The feature image is a 1949-1950 telephone directory for Harford County, MD and is especially relevant when researching historical details for Havre de Grace.
School Newsletters and Various Programs
School newsletters and various programs offer us a variety of details. They may clarify a name or date that we’re researching. The advertisements in newsletters, programs, and brochures also help us to learn more about the various businesses often assisting in learning locations and years of operation.
Old Directories Are A Gold Mine
George loves – absolutely loves – directories. He was thrilled when Annie McLhinney made a copy of a 1916 directory that included Havre de Grace information.
Directories are not always just listings. The Harford County Directory of 1953 also offered interviews and stories. The interview with Mr. Pershing of Pershing Photography Studio threw George a curve ball. He learned that he didn’t open the studio in the McCombs building in 1937, but more likely in 1947 because he was in the military during WWII. As a result, that post is still being completed and will be coming soon!
Telephone directories, county and city directories, and industry directories are all examples of publications that assist us in locating the time period a business may have operated in the city of Havre de Grace. Quite often we can even glean the name and address of a particular resident.
An example is to discover a business in a 1916 directory and follow it through as many directories and other items to determine when the business changed hands or when a business totally changed at a given location.
More often than not, we also discover a name or business we hadn’t noticed while searching for a particular name. THIS is what is both exciting and frustrating! it’s easy to get sidetracked and ‘lost in the details.’
Local Books
By local books we mean a variety of books by local historians, photography books, and books similar to the THEN and NOW series and a variety from publishers like Arcadia Publishing!
Advertising
There are many examples of discovering information and details about a business and its location from advertising. That will most certainly be another post. But one small example is the businesses listed in this 1952 ad for Havre de Grace DOLLAR DAYS!
Remember that our ‘casual historian’ is always looking for materials for his Havre de Grace MuZeum that’s located within his store, Bahoukas Antique Mall. Before you toss out old papers, advertising, and other memorabilia of Havre de Grace, give George a call. Don’t make him cry!
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