Progressive Ed Conference

On Saturday I participated in my first public presentation for the Maryland State Archives. For three years David Armenti, the outgoing education coordinator, has participated in the Progressive Education Summit at City Neighbors Hamilton School at the edges of Baltimore City. Because there had been no “ride along” opportunities since my arrival in September, and I am expected to observe or co-present on at least two occasions before I may strike out on my own, it was absolutely crucial that I take the first opportunity I could. In December David kindly offered me a chance.

David prepares, just 15 minutes before we begin.
My coffee cup is in the foreground.

David selected the theme of our presentation and composed most of the slides. Since he is a veteran of the presentation circuit, he had most of them on hand; they concerned the first two hundred years of slavery in Maryland, changes to it and the people affected by it, and resources available at the MSA that could illuminate this subject. Against a keynote speaker advocating a gradeless education paradigm, utilizing primary sources is not a change of concept so much as it is a change of approach. David kept this in mind and chose a theme emphasizing the local nature of the records. As an example, teachers could likely find information about slaves linked to prominent Marylanders who owned slaves and whose names dot their local landscape with towns, counties, or streets.

Libraries vs. Archives

For my portion I explained the nature of archival resources in comparison to library or Internet resources. Although it seems like common knowledge to me now, it was not until college that I clearly understood the differences between primary and secondary sources. I felt it necessary to emphasize this before we dove deeply into our talk. Using a record value model based on T.R. Shellenberg’s primary and secondary values system, I provided further context. By addressing primary record values first I emphasized the naturalness and authenticity of records and how or why records become archived. With secondary values, encompassing the evidential and informational values that constitute historical research, I was able to go into greater depth with regard to the records series at the MSA.

Evidentially speaking, runaway ads and committal notices implicitly describe laws governing slaves. Like any legal notice, a committal notice needed to be posted whenever a runaway slave was captured. If the owner did not claim the slave within the time allowed, or refused to pay the fees for the capture and holding of said slave, he or she could be sold. For informational value I talked about the identifying details in runaway ads. Ironically, this information about their height, complexion, hair, scarring, etc creates a far more detailed description of slaves while we may know absolutely nothing of what their owner looked like—other than their race of course. Except for a court case involving imposters, like the conclusion of the chapters involving the King and the Duke in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with a mob, I cannot visualize an instance where such detailed descriptions of white people would be needed.


Mary Chesnut: The Incomplete Circle of Scholarship

I also placed archival resources at the beginning of what I called a “continuum of reinterpretation.” I used the diary of Mary Chesnut as an example. Her diary, a primary source, is intensely interpreted by journals or popular articles that put the diary under a microscope. It may also be interpreted in specially focused textbooks in which her diary is a crucial facet in the exploration of a subject. As an example I mentioned Chesnut’s anecdote about her father-in-law sitting in his parlor with the descendent of the man who built the plantation’s well. To an economic historian Mr. Chesnut’s deliberate association with a shabby man of lesser means, and Mary’s cognizance of his methods, it reveals implicit understandings of class relationships in anti-bellum South Carolina. To a social historian looking at gender relationships Mary’s disdain for the well digger’s descendent demonstrates the separation of the sexes; however unworthy the man was for her father-in-law’s attention, as a woman she could not join their in conversation. At the opposite end of the continuum I placed a typical school textbook. By that point Mary’s words would perhaps be limited to an anecdote.

In the following slide I used food for an example. A crop, like a primary source, is deliberately created. The food product is reinterpreted (packaged, sold, etc) and may be eaten as is or put in a simple meal like a stew. At the end of this new continuum I place a cheeseburger. The meal has many ingredients, some of which clearly resemble the original crop, but the food has been reinterpreted well beyond the original forms. I think I’m on to something but I cannot keep calling it a “continuum” unless I find a way to close the circle and turn a cheeseburger back into a wheat grain. So…it’s a work in progress.

My most significant contribution in terms of preparation time was my primary sources exercise. For much of the last two weeks I deconstructed the case study of William Trippe of Talbot County for the purpose of demonstrating the effectiveness of primary sources. I produced packets of selections from scanned records and made transcripts of those that were difficult to read; the goal was to have a 15-20 minute exercise of discovery with teachers, just as their students might, to recreate a case study from its constituent parts. Unfortunately the talk ran longer than anticipated and I needed to abbreviate the exercise. Instead I summarized each document and described its relationship to others, emphasizing discussion points or exploitable angles.

William Trippe inherited his father’s farm and plantation in 1849 and as many as 26 slaves were associated with this estate. These slaves were bequeathed to different children and a grandchild but, oddly, not to William. It seems William only owned slaves starting in 1857 when he felt morally compelled to buy the three slaves held in trust for his ne’er-do-well brother Nicholas; Nicholas borrowed nearly $2,000 from William and couldn’t pay it back without selling his slaves. Although they do not say why, both nevertheless agreed that their father would have preferred the slaves to remain “in the family.” Perhaps selling them to outsiders might endanger them or splinter familial ties. William would buy them instead and credit their purchase against the account Nicholas had with William.

William became insolvent on December 20, 1860; what that meant for the slaves during the estate sales is unknown. A few days later South Carolina seceded. The Legacy of Slavery in Maryland project emphasizes agency of slaves and self-liberation in whatever form it took. The slaves in Trippe’s case study are mostly passive—Nicholas’ former slave Rachel is listed as a runaway in 1860—but he was selected because of the diversity of resource types and interpretations.

I closed my spiel with what I hoped was a history joke that would amuse and edify: Footnotes 21 and 25 was a page from a Talbot County grave reference text that provided the birth date of Richard J. Trippe, the grandson of Richard Trippe and the nephew of William. William was also the trustee of young Richard’s slaves until the boy reached 21. In the spirit of keeping things local I pointed out that Richard came of age just three months before slavery was abolished by the 1864 Maryland constitution. I’m pretty sure I got at least three chuckles.

Alex Champion--Maryland State Archives