Maryland Historical Society News, Fall 2011, P. 27
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MdHS News Fall 2011 zCaptured z IN TIME THE PAST IS PRESENT A look at some of the nation’s earliest images p.10 AN HISTORIC HEROINE A century later, Clara Barton finds her voice p. 20 legacy. Your planned gifts can help us preserve the History of Maryland you can help to preserve maryland’s heritage for future generations. planned gifts help to support the work of the mdhs, while also helping you with estate and capital gains taxes. ‘ History WAS- History IS- History WILL BE!’ Contact Mark Letzer today at “The Maryland Historical Society has been my passion for 33 years. I have invested in its History. 410-685-3750, x 333 or [email protected]. ” — Barbara P. Katz, Chair emerita, Maryland Historical Society p.10 MdHS News A publication of the Maryland Historical Society. Published twice a year with Fall/Winter, Spring/Summer issues. EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: legacy. Burton K. Kummerow, President Patricia Dockman Anderson, Ph.D. Editor, Maryland Historical Magazine Alexandra Deutsch, Chief Curator Mark B. Letzer, Chief Development Officer CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Alexandra Deutsch Jennifer A. Ferretti Jonathon Scott Fuqua Burt Kummerow Mark B. Letzer Richard Y. Meier Kristin Schenning Elizabeth Stafford Vince Vaise Hugo Vickers Christopher J. Young CONTENTS CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Christopher Becker James Singewald Ken Stanek departments 2 From the President BOARD OF TRUSTEES Officers Robert R. Neall, Chairman 4 Alex. G. Fisher, Vice Chairman On the Scene Burton K. Kummerow, President James W. Constable, Secretary Cecil E. Flamer, Treasurer 6 p. Sandra R. Flax, 6 Vice President Icon Louise Lake Hayman, Vice President Frederick M. Hudson, Vice President Jayne H. Plank, Vice President 32 Lynn Springer Roberts, Vice President features Richard C. Tilghman Jr., Vice President Events 10 Trustees The First Photographs Francis J. Carey Robert M. Cheston Virginia Clagett Thomas A. Collier p.20 Louis G. Hecht H. Thomas Howell 16 M. Willis Macgill Dr. George Malouf Cleaveland D. Miller Joseph E. Moore Partners in Education Brien Poffenberge George S. Rich Your planned gifts can help us preserve the History of Maryland David P. Scheffenacker Jr. Dorothy McI. Scott Jacqueline Smelkinson Michael J. Sullivan 20 Historical Accuracy Chairpersons Emeriti L. Patrick Deering Jack S. Griswold 22 Barbara P. Katz Stanard T. Klinefelter Treasure Trove Henry Hodges Stansbury Presidents Emeriti 26 John L. McShane The Goddard Broadside Brian B. Topping 28 Ex-Officio Trustees The Hon. John P. Sarbanes Behind Closed Doors The Hon. David R. Craig The Hon. Kevin Kamenetz The Hon. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake FRONT COVER Druscilla J. Null On September 17, 2011, the Maryland Historical Society acquired this rare tintype at Crocker Farm Auction House in Sparks, MD, of Baltimore slave Martha Ann “Patty” Atavis holding Alice Lee Whitridge, the daughter of Dr. John Whitridge of Baltimore. This extremely rare image, along with PUBLISHED BY: a daguerreotype and supporting documents of the same woman, helps illuminate the realities of Great State Publishing, LLC urban slavery in Baltimore during the Civil War era. An article will appear in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of MdHS News on this important addition to the collection. Crocker Farm photo. FROM THE PRESIDENT BY: BURT KUMMEROW PHOTO BY: CHRISTOPHER BECKER One of my favorites is Sam Smith, a Revolutionary War hero, U.S. senator, Baltimore mayor, and the Defender of the city in 1814. There is Betsy Bonaparte, the beautiful Baltimore belle who married Napoleon’s brother. Another is George Roberts, an African-American gunner on the famous privateer Chasseur, the original Pride of Baltimore. There’s a wonderful 1850s photo of the old Defender, Mr. Roberts. Yet another is shipping magnate James Hooper, a 9-year-old powder monkey on board the privateer Comet in 1813. Hooper was among the last Defenders to die, at age 94, in 1898. Burt Kummerow, President In the process of telling dozens of interesting new stories with exhibits, tours, and programs, we will bring an The Power of Anniversaries important and fascinating era to life for visitors. COMMEMORATING PIVOTAL EVENTS AT MDHS We already have a good start for the bicentennial with our Star-Spangled Banner gallery that features some of mericans love anniversaries! We can find a way to celebrate or our greatest 1812 treasures, including commemorate practically anything provided there’s an even- the original 1814 Francis Scott Key A numbered date involved. handwritten manuscript itself. Here we are a decade removed from 9/11. It’s been a century and a half Our multi-year effort will focus on since the country almost came apart in civil war. And now we are on the edge a dynamic but neglected time in our of the bicentennial of another war that remains a footnote in our school history. One of our most important