Tuning Into Baltimore: Internship at the Maryland Center for History and Culture II

 Tuning Into Baltimore II: Internship at the Maryland Center for History and Culture

By: Wyatt Lindsey

From the politically established to the average Baltimorean, the people behind the oral histories I listened to came from a variety of backgrounds. This provided me with a multifaceted perspective of Baltimore in the 1960s, with three main categories of conversation: politics, race/racial tensions, and development of Baltimore.

Discussion of Baltimore’s politics centered around the second mayoral term of Theodore McKeldin from 1963-1967, as well as the immediate effects of his term. From listening to McKeldin’s son, staff members, and advisors, an image of McKeldin as an honest man who got into politics to be among people. Many who knew McKeldin saw him as a rock, holding together Baltimore through his affable demeanor and through his image as someone who listened to whoever entered his office door. Behind closed doors, he was a big-picture thinker who often yearned to spend more time with his family, with a rage that occasionally got the best of him, causing him to act out. It was rare to hear anyone speak ill of McKeldin, and any criticism was often followed by numerous statements of how great of a person and leader he was, leading one to believe that his reciprocated love for Baltimore was genuine.

One of McKeldin’s proudest accomplishments was the development of Baltimore’s inner harbor. The establishment of the Charles Center saw the area rejuvenated under his successor, Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro III. The inner harbor remained an area that McKeldin was involved with until his death in 1974.

Listening to political actors of the time gives a large-scale view of the changes that were occuring in Baltimore, but a more intimate perspective lay in the oral histories of everyday people. Stories about racial tensions from those who witnessed the era of the Baltimore and Cambridge Riots, including efforts at police reform and the struggle of experiencing integration in public schools. Hearing from many members of the NAACP was also fascinating, especially concerning their retrospective views on the rise of black militancy in the civil rights movement. Throughout all, Lillie Mae Jackson remained a powerful influence, being brought up repeatedly by anyone who talked at any length about the NAACP or its efforts. The admiration demonstrated by those interviewed, even if they had once faced pressure from Jackson in the past, was indicative of her influence in the Baltimore community, especially in regards to race or religion.

Tuning into Baltimore: Internship at the Maryland Center for History and Culture I

 Tuning Into Baltimore: Internship at the Maryland Center for History and Culture I

By: Wyatt Lindsey

Though I was a history student attending college next door to Baltimore for nearly three years, I hadn’t taken an opportunity to dig deep into an area of Baltimore’s history. I got a chance to do so when I received an email from Professor Meringolo, offering me an opportunity to join a public history “boot camp'' in the form of an internship with the Maryland Center for History and Culture. There, I worked with the Collections department to digitize oral histories for the McKeldin-Jackson project, examining Baltimore politics and the civil rights movement during the 1960’s. My work included summarizing and transcribing oral histories.

The project is centered around Governor Theodore McKeldin and civil rights activist Lillie May Carroll Jackson: their work in Baltimore, their contributions to the civil rights movement, as well as firsthand accounts of how McKeldin and Jackson were as individuals. The project also touches on many other influential leaders of civil rights in Baltimore, such as Furman Templeton. Interview subjects included members of the Jackson-Mitchell family, members of McKeldin’s staff during his mayoral term, as well as citizens of Baltimore who lived through the era. Issues of the time are brought up, including the rise of militancy in the civil rights movement, as well as the passing of an omnibus Maryland Civil Rights bill in 1963.

COVID-19 inevitably left an impact on my internship, reducing my time onsite to one day a week. This did not create any significant issues however; the recordings of the interviews were hosted online, allowing myself and other interns to summarize and transcribe from home. To be frank, the weather created more issues over the course of the internship than COVID did; a delayed opening one day, as well as being snowed in on what was going to be the first day.

Internship at the Archives of the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church #3

    This internship experience at the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church has been not just enjoyable, but extremely enlightening as well. I finished the internship with not only a better understanding of the history of my parish, but also with a new, robust skill set. As a consequence of this internship, I now know how to properly preserve and maintain archival materials. I now possess the tools and training needed to preserve some of my family’s own historical treasures. Yet, most importantly of all, I finally realize what it means to be a historian.
    We all learn in our classes that history is everywhere, but personally I did not quite comprehend the omnipresence of history until after I dove into this local archive. Letters, bureaucratic forms, audio recordings, and meeting minutes might seem unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but put together, these small records weave a rich story of the people who created them. But even in archives, these materials risk being lost or forgotten in storage. As part of my internship, I worked to ensure that would not happen. 

