Events
Unless noted otherwise, all events and exhibitions are free with a museum admission charge of $4 adults; $3 senior citizens; children under 12 free. Free First Thursday of each month.
To register for MdHS programs, call 410-685-3750 ext 319, unless otherwise noted
Ongoing Programs
Gallery Walks
Meander, Munch and Marvel
Join us on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month from noon to 1:30 p.m. for a special guided tour of one of our galleries and a boxed lunch.
Thursday, February 11 – Marylanders in Portraiture
Examine MdHS's outstanding collection of portraits, including its extensive collection of Peale family paintings
Thursday, March 11 – Furniture in Maryland Life
View highlights of Maryland furniture in MdHS's gallery
Thursday, April 8 -Treasures from the H. Furlong Baldwin Library
Explore rare documents from the MdHS collection, including the archive's "Famous Person" file
Thursday, May 13 – Painting the Scene: History in Maryland Landscape Paintings
Journey through Maryland scenes in our landscape gallery
$20 members; $25 non-members
Space is limited, so call now to reserve a lunch.
Family History Workshop Series
Join noted author and genealogist Robert Barnes for his series of workshops designed to introduce new family historians to techniques and allow seasoned researchers to find new resources.
February 6, 2010 — Getting Started (CANCELLED- snow date is March 6)
April 3, 2010 — Census, Church & Vital Records
June 6, 2010 — Land, Court & Probate Records
October 2, 2010 — Immigration & Naturalization Records
Each session is held from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and includes continental breakfast and boxed lunch. Each session is $50 MdHS Members/ $65 Non-members or you may purchase the series for $175 MdHS Members/ $200 Non-members. Advance registration required.
Francis Scott Key Lecture Series
Thursday, February 4 – Gentlemen of Worth and Character: The Tuesday and Homony Clubs of Colonial Annapolis
GLENN E. CAMPBELL, Senior Historian, Historic Annapolis Foundation
Thursday, March 4 – Washington, Lafayette & Tilghman at Yorktown: Charles Willson Peale's Revolutionary Portrait for Maryland
ELAINE RICE BACHMANN, Director of Artistic Property at the Maryland State Archives
Thursday, April 1 – A Chesapeake Aesthetic: Fashionable Design in Later 19th-Century Baltimore
JAMES ARCHER ABBOTT, Director, Evergreen Museum & Library
Thursday, September 2 – In the Most Fashionable Taste: English silver in Colonial Maryland
JENNIFER FAULDS GOLDSBOROUGH, Professor of Decorative Arts and former Chief Curator, Maryland Historical Society
Thursday, October 7 – History of the United States Capitol with an evaluation of the Capitol Competition Drawings
WILLIAM C. ALLEN, Architectural Historian, Office of the Architect of the Capitol
Thursday, November 4 – With Whimsy and Artistry: Folk Art at the Maryland Historical Society
ALEXANDRA DEUTSCH, Chief Curator, Maryland Historical Society
This series of lectures will take place on the first Thursday of the month at 6:00 p.m.
Price of series per year is $150/person and $275/couple. Lectures are open to all members for $35 each.
February
Thursday, February 11, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
Maryland’s National Treasures Preview Reception
Collaborative exhibition between the Maryland Historical Society and Maryland State Archives featuring historical paintings by Charles Willson Peale of George Washington, William Pitt, William Paca and others displayed together for the first time. Also on view for this night only will be George Washington’s personal annotated copy of the speech he gave in the Old Senate Chamber on December 23, 1783, when he resigned his commission as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
Cost: $50/person.
Please make reservations by February 4.
Saturday, February 13, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
African American Family History Seminar
Join Chris Haley, nephew of Roots author Alex Haley, director of the Study of the Legacy of Slavery for the Maryland State Archives, and renowned researcher and lecturer, for a keynote discussion on the importance and nuance of genealogy for the African American family. Then, participate in three “how to” sessions for preserving family history. The presentation entitled “Preserving Textiles and Other Objects” will be lead by MdHS Collections Manager Heather Haggstrom. Jennifer Ferretti, MdHS Digitization Coordinator, will teach participants about “Preserving and Digitizing Family Photographs.” In the final session participants will learn a step by step process to interview family members for genealogy research. The session will be led by Lisa Crawley, Resource Center Manager at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum and member of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society for 20 years.
$40 MdHS Members/ $55 Non-members
Program will include a light breakfast, access to the MdHS Library and valuable handouts on sources, materials and processes for collecting and preserving your family’s history.
Program made possible by support from the Steiner Fund.
March
Sunday, March 14, 3 p.m.
Elizabeth Van Lew: Citizen Spy
Set in 1872 this living history presentation will introduce the audience to Miss Elizabeth VanLew. Miss Van Lew, a native of Richmond, Virginia, worked with fellow Unionists in the Underground to combat the Confederacy and assist the Union in her home city throughout the Civil War. Though she was considered a spy, and oftner engaged in espionage, she denied that name, and called herself only a “citizen” of the United States, compelled to do what any good citizen would do to preserve their country.
