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Community Corner

Local History Preserved in Catonsville Library

Extensive archives and skilled volunteers answer questions about families, buildings and events.

If you're looking for pieces of your ancestry or are curious about local history, Bryce Rumbles and Lisa Vicari are the people to turn to.

Rumbles, a librarian, and Vicari, a volunteer, staff the of the Catonsville Library. In addition to helping people find the information they seek, each has ongoing special projects. 

Some of the collection of print and photographic information about Catonsville has been digitized and can be found on the Legacy portion of the BCPL website.  Some old print materials, like the 1857 chrome lithograph of the Patapsco before the flood, are in the process of being conserved.  All such projects are paid for by the Friends of the Catonsville Library.

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The Catonsville Room, located at the foot of the stairs at the library's entrance, is full of treasures waiting to be explored. Here are some things you can find there:

Genealogy.  Most of the people who sign into the guest book of the Catonsville Room are from Catonsville. However, scattered among the names are addresses from Madison, WI, Spokane, WA and even Woodstock, England. These people have found their way to the Catonsville Room to investigate their family genealogies.

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If someone is looking for information about relatives from Catonsville, he might consult the index of file cards, which contain clippings from obituaries that volunteer Pat Kingsland keeps up to date.

Former Catonsville librarian Joe Flynn compiles pamphlet files with biographies of people of local interest. Often of great value is the collection of the Baltimore Directory from 1802-1930. In these volumes are lists of people by last name, along with their address and occupation. 

“It is often very emotional when people find information about their ancestors," Vicari said.

Houses, Churches, Clubs and Businesses. Sometimes visitors are in search of information about their house, in which case, they might consult one of the atlases from either 1877, 1898 or 1915. These indicate buildings on properties, show acreage and outbuildings, and are color coded by building material. 

According to Vicari, David Wasmund, longtime Catonsville resident and friend of the library, spent hours “collecting small pieces of information from different places and fitting them together” for his piece for the next Greater Catonsville Chamber of Commerce Directory of Businesses.  

Local History. When Catonsville High School was planning its 100th anniversary celebration, the organizers made extensive use of the yearbook collection, which dates back to 1907.

Recently, a scholar working on a book about the Catonsville Nine was especially excited to find oral histories from the two women who were in the building at the time of the protest, as well as raw footage from a documentary film.

The Catonsville Room isn’t just for adults.  Scouts come to do projects for their local history badges, and middle and high school students can find topics for research projects of real personal interest. There are display cases with photographs, even a brick from the original Castle Thunder.

The Catonsville Room is open from 2-5 p.m. on Thursdays and from 7-9 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month or by special appointment. For more information or to volunteer, contact Lisa Vicari at lisavicari@gmail.com

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