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Here's “What's New!”
at the Maryland Historical Trust....
 The Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc., in cooperation with the Maryland Historical Trust's Office of Archeology and the Port Tobacco Archaeological Project, will sponsor excavations at the 18th century town site of Port Tobacco in Charles County, from June 13-23, 2008. Fieldwork will focus on the Port Tobacco town square, where there is evidence for a residence, a store, and a hotel; the work will also attempt to locate the historic jailhouse. For more information, visit the ASM website.
New commercial and homeowner tax credit application packages are now available. For more information, or to download the forms, visit the Heritage Preservation Tax Credit Program page.
The Maryland Historical Trust is seeking an enthusiastic and energetic preservation professional to fill a Preservation Officer position in its Project Review and Compliance Unit. This full-time position reviews federal and state-assisted undertakings for their effects on historic architectural resources in compliance with federal and state historic preservation laws. For more information, see the job announcement. Closing date is June 6, 2008.
 The 37th Annual Field Session in Maryland Archeology — a cooperative venture between the Maryland Historical Trust's Office of Archeology and the Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc. — will return to the Claggett Retreat site in Frederick County on May 23 through June 2, 2008. Subject of the 2007 Field Session, the Claggett Retreat site is a single-component Mason Island (ca. A.D. 1260) village located along the Monocacy River. This year's excavations will be geared toward examining individual family households clustered across the site. For more information, visit the ASM website.
The Maryland Historical Trust is seeking an enthusiastic and energetic museum educator to work at the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, a state museum of archeology and history located in Calvert County, Maryland. The Administrator of Education will work to develop, market, implement and evaluate on-site educational programs and educational outreach and distance learning programs associated with the museum’s collections, exhibits, or other topics relevant to the archeology and environmental history of Point Farm and the Chesapeake Bay region. For more information, see the job announcement. Closing date is May 30, 2008.
The Maryland Historical Trust is seeking an experienced Head Conservator of archeological materials for its Conservation Program at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory in Calvert County, Maryland. Primary duties include the supervision of conservators, technicians, and volunteers; examination, documentation, and treatment of objects and collections; analytical testing and material identification; preparing cost estimates; packaging or mounting artifacts for transport, storage or display; and submitting full reports of all activities, or delegate such duties to other staff. For more information, see the job announcement. Closing date is May 16, 2008.
Maryland's 2008 Preservation & Revitalization Conference will be held from May 29-30 at the University System of Maryland in historic downtown Hagerstown. This year promises to provide and exciting program emphasizing practical tools and lessons that can be carried back to your communities. Sessions will cover a wide range of topics including: Archeology; African-American History; Downtown Revitalization; Heritage Tourism; Law, Policy, Advocacy; Linking Resources with the Landscape; Preservation Nuts and Bolts; Public History; Smart Growth and Green Preservation; Strengthening Arts and Entertainment Districts; and the Historic Resources of Western Maryland. For more information and registration materials, visit the Preservation Maryland website.
 Since enactment of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, archeological resource management studies have proliferated in Maryland. Consideration and treatment of archeological resources have become increasingly sophisticated, and voluminous data on the archeological record has been amassed; unfortunately, this data is often inaccessible and not widely disseminated, buried in “grey literature.” To address these shortcomings, the Maryland Historical Trust (in its role as State Historic Preservation Office) has embarked on an ambitious, multi-year program to synthesize Maryland’s archeological data. The project will examine Phase II and Phase III investigations undertaken during the past four decades, cull out the most important findings of those studies, and organize the archeological data in searchable databases. In 2007, the MHT Board of Trustees provided initial funding of $90,000 to launch the project, and the research work is now underway. For a more detailed look at MHT’s archeological synthesis project, click here.
 The “card catalog” of the Maryland Historical Trust Library is now publicly accessible online. The Trust's library—with more than 10,000 volumes—is the State’s principal repository for information relating to Maryland’s architectural, archeological, and cultural heritage. The following types of resources are available to researchers: books, journals, site-specific reports, historic maps, written and photographic documentation about Maryland’s architectural and archeological sites, oral histories which capture the State’s cultural traditions through written transcripts as well as audio and video recordings, historic structure reports, preservation plans, and architectural drawings. Browse the catalog now.
 In 1979, Edward P. Alexander's Museums in Motion: An Introduction to the History and Functions of Museums was hailed as a much-needed addition to the museum literature. In combining the history of museums since the eighteenth century with a detailed examination of the function of museums and museum workers in modern society, it served as an essential resource for those seeking to enter to the museum profession and for established professionals looking for an expanded understanding of their own discipline.
Now, MHT Museum Advancement Program Director Mary Alexander has produced a newly revised edition of the classic text, bringing it the twenty-first century with coverage of emerging trends, resources, and challenges. New material also includes a discussion of the children's museum as a distinct type of institution and an exploration of the role computers play in both outreach and traditional in-person visits. For information on how to order this book, see the AltaMira Press website.
 Maryland Archeological Conservation Laboratory Director Patricia M. Samford's new book, Subfloor Pits and the Archaeology of Slavery in Colonial Virginia, has just been published by the Univeristy of Alabama Press. Subfloor pits were a common characteristic of Virginia slave quarters. Samford reveals a wealth of data on these features based on her examination of 103 examples dating from the 17th through mid-19th centuries. The most common explanations of the functions of these pits are as storage places for personal belongings or root vegetables, and some contextual and ethnohistoric data suggest they may have served as West Africa-style shrines. Based on her study, Samford hypothesizes how West African cultural traditions were maintained and transformed in the Virginia Chesapeake. For information on how to order this book, see the University of Alabama Press website.
 MHT and the Maryland State Highway Administration received a 2007 Partnerships with a Public Entity Award at the recent National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) annual meeting in Washington, DC. The award recognizes the partnership the two agencies have forged, which has helped the agencies fulfill their respective historic preservation responsibilities and advance preservation efforts throughout Maryland.
J. Rodney Little (Second from right), Maryland State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) and MHT Director, and Bruce Grey (Second from left), Maryland Department of Transportation Deputy Director of Project Planning, received the award from Jay D. Vogt (Left), NCSHPO President and South Dakota SHPO, and James McConaha (Right), NCSHPO Treasurer and New Hampshire SHPO.
For more about the award, please see this Press Release .
Last updated: May 9, 2008
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