American Memory Library of Congress
Other American Memory collections contain extensive information on the Chesapeake Bay region and the nation's capital. Users are encouraged to search across all collections for place names and people relating to the Chesapeake Bay region, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
The following American Memory collections are especially rich in materials relating to the Chesapeake region:
Washington As It Was: Photographs by Theodor Horydczak, 1923-1959. Spanning the mid-1920s through the 1950s, the Theodor Horydczak collection (about 14,350 photographs online) documents the architecture and social life of the Washington metropolitan area in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, including exteriors and interiors of commercial, residential, and government buildings, as well as street scenes and views of neighborhoods. A number of Washington events and activities, such as the 1932 Bonus Army encampment, the 1933 World Series, and World War II preparedness campaigns, are also depicted.
The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799. The complete George Washington Papers collection from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 65,000 documents. This is the largest collection of original Washington documents in the world. Document types in the collection as a whole include correspondence, letterbooks, commonplace books, diaries, journals, financial account books, military records, reports, and notes accumulated by Washington from 1741 through 1799. The collection is organized into eight Series or groupings. Commonplace books, correspondence, and travel journals document his youth and early adulthood as a Virginia county surveyor and as colonel of the militia during the French and Indian War. Washington's election as delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses and his command of the American army during the Revolutionary war are well documented as well as his two presidential administrations from 1789 through 1797. Because of the wide range of Washington's interests, activities, and correspondents, which include ordinary citizens as well as celebrated figures, his papers are a rich source for almost every aspect of colonial and early American history.
A Selection Of Other Related Web Sites
The selected sites listed below offer a variety of perspectives on the Chesapeake Bay region and Washington, D.C. The sites were chosen for their educational content, broad accessibility, and long-term sustainability. The Library of Congress neither endorses nor maintains these Internet sites. Users should direct any problems with these sites to the particular administrator or Web master responsible.
Chesapeake Region
The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum Web site includes information on its library and collections and an index to its journals and book reviews.
The Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lighthouse Society provides information on its Web site about research, restoration, and preservation of lighthouses in the Chesapeake Bay.
The Calvert Marine Museum provides information on its Web site about regional Miocene paleontology, estuarine life on the tidal Patuxent River and adjacent Chesapeake Bay, and the maritime history of these waters. Information on its library and archives and issues of its quarterly newsletter are also online.
The Jesuit Plantation Project is a Georgetown University project digitizing documents concerning slavery and Jesuit slaveholders in the Chesapeake area.
Washington, D.C.
The Historical Society of Washington, D.C., has information on its Web site about its research library, which includes collections about Washington's local history.
The Washingtoniana Division at the Martin Luther King Library in Washington, D.C., has information on its Web site about local history in Washington, including resource guides and bibliographies.
Washington's Office of Public Records Management, Archival Administration, and Library of Governmental Information hold a wide array of documents that includes administrative, architectural, engineering, fiscal, genealogical, historical, and legal records. The Web site furnishes research request forms.
H-DC Discussion Network is a refereed, multi- and interdisciplinary discussion list that provides a means of communication and interaction for those who research, write, read, teach, collect, curate, and preserve Washington, D.C., history and culture.
Maryland
The Maryland Historical Society is the oldest continuously operating cultural institution in the state of Maryland and houses the most significant collection of Maryland cultural artifacts in the world. Its Web site includes extensive information about its library collections, including finding aids, inventories, indexes, and bibliographies.
The Maryland State Archives is the historical agency for Maryland and serves as the central depository for government records of permanent value. Its holdings also include special collections of private papers, maps, photographs, and newspapers. The Web site includes guides, indexes, online courses, and online exhibits.
The Maryland Historical Trust assists the people of Maryland in researching, evaluating, preserving, protecting, and interpreting the state's significant historical and cultural resources. Its Web site includes information on its library with a list of journals and historic maps in its holdings.
Maryland Marine Notes is an online newsletter that reports on Maryland Sea Grant research, education, and other Chesapeake Bay issues and activities. The newsletter has included some interesting articles on Chesapeake literature, including "Of Words and Water: Literature and the Bay" and "Selected Bibliography: Chesapeake Bay Literature." Other articles include: "Black Men, Blue Waters: African Americans on the Chesapeake," "Slavery, Freedom and the Chesapeake," "Menhaden Chanteys: An African American Maritime Legacy," and "Living in Bay Country: The Places We Call Home."
The Southern Maryland Museum Association Web site has information and links to more than forty museums, historic sites, and other cultural resources of Southern Maryland.
H-Maryland Discussion Network provides a means of communication for those who research, write, read, teach, and preserve Maryland history and culture.
Virginia
The Virginia Historical Society Web site includes links to the library and its catalog, descriptions of exhibits and collections, and other information about the society.
The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and Jamestown Rediscovery Web site contains information on the historic properties that the association owns and information on the archaeological project at Jamestown, Virginia. It also includes two online exhibits.
Virtual Jamestown is a digital project at the University of Virginia. Its site includes maps, court records, manuscripts, and documents with first person accounts.
The John D. Rockefeller Library at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation includes an online catalog, finding aids, and digital exhibits on its Web site.
Old Dominion University's Special Collections houses the university archives, manuscripts, and books and printed material relating to Virginia and Tidewater history. Its Web site includes a list of manuscript collections with finding aids and a list of books and printed materials in the Tidewater History Collection.
The Mariners' Museum--Newport News, Virginia Web site provides information on its research library and archives, including an online card catalog. Its library holds over 75,000 volumes on subjects such as ships, naval history, maritime trade, navigation, exploration, and the Chesapeake Bay. It also contains ready-to-use student and teacher materials for a unit of study on the Chesapeake Bay (includes Virginia Standards of Learning).