About Us

Our Team

Since 2001, the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Program (LOSIM) has supported community-based genealogical and historical research of Black Maryland.

What began as a grant-funded effort to catalog hundreds of fugitive slave advertisements across antebellum Maryland has grown into a dynamic initiative investigating Maryland's history of enslavement and freedom, liberty and incarceration, segregation and social change. For over 25 years, many researchers, volunteers, and community members have supported the program and its initiatives. Get to know the current staff at the Maryland State Archives who are working on the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Program by reading their biographies below.

Chris Haley — Director

Headshot of Chris Haley

Chris Haley

As the Director of Research, Education, Outreach and director and founder of the Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Program at the Maryland State Archives, he has pioneered efforts to digitize and provide public access to hundreds of thousands of records, earning him the prestigious 2024 Diversity Award from the Society of American Archivists. He co-directed the poignant film Unmarked, which investigates the neglect of historic African American burial sites. The project received widespread critical acclaim, garnering a 2021 Capital Region Emmy nomination for Best Documentary. He was further recognized with the 2024 American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Award of Excellence and the Chesapeake Crossroads Heritage Leadership Award. In the world of digital storytelling, Haley serves as the host and narrator of the podcast The People's Recorder. The series, which explores the legacy of the WPA Federal Writers' Project, was a 2025 Silver Signal Award Winner in History and received a 2024 Ambie Award nomination for Best Indie Podcast.

William F. Kelly, Ph.D. — Research Archivist

Headshot of William Kelly

William F. Kelly, Ph.D.

In August 2025, Kelly graduated with his Ph.D. in History from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research focused on Black freedom seeking from Maryland during the War of 1812. With the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Program at the Maryland State Archives, Kelly supports the efforts of topical legislative commissions, authors research articles and interpretive text, and works with patrons to build and execute research plans. After graduating from Wabash College in 2018, every facet of his research relied on the Maryland State Archives and LOSIM’s “Finding Freedom” database. Today, his mission is to ensure that LOSIM and its projects are accessible, informative, and meaningful for patrons around the world.

Generous Financial Support Provided by:

Research Archivists

Information Technology

Research Interns

Volunteers

University of Maryland iSchool Digital Curation and Innovation Center (now called the Center for Archival Future) Students and Staff

To learn more about the Digital Curation Innovation Center, visit the iSchool website.

Past Advisory Board

With Additional Support by:

State Archivists
  • Elaine Rice Bachmann
  • Timothy Baker, Retired
  • Edward C. Papenfuse, Ph.D., Retired
Assistant State Archivists
  • Corey Lewis
  • Emily Oland Squires
Deputy Director of Research & Deputy Commissioner of Land Patents
  • Jennifer Hafner Abbott
Past Director (2001-2004)
  • David Taft Terry, Ph.D.