Photo of my work station in the archives.

    During the 160 hours I spent working with archival materials, I worked at two tasks which should help preserve these treasures. The first was an archival catalogue, documenting around three hundred unique items within the church’s archives and creating a system to catalog the rest of the archive’s materials. The second was the successful digitization of over a hundred documents, audio recordings, and vinyl records housed within the archives. In the process of completing these two tasks, I found such treasures as gorgeous letterheads and stunning vinyls, hidden in the little basement room where the archives were stored. I learned so much about the beginnings of my parish and the difficult process of building the stunning church of the Holy Trinity.

Album cover for a vinyl record of songs from the opera Bohdan Khmelnytskyi.

    The items in the archives of the Holy Trinity contain the tales of how a small parish strove to build a church of its own. Were it not for the heroic efforts of the church’s head archivist, these stories would have faded away as parishioners relocated, aged, and passed away. Through the catalogue I filled out and the materials I digitized during my 160 hours in the archives, I hope that I helped these treasures survive for generations to come.

Internship at the Archives of the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church #2

    When I volunteered to work in the archives of the Holy Trinity Particular Ukrainian Catholic Church, I never expected that I would be preserving vinyl records. I didn't even know the church had a vinyl record collection until, one day, I found a box and two paper bags together containing over a hundred vinyl records. A family friend told me that a parishioner had donated their large collection of Ukrainian folk and contemporary music on vinyl records to the church many years ago. These vinyl records, however, were stored for years under a stairwell, where damp conditions provided a wonderful habitat for mold. By the time I discovered them, many of the record covers were absolutely covered in that mold, and required immediate attention.
    While I had never worked with vinyl records before, vinyl records before, I dove into the task at hand undaunted. I set up a special table in my garage and assembled a large stash of Lysol® disinfectant cleaning wipes. I bought the necessary equipment to clean and preserve these vinyl records, including a special brush to clean any spores from the vinyl records themselves, archival-quality plastic inner and outer record sleeves to guard against moisture, and a portable record player which would allow me to create digital copies of the songs.

Photo of the cleaning station in my garage, along with my feline supervisor Tosia.

   I developed a routine for cleaning these records. First, I would remove the vinyl record from its paper cover, discard any irreparable inner paper sleeves, and put the record aside. Next, I would wipe down the cover, dry it with a paper towel, scan it with Office Lens, and place it into a plastic outer sleeve. Following that, I would carefully wipe any dirt or detritus from the vinyl record, dry it with a paper towel, and place it into a plastic inner sleeve. Then, I would take the vinyl record inside the house, gently clean it with the special record brush, and appraise the physical condition of the record. If there were no serious scratches or dents, I would then place it onto my portable record player, and let my computer make a digital copy of the songs. By the time I completed my internship at the Holy Trinity PUC Church, I had successfully preserved 43 different vinyl records.. 
    I found the experience of caring for these vinyl records particularly rewarding. Not only did I learn a lot about the vinyl medium, I also had the chance to listen to interesting and unique interpretations of the Ukrainian folk songs I grew up with. It also proved a good activity to do on days when I could not drive to the archives due to adverse weather conditions.

Internship at the Archives of the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church #1

    Hello! My name is Danylo Leshchyshyn. This summer, I interned as an assistant archivist at the Holy Trinity Particular Ukrainian Catholic Church at 16631 New Hampshire Avenue in Montgomery County, MD. This church constitutes a parish of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic denomination in communion with the Pope of Rome. The parish of the Holy Trinity P.U.C. Church was one of many churches established by Ukrainian refugees who settled in North America after the Second World War. I grew up in this parish, so I was grateful for the opportunity to serve by helping manage the archives.  

Holy Trinity P.U.C. Church. Photo by Danylo Leshchyshyn.

    The chief goal of my internship was to organize and preserve the mountains of historical data in the parish archives. Organizing meant individually examining each document or item, and determining its origin. This process was made easier by simultaneously compiling an archival catalog, recording where each document was located. Each day I would encounter documents or other historical material which required immediate preservation work. To preserve the items, I learned how to properly de-crease dangerous folds, clean mold, and delicately remove staples and other sources of rust. The pandemic actually did not hinder my job too much, for my role allowed me to work independently in the archive room.

