UMBC collection added to Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage

Tue, 19 Nov 2013 13:44:59 -0500
library, special-collections

The Library Special Collections department is pleased to announce that the O'Donnell family papers have been digitized and made available online in partnership with the Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage program.

"The O'Donnell family papers consists primarily of letters and other documents written to and from the descendants of John O'Donnell (1749-1805) and his wife Sarah Chew Elliott O'Donnell (1768-1855). The most prolific writer among them was Columbus O'Donnell (1792-1873), the eldest surviving son of John and Sarah O'Donnell's sons, whose letters during and immediately after the Civil War provide a glimpse into the social attitudes and economic conditions surrounding that conflict."

Many of the items, which are primarily handwritten, can be viewed online along with a transcript provided by Library student assistants and MDCH staff.

A finding aid for the full collection is available on the Library's website.

This is the second partnership between UMBC's Special Collections and the Maryland Digital Cultural Heritage program. The drafted speeches (Series I.9) of the Ferdinand C. Latrobe papers were made available though MDCH in 2010.