Publications

Where scholars, volunteers, and staff provide perspectives on the legacy of slavery in Maryland.

Background

The Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Program has produced two publications on researching African American history in Maryland: Researching African American Families at the Maryland State Archives (2018), and A Guide to the History of Slavery in Maryland (2020).

LOSIM also publishes the research findings of our volunteers, staff at the Maryland State Archives, and scholars who utilize MSA records. We welcome evidence-based submissions that cover all aspects of Maryland history.

For more information, email msa.helpdesk@maryland.gov, with “LOSIM - Publications” in the subject line.

Researching African American Families at the Maryland State Archives

In 1984, longtime Director of Reference Phebe R. Jacobsen compiled the first guide to researching African American families at the Maryland State Archives. Her work was then formally published in 2001 when the Maryland State Archives released the booklet, Researching African American Families at the Maryland State Archives. The second (and most recent) edition was published in 2018. Staff at the Maryland State Archives are currently working on a third edition of Researching African American Families. Today, a digital version of this publication is available online.

A Guide to the History of Slavery in Maryland

In 2020, the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Program at the Maryland State Archives released A Guide to the History of Slavery in Maryland. It builds off the monumental careers of Ira Berlin and Herbert Brewer and benefits greatly from the support from Historic St. Mary's City, Historic Sotterley Plantation, and Hampton National Historic Site. Included within this Guide are high-resolution color images, timelines, narrative text, and bibliographies for further reading. Together, A Guide to the History of Slavery in Maryland helps readers navigate some of the most crucial points of Maryland's history from 1634 through the 19th century.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Staff at the Maryland State Archives (MSA) have the extraordinary fortune of working with primary sources everyday. From maps to court cases, manumission records to coroner's inquests, these records hold stories that may never have been told before. Down the Rabbit Hole is an effort by the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Program to give space to MSA staff where they can combine their professional expertise with their research interests to bring under-researched human stories to light.

Jerry Hynson African American Legacy Journal

Jerry Hynson volunteered at the Maryland State Archives as a researcher and served as a member of the Search Room Advisory Committee who specialized in African American and genealogical studies. His 2001 discovery of an entry in the Baltimore County Court's Criminal Docket provided the research impetus behind the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Program.

Over the course of his long association with the Archives from the 1990s into the 2000s, he spoke and served on behalf of various history and genealogy organizations throughout Maryland. Through his research, he produced several volumes of statistical and genealogical information about both free and enslaved Black Marylanders (see bibliography below). A genial and energetic man, Hynson's enthusiasm for his work was contagious.

Hynson's research has been preserved both physically as full volumes in the Archives' library and electronically as part of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland database. He demonstrated commitment to his subject by gathering these collections so that largely unknown African American lives were recorded, noted and could be researched individually or as a group by future scholars.

In his honor, we dedicate the Jerry Hynson African American Legacy Journal as an avenue on which our dedicated volunteers can share observations based on research they conducted with Maryland State Archives sources. While the main focus of Jerry Hynson's work was primarily African American history and general genealogy, topics covered among the articles presented in the Jerry Hynson African American Legacy and Journal are unlimited.