Week Seven at MSA

I continued populating our new database with data from manumission lists. I’m also working on updating the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland brochure. On Wednesday, I attended an Underground Railroad gathering at Great Falls Park in Virginia. In addition to networking, I was there to support a couple of my colleagues from the State Archives who gave presentations on their research of slaves escaping to the British side during the War of 1812 and of the wealth of information available about African Americans in the U.S. Colored Troops pension files of the Civil War. Other presentations I found particularly interesting were representatives from the Alexandria Freedmen’s Cemetery, a burial ground for “contraband” during and immediately after the Civil War, and work by staff of the Sotterley Plantation to interpret the history of the plantation’s enslaved people, particularly those who fled to the British during the War of 1812.

I've written about other cultural adventures outside of work at my blog.

Krystal