Now Online

View photographs from the Hughes Company photography studio and experience Baltimore life during 1905-1940.  Find out what your neighborhood street looked like back then; compare familiar buildings and structures--such as the Hippodrome Theater and Bromo Seltzer tower--with how they look now; peruse images of Flower Mart from the 1920s; make your way through the old outdoor markets of Eutaw and Lexington Streets; or see horse drawn carts, streetcars, and early automobiles traverse the city.

The Basics of the Collection

The 2,682 glass negatives from the Hughes Company Glass Negative Collection were scanned and converted into digital positives.  The collection features images of Baltimore and environs, including street scenes, buildings, churches, schools, store fronts, monuments, and signs.  Also included are commercial photographs from local businesses and community groups, such as company portraits, student groups, advertising images, machinery, and people at work. 

The History of the Company

The Hughes Company was a commercial photography studio in Baltimore, MD founded circa 1878 by James F. Hughes. Business was good for Hughes, and the studio thrived into the 1890s.
After his death in the early 1900s, the company was sold to his studio assistant, photographer James W. Scott. The studio experienced a boom of production, generating advertising photographs for clients as diverse as Westinghouse Company and the Baltimore Sun, as well as local businesses and school and church groups. The glass negatives in the digital collection were created during this period.
In 1939, Scott trained his son, Gaither, in both photography and the operation of the studio. Gaither Scott later took over the studio and eventually moved the company to Annapolis in the 1970s, where he retired and finally closed the business.
Scott divided the collection and gave the Hughes Company negatives to three different institutions, including UMBC, the Maryland Historical Society and the Peale Museum.

How You Can Participate

You can help us enrich the collection by providing additional details about the images. If you recognize a building, a person, or know further information about an image, please email Special Collections at speccoll@umbc.edu.

Additional Resources

• Growing Baltimore is a project carried out by UMBC Public History graduate students Aiden Faust, Ryan McCormick and Trisha Okine, who created an online exhibit using images from the Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection to illustrate expansion and development of Baltimore City from 1918-1939.
• A portion of UMBC's Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection can be viewed on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/umbclibrary/sets/72157622584312332/.

• Case studies from Gale CaseBase and from additional publishers
• Interactive LiveCharts for economic and business indicators that let students generate their own analyses and generate custom charts for use in reports and presentations
• Inline article content that lets users explore the broader context behind events and trends they perceive in economic data
• Global company, country, and industry overviews full of detailed information, as well as interactive rankings and stats, with quick links to associated news, case studies and academic journal articles
• Global industry research reports for specific industries within specific countries
• Academic journal articles, periodical articles, news articles, newswires and other news media
• Topic overviews on major areas of international business, with quick links to associated content
• Company histories and market share data
• Faceted search results, extensive deep links, multiple sorting options

Trial access runs through April 9, 2012.  Feedback on the usefulness of this product is appreciated.  Leave a comment to let us know what you think, or contact Drew Alfgren at alfgren@umbc.edu.

We’d love to listen and value your opinions!

Please click on the link below to read the current issue.

The “Insanity” crew is working hard and over the past two weeks, Dr. Carter-Veale has been able to have several consultations with students from UMBC and UM College Park.  The dates, times, and locations for this weekend’s Dissertation House sessions (for alumni, those who have gone through a DH session, or those who have had consultation with Dr. Carter-Veale) are as follows:

• Friday, February 24,  from 8:30 to 11:45 and again from 1:15 to 5:30 PM Commons Room 327 (This room has a meeting being held between 12 noon and 1 PM, which means everyone will have to leave for that allotted time.)
• Saturday, February 25, 2012 from 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM Public Policy Room 206
• Sunday, February 26, 2012 from 12 noon to 6:00 PM Public Policy Room 206

The “Insanity” crew is working hard and over the past two weeks, Dr. Carter-Veale has been able to have several consultations with students from UMBC and UM College Park.  The dates, times, and locations for this weekend’s Dissertation House sessions (for alumni, those who have gone through a DH session, or those who have had consultation with Dr. Carter-Veale) are as follows:

• Friday, February 24,  from 8:30 to 11:45 and again from 1:15 to 5:30 PM Commons Room 327 (This room has a meeting being held between 12 noon and 1 PM, which means everyone will have to leave for that allotted time.)
• Saturday, February 25, 2012 from 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM Public Policy Room 206
• Sunday, February 26, 2012 from 12 noon to 6:00 PM Public Policy Room 206

Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale will  be at UMBC on Thursday, Feb. 23 to present “Practical Steps to Completing Your Thesis or Dissertation.” The seminar will be at 4:30 PM and will end at 6PM.  Details can be found on the PROMISE website: http://promiseagep.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/grad-student-seminar-on-22312-practical-steps-for-completing-your-thesis-or-dissertation/.

All graduate students in the area are welcome to attend, but you must RSVP. UMBC’s students are asked to RSVP using the MyUMBC link for this program: http://my.umbc.edu/groups/promise/events/10714.  Students at other schools are asked to RSVP as a reply to the post for this program on the PROMISE website.