Directory of the Baltimore Legal Museum

Post #2

Domonique Flowers

In October my main objective for the project was to utilize the pictures of the different parts of the museum and to take even more pictures of each of the main artifacts and collection pieces to use in the directory. Unfortunately, due to renovations and new features being added, the Legal Museum was temporarily closed for two weeks which forced me to switch gears a bit. Instead my focus for October would be twofold. First, I wanted to identify the sources I would use to create the narrative history behind the museum, that would be included in the directory. One of the main sources I used was “The Guide Book of the Clarence Mitchell Jr. Courthouse,” which was provided to me when I first became a museum docent. Another source I used was “Celebrating a Century of Service,” which was a publication commemorating the 100^th anniversary of the Clarence Mitchell Jr. Courthouse.

The second objective for October was to utilize the pictures that I had taken of the museum in September to begin classifying the main attractions. Some of the main ones included a 19^th Century grandfather clock that predated the courthouse, the copper drum used to select Baltimore City Jurors until 1960, the painting entitled “British Surrender of Yorktown,” by French muralist Jean-Paul Laurens and the 1885 Court of Appeals decision allowing African American men to practice law in Maryland. In addition to the artifacts and exhibit items, the directory would also contain profiles of the famous legal professionals who were featured in the museum. I assembled the list of individuals I would use and worked on their profiles. These included Thurgood Marshall, the first African American US Supreme Court Justice as well as Etta Haynie Maddox, the first woman admitted to the Bar of Maryland in 1902. I also began to organize the different displays based on the categories that I identified in September. Two of the main displays included the display of English Common Law as well as the display showing the history of the Baltimore Bar Association. The museum re-opened at the end of the month and even hosted a re-dedication ceremony to celebrate all the new updates added. I was unfortunately unable to attend due to a prior commitment though I did obtain a copy of the program in the Daily Record. I also looked forward to returning and discovering what new surprises and features awaited me.

Directory of the Baltimore Legal Museum

Domonique Flowers

The project I wish to create is a directory for the Baltimore Legal Museum, which would not only illustrate the achievements of the legal professionals in Baltimore City but also highlight all of the exhibits and profiles contained in the museum. The directory will cover three general areas including the History of the legal profession in Baltimore, History of the Baltimore Bar Association and a Catalogue of Artifacts and Profiles. This first section would provide a brief overview of the legal history and accomplishments of lawyers in Maryland with an emphasis on Baltimore City. It would also include a focus on the achievements of Baltimore’s majority and minority pioneers (i.e., African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, etc.), women in the law and Baltimore’s Legal Legends. The second section would feature a brief history of the Baltimore Bar Association and the impact it has left in Baltimore and Maryland in general. I would also like to include a section concerning the history of the Monumental City Bar Association, the Alliance of Black Women Attorneys, the Women’s Bar, the LGBQT Bar, the Asian and Pacific Bar, the Hispanic Bar and other identified specialty Bars. The third and most extensive section would contain a detailed guide to the museum which will include brief biographical profiles on all the individuals featured in the museum as well as a categorical guide to all the artifacts on display in the museum.

In September I began by separating all of the exhibits in the museum into 4 general categories: Collection Cases (7), Standing Displays (5), Individual Exhibits (27) and Special Features. The Collection Cases include the large featured units that display an assortment of artifacts behind glass. The artifacts consist of mementos from past celebrations held at the court house and include historical documents from Baltimore’s legal history. Standing Displays are structures around the museum that provide narratives on important legal figures and the history of the court house. Individual Exhibits are standalone artifacts scattered around the museum that have been donated to the collection. Special Features includes the bookshelves, centerpiece painting and coat of arms that adorn the museum. In addition, I divided the museum into areas (right, left, center) and mapped out the number and classification of artifacts that each area contains. For October I will continue by individually classifying the exhibits in the right area of the museum.

