UMBC News – Office of Public Relations

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

1000 Hilltop Circle • Baltimore, MD 21250 • (410) 455-3922 • (410) 455-1096, fax

RELEASE: June 1, 2004

Media Contact: Chip Rose

410-455-5793 or crose@umbc.edu

Joseph L. Arnold Maryland Collection and Endowment Established at UMBC

Gift Honors Memory of Historian, Advocate of Library

BALTIMORE, Md. (June 1, 2004) – UMBC officials announced today that the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery has named its collection of research materials in Maryland history in honor of Joseph L. Arnold, Ph.D., a professor of history and devoted library advocate at UMBC who died on January 5, 2004.

Donations of well over $10,000 have been collected to create an endowment for developing the collection further. The memorandum of understanding to formally establish this endowment was signed at a May 27 ceremony by Mrs. Mary Jane Arnold, widow of Dr. Arnold.

Larry Wilt, Director of the Library at UMBC, accepted the endowment for the University. “It is appropriate to name this collection in honor of a faculty member who used it so heavily himself and who guided so many others in their study and research in Maryland History,” said Wilt. “Joe also advocated tirelessly for the Library throughout his career at UMBC and served as acting Director for a year in 1979-1980. We have fond memories of him and miss his wise counsel.”

Tom Beck, Chief Curator at UMBC said: “Dr. Arnold’s legacy is in his students and his writings, but also in helping us to develop the Maryland history collection.”

The Joseph L. Arnold Maryland History Collection already includes several rare and notable works, such as a signed copy of Francis Scott Key’s Constitution and Laws of Maryland in Liberia (1837) and W. H. Carpenter’s The Baltimore Book (1838).

Dr. Arnold joined the UMBC History Department in 1968, and quickly established a reputation as an outstanding teacher and scholar. His first book The New Deal in the Suburbs, remains the standard scholarly account of New Deal community planning. Subsequently, his research and much of his teaching focused especially on the history of Baltimore and Maryland.

Among his books are: The Baltimore Engineers and the Chesapeake Bay; Maryland, Old Line to New Prosperity; and (with co-author Dr. Edward Orser of UMBC), Catonsville, 1880 to 1940: From Village To Suburb. At his death, Dr. Arnold was working on a definitive study of Baltimore, and he was hailed as the “dean of Baltimore historians,” not only for his research and publications but also for his wide-ranging involvement with local historical organizations and activities.

The Albin O. Kuhn Library Special Collections, open to the entire UMBC community, houses numerous and outstanding materials in such holdings as the Arnold Collection, the photography collections, popular culture collections, the Baltimore Sun Archive, rare book collections and the Center for Biological Sciences Archives.

The endowment funds will be used to acquire additional works for the Joseph L. Arnold Maryland Collection as well as to preserve and promote the collection. To contribute to the Joseph L. Arnold Endowment please contact the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery, UMBC, Baltimore, MD 21250.

For more information call 410.455.2356 or email aok@umbc.edu.

Larry Wilt, Mary Jane Arnold and John Jeffries sign documents to establish the Joseph L. Arnold Library Endowment at the UMBC Library.