THEN: Flag seamstresses circa 1964. PP5 Women making replica of Star-Spangled Banner for New York World’s Fair, Box 2, MdHS.

NOW: Flag seamstresses circa today. Star-Spangled Banner Project, July 2013.

For the past few weeks, the MdHS campus has been teaming with dedicated volunteers working diligently on the Star-Spangled Banner Project. The project seeks to recreate Mary Pickersgill’s efforts to sew the 30 x 42 foot flag for Fort McHenry in a mere six weeks–all by hand. The replica will be flown at Fort McHenry during the Defenders Day celebration before visiting various locations around the state.

Little did we in the library realize that a similar endeavor was undertaken 50 years ago. In February 1964, over 100 stitchers and seamstresses began work making a replica flag to be displayed at the Maryland Pavilion of the 1964 World’s Fair in New York.  The exposition was scheduled to run April through October in 1964 and ’65, respectively. This flag project, overseen by the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Association, was plagued with difficulties and soon became a PR nightmare. First, it was discovered that the Maryland Pavilion at the fair had no room for such a large banner. Officials worried that there might be no place large enough to display it. The commission appealed to the United States Pavilion at the fair who, after learning of the embarrassing publicity, agreed to take it without knowing whether its space could accommodate the flag either. The Maryland seamstresses began to doubt their flag would ever make the trip to New York.

But, Maryland officials truly wanted to fly their own flag at their own pavilion. The decision was made to erect a 75-foot pole in front of their pavilion and move the flag indoors—folded and encased—in the event of bad weather. A June 6 piece in The Baltimore Sun explained how the commission decided to decline the federal bail out “with appreciation.” The following day, which happened to be Flag Day and Maryland Day the the fair, Governor Tawes dedicated the replica at a brief ceremony. The ’64 flag currently resides at the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House at 844 East Pratt Street.

The Hutzer Photograph Collection, as with many of our collections, is chock full of such strange or incongruent, but delightful, discoveries. We expected to find pictures of the Hutzler family, the department store’s many locations, window and product displays—of which there are many. We did not expect to find this little time warp. But it’s not completely surprising that Hutzler’s would be involved in this type of project given their history of fabric and textile offerings. We must admit we can’t quite connect Hutzler’s with the project, so any information would much appreciated.

What’s stranger still is that we made this find at this moment in time. We’re happy to announce that the 2013 Star-Spangled Banner Project has run far more smoothly and seamlessly than its predecessor, so far. The project completed it Kickstarter campaign yesterday, raising over $10,000 in four weeks. Underbelly congratulates the 2013 stitchers and everyone involved.

THEN: These ladies didn’t know from Kickstarter. PP5 Replica of Star-Spangled Banner for New York World’s Fair, M.E. Warren Photograpy, ca. 1964, MdHS.

Now: Placing the stars. Star-Spangled Banner Project, July 2013.

*The Hutzler Photograph Collection is currently being reprocessed. The finding aid currently online, created in 2000, reflects only a small portion of the collection. Please check back in the coming months for a more accurate inventory list.

Sources

The Baltimore Sun, February 18, 1964: 6; April 30, 1964: 48; and June 6, 1964: 13.

On Sunday April 7, 2013, more than 120 long-time Baltimore residents, many dressed in their Sunday best, filled the auditorium of the Maryland Historical Society to help rediscover Baltimore’s African-American history. The event, Revisiting Our Past: Identifying Paul Henderson’s Photographs of the African-American Community in Maryland, ca. 1935-1965, was co-hosted by MdHS and the Pierians Baltimore Chapter. The two groups collaborated to identify the scores of unnamed people and events in photographs taken by Paul Henderson who worked for the Baltimore Afro-American. I was lucky enough to be there as a volunteer.

Attendee Anne C. Taylor identified A. Jack Thomas who was the director of the music department at Morgan College. He was reportedly one of the first African-American bandleaders in the Army and the first to conduct the BSO. HEN.08.06-034, Paul Henderson, MdHS.

