Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland

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The Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Research Project is currently looking for interested volunteers. This program seeks to preserve the experiences that have shaped the lives of Maryland's African American population. Black Marylanders have made significant contributions to the state in the political, economic, agricultural, educational, legal and domestic arenas. The Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland research project looks to use the primary source documents found within the archive's holdings to unearth the names and places of those citizens, and to highlight their impact on the state.

Volunteers will assist us with this task by mining the archival sources and performing data entry using records found in our holdings. Volunteers will transcribe information from documents and full citations in the interactive database found on our website http://slavery2.msa.maryland.gov/pages/Search.aspx. Volunteers will work with records such as Federal Censuses, Vital and Probate records, Newspaper Runaway Advertisements, Maryland State Slave Statistics, Certificates of Freedom and Manumission Papers, Court Records, and many more. To learn more about the types of records that exist pertaining to Maryland's African American population, please visit our Reference and Research page found on the Maryland State Archive's website http://guide.msa.maryland.gov/pages/viewer.aspx?page=afridesc.

Our team will provide volunteers with proper records handling and data abstraction techniques, as well as access to the necessary equipment and software to help make these records and information available to the public.

We have many current and long-term opportunities, and for candidates with education or experience in Maryland, American, International or Political History; Library and Archival Sciences; Database Analytics; Museum Studies; American Studies; African American History/Africana Studies; Education.

We are also happy to work with high school, college and graduate students who need community service, academic credit, service learning, field study, and/or professional experience.

Availability: Volunteer work must be completed on site in Annapolis. The Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Research Program offers flexible scheduling for all those who wish to assist. The building is open Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm. We ask that the volunteer make themselves available at least one day a week, for a minimum four hour shift. We are willing to work directly with the candidate to accommodate individual schedules.

For more information about this project, please visit the Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland Research Project website http://slavery.msa.maryland.gov/, or for questions about volunteering, please contact Emily Oland Squires, Director of Research and Education at 410-260-6443 or emily.squires@maryland.gov.