Historical Background
The Maryland colonial assembly created the port of Baltimore at Locust point in 1706 because of the tobacco trade. Locust point, once served as the center for Baltimore’s Polish, Irish and Italian communities. This neighborhood is also the home of Fort McHenry.
The County of Baltimore was founded and named after Cecilluis Calvert, Lord Baltimore, in 30 July 1729.
Cecilluis Calvert, who was the son of George Calvert, was the first Lord Baltimore County Cork, Ireland in
1625.
When the American Revolution was over the town of Baltimore was incorporated as the city of
Baltimore in 1796 and was made an independent city in 1851.
The city was the site of the Battle of Baltimore during the war of 1812. The British burned down
Washington DC and then attacked Baltimore, 13, September 1814. The US forces stationed at Fort
McHenry were able to hold off the British attack. This is also the place where the Star-Spangled Banner alum was composed by a Baltimore lawyer, Francis Scott Key who happened to be a board one of the
British ships and witnessed the bombardment. The Star-Spangled Banner became the official national anthem of the United States in 1931.
In February 1904, the great Baltimore fire destroyed over 15,000 buildings in 30 hours, leaving 70 blocks of the downtown area burned. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baltimore_City_Archives&oldid=469927820
(accessed May 15, 2012).Wikipedia contributors, "Baltimore City Archives," Wikipedia, The
Free Encyclopedia,
State and Local Archives
I have not really been able to explore Maryland Archives by foot, but will be doing so this week coming up when I return to Baltimore to visit family over the Memorial week. The Maryland State Archive online though has given me so much that I don’t need to travel around much at all. This site which is also linked to the Baltimore City Archives can help you with any questions and records you might need about
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your ancestors. There were however a few things they did not have access to and Amy, one of the archives curators, very friendly, linked me to where I needed to go. This is a web-site Amy suggested: http://historicgraphics.com/ to find some information on some local photographers that had taken some of my relative’s photos. For the orphanage and the infant asylum, Catholic institutions- there is a paragraph about them further down on this page: http://www.stmarys.edu/archives/arc_genealogy.htm
She lead me to some very important leads.
Name
Address
Telephone
Web
Hours
The Archives is closed
Sunday, Monday, the 1st
Saturday of every month, and Saturdays of holiday weekends.
Holdings
Parking
Fees
Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse State Archives Building
350 Rowe Boulevard
Annapolis, Maryland 21401
(410)260-6400
Toll free 1-800-235-4045 http://www.msa.md.gov/
Tuesday thru Friday and most Saturdays
8:30 am to 4:30pm
Record Pulls
Every half hour starting at 8:45 with the last pull of the day at 3:45. On Saturdays, due to limited staffing, the Search room and Microfilm Rooms remain open to the public between 11:30 and 1:30, but record pulls are not performed at 11:45, 12:15, 12:45 and 1:15.
All permanent records from municipal, county and state government. Also included at the Archives are church records, newspapers, maps, manuscripts and historic photographs.
Price
BASIC
COPY
Self-service copies in the
Search Room
$1.00
per page on 8"x11" and $1.50
per page on 8"x14" from microfilm.
Xerox from secondary sources.
$0.50
per page, condition permitting.
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RESEARCH
AND COPY
FEES
$15 for certified copy when requested in person (copy may be delivered in person in the Search Room or may be
Vital Records delivered via US mail or UPS ground shipping).
(Birth and
Death
$25.00
for certified copy when
Records). requested via mail, email, fax phone, or website form. Document will be delivered via US mail or UPS ground shipping
Research requests for marriage records, divorce decrees, separation agreements, custody agreements,
$25.00
for a search of one name, in one index, and a certified copy of one document, when requested in person in the Archives’ Search Room (copy may be delivered in person or via US mail or UPS ground shipping). child support enforcement $35.00
for a search of one name, in orders, name one index, and a certified copy of one changes, and criminal document, when requested via mail, email, fax phone, or website form. dispositions. Document will be delivered via US mail or UPS ground shipping
The Archives only searches indexed records.
Legal
$40.00
, when requested in person in the Archives’ Search Room (copy may be delivered in person or via US mail
Research request for civil and or UPS ground shipping).
$50.00
, when requested via mail, criminal case email, fax phone, or website form. files Document will be delivered via US mail or UPS ground shipping
"(c) 2013, Kimberly A. DePalmer. All Rights Reserved. "
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Address
Telephone
Web
General
Research
Fees (Items
$35.00
per item. Document will be delivered via US mail or UPS ground other than listed above.) shipping
Specialized research or consultation
$50 00 – 75.00
per hour. Patrons will be notified when fees apply
2615 Mathews Street
Baltimore, Md. 21218
(410) http://baltimorecityhistory.net/
All reference questions may be sent to, baltimorecityarchives@gmail.com
Monday thru Friday
9:00am to 3:00pm
By appointments only!