Historical Society of Harford County Post# 3

I have been procrastinating working on the diaries by working on the metadata from part one. The work is slow and a bit tedious but it needs to get done. I have received the rare book boxes necessary for me to continue onto part two, and the books contaminated with mold were separated from the rest in the box. This means that I will be able to at least leave behind an example of what to do for future interns and volunteers. While I couldn't handle the books directly, it was still a learning experience, I learned how to identify foxing on books from other types of damage and how to properly store items that were of questionable quality. By the time items and donations get to me in Special collections they have usually already been weeded. For those who are unfamiliar, weeding is an early step in the archival process, one has to make calls about the items condition, how they should be stored, and in some cases develop a preliminary finding aid. I had known about it in theory but not in practice, so it was a valuable experience.
In turn I got to show off my expertise dealing with photography and the protocols of how to store and handle them. Previously, photography and negatives had been housed in a separate folder, but still together. This makes it liable to stick, melt together, or superimpose one image onto another. To remedy this I separated the photographs and housed them in archival storage pages. I then labeled the corner with the letter number it corresponded with to ensure ease of finding it in the future, as well as making a note in the finding aid that there were separately stored materials. There had also been little regard in the way of safely handling these images, gloves were not enforced. I tried to change this via leading by example.
Overall, it was an interesting few months. I gained experience in the more financial aspect of archiving, had the responsibility of an entire collection. And hopefully I leave them with better handling practices for their future photographic pieces.

An Internship at Heritage Montgomery

Blog Post #1

In these past few weeks of interning at Heritage Montgomery, I’ve realized just how great of a learning opportunity it will be for me as a public historian. Heritage Montgomery, is a locally based historical organization that is dedicated to the mission of promoting the local history, culture, and natural areas of Montgomery County, Maryland. Heritage Montgomery was established by state legislation in 2003 and the organization become a certified Heritage Area in 2004. The organization is a non profit and is primarily tasked with raising the awareness of the area’s heritage. In order to succeed in this mission, the organization has to help those whom live in the area understand, as well as value their county’s past.

"The Heritage Montgomery Logo" (“Home.” Heritage Tourism Alliance of Montgomery County, October 23, 2019. https://www.heritagemontgomery.org/.)

Long before I began this internship I understood that Montgomery County possessed an abundance of cultural and historical resources. However, it wasn’t until I’d begun my internship at Heritage Montgomery that I began to realize just how rich those cultural and historical resources were. Sarah Rogers, the Executive Director of Heritage Montgomery, has taken me under her wing and for that I am very appreciative. She has done a tremendous job of revealing to me the compelling, as well as complex, connections that tie together community, culture, and history within the amazingly broad landscape of Montgomery County’s unique heritage. It has helped me to realize just how important Montgomery County was and still is when looked at from a historical and cultural perspective. After just three or so weeks, I’ve learned just how important the Sandy Spring/Brookeville community was to the success of the Underground Railroad. I’ve become aware of how Montgomery County was home to many prospering Black American communities both before and after slavery. I’ve come to know of the unique relationship that existed between the county’s Quaker and African American communities during the antebellum era.

Despite the significance of this historical information, it is unlikely that most people whom live within the confines of Montgomery County are aware of its fascinating heritage. This reality confirms the necessity of Heritage Montgomery’s mission. Hopefully, in the ensuing weeks, I can be of service to the organization and the community by assisting on a noteworthy project that might help bring greater awareness concerning the county’s profound heritage.

Montgomery County Public Schools Leading the Way Post #2

My internship projects with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) gave me an opportunity to sharpen my research skills while working independently managing time. For the honors research project there was a considerable amount of work that had to be scheduled ahead of time each week and it had to be divided between daytime when school’s administrative offices were open and an additional few hours later so that I could put the information together for a write up. Because it was Summer office hours were not consistent and if missed the window to call a school in California, it often took a few attempts to reschedule and call them back.

I had weekly check-ins with the project supervisor where I would be able to go over the information that I had found and often times the entire project would look different the following week. The honors programs in New York for example has a structure of selection which allowed students from anywhere in the state to qualify based on their scores. This was vastly different to how Montgomery County approached it as they were focusing on a district-wide system that the entire student body would be able to follow as an advanced curriculum. New York had several of the mot promising case studies I had found which meant I had to go back the drawing board and re-evaluate my selection criteria and start making calls again. Historical research is usually not interactive unless its an oral history interview but here I collected part of the information I needed from people and then compare it with previous years’ reports. My supervisor was very helpful throughout the process and guided me on how to structure all the case studies and data collected into the final report.

