, its life and its people from these changes?

Phillip Hesser, Ph.D., taught world history and civilization in the United States and Africa before advancing education and leadership in Africa as a program officer and director with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Academy for Educational Development (a global nongovernmental organization). Living “Down Below” in Dorchester County, he can be found teaching at Salisbury University and Chesapeake College; running the roads across the marshes with retrievers Duke , Bella, and Marshall; or working on Sitting in Limbo: Life and Livelihood on the Tumps of Chesapeake Bay, a deep history of his community.

For more detailed information about this course and the Academy for Lifelong Learning, call the CBMM at 410-745-2916 or download a catalog online at http://www.cbmm.org/l_academy.htm. Also on Facebook at facebook.com/academy for lifelong learning at cbmm.

Along the C & D Canal: St. Georges Delaware About 1912

Towns along the C & D Canal had hotels to accommodate travelers passing through this part of the Delmarva Peninsula, at the top of the 20th century.  The St. Georges spot for lodging appears to be busy with an automobile and two carriages parked outside. This is a Ed Herbener postcard from about 1912.

2012 Paper Americana Show in Elkton Features Over 30 Collectibles Dealers

Postcards, such as this one of the old MIddletown Hotel, are typical of the collectibles available at the show. This card was produced around 1912.

Singerly Fire Company of Elkton, MD. will present their 25th annual “Paper Americana Show” on Saturday, January 28, 2012 from 10 AM to 4 PM. The show will feature over thirty dealers from several states who are offering for sale antique books, postcards, newspapers, art prints, advertising & regional collectibles, photographs, and general ephemera.

The Singerly Fire Hall is located at 300 Newark Avenue, Elkton, MD. near the intersection of Routes 213 and 279. From I-95 take exit # 109 (Route 279) interchange toward Elkton, approximately 3 miles on the right.

Admission is $3.00 per person ($2.00 with this ad) — children under 12 admitted free of charge. For additional information contact ayersj@zoominternet.net or call 410-398-7735 or 410-398-7300 during show hours.

Christmas Greetings From One Hundred Years Ago

Old Christmas postcards depicting brightly colored holiday images were an important part of the season’s tradition early in the 20^th century.   Here are two greetings from that era.

Flora Startt mailed her card on Dec. 19, 1911 from Baltimore to Miss Marjorie Ehlers in Wilmington.

This one was mailed from Middletown, Delaware on Christmas Eve 1906