Delaware Public Archives Blog

So have you ever been taking a nice leisurely walk through the woods, enjoying the fresh air, the sights, the sounds, and then boom you trip over something?  And has that something ever been a tombstone?  You can ask the gentleman that came in the other day because that’s exactly what happened to him.  Needless […]

I’m sure you’ve been reading in the papers about all the problems with some of the roads in Delaware.  We had a guy come in to see if we had any documents relating to the maintenance of roads. Seems he had just come from the garage after needing new shocks.  He said it was because […]

Do you smell it? Can you hear that? It’s the aroma of scrapple and the sound of apples crunching. Yup, it’s time for the apple scrapple festival in Bridgeville. To get ready for this event we had some wonderful ladies come in to see what we had on the town of Bridgeville.  They were surprised that […]

Well then, you can now use it to log in to the Delaware page on Ancestry.com.  By using your card you can have free access to the records Ancestry has digitized for the Delaware Public Archives.  These records include births up to 1908, marriages up to 1933, and deaths up to 1933.  Coming soon will be […]

Yeah, you read that right. Delaware Tramp Art.  I had a patron come in the other day to show me this decorated cigar box.  It was her great-grandmothers.  It was made in Ellendale around 1890. It seems tramp art is very collectible. These decorative boxes were made by blue-collar workers as gifts for their sweethearts during the […]

Have you ever had a relative tell you what a great sports star they were and if it hadn’t been for that darn knee injury they’d have gone pro?  Well that’s exactly what happened the other day.  A kid came in to see if he could find information on his uncle. It seems his uncle keeps […]

Homework, seeing school buses on the roads, and the collective “YES” from parents all around: it’s back to school time!  We had a mother come in the other day after dropping her son off at school. There was a historic marker outside the school and she wanted to learn more. She looked at annual reports from […]

We expanded the Kent County Probate Collection so get ready to fill in some of the blanks in your genealogical chart and learn about the life and culture that existed in the post-World War II era.  The Delaware Public Archives has recently received a new group of Kent County Probates from the Kent County Register […]

So have you been to DMV lately to renew your driver’s license? You may have read about this in the newspapers.  On July 1, DMV started issuing the new secure driver license and identification cards.  Delaware is not the only state doing this.  We have been receiving calls from Delawareans in Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Maine, New Jersey, […]

This weekend Delawareans were saddened with the news of the passing of former governor Sherman W. Tribbitt. Governor Tribbitt served from 1973-1977.  Most people say he is best known for saving the State of Delaware from bankruptcy during the Farmer’s Bank crisis.   He also had many other accomplishments.  If you would like to learn first […]