The MGS Photo Vault contains portraits of 19th- and early 20th-century Marylanders, as well as a few images of buildings from the period.

The photographs were taken by Maryland photographers or otherwise have been identified as depicting Maryland subjects. Most of the photographs are from the collection of Gary B. Ruppert, an MGS Board Member and past-President who was named a Fellow of the Maryland Genealogical Society in 2009. He was an avid collector of early photographs, particularly of Baltimoreans. He posted a number of these on his web site, Baltimore City Nineteenth-Century Photos.  Upon his death in 2017, his heirs graciously donated his collection of photographs and genealogical materials to MGS.

Fortunately, a sizable number of the photographs are labeled. (For example, the image on this page is identified as Annie Jerscheid.) The identity of people in the unlabeled images is not currently known, but we hope by posting them that some might be identified. If you believe you can identify anyone, please email webmaster@mdgensoc.org.

Making the photographs available online is a work in progress. We encourage you to check periodically to see what new images have been added.

Use the following links to access the images. Labeled Baltimore City images are grouped by the first letter of the surname.