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Dr. David M. Gillespie Special Collections

Houses materials about the region's history, geology, social and cultural events, and people as well as the history of Frostburg State University. Material written by students, staff, faculty, and area residents.

Dr. David M. Gillespie Special Collections

Contact Info
Lewis J. Ort Library
Room 411
Frostburg State Universtiy 
1 Susan Eisel Drive
Frostburg, MD 21532
301-687-4889

email: ylzakharova@frostburg.edu

Services and Instruction

Services:
  • House rare and unique items
  • Maintain materials related to Frostburg State University, Western Maryland and contiguous counties in Pennsylvania and West Virginia

  • Assist with local history questions
  • Assist with genealogical research.  
Instruction:

Please contact the Special Collections Librarian/Archivist for information about class instruction. Classes are taught to utilize and comprehend the primary source material found within the Special Collections and are held in the Reading Room or adjacent Pearl F. Ort Center for Western Maryland History. Classes can be adapted for class topics and we can work with faculty and students for access and instruction to the materials. Topics in the past have included: Appalachian geography, 19th Century Literature utilizing original resources in Rare Book Room, and 1960s at Frostburg State College. 

Coal

The history of the area is steeped in coal and coal mining.  Lumbering, railroads, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and economic growth found its beginning in the first lump of coal dug from a farmer's field in the late 1700s.