The Walter Orlinsky collection of Baltimore Public Works Municipal photographs is now available in the UMBC Digital Collections. The Walter Orlinsky collection contains 196 photographs on lantern slides showcasing the city of Baltimore at the turn of the century. The digital collection includes 147 of the 196 images from the Walter Orlinsky collection, featuring political campaign advertisements, public works, city improvements, Baltimore cityscapes, and drawings of Union soldiers. The total collection encompasses the 1890s to 1930s. The bulk of the materials, including those in the digital collection, highlight work undertaken by and propaganda for James H. Preston (March 23, 1860 – July 14, 1938), the 37th Mayor of Baltimore. Preston served as mayor for two terms from May 1911 to May 1919, extending the boundaries of Baltimore and expanding the population.
Preston’s tenure as mayor occurred during the Progressive Era, typically defined as spanning from the 1890s to the 1920s. Following waves of mass migration and immigration, the era was rife with social and political reform, including an interest in “cleaning up” and modernizing cities. Preston’s time as the mayor of Baltimore was no different, with civil works improvements and the modernization of roads and infrastructure as major goals, as highlighted in many of the images in the digital collection. Photographs of people, buildings, and construction promote the development of Baltimore in the early twentieth century and the political campaigning that went along with these changes.
The political campaign advertisements in the Walter Orlinsky collection highlight improvements under Preston, using words such as progress and efficiency to entice voters to support him for mayor. However, much of Preston’s “progress” involved racist housing covenants and the forceful removal of African Americans. In 1917, during Preston’s time as mayor, the Supreme Court ruled that residential segregation ordinances like the one adopted by the previous mayor in 1910 were unconstitutional. According to the Supreme Court, such ordinances were unconstitutional because they restricted the freedom of homeowners to sell to whomever they wanted, rather than any infringement on the rights of African Americans to reside wherever they wished.In response to the ruling, Preston instructed city inspectors and health department investigators to cite anyone who rented or sold to Black people in predominantly white neighborhoods for code violations. Preston Gardens is one site where Preston’s policies and “improvements” led to the destruction of African American communities in the 1910s. Explore Baltimore Heritage provides more information about the impact of Preston Gardens and the St. Paul Street improvements on the Black Baltimore community.
Special Collections holds other materials that provide more information on the development of Baltimore in the twentieth century. The Baltimore Book, part of the Arnold Collection of the UMBC Special Collections, was published by the City of Baltimore in 1912, during Preston’s first term as mayor. As a “response to the demand for accurate information concerning Baltimore, its resources, its general development, and its municipal activities,” The Baltimore Book provides a report on a variety of topics, including Baltimore’s sewage system, parks, industries, living conditions, markets, and history. This report from the Baltimore government is a perfect resource to learn more about the people, places, and work highlighted in the Walter Orlinsky collection.
The Walter Orlinsky collection is now available online for browsing through the UMBC Digital Collections. The Baltimore Book and other sources on Baltimore’s development throughout the twentieth century are available by appointment and walk-in through the UMBC Special Collections reading room, which is open Monday through Thursday. If you have any questions, contact Special Collections at speccoll@umbc.edu.
This post was written by Annyah St. Louis, ’23, history, M.A. ’25, history, a graduate assistant in Special Collections. Thank you, Annyah!
Sources:
Coyle, Wilber Franklin. The Baltimore Book; a Resume of the Commercial, Industrial and Financial Resources, Municipal Activities and General Development of the City of Baltimore. Baltimore: Summers Printing Co., 1912.
Lieb, Emily. “The ‘Baltimore Idea’ and the Cities It Built.” Southern Cultures 25, no. 2 (2019): 104–19. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26696401.
Maryland State Archives. “James H. Preston (1860-1938).” Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series), MSA SC 3520-1703. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001700/001703/html/1703bio.html
Pietila, Antero. Not in My Neighborhood : How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City. Ivan R. Dee, 2010.
On December 9, 1910, the Baltimore government passed an “ordinance for preserving order, securing property values and promoting the general interests and insuring the good government of Baltimore City.”
– “…innovation was the use of government legislation to achieve systematic, citywide race separation.” (23)
Rothstein, Richard. “From Ferguson to Baltimore: The Fruits of Government-Sponsored Segregation.” Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law 24, no. 2 (2015): 205–10. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26408163.
Ware, Leland. “Plessy’s Legacy: The Government’s Role in the Development and Perpetuation of Segregated Neighborhoods.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 7, no. 1 (2021): 92–109. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2021.7.1.06.