Venice Beach is a private, water oriented community situated between the Annapolis Neck area and the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It shares its border with Highland Beach and its community where collectively the area would be known as "the beach". The two areas were developed as a private community where Blacks and African Americans could enjoy their summers without racial prejudice. The two communities would celebrate and share many traditions together with how closely they interacted with each other.
Dating back to the early 1800s, Venice Beach was derived from a 300 acre plantation owned by the Duvall family. In 1850, William and Charity Brashears would purchase 48 acres of the land and turn it into farmland to farm corn and tobacco until the early 1890s. In 1893, Daniel Brashears, a free black farmer, would then sell 28 2/3 acres of the land to Charles R. Douglass, the youngest son of Frederick Douglass, and his wife Laura, to create Highland Beach. The other 13 1/3 acres were sold to Osborn T. Taylor in 1922 to create Venice Beach. It gets its name from Venice, Italy when Osborn T. Taylor noticed how the houses would be laid out on the water.
Over time, Venice Beach developed into a modern residential community. This included a governing body that was established in 1937 for the community known as the Venice Beach Citizens Association that is composed of elected officers and a board of directors.
Digital Maryland is a collaborative, statewide digital preservation program of the Enoch Pratt Free Library / Maryland State Library Resource Center. The goal of the project is to facilitate the digitization, digital preservation, and access for historical and cultural documents, images, audio, and video that record Maryland’s history.
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The Hagerstown Junior College Newspaper enjoyed a long run from the college’s founding in 1946 until 2014. It highlights the current issues facing college students during pivotal events in history and the fun day-to-day goings-on in the local area. The newspaper underwent several name changes over the years, reflecting the changing school dynamics. The original name “The Night Crier” was due to the fact the college only offered night classes while it was located in the town high school building. In 1968, the current campus location was purchased and the newspaper’s name was updated to “Campus Crier.” This collection includes issues from 1946-1974.
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The Howard County Historical Society is a private non-profit organization that is dedicated to the preservation of documents, maps, ephemera, photographs, textiles, artwork, and artifacts related to the history of Howard County. The Society also has a substantial collection of newspapers in individual copies, bound copies, and microfiche formats. In an effort to make the collection more accessible to the public, our most fragile copies ranging from 1850-1890 are digitized here. Fifteen of the newspapers are The Ellicott City Times, an important local paper which began publishing in 1870 and ceased in 1958. This is a valuable collection, as the Howard County Historical Society has the most extensive archive of this publication.
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At the invitation of Father John McElroy, S.J. of St. John’s Parish in Frederick, three Sisters of Charity started St. John’s Free School in January 1825. While initially being a girls’ day school, it eventually grew to house boarders, orphans, paid and free students, members of the free and enslaved Black community, and a boys’ school. During its operation, it went by a number of names, including St. John's Female Benevolent School, St. John's Free School, Frederick Free School, and St. John's School and Asylum.
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