The Maryland History and Culture Bibliography
Handwerker, Tom. "Something is Fishy Down on the Farm." Heartland of Del-Mar-Va 13 (Harvest 1991): 18-19.
Categories: Agriculture, Economic, Business, and Labor History, Caroline County, Cecil County, Dorchester County, Kent County, Queen Anne's County, Somerset County, Wicomico County, Worcester County, Eastern Shore
Johnson, Robert C., ed. "Virginia in 1632." Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 65 (1957): 458-466.
Categories: African American, Agriculture, Economic, Business, and Labor History, Intellectual Life, Literature, and Publishing, Native American, Politics and Law, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Seventeenth Century
Blakey, Arch Frederick. General John H. Winder, C.S.A. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1990.
Categories: Biography, Autobiography, and Reminiscences, Military, Nineteenth Century, Somerset County, Civil War, Eastern Shore
Kester, John G. "Charles Polke: Indian Trader of the Potomac." Maryland Historical Magazine 90 (Winter 1995): 446-65.
Abingbade, Harrison Ola. "The Settler-African Conflicts: The Case of the Maryland Colonists and the Grebo 1840-1900." Journal of Negro History 66 (Summer 1981): 93-109.
Categories: African American, Maritime, Native American, Politics and Law, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Nineteenth Century
Alpert, Jonathan L. "The Origin of Slavery in the United States: The Maryland Precedent." American Journal of Legal History 14 (1970): 189-222.
Notes: Maryland was the "first province in English North America to recognize slavery as a matter of law" (189). Therefore, the study of Maryland is useful for historians studying how American slavery was a product of the law. Early legislation recognized the existence of slavery, for while indentured servitude and slavery co-existed, and the terms were used interchangeably, the law still distinguished between the two. "All slaves were servants but not all servants were slaves" (193). However, it wasn't until 1664 when a statue was created which established slavery as hereditary. This statute was the first law in English North American to thus establish this type of slavery, legalizing what had been de facto since 1639. The author concludes that laws reflect the attitudes of a society and the manner in which societal problems are resolved. In the case of Maryland, servant problems could be avoided by replacing indentured servitude with perpetual slavery.
Categories: African American, Native American, Politics and Law, Seventeenth Century
Berlin, Ira. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998.
Categories: African American, Economic, Business, and Labor History, Native American, Politics and Law, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Before 1600 AD, Seventeenth Century
Craven, Wesley Frank. White, Red, and Black: The Seventeenth-Century Virginian. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1971.
Notes: Remains the standard multi-cultural work for the 17th century.
Categories: African American, Ethnic History, Native American, Seventeenth Century
Davidson, Thomas E. "Free Blacks in Old Somerset County, 1745-1755." Maryland Historical Magazine 80 (Summer 1985): 151-156.
Notes: County court records of Somerset County, Maryland during the eighteenth century are particularly complete, allowing for detailed studies of the county's population during that period. The author contributes to the scholarship which, up until 1985, focused primarily on the origins of black culture on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the seventeenth century. The author also adds to the growing scholarship on free blacks in this region, which tended to also focus on the seventeenth century. In addition to examining court records to determine the numbers of free Negroes and mulattoes, the author also attempts to determine how members of these populations obtained their free status, that is, through manumission or the as the result of being children of free mothers (free-born).
Categories: African American, County and Local History, Family History and Genealogy, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Eighteenth Century, Somerset County, Eastern Shore
Davidson, Thomas E. "Jacob Armstrong: Pioneer Black Capitalist on Maryland's Eastern Shore." Maryland Pendulum 4 (1986): 4-6.
Categories: African American, Biography, Autobiography, and Reminiscences, County and Local History, Economic, Business, and Labor History, Caroline County, Cecil County, Dorchester County, Queen Anne's County, Somerset County, Talbot County, Wicomico County, Worcester County, Eastern Shore
Klein, Mary O. "'We Shall Be Accountable to God:' Some Inquiries into the Position of Blacks in Somerset Parish, Maryland, 1692-1865." Maryland Historical Magazine 87 (Winter 1992): 399-406.
Notes: The author examines the conversion of free blacks and slaves in Somerset Parish. While a 1664 Maryland law stated that baptism had no effect on the status of a slave, the Anglican church worked towards conversion of the enslaved. However, Christian education and baptism varied depending on individual slaveowners. In some cases, the enslaved themselves refused to be baptized. Evidence of African religious practices remained alongside the practice of Christianity.
Categories: African American, Religion, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Seventeenth Century, Eighteenth Century, Nineteenth Century, Somerset County, Eastern Shore
"Selected Readings on Afro-Americans and Maryland's Eastern Shore." Maryland Pendulum 5 (Fall/Winter 1985): 6-7.
