| Collection of documents, records, genealogies, books, publications, photographs, ephemera, and objects relating to the Jenifer family of Long Island Farm, Cromwell Bridge Valley (Loch Raven), Baltimore County, Maryland. Most items relate to Walter M. Jenifer, Sr. (1909-1974), Thomas M. Jenifer (1901-1946) and their mother, Edith Mae Mitchell Jenifer (1868-1951).
Biographies
Walter M. Jenifer, Sr., attended Towson High School and The Gilman School before his undergraduate studies at Princeton University. He graduated from the University of Maryland Law School in 1934. He practiced law with his half-brother, H. Courtenay Jenifer before being appointed a Circuit Court Judge in 1961, a position he held until his death.
Thomas M. Jenifer, a Towson High school graduate and pursued his undergraduate degree at Johns Hopkins University. He received his law degree from the University of Maryland Law School in 1927. He first joined the Towson law firm of Jenifer & Jenifer and was later being appointed to the staff of Maryland's Attorney General. During WWII, Jenifer served in the Judge Advocates Corps.
Edith Mae Mitchell Jenifer was born in La Plata, Charles County. She married Thomas Risteau Jenifer in 1899 and resided in Baltimore County for the remainder of her life. She ran the Jenifer household, raised children, and pursued charitable works. She was a founding member of the Trinity Episcopal Church in Towson.
Scope and Content Note
The bulk of this collection relates to the early lives of Walter Jenifer and Thomas Jenifer. Multiple boxes of materials pertain to their time spent in schooling. Notebooks, from grade school through law school, can be found for both men, as well as term papers, essays, exam questions, course descriptions and other education-related material. This material remains largely unprocessed.
Another portion of this collection relates to financial documents of all kinds. They relate to daily and special expenditures from the 1920s on to the 1970s, with many gaps in between. This material remains largely unprocessed.
The correspondence section of this collection is, perhaps, the most interesting. The voluminous letters (500 or more) of Edith Mae Jenifer to her sons, especially Walter, while away in college provides insight into familial relationships as well as detail everyday life at Long Island Farm. A smaller number of Walter's letters to his mother also exist.
Other correspondents to Walter Jenifer provide a look into male/female relationships. A series of letters to him from "Sug" as well as other women he may have dated, illustrate the changing social mores of the late 1920s to early 1930s.
The correspondence section of this collection is, perhaps, the most interesting. The voluminous letters (500 or more) of Edith Mae Jenifer to her sons, especially Walter, while away in college provides insight into familial relationships as well as detail everyday life at Long Island Farm. A smaller number of Walter's letters to his mother also exist.
Other correspondents to Walter Jenifer provide a look into male/female relationships. A series of letters to him from "Sug" as well as other women he may have dated, illustrate the changing social mores of the late 1920s to early 1930s. Random letters to and from Thomas Jenifer provide a glimpse into practice of law and his World War II service. |
