Böcker i Maryland Historical Society-serien

A "Feejee mermaid," the skeletal remains of a "wooly mammoth," and a "cabinet of learned turkies which will dance to music," were attractions at Baltimore's Peale Museum in the early 1800s. As the nation's first museum directors, Charles Wilson Peale, and his sons Rembrandt and Rubens, laid the foundation of the modern American museum.

First published in 1964 by the Johns Hopkins University Press, the book recounts in lively prose and complete detail the Civil War prejudices and politics behind Maryland's decision to become the first state to voluntarily free its slaves.