CCS supported research and scholars include:

Kelly Feltault, folklorist, Maryland's Eastern Shore Crab Pickers, 1998-1999.
Identified and documented the occupational folklife of Eastern Shore crab pickers, including their technical skills, specialized terminology, traditions, and material culture, in audiotaped interviews, black and white prints, and color slides. Rather than relying on new machinery to pick the crab meat, crab house owners, instead, relied on the traditional skills of local women who needed to earn a living to support their families. These workers also produced one of the first seafood worker's unions in the nation, as well as a unique women's culture centered on their world of work.

Roger Davidson, historian, Chesapeake African American Maritime Communities, 1870-1900, 2000-2002. Expanded dissertation research on African-American sailors during the Civil War to examine life in several African American maritime communities on the Bay, addressing the impact of the Civil War, emancipation, and post-war political movements. With a particular focus on the participation of African Americans in coasting and maritime related occupations, Davidson charted the social and economic changes in the Bay's maritime communities as well as highlighted the effects of change on the daily existence of commercial and part-time maritime trades-such as fishing, oystering, and working on coastal vessels. This research has been incorporated into the museum's school curriculum and programs, docent training and tours, and will be used in the Chesapeake Encounters exhibit, and future publications.

Virginia Scott Jenkins, historian, Chesapeake Foodways, 1999-2000 and Maryland Seafood Packinghouses, 2001-2002. Conducted oral histories with workboat captains and crews. Project report included a bibliography, a narrative "Life on Board a Skipjack," and two interpretive scripts for use on two of the museum's historic vessels-Edna Lockwood and Rosie Parks. These materials are used in developing tours, educational programs, and exhibitions. Jenkins' second project was a collaboration with architectural historian Paul Touart to document through documentary and architectural field work Eastern Shore seafood packinghouses and businesses. This research was translated into a research report as well as a captioned map of the Bay depicting the seafood packinghouses and communities from the early nineteenth century to the present. Future use includes outdoor signage on the museum grounds about the packinghouses that operated there, as well as a permanent museum exhibition on the seafood industries.

Harold Anderson, ethnomusicologist and oral historian, The Role of African Americans in the Bay's Seafood Industry: Bellevue and St. Michaels, MD, 2002-2004. Developed detailed case studies of two Eastern Shore seafood packing communities-Bellevue and St. Michaels-with a focus on the role of African American workers and owners. Anderson is collecting oral history interviews and documentary research. The final report will define the regional and national significance of the role of African American seafood company owners and workers in shaping these two communities. This social and cultural history will serve as the basis for interpretation throughout the two communities, as well as the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

For more information about the Kerr Center for Chesapeake Studies, or for more in-depth information about any of the above research, please contact the Center's Director and the Museum's Vice President of Program, Dr. Melissa McLoud at mmcloud@cbmm.org.

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