These indexes are from the registers of Washington County, Maryland freedom papers. There are five sets of books at the Maryland State Archives. Three of the registers, C-1937-1, C-1937-2, and C-1937-3, covering the years of 1827-1863, were indexed by Jeffery Wyand and are included here.
1948 saw the first class graduate from Hagerstown Junior College, the community college established in 1946 in Hagerstown and with Montgomery College, the first in Maryland. The 1949 yearbook, The Twilighter, graduation programs and campus newspapers are included.
A listing of the cemetery markers in Bethel United Methodist Church Cemetery, Chewsville, Washington County, Maryland, researched by Jeanne Carper.
The collection features photographs from the Maryland National Guard era of Camp Ritchie. In 1926 the Maryland National Guard was in search of a new training site for its troops. A plot of land in the mountains of Western Maryland was suggested—it had a lake and was close to the railroad—and eventually it was chosen as the location. General Milton Reckord put Robert Frederick Barrick in charge of Camp Ritchie, named after Maryland's governor at the time, Albert C Ritchie. When construction of the camp began, the land still had two ice houses standing from the Buena Vista Ice Company.
In May 1920, the General Manager of the Chambersburg, Greencastle and Waynesboro Electric Railway Company, Robert D. Sefton, 63, died due to staying put at his post after realizing the brakes of the middle train of a trolley he was manning were broken. Several other riders and workers were injured, with a few other men losing their lives during the crash. A jury later placed the blame on the brakes and the fact that the trolley left the Pen Mar station too soon after the first car, not giving enough time and space in case of accident.
City of Hagerstown 1915 Directory, published by Franklin Directory Company in Hagerstown, lists the names, occupations, and residences of heads of households in Hagerstown, Maryland in 1915. It also lists the businesses, churches, government buildings, cemeteries, societies, educational institutions, a guide to the streets, and more. Several advertisements are featured at the beginning of the directory as well.
Marcia Swain, Washington County resident, shared family photographs of Washington and Allegany Counties. The photos include the Huffer family of Boonsboro and the Swain-Poffenberger families of Sharpsburg, The collection includes photos of other South County events and families.
Recently added were items from Madge Poffenberger Carter, a local educator, who died in 1982.
The Illustrated Atlas of Washington County, Maryland was published in 1877 by Lake, Griffing & Stevenson of Philadelphia. The atlas contains information on property holders in the rural areas and in some of the small towns. In contrast, the maps of Hagerstown show only lot numbers, churches and a few industries.
On July 5, 1864 Brigadier General John McCausland of the Confederate States of America, marched towards Hagerstown and demanded a ransom from the town. This collection includes the Hagerstown newspaper reports of the events shortly after they happened.
Fred Johnson from Allentown, Pennsylvania enlisted in the Air Force shortly after war was declared. In 1943 he began training in Miami, then Springfield, Ohio; Santa Monica, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Sioux City, Iowa, before finally flying to Great Ashfield, England in December 1944.