history classes. goals is to recreate 1814 Baltimore, Anniversaries are good exercises as civic lessons for all of us. First and street by street and door to door, with foremost, they force us to remember that we have a shared past. With the a computer-generated video for every food, drink, and frolic that often attends anniversaries, the ceremony usually Maryland school by 2014. recalls a history lesson worth remembering. So you can see that anniversaries Anniversaries of the Civil War keep bubbling up because it’s impossible have real power, and the Maryland not to be touched by that unforgettable national tragedy. Our popular Historical Society plans to take full new Civil War exhibit, “Divided Voices,” planned to continue with annual advantage of the opportunity. Come changes through 2015, has already sparked the attentions of many visitors. along for the ride! ✵ Looking into those faces staring out from period photographs, holding one of the millions of “Minie balls” that maimed and murdered on the battlefields, or listening to our Maryland Historical Society Players speak the actual words of Clara Barton or Harriet Tubman creates a bond with our ancestors that must never go away. We’ll keep telling those stories throughout the Civil War sesquicentennial. Next year, yet another anniversary, the bicentennial of the War of 1812, will begin here in Baltimore. The MdHS has priceless collections from that era. Those artifacts and documents give us another opportunity to tell more Burt Kummerow, stories of Marylanders great and humble who have been neglected in our history. President MdHS News | 2 | Fall 2011 You can choose the company you keep.... Brewery Kings & Buffalo Soldiers, Civil War Generals & Privateers, Revolutionary Heroes & Ragtime Pianists ...stand ready to welcome you. JOIN the maryland historical society Individual Membership only $50. Member benefits include: Free admission to museum and library; invitations to events; discounts on MdHS Press books; online access to Maryland Historical Magazine; and more! visit www.mdhs.org/membership to join today. MdHS News | 3 | MdHS.org BY: MARK B. LETZER ON THE SCENE (FACING PAGES) PHOTOS BY: KEN STANEK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 A new exhibit opens—and eyes are opened he Maryland Historical president, Burt Kummerow, followed Local folk musician Ellen Cherry Society has been humming by remarks by Maryland State Archivist entertained the audience, as well, with T with activity since early and Commissioner of Land Patents the song “The Vacant Chair,” which spring. Preparations for the Civil War Edward C. Papenfuse. A solemn honor was composed during the Civil War. sesquicentennial exhibition “Divided guard comprising both Union and On June 23rd, royal biographer Voices: Maryland in the Civil War” Confederate reenactors flanked 15 Hugo Vickers flew in from England culminated with its opening on April white chairs with black sashes bearing to a packed auditorium of over 200 15th, which was attended by close to the names of the first casualties of to deliver a lecture on his new book, 300 guests. the Civil War, who perished during Behind Closed Doors—The Tragic, Untold The evening kicked off with a Baltimore’s Pratt Street Riots on April Story of the Duchess of Windsor. welcome address by the society’s 19, 1861. Vickers’ lecture was poignantly MdHS News [ 4 ] Fall 2011 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 received by a crowd that was well 1. Group of Confederate and Union reeneactors assembled in the courtyard aware of Baltimorean Wallis Warfield during the grand opening of the exhibition Divided Voices, Maryland in the Civil Simpson, who became the Duchess of War on April 15th. 2. MdHS President Burt Kummerow and Chief Development Windsor. Vickers told a tale which left OfficerMark Letzer stand beside an enthusiastic participant at the Civil War many in the audience in deep thought exhibition opening. 3. William C. Trimble, Chief Curator Alexandra Deutsch and as to the final, tragic years of a much- President Burt Kummerow during the ribbon cutting of Divided Voices. 4. Sixteen maligned woman. vacant chairs in the courtyard were adorned with black sashes and the names of the Most of those present thought of first casualties of the Civil War which occurred on April 19th, 1861.5. Augustus Simpson as the avaricious woman who Wiedenbach’s breathtaking painting of Harpers Ferry in the exhibition can be stole England’s king from his people seen through John Brown’s Sharps carbine used in the 1859 raid. 6. MdHS education and caused him to abdicate. Vickers’ department dressed up as belles of the ball. From left to right: Jen Santos, Debbie new book reveals a different side of this Harner, Genna White, Norah Worthington and Education Director Kristin Schenning. story. Several of the duchess’ dresses 7. MdHS Trustee George S. Rich and David B. Rich. 8. Mark Letzer, Karen Winicki MdHS News | 5 | MdHS.org ON THE SCENE PHOTOS BY: JAMES SINGEWALD 18 17 19 20 21 and other items that belonged to her and Paul Winicki.