The Department of Botany was established in 1859 as one of the original units of the Maryland Agricultural College. The records of the department consist of correspondence, research notebooks, publications, administrative subject files, and photographs.
This collection consists of the correspondence of Mary Eliza Bradbury, an Elkton, Maryland, schoolteacher who established and taught at her own school, and tutored African-American children on Sundays. The letters, written to Lewis H. Jackson, her friend, suitor, and husband after 1856, offer glimpses of everyday life in mid-19th century Maryland and chronicle local events, Bradbury's school, her family, and her religious experiences in the Methodist Church.
This collection consists of correspondence between Private Franklin B. Brannan in Korea and his family and friends in Baltimore, Maryland during the Korean War. Brannan writes mostly to his mother, Ethel Mae Brannan, and to his aunt, Gertrude Harrison about his daily life in a U.S. Army salvage yard. In their correspondence with Brannan, they discuss their daily lives in Baltimore. The collection also contains newspaper clippings and a photograph.
Dr. Thomas Bray (1656-1730) was a leading figure in the Church of England in colonial Maryland. The collection includes information on colonial religion, libraries, and the Anglican Church Establishment Act contained in petitions, meeting minutes, correspondence, and theological tracts.