Delaware Public Archives Blog

I was on my way to work this morning and thought “Man what a great day to go to the beach.”  Ironically enough,  this afternoon a couple from Idaho came in who had been to Rehoboth. They wondered if the boardwalk always looked the way it does now.  They had popped into the Rehoboth Public […]

Have you ever been walking around an old barn or farm area and found something really cool?  That’s what happened the other day when a patron was walking around a barn on Miller Road off of Route 202.  She came across an old book entitled “Lessons from the Book of Common Prayer”, published in 1855.  […]

Have you ever had one of those days where you just can’t seem to remember anything?  I know it seems to be happening to me more frequently.  I had a gentleman call the other day.  He was calling for his uncle who now lives in Phoenix.  It seems his uncle couldn’t remember the date of […]

It is that time:  the sounds of the midway, the excitement of seeing your favorite act, the sounds of crunching at the demolition derby, and the smell of all sorts of deep fried items.  It’s Delaware State Fair week. Woo hoo!!! Did you know that it used to be called the Kent- Sussex Fair? So […]

Recently, the Archives was contacted by a gentleman in Pennsylvania who had a lantern slide collection of Jackson & Sharp Company railroad car photographs.  Purchased at a railroad memorabilia auction, the collection was probably used by a Jackson & Sharp traveling salesman who used the slides to promote his company’s rail cars to perspective buyers. […]

A researcher was looking at the ABC News internet site the other day and came across this video of the construction of a new Boeing 737.  It was built for Southwest Airlines to advertise their flights to Florida.  He remembered as a child seeing advertisements on trains. He wondered if we had any photographs of trains […]

Have you ever eaten dinner with your grandparents and had them tell you that you need to clean your plate because during the war we didn’t have a lot of food? I had an elementary student come in with his grandmother and ask if we had anything on World War II. It seems his grandmother […]

This past spring, a Dover family donated to the Delaware Public Archives a collection of Survey Records: rough surveys, plots, and calculations created by John C. Hopkins, a longtime surveyor in the area.  Most of these materials focus on the Dover area.  These materials, once processed, will become part of an already existing collection known […]

Have you ever been riding on I95 and wondered what it took to build it, how long it took, or how it has changed over the years? Did you know that John F. Kennedy himself came to the dedication?  In fact it was one of his last public appearances before he was assassinated.  Well that’s exactly […]

Have you ever been driving along and smelled chicken barbequing?  Did it make you want chicken or make you start thinking about chicken?  Have you ever seen a frying pan big enough that a man could lay down in it? Well then this weekend you will think  you have died and gone to chicken heaven! […]