Month: December 2012

The War of 1812 in Delaware: A Helpful Digital Resource from the State Archives.

In commemoration of the First State’s role in the War of 1812 the Delaware Public Archives has launched an online digital repository of primary documents that researchers and those seeking to gain more understanding about the period will find valuable.  This web portal contains many insightful e-resources such as books, military reports, documents, prints, and correspondence.   The always open library includes military journals, papers of the legislature and executive, muster rolls, river pilot logs, judicial documents, guard reports, and war claims.  The e-books are the biography of Captain Thomas Macdonough and two volumes of the military records of the Delaware Archives.

The Archives has been taking a lead in going digital, making records that have historical and research value available online.  This is the latest example of the excellent, ongoing advancements being made by the archivist in Dover.  It’s a valuable, attractive resource with great primary source content that chronicles what happened during that dangerous period when the British were in the Delaware Bay.  This online collection, while preserving original manuscripts, makes these rare resources easily available to the public.  Thank You Delaware Public Archives.

Here is the link.   

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The Crime and the Time, A History of the Criminal Justice System in Delaware Subject of Talk at Georgetown Historical Society

The Whipping Post at the New Castle Jail. Photo courtesy of the Delaware Public Archives.

The Georgetown Historical Society is hosting a Delaware Humanities Forum talk that I will do on Jan. 7th, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. at the Marvel Carriage Museum in Georgetown.

This lecture offers an intriguing look at the evolution of crime, punishment, and police work in Delaware from the colonial era to the mid-twentieth century. The fast-paced program examines old county jails, headline-grabbing criminal escapades of long ago, discontinued methods of punishment, and unheralded peace officers.

 The Georgetown group has a particular interest in Delaware’s whipping post, so we will spend some time examining that subject.  The goal of the program is to look at how crime and policing methods have changed by using  any little-known stories of this often unexplored aspect of history.

The museum is located at 510 South Bedford Street in Georgetown.