Members of the Pierians, an organization “dedicated to the purpose of promoting and encouraging the study and enjoyment of the fine arts,” took the lead in the preservation of their community’s history. Last summer, they approached Jennifer Ferretti, former curator of photographs at MdHS, who had curated an exhibition of Henderson’s Civil Rights Era photographs and in doing so, drew much deserved attention to the collection. The Pierians told Ferretti they were sure they could identify people and places in the photos. The photographs had long languished at MdHS and their previous home in the Baltimore City Life Museum. But even before the Pierians’ offer, Ferretti had invested significant time into organizing, printing, and compiling the 6,000 negatives and prints so they could be presented to the community in an accessible manner. The project was well worth it. Scores of volunteers, staff members, and community members turned out to put names to faces and stories to still images, investing the photographs with deeper meaning.

Though the exact number of identifications has not been calculated, the number of people, places, and events that were recognized is upwards of a few dozen. Participants found and identified a host of lesser known faces alongside the more famous entertainers, politicians, and civil rights activists that Henderson captured with his camera. Concise descriptions abound: “Graduation class from Apex Beauty School,”  “Thurgood Marshall,” “A. Jack Thomas, First African Amer. Conductor of Baltimore Symphony Orch.,” “Dr. Frederick Dedmond, Language Professor at Morgan State,” “Mrs. Ada K. Jenkins—My former Piano teacher.” The experience was exhilarating for participants as they found photographs of themselves, their loved ones, and role models from decades ago. Most were seeing the photographs for the first time in a long while; many for the first time ever. Yvonne Lansey let out a joyous cry when she found herself and her sister in a photograph of their class at the Garnett School #103. In the photo, taken on Halloween, the two girls were dressed in costumes made by their mother.

A Halloween costume party at the Garnett School #103 as identified by Yvonne Lansey. HEN.00.A2.221, Paul Henderson, MdHS.

Participants also identified (and described) places that held memories and meaning for the community as a whole, including The Little School, “a private school for African-American children in West Baltimore,” and many now closed businesses on Pennsylvania Avenue. They also named sites we might prefer to forget, like the Druid Hill Park Black Tennis Courts and the Black Swimming Pool.

The value of this research is profound, for historians as well as for community members. Participants shared personal anecdotes about the photos that will provide researchers with otherwise hard-to-get historical insight. For example, some informants could list the present-day names of institutions alongside their historical names. Further, personal anecdotes are rare in official historical archives, but they provide a sense of community attachment that cannot easily be identified in images or formal documents. On one identification form, Betty Williams identified the members of a wedding party and noted,  “I was her only bridesmaid.” Finally, and perhaps more importantly, community participation empowers historical communities to participate in the process interpreting their own past.

Professor Frederick Dedmond was identified by attendees of the April 7 event as well as his former students who saw this photo at City Hall. HEN.03.02-053, Paul Henderson, MdHS.

The visual record is important, but often overlooked by historians of the twentieth-century. Having photographs to accompany written documents can bring readers closer to the topic at hand. But even more importantly, as some scholars have noted, the visual record also carries the potential to revise established histories in significant ways. Activist and scholar Kathleen Neal Cleaver wrote about the Civil Rights Movement:

“The visual record always documents the presence of women, but in the printed record, texts of academic accounts women’s participation tends to fade.”

Henderson’s photographic documentation of the world-famous as well as the unknown suggests that he was attuned to the importance of the visual record for capturing multiple stories. For social movement histories as well as for cultural, community, and political histories, visual records tell an important story that can corroborate written histories, but also tell new stories. Thanks to the dedication of MdHS employees and volunteers, and the experiences, memories, and interest of those who have taken part (and will continue to take part) in the identification of Henderson’s photos, we can look forward to a future filled with new stories about Baltimore’s past. (Amy Zanoni)

Amy Zanoni completed an MA in History from UMBC in May 2013. Her MA thesis, a place-based history of Baltimore’s second-wave feminist movement, investigated the ideas and political activism of feminists and other social movement actors in Baltimore in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Amy will continue her historical research as she pursues a PhD at Rutgers University starting in the fall of 2013. 

Sources:

Kathleen Neal Cleaver, “Racism, Civil Rights, and Feminism,” in Adrien Katherine Wing, ed., Critical Race Feminism: A Reader (New York: New York University Press, 1997), 36, in Williams, “Black Women and Black Power,” OAH Magazine of History (July 2008): 22.

For more information and to see more work by Paul Henderson please visit the Paul Henderson Photograph blog. To browse MdHS’s inventory lists of Henderson’s photographs please click here.