    The main joy of my internship was discovering all the hidden treasures waiting in the archives. During my time in the office, I had a wonderful opportunity to view hundreds of papers documenting the history of the parish, including many missives with beautiful letterhead and hallmarks from the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. There were also architectural plans related to the construction of the Holy Trinity P.U.C. Church in an authentic Carpathian Ukrainian style. In addition, I stumbled upon a rare collection of Ukrainian songs donated by a parishioner some time ago, consisting of over a hundred unique vinyl records.

Ground-level plans of the Holy Trinity PUC Church, by architect Larysa Kurylas.

    While this might not be an ideal place for most UMBC History students to intern, since it requires a strong grasp of the Ukrainian language, it proved a perfect opportunity for me to conduct quiet research and give back to my parish community.

Collections Internship with Save Our Seminary - Part 3: Material Culture

Possibly my favorite part of my collections internship with historic preservation nonprofit Save Our Seminary (SOS) was taking inventory of new acquisitions to the organization’s archives. One of SOS’s board members monitors sites like eBay for paraphernalia related to the school. I was surprised that there would be things sold online related to the school, but that speaks to the wide spread of the girls that attended the school. One yearbook I looked at listed girls from a huge variety of states, some even from overseas. It was rare for a student to actually be from the DC area. And like any college, the attendees had a lot of pride in their alma mater; National Park Seminary had an active alumni network even after the school closed in the 1940s.

A 1920s school yearbook. The girls all sport stylish 1920s bobs and each girl
has a fun, congenial description of her personality written by the yearbook staff. 
Another interesting note: The Yearbook was called "The Acorn" and you may be
able to see the squirrels drawn in on the blocks behind the women’s pictures.

Unfortunately, many of these alumna are passing away and their estates are being sold. The majority of the acquisitions I went through were from the collection of one particular woman who attended NPS in the early 1920s. Interestingly enough, my supervisor and I discovered through some archival detective work that this woman and her sister both went to National Park Seminary…and must have married two men who were brothers!

A note from one student to another asking to meet at one of the sorority buildings.

It was amazing how much stuff these women kept: playbills, ticket stubs, notes from friends and faculty, postcards, letters. One thing I found particularly amusing were these short notes that I dubbed “early twentieth-century text messages.” Sometimes these were warning notes from school faculty regarding money owed or dorm rooms that needed to be cleaned. Other times they were notes from sorority sisters asking the girl to meet them at a certain place later that day. It was interesting to see how people communicated before email and text.

A scrapbook featuring playbills and other paper ephemera.

A whimsical name plate pasted into a scrapbook. These name plates with characters
were common and some of the paper decorations in the scrapbooks are quite elaborate.

I also had a chance to look at yearbooks, school catalogs sent out to advertise the college to potential students, and scrapbooks made by students of their time at the school. It was fascinating to see fashions and hairstyles change over the years but also to get a sense of what it was like to be a student at NPS. Since I scrapbooked my own college experience, it was interesting to see the change and continuity between scrapbooks (and college life) in the early twentieth century and today. In fact, I decided to use the scrapbook collection as the source base for my senior thesis. All in all, after spending so much of my internship focusing on the buildings of the school, it was enlightening to get a glimpse on the lives that were lived within those buildings. 

Giving life to buildings: The field hockey team sat in front of the stone arches below

 for this picture. I found this photo interesting because school sports teams still take photos like this one.

 

• Read the first and second posts on this internship.
• For more information on National Park Seminary historic district, visit www.saveourseminary.org.
• Find public history internship opportunities.

Collections Internship with Save Our Seminary: Post 2

The newly renovated Greek Revival gymnasium, which now houses 

condominium units, greets visitors when they enter the National 

Park Seminary historic district. Not too long ago, the 

magnificent building was decaying from neglect. (Rebecca Gale)

As I relayed in my last post, I have been completing an internship with the historic preservation nonprofit Save Our Seminary (SOS), based in Forest Glen, which is responsible for the rescue and restoration of the historic National Park Seminary campus. SOS maintains an archive of objects important to the seminary’s history, and I’ve had the chance to aid with organizing parts of the collection to make it more accessible. 

