On the final day of my internship, I was shown around the multitude of exhibits that are hosted at the MCHC. Of particular interest to me were the exhibits Losing Winter and Flickering Treasures.
Losing Winter is an excellent exhibit, following the progression of winters in Maryland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries through photographs and videos. The exhibit exists to show the impact of climate change on Maryland winters, as well as the memories formed by Marylanders facing heavy snow/ice storms. The contrast between scenes as recently as the 1970s-1980s and today is stark; only as of 2022 has the state seen somewhat consistent snow storms. What struck me most was the sense of community that came through the pictures, as people gathered to help clear snow, or to marvel at the scale of what they were experiencing.
Flicking Treasures intrigued me, as an exploration of Baltimore's movie theaters across the past century. The central theme of the exhibit is demographic change; the scale, opulence and quantity of movie theaters (or halls, in some instances) was dependent upon where people lived. As the middle-class who had spent money to indulge in theater or movies moved out of the city center, larger theater halls were replaced by smaller, more modern theaters that were purpose-built to feature movies, rather than plays. This is all under the assumption that, as was pointed out to me, people weren’t simply using the larger theater halls for their air conditioning (many houses/buildings still lacked it around the 1920s).
Though these exhibits were amazing, my interest was most taken by a map of Baltimore in the early 1800s, along with dioramas of the development of Baltimore. The map is a lithograph that was made in 1869, featuring Baltimore as it was in incredible detail. You can see the existing road networks that have been preserved to today, as well as seeing how small Baltimore was at the time, and how developed it is today.
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