Frederick Douglass was born in Talbot County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and lived there for eleven years enslaved during the first twenty years of his life. His Talbot experience, eloquently documented in his three best-selling autobiographies, became the most powerful slave narrative in American literature. One of the most popular speakers of his time, he traveled constantly advocating for abolition, emancipation and civil rights. His Talbot narrative was his oratory’s driving force.

For five years, Jeff McGuiness worked on a photographic essay of the places in Talbot County where Frederick Douglass lived, worked, and suffered before making his triumphal return later in life. His photobook, Bear Me Into Freedom: The Talbot County of Frederick Douglass, was published by the St. Michaels Museum in October of 2022.

Jeff McGuiness is a photographer and writer fascinated by history, politics, art, and photography. He lives in St. Michaels on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. For the past five years, he has worked on a photographic essay of the place where Frederick Douglass was born and lived for eleven years enslaved—Talbot County, Maryland. His photobook, published in November of 2022 by the St. Michaels Museum, is entitled Bear Me Into Freedom: The Talbot County of Frederick Douglass. We are pleased to have Jeff speak during Black History Month and share his journey in producing this stunning photobook.

Join us for the Talbot Historical Society’s “A Date with History” lecture series featuring Jeff McGuiness
February 1, 2023 at 1 pm
Location: 25 S. Washington Street Easton, MD 21601
Reservations are required and the cost is FREE for THS members and $5 for non-members.
If you have any questions or wish to sign-up please contact the Talbot Historical Society at 410-822-0773 or email kaylaw@talbothistory.org

Award-winning photographer Anne Nielsen will share her journey and process for creating her stunning black and white photographs of 21^st century Native Americans living on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The photographs are now on display at the Talbot Historical Society in an exhibit entitled “Catching Shadows.”Joining Anne will be members from Native American tribes from the Eastern Shore.

The Talbot Historical Society’s “A Date with History” lecture series presents photographer Anne Nielsen along with members of Native American Tribes of the Eastern Shore. Anne will discuss the process for creating the moving photographs now on display at the Talbot Historical Society and tribe members will discuss Native American life in the 21st Century.

Anne describes the process as follows, “These images are enlarged copies of portraits made with the 19th century wet plate process.A wet plate camera is basically a wooden box. Attached to this box is a brass lens that focuses the daylight so that it falls on a glass plate. There is no shutter or light meter so the exposure time is an educated guess.”

Anne graduated with a BA degree in Art History and began working in New York city where she established her own photography studio. She has recently moved back to Maryland’s Eastern Shore where she continues her photographic work.

The Talbot Historical Society’s “A Date with History” lecture series featuring Anne Nielsen
January 28, 2023 at 1 pm
Location: Waterfowl Building, 40 S. Harrison St, Easton, MD 21601
A reception will follow at the Talbot Historical Society, 25 S. Washington Street, Easton, MD 21601

Reservations are required and the cost is FREE for THS members and $5 for non-members.

If you have any questions or wish to sign-up please contact the Talbot Historical Society at 410-822-0773 or email kaylaw@talbothistory.org

Aerial Photographer Hunter H. Harris, using a dual projection system, will present a series of dramatic oblique aerial photographs showing changes in the local landscape over the past 75 years. These oblique aerial photographs chronicle, in a very unique way, the history of the area including the towns, the rivers and their watersheds. “Many of the changes that I discovered while creating this series were not what I expected! These aerials really show us how we have changed our landscape forever from an unusual viewpoint”.

This lecture is presented in conjunction with “The Bay from Above” Exhibit at the Talbot Historical Society. The exhibit is on loan from the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and presents mid 1900s aerial photographs of the Chesapeake Bay by photographer H. Robins Hollyday and compares them with aerial photographic images of the exact same locations taken by our presenter, Hunter Harris.

Hunter H. Harris is a 5th generation Eastern Shore native who has spent well over 12,000 hours flying all kinds of aircraft all over the US. He is commercially licensed by the FAA to fly every “category” of aircraft that exist. This includes Airplanes: single and multiengine land or sea, Helicopters, Gliders (sailplanes) and Lighter-than-Air – Airships (blimps).

Hunter was born in Chestertown and raised in Kent County on Bloomingneck Farm along the Chesapeake Bay. Having the opportunity to grow up along the water helped fuel a genuine respect and appreciation for being near the Bay.  He now resides in Talbot County.

The Talbot Historical Society’s “A Date with History” lecture series featuring Hunter Harris

September 21, 2022 at 1 pm

Location: The Denton Extended Museum and Hill Research Center, located at 25 S. Washington Street, Easton, Maryland. Reservations are required and the cost is FREE for THS members and $5 for non-members.

If you have any questions or wish to sign-up please contact the Talbot Historical Society at 410-822-0773 or email kaylaw@talbothistory.org.