While my first task was filing slides in archivally safe sleeves, my second project was sorting and filing an extensive set of photos depicting the gradual decay and long-awaited restoration of the historic buildings over the course of two decades. The bulk of the photos were taken by my internship supervisor, a historic preservationist and the executive director of SOS, who has been documenting the state of the campus since before most of us undergraduates were even in existence.

The end result of my project: Two and a half feet of binders
filled with hundreds of photos! Each binder houses photos of
a specific building or sculpture, placed in chronological
order to show change over time.

This collection has amounted to hundreds of photos and dates back to 1990. My job has been to sort photos into categories based on what building or object is pictured and place them into archival sleeves in chronological order so that it will be easy to trace the development of each building over time. Going through the photos has been fascinating, and their existence is a testament to the dedication of people who care about the stories that historic spaces tell, even when they no longer showcase their beauty as originally intended. I remember driving past the seminary campus when it was a tangle of weeds; it’s easy to forget the horrific state of the place looking at its pristine, glowing stucco today.

Some of the photos from the collection, depicting one building (a dorm during
the school era) before and during restoration. You can see the historic fireplace
that was preserved throughout the process. (Photos by Bonnie Rosenthal,
courtesy of Save Our Seminary)

This photo collection is a reminder of the victory that has been won in saving one American treasure and restoring it to life. Whenever I set foot on the seminary campus now, I think back to the mind-boggling images of decay – floors falling down, entire walls sagging, stones buckling, roofs caving in, fires being put out – and my heart warms to see a dream realized in front of me, the dream of a group of people committed to a place that spoke to them. The seminary is a reminder to keep fighting for the preservation of historic places because their story deserves to be told and they are meant to be a site of life once again.

• Read my first post on interning with Save Our Seminary.
• Visit Save Our Seminary's website to learn more about the site's history as well as upcoming events, tours, and lectures.

Preserving History: Collections Internship with Save Our Seminary

The seminary built each campus sorority a meeting house 

designed to look like the architecture of different countries. 

The Japanese Pagoda was the Chi Psi Epsilon sorority clubhouse 

at NPS. The exterior was restored by SOS volunteers in 2000. 

(Photo by Rebecca Gale)

This summer, I volunteered with Save Our Seminary, which is a nonprofit organization in Forest Glen, MD that was formed to fight for the preservation and restoration of the historic National Park Seminary campus. National Park Seminary was a women's secondary school that was known for its whimsical architecture. The school was a popular choice for the daughters of prominent Americans until the U.S. Army took over the campus to serve as a medical rehabilitation center for returning soldiers in World War II. By the 1990s, the buildings had fallen into disuse and disrepair.

Shocked by incidents of theft, water damage, dilapidation, and even arson, preservationists and local community members formed Save Our Seminary (SOS) to pressure the army to take better care of the property. After a long, hard-fought battle, they were able to arrange for a developer to restore the historic campus buildings and convert them into condominiums, apartments, and single-family homes. Today, SOS continues their preservation work by archiving the site’s history, providing educational programming, and preserving the site and its sculpture.

Athletics, including horseback riding, were an important part
of academics and student life at the National Park Seminary.
Here students are on horseback in front of the Dutch Windmill,
another sorority clubhouse that is today a restored single-
family home. (Photo Courtesy of the Historic American
Building Survey and Save Our Seminary)

My internship has involved working in the SOS archive to help organize its collections so that they are easily accessible to researchers. My first project was sorting through an extensive collection of slides featuring pictures from the seminary’s extensive history. Some of the photos dated back to the 1890s and it was fascinating to see images of the campus in its glory days, with smiling young women in Gibson Girl shirtwaists with bouffants piled high posing for the camera with friends.

While the work of archiving – housing, dating, categorizing, and sorting into chronological order – can get tedious at times, I always treasure the intriguing glimpses into the past that often serve as a reminder that history was lived by people not so different from us. And even though the tasks we perform as interns can seem insignificant, each small task contributes to a larger cause: preserving the stories of the past to inspire the people of the future. 

For more information on Save Our Seminary and the National Park Seminary, visit the organization's website at http://www.saveourseminary.org/.