The Historical Society of Baltimore County (HSBC) was founded in 1959 with the goal of preserving, interpreting, and illustrating the history of Baltimore County for the benefit of present and future generations of Marylanders, and is a resource for those interested in researching both local and family history.Notes and Queries,Baltimore County Historical Society Maryland Historical Magazine, vol. 57, no. 3 (1962): 280-282."Retro Snapshots highlight smARTS arts and culture show," Baltimore County Government, Nov 15, 2016. As the HSBC describes it, they "continually accomplish" their mission "through the production of presentations, lectures, workshops, entertaining educational publications, historical tours, and exhibits.""About" , Historical Society of Baltimore County, accessed May 23, 2018. Centrally located in Cockeysville, Maryland, the Society operates out of the Agriculture Building, the former Baltimore County Almshouse,Offutt, E. Francis, Baltimore County Landmarks, Towson, May 1971, 34. which was built in 1872 and used to house the poor and mentally ill of Baltimore County until 1958.Jensen, Brennen|House of Pain| Web blog post|Charmed Life|Baltimore City Paper|May 1, 2002Maryland State Archives, Maryland At A Glance: Historical Societies, Maryland Manual, last updated Nov 16, 2017.

A nonprofit organization, the Society maintains a library and research facility. Since 1966, the Society has published History Trails, a county history journal which the Society defines as "semi-academic" and a "popular history publication.""Historical Society of Baltimore County" , Genealogists.com, accessed May 23, 2018."History Trails," Historical Society of Baltimore County, accessed May 23, 2018.Heather Norris, "Catonsville's connection to Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth ," Catonsville Times, Apr 14, 2015.

From 2014 to 2018, HSBC received an annual $12,000 operating grant from the Baltimore County Executive and Baltimore County Council, which are awarded to "organizations whose programs demonstrate significant impact on the quality of life of Baltimore County residents.""Grants," Baltimore County Government, revised Oct 6, 2017, accessed May 23, 2018. In 2018, an African American Heritage Preservation Program Grant workshop, for the Maryland Historical Trust, was held at the HSBC."African American Heritage Preservation Program Grants for Capital Projects," Maryland Historical Trust, accessed May 23, 2018. It also partners with other museum organizations for programming.

The Almshouse Farm Site

Located on Baltimore’s County Home Property, the Historical Society’s campus comprises several buildings of various ages and states of repair. Chief of these is the Almshouse which houses the offices and library. Other buildings are the Pest house, Smokehouse, and Barn.

The Almshouse Constructed of local limestone in 1872, the Almshouse was damaged by a fire in 1919 after which it was rebuilt. The building has been used in several different capacities since 1958 when modern methods of caring for the indigent dictated its closing as a poorhouse. The Historical Society and various county agencies have been located in the Almshouse since 1959. During the Cold War, the Almshouse was used as a fallout shelter; emergency supplies from that era still reside in the basement. The Almshouse was designated a Baltimore County Landmark in 1980.

The Pest House The Pest House (referring to pestilence) was used to isolate residents who were ill. The two-story building with a slate roof was built shortly after the Almshouse. The exterior is in reasonable condition, but the interior suffers from decades of non-use and vandalism. In 2012, Preservation Maryland placed the Pest House on its list of threatened historic properties. The same year, the Baltimore Sun reported that the 1872 Cockeysville building, "built to house poor people who had communicable diseases" was a "boarded-up structure" but Preservation Maryland was the subject an effort to "preserve it as a center for county African-American history."Jim Joyner, "Cockeysville 'Pest House' on list of endangered historic properties," Baltimore Sun, March 16, 2012.

The Barn The Barn is a modern structure, built on the foundation of a 19th-century barn destroyed by fire in the 1970s. It now house a farm museum, named in honor of Baltimore County Veterinarian Dickinson Gorsuch (1878-1970) whose bequest enabled the establishment of the museum in 1993 .

