Diggins Booksigning - July 12

We are pleased to announce that the Society will host a booksigning for a new Cecil County history title on July 12 from 1 to 3 p.m. Milt Diggins, the editor of the Society’s Journal is the author of this title, which is part of the Images of America series by Arcadia Publishing. Milt spent much of 2007 examining thousands of Cecil County photos and he selected over 200 of these for his volume. Many of these images have been unseen for decades, some are from glass-plate negatives from the 19th century, and, since he also worked with private collections, some of picture have never been published. We eagerly look forward to hosting the first booksigning for Milt's Images of America – Cecil County. Watch our blog and keep an eye on our calendar for updates. We’re sure you will enjoy this title.

Society Volunteer Wins First Place at History Competition

Yesterday one of our volunteers, Kyle Dixon, received a first place award for an entry in the Maryland History Day Project. This competition required extensive, independent research of historical subjects related to a national theme of conflict and compromise. An 11th grade AP history student in Mr. Mean’s class at Bohemia Manor High School, Kyle completed a comparative study of desegregation of schools in Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne’s counties. It’s always exciting to see young scholars enhance academic skills and prepare for college by exploring some aspect of Cecil’s past. We congratulate Kyle and the other 12 winners from Cecil County in this year’s competition. They will all go on to be judged at the state-level academic competition in April. (Kyle is introducing one of our performers in the winter living history series in this photo.)

Remembering the Past at Mr. Caldwell's School

The Cecil County Board of Education celebrated the legacy of one its former schools on February 10th when it rededicated the central office on Booth Street as the George Washington Carver Education Leadership Center. This facility, the county-wide high school for African-Americans in the era of segregated education, graduated its last class in June 1964.

The blast of strong winds and snow showers rattling the building on this special Sunday wasn’t able to put a freeze on the excitement at the ceremony. An overflow crowd of several hundred former students, friends, educators, and others eagerly looked on as Dr. Carl Roberts discussed the reason for rededicating the building while others recalled its history. This large turnout on this wintry Maryland Sunday and the conversations that filled the hallways afterwards as old friends rekindled memories and recalled past experiences spoke to the strong bonds that remains for George Washington Carver alumni and family.

A community’s history is important and it is essential that we preserve reminders of the past so we have context for understanding current events. Dr. Roberts, the Historical Society of Cecil County thanks you for helping assure that we recall this part of our heritage and for helping to make sure we keep in mind a time when the challenges at Principal Caldwell’s school were different.

The House was Packed for Tillie Pierce Performance

An outstanding performance by University of Delaware history major Abby Harting playing Matilda “Tillie” Pierce wrapped up our winter living history series. Fifteen-year-old Tillie witnessed the battle of Gettysburg and she wrote about those dramatic days later in her life. The house was full as Abby, in character, vividly told guests about the civilian side of this pivotal Civil War battle. The emotions felt by a young lady witnessing dreadful scenes that July in Gettysburg caught the audience up in the show. Once she finished the performance, the crowd peppered her with lots of questions. If you missed this show, you missed a superb portrayal. In addition to portraying Tillie, the Middletown Delaware resident has done reenacting and interpretations related to the War of 1812 at Fort McHenry. Abby sometimes plays the young Civil War era lady at the Tillie Pierce House Bed and Breakfast in Gettysburg. If you missed this engaging performance, perhaps you can catch her there over the summer. Look for more information on next year’s winter living history series later this year.

Photos from the Thurgood Marshall Presentation

We're still hearing lots of positive comments from Dr. Henderson's Thurgood Marshall living history performance and we thought you might enjoy seeing a few of the photos from that performance.

Thurgood Marshall Visited Historical Society

Friday evening guests at our January living history program were treated to an outstanding performance called "Thurgood is Coming!" Thurgood Marshall, the Civil Rights Advocate and Supreme Court Justice, was portrayed by Dr. Lenneal J. Henderson. This program brought to us by the Maryland Humanities Council was fantastic and if you weren't there you missed an enjoyable, informative evening. It really seemed as if Justice Marshall had come to visit us in Cecil County as Dr. Henderson dramatically portrayed the Maryland lawyer. Once the formal presentation was over, he took questions from the audience and afterwards greeted everyone there individually. We have one more program remaining in the winter history series as a young girl, Tillie Pierce tells us about the Battle of Gettysburg. Check out our calendar for more details.

Annual Drawing

At 6:30 p.m. this evening, the Society held the drawing for the antique trunk. This year's winner is Betty Fritz of Rising Sun.

Click here to see a vidcast of the drawing. - This is a larger file of the same vidcast.