Overview

Administrative/Biographical Note

The Southern Maryland Folklife Center was formed in 2021 at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. The center celebrates and supports community-based living cultural traditions of Southern Maryland through summer workshops and publications.

The center grew out of a number of past efforts at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, such as The SlackWater Center, which has documented life in Southern Maryland since the mid-1980s. Their long-running publication is SlackWater: A Journal on Environmental and Cultural Change in Southern Maryland.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland is a public liberal arts college of 1,300 students The campus occupies a bend of the St. Mary’s River, just upstream from the confluence of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. The campus is 75 miles southeast of Washington, D.C. and 97 miles south of Baltimore. The campus architecture is styled in the tidewater tradition, largely brick and facing the scenic river.

SMCM has been a grantee and member of the Maryland Folklife Network since 2021, and received grant funding from other Maryland Traditions and MSAC programs for many decades prior.

Scope & Content

Arrangement

This collection is made up of three series arranged by fiscal year: Series I: FY 2021, Series II: FY 2022, and Series III: FY 2023.

Provenance Information

Provenance and Acquisition Information

Christa Casazza, Southern Maryland Folklife Center Manager, delivered an electronic inventory to UMBC Special Collections in 2023. The digital materials will continue to be physically housed at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City, Maryland. Accessions: MSS2023-18

Processing Note

Materials described in this finding aid were collected and arranged by staff at the Southern Maryland Folklife Center. Acadia Roher, Maryland Traditions Archivist at UMBC, prepared the finding aid.

Descriptive Rules Used

Describing Archives: a Content Standard (DACS)

Archives Processing Manual: Description (2015)

Access & Use

Finding Aids

Finding aid is available.

Access Conditions

Under a shared stewardship agreement, the Southern Maryland Folklife Center physically retains the materials at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in St. Mary’s City, Maryland. Researchers can access the collections by contacting the Southern Maryland Folklife Center at somdfolklife@gmail.com.

Conditions Governing Reproductions and Use

Copyright is maintained by the creator. Please contact the Southern Maryland Folklife Center at somdfolklife@gmail.com for more information.

Subject Headings

Creators

St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Armsworthy, Jay

Gabriel, Gerald

Subjects

Boats and boating — Chesapeake Bay (Md. and Va.)

Crabbing — Chesapeake Bay (Md. and Va.)

Dance

Dyes and dyeing

Folklife

Folklore — Maryland

Foodways — Southern Maryland

Music

Oystering — Chesapeake Bay (Md. and Va.)

Painting

Pinata

Pysanky

Quilting

Skipjacks — Chesapeake Bay (Md. and Va.)

Southern Maryland

Textiles — Batik

Wampum

Series Description & Container List

Series I: FY 2021

Series II: FY 2022

Series III: FY 2023