Education & Outreach: Documents for the Classroom

The Archives of Maryland series Documents for the Classroom series is compiled and introduced by Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse, Maryland State Archives & Dr. M. Mercer Neale, Boys' Latin School with the assistance of R.J. Rockefeller and Lynne MacAdam. This program makes facsimiles of original documents available for use by teachers and students in elementary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities. For other resources see Teaching American History.

The following packets are available at this time, in electronic form only:

All the News, 1765-1775, MSA SC 2221-1-21
Events leading to the American Revolution are seen through news reports in the Maryland Gazette. Samuel Chase's broadside which the Gazette refused to print is included. The newspapers are also an excellent source for the study of eighteenth century life.

Built Environment Bibliographies

Captain Berry's Will - 1784, MSA SC 2221-1-28
Original probate records relating to the estate of Captain William Berry taken from from Maryland State Archives PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY REGISTER OF WILLS (Orphan's Court Proceedings) 1777-1790. MSA C 1275-1. Compiled and transcribed by Carson Gibb, Ph.D. MSA SC 5228. Publication No. 2080

Celebrating Rights and Responsibilities: Baltimore & the Fifteenth Amendment, May 19, 1870, MSA SC 2221-1-18
Includes documents and images relating to the ratification and celebration of the 15th Amendment in Baltimore, including a speech given by Frederick Douglass.

Civil Rights in Maryland, MSA SC 2221-1-23
A Guide to archival resources for the study of Civil Rights in Maryland and America including links to other Documents for the Classroom packets and specifically selected materials.

Close Encounters of the First Kind, 1585-1767, MSA SC 2221-1-17
Includes maps and documents relating to the first encounters of the English settlers and explorers with Native Americans. The objective is to introduce students to how explorers, settlers, and Native Americans reacted to, and learned from one another.
Includes the Maryland Act of Toleration, 1649, inventories of estates, and a discussion of documents relating to the career of the only person (a Jew) prosecuted under the Toleration Act.

Daily Life in the New World
To examine the nature of civil liberty and the quality of life in 17th and early 18th century Maryland using wills, inventories, & a plat from the period 1660s-1715.

From Indignant Protest to Hesitant Revolutionaries: Maryland and the American Revolution, 1765-1776, MSA SC 2221-1-2
Includes issues of the Maryland Gazette at the time of the Stamp Act Crisis. Also includes the account of the burning of the Peggy Stewart, the Olive Branch Petition signed by three of Maryland's signers of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence, and letters from a Maryland soldier at the Battle of Long Island.

From Segregation to Integration: The Donald Murray Case, 1935-1937, MSA SC 2221-1-11
Concentrates on efforts to integrate higher education in Maryland from 1934 to 1937 with emphasis on Thurgood Marshall, Lillie May Jackson, William I. Gosnell, Charles Houston, and Donald Murray's successful attempt to integrate the University of Maryland Law School.

George Washington's Farewell Address, September 17, 1796, MSA SC 2221-1-29
This special edition of George Washington's Farewell Address is imaged from the 1796 Session Laws of Maryland in the State Law Library. It was provided by the State Archives at the request of Governor Glendening to accompany his Washington's Birthday Address before the Maryland Senate in Special Session in the Old Senate Chamber, on February 21, 2000.

In Readiness To Do Every Duty Assigned, MSA SC 2221-1-30
The Frederick Militia and John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry, October 17-18, 1859. Edited with an Introduction by Gregory A. Stiverson. A Jacobsen Conference On Maryland History document.

In the Aftermath of 'Glory': Black Soldiers & Sailors from Annapolis Maryland, 1863-1918, MSA SC 2221-1-8
Examines what happens to Black soldiers who survive the Civil War by tracing their careers through public and private records. Includes maps, contemporary accounts, census records, probate records, court depositions, and Federal pension files. It relates the soldiers to the efforts to expand and then restrict the suffrage ending with the voting rights cases of 1915 which involved a Civil War soldier from Annapolis.

