Valuable Gilpin Collection Processed at Society

Letters, deeds, plats, diaries, correspondence, business and organizational records, will soon be ready for full access by researchers at the Historical Society of Cecil County. Donated by the Estate of Anna Gilpin Denney in 1982, the Gilpin Collection contains a wide variety of materials related to local history dating from the colonial period through the early 1900s. The cataloging of the collection was made possible through a contribution by long-time Society member and volunteer, Anne Copley. “The Gilpin Collection came to us in no real order,” says Mike Dixon, President of the Historical Society. “It has only been accessible on a limited basis because we needed to keep the materials intact until they could be professionally cataloged.” The reorganization was a complicated process, requiring a variety of preservation techniques to organize and rehouse the collection in archival enclosures. The completed inventory lists items individually so that researchers can pinpoint the items they need to see, and so that library staff can easily retrieve and refile the materials. Mike Dixon is enthusiastic: “The wealth of information in this collection can now be fully revealed, and the full index will be available on the internet.”

The collection’s donor, Anna Gilpin Denney, was the descendant of two prominent Cecil County families, the Hollingsworths and the Gilpins. Among her ancestors is Col. Henry Hollingsworth, who played a key role coordinating supplies at the American and French troops from his home at Elk Landing during the American Revolution. Hollingsworth’s daughter Mary married John Gilpin, son of another prominent Cecil County family. Among the Hollingsworth family documents are Henry Hollingsworth’s deed of land to the Elkton Academy, a letter from Revolutionary War leader Nathaniel Greene and Mary Hollingsworth’s letters and recipes. Other documents pertain to Partridge Hill, the Elkton home built by Henry Hollingsworth and shed light on the family’s genealogy. Business, family and social life are revealed in the Gilpin family documents. John Gilpin kept a diary during his service with the Confederate Army during the Civil War, which is preserved along with a wartime letter and his Oath of Allegiance to the United States Government following the war. The papers of William R. Gilpin include records from his businesses in Philadelphia and Elkton, along with accounting records from his time as Elkton Town Treasurer in the early 1900s. Dozens of letters and social invitation written to Frederick S. Gilpin provide a window onto social life at the turn of the twentieth century.

Even the most mundane scraps of paper, such as receipts and bills, provide insight into daily life. Minute books from the Elkton Missionary Society and the Elkton Debating Society may provide the only detailed records of these organizations. As the inventory is finalized, even more pieces of Cecil County’s past will be uncovered. Upon completion, the inventory will be available to assist researchers at the library and can be reviewed online at www.cchistory.org.