Hours of Operation

Library & Museum

Membership

History of the Society

The library has the largest collection of books, manuscripts, maps, government documents and newspapers pertaining to Cecil County history in existence.  The constantly expanding collection contains over 2,000 books and 12,000 issues of newspapers (starting in 1827).   The library preserves newspaper clippings, obituaries, souvenir booklets, pamphlets, and other memorabilia related to county families, businesses, organizations, churches, schools, towns, industries and important events in vertical files. Photographic collections include an impressive array of postcards, slides, prints, glass plates, negatives, lantern slides, stereo cards and daguerreotypes. Wills, land records, correspondence, receipts, business and organization records and much more comprise the manuscript collections.

The museum features an impressive collection of 19th century furnishings, historic artifacts and works of art of local interest. Four permanent exhibits and regularly changing displays highlight aspects of Cecil County history. The collection ranges from colonial furnishings to Victorian doll-houses. Permanent exhibits consist of the country store, Rev. William Duke's Log House, the Early American Kitchen and the Sheriff John F. DeWitt Military Museum.

The Society was incorporated by an act of the General Assembly of Maryland in 1931. The first regular meeting was held on February 8, 1932. The building, which now houses the Society was constructed prior to 1830 as a bank, with commercial space for a vault
and cashier's office on the first floor and residential quarters for the head cashier above. In the 1890s, architect Levi Cameron completed major renovations to the building. It was last privately owned by Henry H. Mitchell, a mayor of Elkton. In 1955, the Cecil County Public Library obtained the building as its

home and the Society was given its first public space, the Howard Room, for its collections. In 1988, the library moved to a new home and the Society occupied a large part of the building.