Hours
Holdings Records relating to Persons: WPA Historical Records
Survey Name Index , step-by-step blog post and Vital
Records of Baltimore City . Md. Records start at 1875 and
Baltimore at 1898. BCA sends you to http://mdvitlrec.net
.
Records relating to Property: Land Records for Baltimore
City , Property Tax Records for Baltimore City , historical maps and atlases of the city, take a look at The Geography of Baltimore City: Sources , changes in the wards over time, read William LeFurgy’s Baltimore’s Wards, 1797-1978: A
Guide .
Records relating to events, groups or subject: The WPA also created a card index for subjects, the WPA Subject
Card Index and doing a general browse you can get into the guide by choosing a specific Record Group/Manuscript
Collection .
I definitely advise that you review their policies for visiting there archives. They have many rules and regulations.
Policies
Parking
Fees
?
Are the same as the Maryland State Archives because they are in conjunction of each other.
"(c) 2013, Kimberly A. DePalmer. All Rights Reserved. "
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Newspapers’
Guide to Maryland Newspapers
Featuring the Newspaper Collections of the Maryland State Archives http://speccol.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/speccol/catalog/newspapers/cfm/dsp_countyresults.cfm
?CurrentPage=7&county=bc
This site lists all historical Papers and years of publications.
Other Resources:
Name
Telephone
Website
Hours
Admissions fee
Maryland Historical Society
1-410-685-3750 http://www.mdhs.org
Wednesday through Saturday
10:00pm to 5:00 pm
Sundays
12:00pm to 5:00pm (Museum only)
Admissions
Museum
Adults
Seniors
Library
$6 Members
Non-
Free
$6 (includes museum
$5 members admission)
Students with ID
Children 3-
18
Children under 3
$4
$4
Free
Holdings
*Please note that picture identification and the completion of a one-time registration form is required for all library patrons.
Museum, Collections include more than 350,000
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objects and the library holds more than 7 million books and documents. The library maintains an extraordinary collection of materials reflecting the history and Maryland and its people. (Books, pamphlets, genealogical manuscripts, journals, magazines, microfilms, maps, atlases, oral histories, ephemera prints, broadsides, sheet music and photographs.
Free Parking
Name
Telephone
Web-site
Hours
Holdings
Enoch Pratt Free Library
Telephone Reference Services 410-396-5430 http://www.prattlibrary.org
Monday thru Wednesday 10:00am to 7:00pm
Thursday thru Friday 10:00am to 5:00pm
Sunday 1:00pm to 5:00pm
Catalog searches, digital collections, e-books, audiobooks downloads, podcast, databases, encyclopedia, newspapers, magazines, African
American Heritage, Ancestry library edition, BGMI, digital Sanborn Maps, Heritage Quest and lots more.
Free
Free Can get a library card on-line
Parking
Fees
Name
Address
Telephone
Website
Historical Society of Baltimore City HSBC
9811 Van Buren Lane
Cockeysville, Maryland, 21030
1-410-666-1878 http://hsobc.org
info@hsobc.org
.
"(c) 2013, Kimberly A. DePalmer. All Rights Reserved. "
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Hours
Holdings
Parking
Fees
Friday 12:00pm to 4:00pm
Saturday 10:00am to 2:00pm
Second Wednesday of every month 7:00pm to
8:30pm
HSBC is home to thousands of library volumes, historic photographs, research vertical files, cultural artifacts, and genealogy files, hundreds of maps, microfilm, archival and manuscript collections and tombstone inscriptions.
Free
Entrance fee is $5.oo
Members are free
On-line Resources:

Baltimore City Directorieshttp://www.lib.umd.edu/RARE/MarylandCollection/MDResourceGuide/digcitydir.html

Findagrave.com
 http://www.cyndislist.com/
 https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1&countryId=53
Books:
1.
French, Rita D. Baltimore’s Own Little Italy Artist: The Artwork of Tony DeSales. Palo Alto,
CA: Genovefa Press, 2003.
2.
Sandler, Gilbert. The Neighborhood: The Story of Baltimore's Little Italy.
Baltimore, MD:
Bodine and Associates, 1974
3.
Scarpaci, J. Vinceca. "Ambiente Italiano: Origins and Growth of Baltimore's Little Italy."
Institut International D'Histoire du la Banque , 22-23 (1981): 296-342.
4.
Shufelt, Gordon H. "Jim Crow among Strangers: the Growth of Baltimore's Little Italy and
Maryland's Disfranchisement Campaigns." Journal of American Ethnic History 19 (Summer
2000): 49-78.
I have not read these books, but these are suggestive reading for me because my grandparents are from
Little Italy in Baltimore City, Maryland.
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"(c) 2013, Kimberly A. DePalmer. All Rights Reserved. "
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