Categories: African American, Intellectual Life, Literature, and Publishing, Caroline County, Cecil County, Dorchester County, Queen Anne's County, Somerset County, Talbot County, Wicomico County, Worcester County, Eastern Shore
Wennersten, John R. "A Cycle of Race Relations on Maryland's Eastern Shore: Somerset County, 1850-1917." Maryland Historical Magazine 80 (Winter 1985): 377-382.
Categories: African American, Politics and Law, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Somerset County, Eastern Shore
Wennersten, John R., and Ruth Ellen Wennersten. "Separate and Unequal: The Evolution of a Black Land Grant College in Maryland, 1890-1930." Maryland Historical Magazine 72 (Spring 1977): 110-17.
Notes: The authors examine how Princess Anne Academy on the lower Eastern Shore of Maryland developed after 1890 as a state and federally supported land grant school. Like other land grant schools, Princess Anne Academy was neglected by state and federal agencies. This academy was an example of separate education provided for blacks which demonstrated how land grant schools were indeed separate ad unequal.
Categories: African American, Education, Intellectual Life, Literature, and Publishing, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Somerset County, Eastern Shore
Wilson, Emily Wanda. The Public Education of Negroes on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. M.A. thesis, Howard University, 1948.
Categories: African American, Education, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Caroline County, Cecil County, Dorchester County, Queen Anne's County, Somerset County, Talbot County, Wicomico County, Worcester County, Eastern Shore
Somerset Images: Three Centuries of Building Traditions. Somerset County, MD: Somerset County Historical Trust, 1984.
Touart, Paul Baker. Somerset: An Architectural History. Crownsville, MD: Maryland Historical Trust, 1990.
West, Mark. "The Teackle Mansion." Chesapeake Bay Magazine 18 (October 1988): 86-89.
Baden, Jacqueline Heppes. Maryland's Eastern Shore: A Place Apart. 2 vols. Rockville, MD: Travel on Tape, Book Division, 1990.
Categories: County and Local History, Environment, Geography and Cartography, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Caroline County, Dorchester County, Kent County, Queen Anne's County, Somerset County, Talbot County, Wicomico County, Worcester County, Chesapeake Region, Eastern Shore
"A Bay for All Seasons." Maryland 27 (September/October 1995): F28-F29, F31, F33.
Categories: County and Local History, Maritime, Twentieth Century, Anne Arundel County, Caroline County, Cecil County, Charles County, Calvert County, Dorchester County, Kent County, Queen Anne's County, Somerset County, Talbot County, Wicomico County, Worcester County, Chesapeake Region, Southern Maryland, Eastern Shore
Blake, Allison. The Chesapeake Bay Book: A Complete Guide. 3rd edition. Lee, MA: Berkshire House Publishers, 1997.
Notes: A well researched tour guide for the general population.
Categories: County and Local History, Twentieth Century, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Cecil County, Charles County, Dorchester County, Harford County, Kent County, Queen Anne's County, St. Mary's County, Somerset County, Talbot County, Wicomico County, Worcester County, Chesapeake Region, Eastern Shore
Blumgart, Pamela James, ed. At the Head of the Bay: A Cultural and Architectural History of Cecil County, Maryland. Elkton, MD: Cecil Historical Trust, 1996.
Notes: This beautifully illustrated book presents a history of the development of the county along with a history of its architecture, including house forms, methods of construction, and outbuildings, along with brief write-ups on 700 historic sites.
Categories: Agriculture, Archaeology, Architecture, Historic Preservation, and Town Planning, County and Local History, Economic, Business, and Labor History, Fine and Decorative Arts, Native American, Transportation and Communication, Cecil County, Eastern Shore
Chappell, Helen. "Island Outpost." Chesapeake Bay Magazine 23 (April 1994): 42-47, 56.
Notes: Deal Island.
Categories: County and Local History, Somerset County, Chesapeake Region, Eastern Shore
Clark, Charles Branch. The Eastern Shore of Maryland and Virginia. 3 vols. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1950.
Categories: Agriculture, County and Local History, Economic, Business, and Labor History, Family History and Genealogy, Geography and Cartography, Historical Organizations, Libraries, Reference Works, Native American, Women, Cecil County, Dorchester County, Queen Anne's County, Somerset County, Talbot County, Worcester County, Eastern Shore
Colbert, Judy. Country Towns of Maryland and Delaware. Oaks, PA: Country Roads Press, 1996.
Categories: County and Local History, Economic, Business, and Labor History, Historical Organizations, Libraries, Reference Works, Twentieth Century, Baltimore County, Cecil County, Carroll County, Calvert County, Frederick County, Harford County, Queen Anne's County, Somerset County, Talbot County, Washington County, Worcester County, Chesapeake Region, Eastern Shore