Can you identify these sharply dressed young men? “Two Unknown Young Men,” MdHS, HEN.08.01-004.

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks here in the Imaging Services Department at MdHS. Through some wild confluence of ambition and scheduling, I agreed to curate and deliver a 48-piece photography exhibition the very week of the debut of my new documentary, HIT & STAY, at the Maryland Film Festival. I can’t really tell you what I was thinking, but I can say that after a week’s extension from the nice folks at City Hall, I live to say all’s well that ends well.

Honor bright. This negative is dated 1959, but the cars in the background seem to tell a different story. “Boyscout,” ca. 1959, MdHS, HEN.00.B2-221.

This week I couldn’t think of anything more important to write about than our new exhibit opening at Baltimore City Hall next week on June 5. Paul Henderson: Maryland’s Civil Rights Era in Photographs, ca. 1940-1960 is actually part two of work begun by my predecessor, former Digital Projects Coordinator & Curator of Photographs Jennifer Ferretti. Jenny opened the first Henderson exhibit at MdHS to much fanfare and acclaim in February 2012.

Since then the library has been working hard identifying the Paul Henderson Photograph Collection. Our event on April 7 earlier this year was a great success in bringing out the community, raising awareness about the collection, and identifying people and places in Henderson’s photos. To that end, our new exhibit at City Hall, which is also the first stop on the traveling Paul Henderson Photo Collection exhibit, seeks to carry on the task of identification. Most of the prints containing unknown people and places have QR codes printed on the labels that will take smartphone users to an online survey where they can type in names and other information. Identification forms will also be available in the rotunda at City Hall near the prints.

There are many more photos like this in the Paul Henderson Collection. MdHS hopes to one day identify all subjects in the collection. “Two Unknown Young Women,” MdHS, HEN.01.12-020.

Please enjoy this sneak peak of the exhibit and remember to check it out the next time you visit City Hall. If you can identify any of the people in the three photos above, please fill out an online survey by clicking here. (Joe Tropea)

This exhibit is scheduled to run throughout the month of June. For a look at more images from the exhibition please visit our Paul Henderson Photo blog.

An image of the Washington Monument from Mayor William Donald Schaefer’s 1973 holiday card. Original pen and ink drawn by Baltimore artist Betty Wells. Ephemera, Series I, MdHS.

Like so much of the City of Baltimore, the annual monument lighting bears the stamp of Mayor William Donald Schaefer. Schaefer, mayor from 1971 to 1987, got the inspiration for the idea following a trip to Indianapolis in 1972, when the beauty of the city’s monuments and statues aglow in holiday lights left him in awe.* Before the annual tradition began here in Baltimore, local garden clubs had been decorating Mount Vernon Square and the Washington Monument with greenery, as can be seen below.

This photograph by A. Aubrey Bodine shows the greenery that the garden club decorated the base of the monument with in 1962, ten years before the first lighting. BCLM, B391-F, MdHS.

The Maryland Historical Society will be having an open house tonight to coincide with the 41st monument lighting here in Mount Vernon. Come join us for food, decorations, and a performance by the Notre Dame Institute’s choir. There’s even a rumor that Santa Claus himself may be showing up. The museum will be free and open to the public- see you there!

*At this point I see absolutely no evidence that they stole our football in team in retaliation for our appropriation of their decorating ideas.

The library is pleased to announce that Kory Lemmert of Mount Washington is the winner of our Movember contest. Congrats, Kory! The rest of you can check out our mustache key below.

Who’s who in Maryland Historical Mustaches: 1) Leonard Calvert – Proprietary governor, 1634-1647; 2) 78-18-109 – Unknown walrus mustache (MC9484); 3) Ron Barbagallo – MdHS IT Guy; 4) Eubie Blake (Z24.1350)- jazz musician & composer; 5) Noble Sissle (Z24.1350) – jazz musician & composer; 6) Francois Dubas (MC9482) – father of photographer John Dubas; 7) George William Brown (PFV) – Mayor of Baltimore 1860-61; 8) Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. (B679-B) – Mayor of Baltimore; 9) Arunah Shepherdson Abell (MC1262) – founder Baltimore Sun; 10) Gov. Edwin Warfield – Gov. of Md 1904-08; 11) Raphael Semmes – former MdHS librarian; 12) Ms. Alex Beiter – MdHS Annual Fund Manager; 13) Thurgood Marshall – U.S. Supreme Court Justice; 14) Severn Teakle Wallis (1896-4-1); 15) David Belew – MdHS Development Coordinator; 16) Herbert Baxter Adams – first professor of history at JHU.

