New features on the website have slowed a bit, but we've been focused on scanning and digitizing lots of records that will show up on the website in the future. See what we've been up to!
- We have scanned five volumes of county will abstract books and they are now on the Vital Records research page. These volumes cover the years 1776-1857. Linda Reno abstracted the handwritten records (typed record of all important information in the wills), and others indexed them, so every name that appears in the wills is in the index, including names of slaves and land parcels. And they are searchable in your browser.
- Late last year, the St. Mary's County IT department donated a used map scanner to the society (see photo below), and we used it during the winter break to scan approximately 250 maps that were in the basement of Tudor Hall. And we found some surprises! The best was a copy of a map made in 1823-1824 by the US topographic engineers of the southern half of the county. The original map is in the National Archives and measures about 3' x 6'. Our copy was is in eight pieces. The pieced-together map is now on our website for viewing (link above). This 200-year-old map is surprisingly accurate when overlaid on a modern map, and contains amazing detail including houses marked with their owners or occupants!
- While we're on the subject of maps, Eric Benson, the St. Mary's County Geographic Information Systems (GIS) manager, (and a SMCHS member) has been building a historic map viewer which will eventually be on the county's GIS website. Users will be able to view dozens of historic maps and imagery on top of current maps and imagery. This will allow researchers to visually see changes over time in roads, populated areas and other development. Several of us have been testing the viewer, and it is going to be a game changer for research! We'll let you know when it's up and running.
Library Card Catalog Project
- We have started the digitization of our Library's card catalog. The catalog contains thousands of 3" x 5" cards representing 2,636 items in our library. Once these cards have been entered into our library catalog software, users in the library, as well as users anywhere in the world, will be able to search our holdings online, just like any modern library. If you would like to volunteer doing the card data entry, we'd love to have your help! You can do it on your computer from home - just pull up a PDF scanned image of a card, and enter the data into a special online form we have created. You'll need to come to the library for about an hour of training, and then you can get started in your spare time. Contact Elizabeth, our archivist, if you would like to help - archives@stmaryshistory.org
(c) 2023 St. Mary's County Historical Society
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