The Maryland Center for History and Culture (MCHC), formerly the Maryland Historical Society (MdHS), . founded on March 1, 1844, is the oldest cultural institution in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

. The organization "collects, preserves, and interprets objects and materials reflecting Maryland's diverse heritage". The MCHC has a museum, library, holds educational programs, and publishes scholarly works on Maryland.

History

The campus of the Maryland Center for History and Culture is located in the neighborhood of

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

at 610 Park Avenue. This location is the main building of the MCHC, which has been housed at the Enoch Pratt House since 1919. The organization changed its name from the "Maryland Historical Society" to the "Maryland Center for History and Culture" in September 2020 shortly after celebrating its 175th anniversary. The Enoch Pratt House was originally built in 1847 and was presented to MdHS in 1916 by Ms. Mary Washington Keyser as a tribute to her husband, H. Irvine Keyser who was a member of MdHS from 1835 until his death in 1916.

Enoch Pratt Enoch Pratt (September 10, 1808 – September 17, 1896) was an American businessman in Baltimore, Maryland. Pratt was also a committed active Unitarian, and a philanthropist. He is best known for his donations to establish the Enoch Pratt Free ...

(1806-1896) is a well known philanthropist who created the

Enoch Pratt Free Library The Enoch Pratt Free Library is the free public library system of Baltimore, Maryland. Its Central Library and office headquarters are located on 400 Cathedral Street (southbound) and occupy the northeastern three quarters of a city block bounded ...

and gave substantial contributions to the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, the Maryland Science Center, and the

Maryland School for the Deaf The Maryland School for the Deaf (MSD) provides free public education to deaf and hard-of-hearing Maryland residents of age 0 to 21 years. Maryland School for the Deaf has two campuses in Frederick and Columbia, Maryland. History The school was ...

The MCHC Today

Journal

The MCHC has published a quarterly journal, now entering completing its 103rd year. The ''Maryland Historical Magazine'' is a peer-reviewed journal boasting one of the largest readerships among state historical organization journals. The organization also publishes books on Maryland history that are distributed through a partnership with the

Johns Hopkins University Press The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publ ...

, including ''Crime and Punishment in Early Maryland'' written by former MdHS librarian Raphael Semmes (1890-1952). The MCHC has over 100 titles in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

Exhibitions

Notables on exhibit at the MCHC are the original manuscript of "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the ...

" and the letters and journals of

Benjamin Banneker Benjamin Banneker (November 9, 1731October 19, 1806) was an African-American naturalist, mathematician, astronomer and almanac author. He was a landowner who also worked as a surveyor and farmer. Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, to a fr ...

. The MCHC showcases include 231 weapons, 866 pieces of jewelry, 2,200 Native American prehistoric archaeological objects, 15,000 musical scores as well as a remarkable collection of 18th- and 19th-century paintings and silver, maritime artifacts, Maryland painted and inlaid furniture, quilts, costumes, ceramics, dolls and toys. Exhibits include Maryland's history, Maryland in art and furniture in Maryland life.

Library

The H. Furlong Baldwin Library’s collections are both diverse and substantive. The library enables researchers, teachers, and students to see for themselves the records of the past, and to study and learn from its many treasures. The library’s collections include 60,000 books, 800,000 photographs, 5 million manuscripts, 6,500 prints and broadsides, 1 million pieces of printed ephemera, extensive genealogy indexes, and more, reflecting the history of Maryland and its people. These collections are accessible to visitors on-line and at the MCHC campus in Baltimore. On July 9, 2011,

Barry Landau Barry H. Landau (born c. 1948) is a noted thief of presidential artifacts, collector of presidential artifacts, author, and "self-styled 'President of the United States, America's Presidential Historian'". In July 2011, Landau's associate, 24-year- ...

and Jason Savedoff were arrested and later indicted for the theft of 60 society documents.

Preserve the Baltimore Uprising

The MCHC is a community partner of

Preserve the Baltimore Uprising Preserve the Baltimore Uprising is a digital archive devoted to preserving and making accessible media created and captured by people and organizations involved in or witness to the protests following Freddie Gray's death in 2015. The Maryland ...

, a digital archive devoted to preserving and making accessible media created and captured by people and organizations involved in or witness to the protests following Freddie Gray's death in 2015. The 2016-2017 MdHS exhibit ''What & Why: Collecting at the Maryland Historical Society'' included items from the Preserve the Baltimore Uprising collections in a video installation.

Notes

External links

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Maryland Historical Markers photographs
at the

University of Maryland Libraries The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library in the Washington, D.C. - Baltimore area. The university's library system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an o ...

{{authority control Historical societies in Maryland Museums in Baltimore Art museums and galleries in Maryland History museums in Maryland 1844 establishments in Maryland State historical societies of the United States Mount Vernon, Baltimore