Sources

“Washington Monument Gets Holiday Look at Mayor’s Bidding,” Baltimore Sun, December 14, 1972.

“Deck the Streets,” Baltimore Sun, December 18, 1963.

As you may have heard November is Movember, which is national mustache month. The Movember Foundation seeks to raise awareness about prostate cancer and other male cancer initiatives.

In honor of Movember and to help raise awareness here in the Fatti maschil, Parole femine (Manly deeds, Womanly words) state we tapped our collective hivemind to handpick the best ’staches from our collections. We even threw in a few of our own. Can you tell who’s who?

Try our Movember contest: The first four responses with the most correct answers could win one of the following items:

Maryland History in Prints, 1743-1900 by Laura Rice (a $75 value)

Gardiner’s Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War (Dover, 1959, a $16.95 value)

DVD – Baltimore: a Modern City of Charm and Distinction (a $12 value)

A Family passes to visit MdHS (2 adults & up to 4 children, a $20 value)

Please email your responses to specialcollections@mdhs.org

In addition to this contest, which has rules (please see them below), MdHS library and Special Collections staff will also be taking up a collection for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Donations can be made at the H. Furlong Baldwin Library or here.

*MdHS employees, volunteers, interns, board and committee members are not eligible to win prizes. They are eligible to win bragging rights.

“I feel strange—but its a grand occasion,” said MdHS President George L. Radcliffe, dressed in a bushy brown wig, yellow-plumed black hat,  tunic, and breeches of Cecilius Calvert, as he stood with 350,000 other Baltimoreans, celebrating the return of the Orioles to the Major Leagues on April 15, 1954. Described as the “parade of the century,” civic organizations, manufacturers, merchants, and breweries of Baltimore designed elaborate floats and marched from Johns Hopkins, south down Charles Street, west on Madison, down Howard, east on Baltimore Street, and from Holliday east to the Fallsway.*

Clowns, army men, beauty queens, a marching band, and Vice-President Richard Nixon (who threw out the first pitch of their inaugural home game), can all be seen in this clip from “Play Ball with the Orioles,” narrated by legendary announcer Ernie Harwell (1918-2010). Noticably absent from the festivities was Baltimore mayor Tommy D’Alesandro Jr., who was in the hospital and ordered to bedrest by his doctors. D’Alesandro was instrumental in bringing a major league team back to Baltimore after more than 50 years,** after he promised his constituents a big leage stadium and a team to fill it. His dream was realized when the St. Louis Browns franchise moved east to become the Baltimore Orioles of the American League.

“Play Ball with the Orioles” will be screened in its entirety at MdhS on Saturday Oct. 13th as part of  ”Maryland on Film.” Admission is free! (Eben Dennis)

RSVP to this event via Facebook here.

The MdHS library has compiled approximately two hours of footage from eight films from our collections to be screened as part of Free Fall Baltimore on Saturday, October 13.

Screenings will begin at the top of each hour from 10-4pm. The silent films in this presentation will be accompanied by pre-recorded music from Wye Oak, Matmos, Dan Deacon, Lower Dens, Celebration,  and Among Wolves.

The films were preserved through funding from the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) over the years. They represent historic events (the first international flight out of Baltimore), candid footage (a family movie filmed at the Druid Hill Park Zoo), the Baltimore Orioles, Baltimore business (Hutzler’s), general culture, etc. from Maryland, between the years of 1927 and 1957. An important component of the NFPF grant for the most recently films funded, the Siebert Family Home Movies, involves a free public screening.

Segments of the following films will be shown:

Program One:

“Behind the Scenes at Hutzler’s” (1938)

“Pan American Balt-Bermuda” (1937)

“Bayshore Round-Up” (1928)

“The Picturesque Susquehanna” (1928)

“Druid Hill Park Zoo” (1927)

“Raising the Big Flag, VE Day” (1945)

 Program Two:

“Baltimore: A Modern City of Charm and Distinction” (1939)

“Play Ball with the Orioles” (1957)