The Historical Society of Kent County (HSKC) is delighted to announce it has been awarded $20,000 from the Miller History Fund, a competitive grant program administered by the Maryland Center for History and Culture. This generous grant will support conversion to a standardized cataloging system in HSKC’s Research Library, to make it easier for scholars, genealogists, schoolchildren, and lifelong learners alike to explore the wealth of information available in the library.

The Miller History Fund supports capacity-building projects to ensure long-term resiliency for stewards of historical collections in Maryland. HSKC is one of eleven recipients selected from across Maryland this year, along with distinguished organizations including Historic Ships in Baltimore, Goucher College Library, and the Alice Ferguson Foundation. The cataloging project enabled by this grant will help HSKC build a solid foundation from which to manage and share its research collections.

Key Benefits for Members and Community:

HSKC Research Librarian Joan Andersen says “We’re seeing fewer genealogy‑only inquiries and more interest in what daily life was like here long ago. A streamlined catalog will help us answer all those fascinating questions, guide everyone straight to the sources they need, and open doors to new discoveries about Kent County’s story.”

The new system will bring immediate benefits, including:

• Faster Research: A searchable digital database will make it possible to pinpoint materials among 1,200 holdings in moments rather than hours.
• New Programs and New Audiences: Easier access to materials will fuel new workshops, exhibits, and collaborations, building new audiences and sparking fresh conversations about the community’s shared past.
• Long-term Sustainability: Standardized metadata will lay the groundwork for digitization and help to keep the research library materials safe and well-documented.
• New Volunteer and Internship Opportunities: Clearly written guides to using the catalog will open up new roles for volunteers and interns to gain hands-on experience and practical familiarity with the Research Library’s collections.

Phase One begins later this spring, when the library holdings will be evaluated and an appropriate cataloging plan identified. Later in the year there will be a temporary pause in access to the Research Library to “freeze the collection” and ensure a full and complete cataloging process. HSKC will provide ample notice, and will welcome users back to a clearer and more user-friendly catalog.

Founded in 1936, HSKC collects, preserves, and shares the vibrant story of Maryland’s oldest Eastern Shore county. Our museum, research library, walking tours, and community programs welcome history lovers of all ages. New members enjoy unlimited, by‑appointment use of the Research Library, discounts in our museum shop, invitations to members‑only events, and more. Learn about membership at www.kentcountyhistory.org or email [email protected].

Bronson (Bron) Edwards Percival,76, diplomat, professor, and author, passed away on December 25, 2024.

Born in Bremen, Germany, Bron grew up in a U.S. diplomatic family assigned to embassies in Kabul, Paris, Bremen and Bonn, Germany. Returning home to high school in Virginia, he participated in team sports and on his school’s “It’s Academic” team.

Idealistic and political, Bron attended the University of California, Berkeley, then emerging as the political center of college campuses. He graduated with an A.B. in International Relations, earning membership in Phi Beta Kappa. While doing post graduate work in international relations at the University of Chicago, he travelled to India to study Hindi and do research. This interest in South Asia led to Bron’s 30-year career in the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Service Political Officer beginning in 1974. He reported from countries including Lebanon, Iraq, Malaysia, Indonesia and The Netherlands. He was an expert on terrorism and Islamic radicalism in Southeast Asia, and South and Southeast Asia maritime security.

Bron received his master’s degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College in Washington, D.C. and from 1999-200l the State Department assigned Bron as a professor to the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island where he taught a course he created on Strategy and Policy.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks brought Bron back to Washington, to focus the State Department’s Intelligence and Research Bureau on the new terrorist threat. He remained there until 2004 when he retired from the State Department.

In his post-retirement, Bron continued teaching, writing and advising, including as senior advisor for Southeast Asia at the Center for Strategic Studies at the Center for Naval Analysis, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, the East-West Center, and School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. His book, The Dragon Looks South: China and Southeast Asia in the New Century was published in 2007. He spent a decade coordinating a course on Southeast Asia for the Foreign Service Institute.

Bron met his wife when he was two and Susan was one. Susan’s father, also a Foreign Service Political Officer, briefed Bron’s father on Kabul Afghanistan from where Susan’s family had recently returned and Bron’s family was being posted. They met again in their late twenties and have been together for forty-five years, 42 married. They have a daughter Barbara of whom they are very proud.

Finally retiring in 2017, Bron and Susan bought a home on the Chester River in historic Chestertown, Maryland. Bron enjoyed playing tennis and bocce and reserved ample time for his beloved garden and travel. He continued his longtime connection with the Washington Map Society of which he was president 2004-2005. He was a passionate collector of maps of South and Southeast Asia, England’s Essex and Cheshire counties, Connecticut and the Chesapeake Bay. He also served on the Democratic Central Committee for Kent County, Maryland. A voracious reader and known locally for wearing a fedora, Bron was well-known in the local coffee bars and The Bookplate. He loved warm weather, beaches and global travel with his family.

Bron is survived by his wife Susan, their daughter Barbara A. Percival of Silver Spring, Maryland, two sisters, a brother, five nieces and nephews and their families.

A celebration of life is planned for April 12, 1:30 pm, at Emmanuel Church in Chestertown, Maryland. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Kent and Queen Anne’s Rescue Squad: Kentrescuesquad.com or Shore Rivers: Shorerivers.org.