The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1929-07-18
GEORGE C. DORSCH In The Sunday
Sun

the market value of ancient documents |
long thought to be mere oddities, US
ually uncovers little except the docu-
ments and a tale of bewildered heirs I
wondering why people are so foolish ,
as to give thousands of dollars for a
bit of paper bearing faded handwrit- !
ing. The recent sale of early Mary |
land documents at Sotheby's in Lon
don-the same famous auction rooms |
through which a particularly valuable !
Washington letter was purchased last
spring by Baltimore syndicate for
the States ssession-might have
p uncovered strange story, but did not.
The auctioneers discreetly described !
this highly interesting collection of
Calvert family papers as "the proper
ty of collector" and divulged moth !
ing further about it save to say that |
it had been in the possession of a
somewhat impoverished descendant of
the Calvert-Baltimor family living in
Ireland
Where had these papers been since
they disappeared? Surely communi
cations in the handwriting of the first,
second and third Barons Baltimore, of
William Penn, of an early Dutch Gov
ernor of New Amsterdam (Which was
to become New York;, of the defeated
Swedish Governor of Fort Christina
(Which was the beginning of Della
e n ~,
land describing at great length the
conditions of nearly three centuries
ago surely such photographs are en-
titled to legend. Yet whatever their
history may be, it can hardly exceed
in interest the amazing story of those
other Calvert papers, now invaluable,
which after an astonishing series of
adventures finally landed safely in the
lap of the Maryland Historical So
ciety. That tale is worth retelling.
For nearly POO years after the
Maryland Pilgrims first set foot on
Maryland soil they and their descen-
dants were too engaged in establish
ing a colony and later maintaining a
State, meantime caring for their i'm
mediate and individual economic
needs, to occupy themselves with any
historical chronicle of events then cur
rent. They were satisfied to store
their Colonial and State papers and
to pass on to duties more pressing at
the moment.
1t was not until Bozman's Mary
land History appeared in 1911 that the
real period Of writing Maryland his
tory was introduced. This work was
followed by Griffith's Sketches of the
Early History of Maryland in 1921
and McMahons History in 1881.
Marylands historians by this time had
started their systems of research to
authenticate their writings. In 1884
Bozmans manuscript was presented
to the State for preservation and
year later an act was passed by the
General Assembly for the rescue, ar
rangement and preservation Of the
State papers and documents.
Three years after the incorporation
of the Maryland Historical Society in
1874 another and similar act was
passed. Although a great distance
had now been travelled by the his
torians there still remained much ter
ritory to be covered and to this end
the society in 1847 had resolution
passed by the General Assembly by
which the Governor was authorized to
transfer to the society all original
papers, documents and records relat-
ing to the history of Maryland prior to
the close of the American Revolution,
which it was not deemed necessary
to keep in Annapolis. This resolution
it was soon discovered had string
tied to it in the form of a provision
which left little to be transferred eX
cept such documents as were in dupll'
cate or in such state of decay that It
would be advantageous to pass them
to the society for protection and safe
keeping.
In 1858 another legislative act was
passed for the procurement of copies
of important papers in foreign reposl-
tories and the Governor was author
lied to appoint some person to make
copies of all papers and documents re-
lating to provincial Maryland which
had been found in the Colonial office,
London, in the renowned theological
- library of Sion College in London, and
in the archives at Rome.
DR.. John Henry Alexander was ap-
pointed to the task and with the as
sistance of DR.. Ethan Allen prepared
the first volume of the Calendar Of
State Papers now in the library of the
society. He made his report in 1860.
The work had to be discontinued be-
cause available funds had become ex-
hausted. This led to the Constitution
al Convention of 1867 again stressing
the importance of State papers and
4Luo,,rLo +Lo ofFor+c Of Cooroo T. Davis