Is Baltimore Burning?, MSA SC 2221-1-12
Includes newspaper and other accounts of the Cambridge riot of 1967, the Baltimore riot of 1968, selections from Governor Agnew's papers relating to both events including the Cambridge speech and subsequent trial of H. Rap Brown, and the Goldseker Foundation report Baltimore 2000

Letter, M. Monsey to Daniel Dulany, 1770
A letter from Dr. Messenger Monsey, physician to his friend Daniel Dulany describing his physical condition as well as that of some of his patients. Include biographical data on Monsey and Dulany, images and transcripts of the letters. MSA SC 4885-1-27

Opening Day: Maryland Centennial Legislatures of 1700, 1800, and 1900, MSA SC 2221-27 A look at what was happening in the Maryland General Assembly in 1700, 1800 and 1900 through newspapers, proceedings and session laws of the time period.

Reference Materials prepared for the Consideration of the Commission on the Thurgood Marshall Memorial Statue in Annapolis, MSA S1259-121-6259

Religious Toleration in Maryland, April 21, 1649, MSASC 2221-25
An Interpretation and Tribute to the Citizen Legislators of Maryland. Includes Maryland Act of Toleration, 1649, original and transcription, and An Act for the Relief of the Jews in Maryland, 1825.

Six Significant Maryland Appellate Cases
A Guide to Six Significant Maryland Appellate Cases 1821-1972

The Baltimore Railroad Strike & Riot of 1877, MSA SC 2221-1-9
Includes almost all of the issues of the Baltimore Sun dealing with the strike and riot, as well as official documents and a contemporary history of the events.

The Perils of Reading: Samuel Green and Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin., MSA SC 2221-1-22
Samuel Green, a Dorchester County free man of color, was arrested and jailed for possession of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). This packet explores freedom of speech and of the press in a slave state during the 1850s. This packet is based on the work of Rick Blondo, "Samuel Green: A Black's Life in Antebellum Maryland," unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Maryland, 1988.

The Road from Frederick to Thurgood: Black Baltimore in Transition, 1870-1920, MSA S 1259-121-6050
Frederick Douglass (1817 - 1895), and Thurgood Marshall (1908 - 1993), two of America's towering historical figures, serve as examples of black Baltimore personified. Douglass, a migrant slave in the city, received his life's education on the streets and from the people of black Baltimore during the 1820s and 1830s. His Baltimore experience shaped his life. His life shaped nineteenth century American History. Likewise, a full century later, the young native Baltimorean, Marshall, was shaped by the experience of being a part of the black Baltimore community. Both men were products of this community, though their Baltimore realities were separated by nearly a century. What continuity is documentable in Baltimore which could produce a Thurgood Marshall nearly a century after it had produced a Frederick Douglass? What changes occurred in this elapse of time as well? These are the questions and ideas at the foundation of The Road From Frederick To Thurgood.

The Strength of our Diversity, 1634-1900, MSA SC 2221-1-19
Includes images and documents mostly focused on immigration which reveal the ethnic, racial, economic, and religious diversity in Maryland. This packet is a sampler of documentary sources, both text and graphics.

Too Close to Call: Presidential Electors and Elections in Maryland

Writing It All Down: The Art of Constitution Making for the State and the Nation, 1776-1833, MSA SC 2221-1-4
Includes documents leading to the Maryland Declaration of Rights and the first State Constitution, as well as those which relate to Maryland's role in the creation and ratification of the proposed first twelve amendments to the U.S. Constitution (two were never ratified). It traces the subsequent definition of such individual rights as the right to hold office by non-Christians as defined by constitutional amendment (the Jew Bill) and due process as defined by the courts (Barron v. Baltimore).

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For further information about Documents for the Classroom write the Maryland State Archives, 350 Rowe Boulevard, Annapolis, MD 21401, call MD toll free (800) 235-4045 or (410) 260-6400, or email msa.helpdesk@maryland.gov.