Tuesdays with Ed

Photo of former state archivist Ed Papenfuse

Dr. Ed Papenfuse, Maryland State Archivist, Retired, and former Acting Archivist of Baltimore, will be happy to meet with you via Zoom to discuss your history research on Tuesdays** by a pre-arranged appointment. The session will be 40 minutes and is geared primarily for students working on their master's thesis or their dissertation.

**Based upon availability and scheduling

To request an appointment:

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Affiliation (i.e. college, museum, self) *:

Question or area of research interest (be specific) *:

Resources at the Baltimore City Archives:

Records Relating to a Person:

The best way to find an individual that is mentioned in the historical records of the Baltimore City Archives is by utilizing the WPA Historical Records Survey Name Index. In the 1930's, the Works Progress Administration, in the process of their Historical Records Survey Project, indexed every name mentioned in specific record groups of the Baltimore City Archives. The cards produced from that index are available online in alphabetically segments. For guidance on how to use the Name Index, please view BCA volunteer and genealogist Malissa Ruffner's excellent step-by-step blog post. For an understanding of which records were indexed and included in the Name Index, see our page on WPA-HRS Indexing.

Records Relating to a Property:

For information on Maryland's digital repository of land records, visit our page, Land Records for Baltimore City.
Property Tax Records have been digitized; you can view our Property Tax Records for Baltimore City page for details.
If you are interested in current and historical maps and atlases of the city, take a look at The Geography of Baltimore City: Sources .
If you are having trouble working with changes in the wards over time, take a look at our webpage on Ward Changes and read William LeFurgy's Baltimore's Wards, 1797-1978: A Guide .
Additions and improvements to properties from 1924-1961 required building permits. If you are looking for work done on a specific property, check the Building Permits Index Cards, which are arranged by block. If you do not know your block, use the state's SDAT page to determine it by searching for the property- the block number is in the account identifier at the top of your property's information page.
Duvall's Practical Points for Conveyancers from 1894 includes changes in street names that have occurred over the years.
Street numbers changed in the 1880s. Take a look at the 1887 Street Directory (from the 1887 City Directory) to figure out number changes from that time period.
Many historical properties have been inventoried by the Maryland Historical Trust. Those inventories have been placed online through the Maryland State Archives at Maryland Inventory of Historical Properties.

Records Relating to an Event, Group, or Subject:

The WPA also created a card index for subjects, the WPA Subject Card Index; we have examples of how to use this index on our Topics page.
If you want to just do a general browse of our records, you can get into the guide by choosing a specific Record Group/Manuscript Collection .

Other Resources:

Institutions:

Online Resources:

NHPRC

Gratefully acknowledging the generous financial support of the NHPRC. Our semi-annual reports to the NHPRC have been posted online.