In this presentation by living history performer Meg Kelly, Miss Van Lew will share her experiences throughout her life as she assisted Union Soldiers imprisoned in Richmond, both while in prison and in escape and recount her activities in support of abolition.
Audience members will enjoy a lovely Victorian tea featuring a few southern delicacies, and will have the chance to ask questions of Miss Van Lew. This program is appropriate for adults and children as young as age 12.
Cost: $25/person
Program made possible by support from the M. Florence Reynolds Fund.
Saturday, March 20, 12-4 p.m.
Irish History and Heritage Festival
Celebrate the history and culture of Ireland at the MdHS. Experience Irish music and dance; taste traditional foods; hear myths and legends and learn about the impact that Irish immigrants had on the development of Baltimore City and the State of Maryland. This program is appropriate for adults and children alike.
Free MdHS Members/ $10 Non-members
Program made possible by support from the M. Florence Reynolds Fund.
Thursday, March 25, 12 p.m.
Maryland Day
Celebrate the founding of Maryland and the presentation of the 2010 “Marylander of the Year” Award at a luncheon and reception. Maryland Day commemorates the landing of The Ark and The Dove on St. Clement’s Island in 1634. These two small ships brought Cecilius Calvert onto the shores of the Chesapeake. Calvert and his fellow Englishmen would settle the land that became our fine state. Join us as we celebrate Maryland’s long history and honor a special Marylander who has impacted the history and preservation of the state. Stay tuned to future MdHS publications for the announcement of the 2010 Marylander of the Year. Reservations should be made by March 20. Cost: $35/person
April
Saturday, April 10, 9;30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Discovering Maryland's National Treasures: Maryland in the Revolution Seminar
Learn about famous and lesser known Marylanders and their families who contributed to the cause of American independence. Hear from author and researcher John Beakes about Revolutionary heroes John Eager Howard, hero at the Battle of Cowpens, and Otho Holland Williams, brilliant strategist at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. Tour the MdHS Museum and examine the objects that filled the homes and lives of Marylanders during this period. See some of the MdHS Library’s Revolutionary treasures, including papers from both Howard and Williams and the Tilghman/Lloyd family of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Participants will then enjoy a boxed lunch and see “The Legacy of Liberty,” a dramatic portrayal of life during the Revolution. See details below.
$40 MdHS Members/ $55 Non-members
Program made possible by support from the Society of Colonial Wars.
Saturday, April 10, 1 p.m.
The Legacy of Liberty
Enjoy the talents of the students of the Baltimore School for the Arts as they present original dramatic portrayals of life in Maryland during the American Revolution. This one-hour theatre performance is based on the students’ primary research in the MdHS collection and will highlight the complexities of life and liberty in Maryland in the eighteenth century.
$10 MdHS Members/ $15 Non-members
Thursday, April 14 6 p.m. reception, 6:30 p.m. lecture
The Last Lincoln Conspirator: John Surratt’s Flight from the Gallows
Talk by Andrew C.A. Jampoler
April 14, 2010, is the 145th anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. What happened to John Wilkes Booth and the eight other accomplices is a well-covered story. John Surratt alone managed to evade capture and punishment, although his mother Mary was hanged. Jampoler recounts the conspirator’s twenty-month flight from New York, through eastern Canada to a hideout in Liverpool, England, and on to France and the Papal States, where Surratt enlisted in the Papal Zouaves (the Pope’s army). Finally caught in Alexandria, Egypt, he was returned to Washington to stand trial in 1867, where the bitter legal proceedings against him bizarrely led to his freedom. After his trial, Surratt lived out his life peacefully in Baltimore.
Published by the Naval Institute Press, The Last Lincoln Conspirator: John Surratt’s Flight from the Gallows will be available for purchase and author signing.
$10 MdHS members, $15 non-members.
Thursday, April 22 5:30 p.m. reception, 6 p.m. lecture
Chesapeake Ferries, Bridging a Watery Divide: An Illustrated Talk by Pete Lesher
Ferries once crisscrossed the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries from the Susquehanna River in the north to the mouth of the bay, providing waterborne links between otherwise isolated communities. Before the modern network of roads and bridges developed, the bay divided people living it its region as much as it provided a highway connecting them. This lecture will explore how ferries linked people and places and helped to pave the way for a more interconnected society in the region.
Commemorate the MdHS publication of Chesapeake Ferries: A Waterborne Tradition authored by the late Clara Ann Simmons with this talk by Pete Lesher. Lesher is curator of collections for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, where he is responsible for the museum’s collections – ranging from floating watercraft to sailmakers’ needles, photographs, manuscripts, and oral history archives. His principal research interest is the history of wooden shipbuilding and boatbuilding on the Chesapeake and he has published a series of articles on the topic in the MdHS’s own Maryland Historical Magazine. Lesher regularly lectures on maritime topics ranging from transportation and trade to resource use, recreation, and shipbuilding history.
$10 MdHS Members/ $15 Non-members
An Authors and Artifacts presentation of the MdHS Maritime Committee
