Conversations at the Washington Library

Maryland wasn’t so merry for some Americans during the Revolutionary War, especially if you happened to side with the king. Professing fealty to the Crown, for whatever reason or motivation, cost many Maryland colonists their property, and sometimes their lives.

But for other Maryland Loyalists, like enslaved people, loyalism was an opportunity to achieve a different kind of American independence, or to turn ideas about class and patriarchy on their heads.

Last week we, began our two-part look at loyalism in the Chesapeake. We began in Virginia and the potential for a digital project now in its early stages to radically complicate our understanding of loyalty in the Old Dominion.

On today’s episode, we turn north and head to Maryland, to feast on crab cakes, and sink our teeth into The Maryland Loyalism Project.

Created by Dr. Kyle Roberts of the American Philosophical Society and Dr. Benjamin Bankhurst of Shepherd University, the Maryland Loyalism Project is a digital archive that brings together the stories of Maryland women and men who remained loyal to the Crown during the American Revolution.

More than just home to digitized copies of Loyalist Claims, the project is a research and teaching tool about the diversity of the Maryland Loyalist experience.

And to help illustrate its potential, today you’ll also hear from some of Roberts and Bankhurt’s students about what they found digging in these records, and what they make of them.

About Our Guests:

Kyle Roberts, Ph.D., is Associate Director of Library & Museum Programming of the American Philosophical Society Library & Museum. He is co-director of the Maryland Loyalism Project.

Benjamin Bankhurst, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of History at Shepherd University and co-director of the Maryland Loyalism Project.