Collections

Artifacts Objects from the museum collection of over 10,000 items, some of which are not on general display but can sometimes be seen in special exhibitions."Historical Society of Baltimore County", Visit Maryland, Maryland Office of Tourism Development, 2018. There are also hundreds of archival collections.

Maps The Society has a collection of over 500 maps and atlases."Map Collection", Historical Society of Baltimore County, accessed May 23, 2018.

Library The Society's library contains 4,000 volumes.

Photographs More than 8,000 historic photographs reside in the Society's files.

Genealogy The Society maintains 9,000 surname files, most of which can be found on-site, which often contain only one spelling of the surname."Genealogy Surname Files" , Historical Society of Baltimore County, accessed May 23, 2018. Also, for genealogists, maps which show the names of landowners and where they homes are located are available. Additionally, on the first Thursday of each month, the HSBC has free Genealogy classes and there are some inscriptions of gravestones."Genealogy for Beginners," Baltimore County Genealogy Society, accessed May 23, 2018."Free Monthly Genealogy Workshop", Hunt Valley Patch, May 3, 2018."Sparrows Point Graveyard", Sparrows Point Steel Workers, accessed May 23, 2018.Andrew Clark, "Hands on History," University of Baltimore Magazine, Summer 2014.

Online database Part of the 33,000 records are available in a searchable database which has a "Keyword Search", "Advanced Search" and "Random Images button" along with other catalog searches."Welcome to our Online Collections Database!", Historical Society of Baltimore County, accessed May 23, 2018.

Other resources The society's over 1900 vertical files on varied topics, library holdings, and photograph collection, are indexed online."Research Vertical File Collection ", Historical Society of Baltimore County, accessed May 23, 2018."HSBC Library Holdings," Historical Society of Baltimore County, accessed May 23, 2018."Photograph collection," Historical Society of Baltimore County, accessed May 23, 2018. Those who visit the society have to pay an entrance fee of $5.00 per visit for those who are non-members, with photocopies being 25 cents a page and a $5.00 fee for capturing images using a digital device or phone."Research," Historical Society of Baltimore County, accessed May 23, 2018.

Activities The HSBC has been a recipient of an award, in 2014, from the Costume Society of America and hosting, in 2009, the friends of Friends of Texas, Maryland."Angels Project," Costume Society of America, accessed May 23, 2018."The 2009 Ballykilcline Society Reunion," 2009, accessed May 23, 2018. They also held joint events with the Baltimore City Historical Society on [police history and Baltimore's water history."News and Events Bulletin Board," Baltimore City Historical Society, 2012-2015. Apart from this, its volunteers have researched a "progressive little town called Warren" submerged under the "waters of Loch Raven Reservoir" and doing genealogical talks.Rus VanWestervelt, "'Poems of Warren' tells story of town lost under waters of Loch Raven Reservoir," Baltimore Sun, May 5, 2014."Program of Speakers," Baltimore County Genealogical Society, accessed May 23, 2018.Sharif Jameel, "Warren, MD – A Forgotten Town Flooded by Baltimore City," Zesty Things, Nov 14, 2017."History Underwater: Baltimore City, The Gunpowder River and Loch Raven Reservoir," Towson Patch, Oct 9, 2013."Warren Factory Covered Bridge," MD Covered Bridges, accessed May 23, 2018.Ryan Harvey, "Hidden Histories of Baltimore County," Dec 19, 2010.Jacob Smith, "Merryman Cemetery in the Ghost Town of Warren," Aug 15, 2015."Sunken City of Warren," Village Crossing II, May 2, 2012.Jacob Smith, "Abandoned Forgotten Merryman Estate With Underground Cellar," Aug 11, 2015."A Town under Loch Raven Reservoir?," Historical Society of Baltimore County, accessed May 23, 2018.Edward C. Papenfuse, "Water, Water, Everywhere, but is it safe to drink?", Reflections by a Maryland Archivist, Feb 5, 2014.

See also List of historical societies in Maryland

References

External links Baltimore County Almhouse – Explore Baltimore Heritage