Month: September 2012

Many Research Treasures Reside in Delmarva History Collection at Odessa Library

An early 20th century traveling library from the Delaware State Library Commission in the Corbit-Calloway collection

If you are researching local or family history on the Delmarva Peninsula, there are many fine libraries from Wilmington down to  Accomac, VA. that can help.  Some are large, university affiliated repositories, while others are non-profit, stand-alone institutions located in some of region’s  small towns.   As I travel from one end of Delmarva to the other using these resources, I will highlight a few of the smaller collections that help individuals piecing together puzzles from the past.

The National Historic Register town of Odessa, a community of about 300 people, has the Corbit-Calloway Memorial Library.  Established in 1847, it is the oldest free lending institution in Delaware.  Tucked away in one room of the facility and spilling out into the main stacks and basement where it fills more shelves and file cabinets, patrons find the A. Leslie Calloway Del-Mar-Va Collection.  This large cluster of local history materials was created through money bequeathed by Mrs. Calloway in 1993 specifically to document the cultural heritage of the Delmarva Peninsula.  It’s a particularly strong array, featuring more than 9,000 books, maps, postcards, ephemera, broadsides, and other artifacts.

Anyone doing research on Delaware and Eastern Shore families, businesses, churches, schools, communities, or organizations will find plenty of material here to help.  These holdings attract a variety of people including those researching family roots, working on school papers or investigating something in the community.  And there are plenty of treasurers here you won’t find online.

Situated in the idyllic village of Odessa, Corbit-Calloway’s collection is a place to go for its volumes, serials, and manuscripts densely packed with  narratives about Delmarva’s heritage.  Plus the helpful staff goes out-of-the-way to assist patrons using the holdings, searching the World Wide Web, and pinpointing places for added work.

So if you need issues of the Middletown Transcript from years ago, practically any published Delaware history, serials from the Maryland or Delaware Historical Societies, postcards and much more, you should check out this place as there are an astonishing variety of materials there that will help anyone puzzling together some aspect of earlier times.  While the strong collection is important, you will also find an excellent small town library staff that routinely provides superior patron services to every patron walking in the door.

Finding the Past While Strolling Delaware Communities With a Class

The Central Hotel about 1914 in Delaware City

Communities all around Delaware make excellent learning laboratories for classes that are seeking to increase historial-thinking and understand the evolution of our 21st century environment.  With that in mind, I often take undergraduates out for fieldwork, especially this time of year as autumn gets underway on the Peninsula and the days are ideal for strolling.  The focus of these experiential learning exercises is to demonstrate how to understand the history that is all around by showing them where to look, what to look for, and how to examine the visual evidence.

So we spent this morning in Delaware City considering how physical, economic, cultural and political forces shaped growth and development of the quaint little town at the eastern end of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.  This applied research in a classroom without walls gave us the perfect place to gather evidence and talk about how and why this place looks the way it does.  In preparation for the trip that explored the physical and built landscape, technological changes and demography, we scrutinized photographs, maps and other primary document that served as the foundation for our investigation.

Next week, we are going to venture down below the canal to look at two other towns, Middletown and Odessa, for a comparative case study.  Together these towns provide the perfect laboratory for comparing and contracting how and why development of three Delaware communities took place and analyze the different paths they took over the centuries.

The Central Hotel in Delaware City today.

Sold Out Walking Tour Shares War of 1812 Living history interpretations

As the region celebrates the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, I worked with the Cecil County Office of Tourism to design a living history walking tour that explored the Upper Chesapeake’s stories during that dangerous time.  Working with a group of costumed performers, we strolled around an old colonial river town, Charlestown, exploring thrilling tales.  The living history interpreters dramatically presented first-hand accounts  we drew from primary sources while I provided the details connecting the dramatic narratives.

As the sky began to darken on that August evening, we used lanterns to light our way through the old historic district as we encountered those characters from the past.  The sold out tour, which had a crowd of over 100-people, continues to receive lots of positive feedback from patrons on the popular stroll.  Some were introduced to a new chapter in past, while for others the theatrical approach captivated them. And a good number have talked about how pleased they were to be introduced to a beautiful town and historic district and it’s tourism destination spots.