The MCPS renaming project was much different and I found the most important element was verification and authenticity. We had a spreadsheet that we were to fill for each of the names on the list to be researched and we were instructed to “report” what we found as opposed to analyzing which made it easier on our part. For example, one of the names nominated was Margaret Brent (1600-1671) who was one of the first women entrepreneurs in Maryland and also one of the first to demand her right to vote (although she was denied!). Ms. Brent had a very impressive biography including organizing and representing unpaid soldiers of the City. Her records also indicated that she had brought “servants” with her when she first arrived from England which most likely meant she was a slave owner.

Luckily, I did not have to make any judgements other than to confirm the sources were reliable and document the information. The only challenge which turned out to be more difficult than I realized was to find trustworthy data which we were told had to be primary or government records. The librarians here at the Priddy Library at Shady Grove are really helpful and I got some assistance early on how to navigate my way around the 350+ online databases of the Maryland eight-library system.

Montgomery County Public Schools Leading the Way

Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) is one of the largest school districts in the nation with 205 schools serving over 162,000 students. It is also one of the most diverse demographically with a majority being Hispanic, African American and Asian students . My work was with two separate departments of MCPS but both projects were connected to the district aiming to improve and adjust with the increasingly diverse student body. When I began the initial research I found that knowing how to search within the library’s online database was a huge advantage. This was key with the first project which was with the MCPS Office of School Support and improvement to complete the research work for the renaming of MCPS school buildings. I was tasked with researching information on a new list of names that was going to be submitted as part of a report to the Board of Education. 

One of the main concerns the supervisors had was that the research had to have historically accurate and that meant that each and every detail had to be properly cited with official government or peer-reviewed academic sources. The names were of individuals who had made significant contributions locally, state-wide, or national-level. Understandably, the information that was researched was looking beyond the achievements as the initiative was in response to local objections against schools that were named after individuals who were associated with unethical practices such as former slave owners.

The second project was with the Office of the Chief Academic Officer which was looking into nation-wide data on honors courses in public schools. MCPS offers accelerated courses for students starting in 4^th grade which has been remarkably effective in improving the county’s performance as many Middle Schools and High schools are now only offering honors courses in English. In order to consider a district wide approach to advanced/accelerated learning, MCPS commissioned a research paper summarizing the information found in other public school systems. 

The information had to fall under several categories that made it comparable to MCPC so I initially began looking for honors programs that were in public schools and were non-selective but as the weeks progressed we realized that the school should have additional factors that made it a reasonable sample school. For example, one of the best performing public high schools that had their entire student body enrolled in rigorous courses was Scarsdale High in New York. They were one of the few public schools to create their own Advanced Placement (AP) program but as it turned out they were the third richest school district in the nation. 

MCPS on the other hand does have a significant wealth gap which meant that looking into Scarsdale’s honors program would not really be of any benefit as they most likely had many other factors that contributed to their high performance. Finding this type of information was a new experience because the majority of details are not on websites. I had to call up schools and district offices as well as reach out to journalists who had written articles with information that was important to my work. Through both projects I found MCPS to be unique in that despite being as large as they are, they were making strides towards being progressive and inclusive.

Image: https://theblackandwhite.net/55693/news/increasing-diversity-in-mcps-prompts-petition-to-rename-churchill-high-school/)

Mental Heath Association of Maryland Internship #1

This summer I interned at the Mental Health Association of Maryland (MHAMD). The MHAMD is an organization which is over 100 years old and is the second oldest mental health organization in the country. Dating back to the early 1910’s the organization has many archives. As the MHAMD is focused more on mental health care than history, their archive was in a bit of a mess. I was hired to help them organize their archive. There were a few problems when I first came into the archive to assess what was there. First all the papers, some of which were fragile document from the 1910’s, were wrapped in office depot brand plastic wrap and in unsafe folders, stacked in file cabinets. The archive was actually in a small office behind the kitchen. When I first started working many people stumbled into the archive assuming it was a supply closet. While most of the files were ordered chronologically, there were at least 2 to 3 paper copies of every original document stored with the original. They wanted to make sure the archives would be easy to access for researchers, but inadvertently put the preservation of the originals in jeopardy.  Upon starting work at MHAMD I was given my own office, which I didn’t use often since I was in the archive so much. One of the first things I did was print proper signs for the door to the archives and set in place some general rules for staff to follow in order to maintain the safety of the archives. There were about five file cabinets with four drawers each for me to organize and preserve for the summer. I had a lot of work cut out for me but was very excited to help save the important documents for such a historical and impact organization. Attached pictures are of my office and signs for the office.