The Baltimore City Historical Society will be co-sponsoring its fourth year of Baltimore History Evenings at the Village Learning Place, 2521 St. Paul St., Baltimore (21218). The series of meetings will be held on the third Thursday of each month, from January through June of 2012. Each evening begins with a reception at 7:00 pm, and the speaker begins at 7:30. There is no charge for the receptions or speakers, but contributions to the co-sponsor Village Learning Place are encouraged. The schedule of remaining speakers follows:

May 17: Jacques Kelly gives the Annual Grace Darin Lecture. Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun columnist, historian, and storyteller, gives the 2012 Grace Darin Lecture, named after the woman who named Charles Village and led its efforts to find an identity and place in modern Baltimore.

June 21: The Rise and Fall of Hutzler's. Michael J. Lisicky, author of Hutzler's: Where Baltimore Shops and Wanamaker's: Meet Me at the Eagle, chronicles the 132-year rise of the Baltimore family-run department store, its growth into Towson and other suburban communities, and its eventual closing.

On Saturday, June 23, 2012, the Baltimore City Historical Society will hold its annual meeting to elect officers and board members for the coming year. In addition to a short business meeting to conduct this election and welcome the new officers, the meeting will focus on the Streetcar Museum itself. There will be a presentation about the museum, including a video, and those who attend will receive passes entitling them to use the museum facilities for the day. All members and the general public are invited to attend. For directions, see the Streetcar Museum website.

The City and County Historical Societies are jointly planning a program entitled Baltimore County, Baltimore City, Separate but Together, which will feature Matthew Crenson, Prefessor Emeritus of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University, and Edward Papenfuse, Maryland State Archivist. The Program will be held on November 18, 2012, from 2-4 pm at the headquarters of the County Historical Society, 9811 Van Buren Lane, in Cockeysville. Additional information will be available later on this website, and registration will open in October.

In 2011, the Baltimore City Historical Society sponsored a contest to find an alternative to the official State Song, Maryland, My Maryland, one that a broad range of Marylanders could sing with pride. The Society offered two first-place prizes of $250 each in two categories: 1) an entirely new song, and 2) alternative lyrics to the music of the current State Song. Judges for the contest were David K. Hildebrand, of the Colonial Musical Institute; Jeff Holland, Director of the Annapolis Maritime Museum; and Camay C. Murphy, founder of the Cab Calloway Jazz Institute and Museum and former chair of the Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center. Winners of the contest were Jared Denhard of Columbia, a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, who won the prize for new lyrics and new music; and Dianne Lyday of Baltimore, a retiree from the Social Security Administration, who won the prize for new lyrics to the existing tune. To see the Denhard entry, click here. To see the Lyday lyrics, click here. For a podcast of Tom Hall's WYPR radio program on March 26, in which the two winning songs were sung, and Ms. Lyday and Mr. Denhard were interviewed, click here.

The Historical Society of Baltimore County is sponsoring a bike ride, including catered picnic lunch and guided tour of Hampton Mansion, on Saturday, April 14. It is also presenting a talk on Maryland rivers by planner Judy Floam on Sunday, April 29, at 2 pm, and a lecture on the Bellona Gunpowder Manufactory (1801-1856) by Stevenson University professor Glenn Johnston on Sunday, May 6, at 2 pm. Finally, HSBC is sponsoring a bus tour, entitled The War of 1812 by Water and Land, including a guided walking tour of North Point Park and Todd's Inheritance, as well as a catered lunch, on Saturday, May 19. For more information, e-mail HSBC or call 410-666-1878.

A new Baltimore History Book Club has been formed. For more information, visit the website at www.readthatcity.wordpress.com.

The Louis S. Diggs Research Center for African American History, Inc., located at the Historical Society of Baltimore County, 9811 Van Buren Lane, Cockeysville, offers free monthly genealogy instruction on the first Thursday of each month, beginning Thursday, May 3, from 10 am to 2 pm. Classes are designed for beginners and will be taught by professional genealogist Angela Walton-Raji, author of Black Indian Genealogy Research: African American Ancestors Among the Five Civilized Tribes. Additional information is available by e-mail at genealogyclass@gmail.com or by phone at 443-848-2646.

Governor Martin O'Malley and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, along with the U.S. Navy and Jose Fuentes, chairman of Operation Sail, Inc., announced plans for a maritime festival in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, June 13-19, 2012, which will launch Maryland's War of 1812 bicentennial commemoration. For information about State and City events celebrating the bicentennial, visit the website at www.starspangled200.org.

The Maryland Historical Society on April 16, 2011, opened a Civil War exhibit, entitled "Divided Voices: Maryland in the Civil War." This extensive exhibit, including artifacts, costumes, videos, and costumed story teller guides, will run through 2015 at MHS headquarters, 201 W. Monument St. For additional information, click here.

On Saturday evening, June 9, 2012, the Maryland Historical Society will hold a gala, including dinner and dancing, to celebrate the opening of its new War of 1812 exhibit, In Full Glory Reflected: Maryland During the War of 1812.

The Mount Clare Museum House will present a Spring lecture series entitled Influence of the Early Chinese Trade on American Decorative Arts, 1640-1820. Three lectures will be held at the Mount Clare Stable on Sundays, April 22, May 5, and June 3, at 2 pm. Guest speaker will be John Danz, a local historian. Each lecture costs $25 (or all three cost $60) and includes a buffet reception after the program. For additional information or to reserve tickets, call 410-837-3262.

Clifton Mansion, once the home of Capt. Henry Thompson, an officer in the War of 1812, is hosting an exhibit on The First Baltimore Horse Artillery, The Unsung Forgotten Elite Troop. Reservations are required. For more information, visit the website of Civic Works.

Marylanders can purchase commemorative 15-star, 15-stripe American flags that are modeled after the flag that inspired the National Anthem. An official announcement about the flags will be made on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, in Havre de Grace at F.W. Haxel, the manufacturer of the flags. The flags have the official Star-Spangled 200 bicentennial logo and are available in two versions on the company's web site: a printed nylon flag ($20) and a limited-edition, sewn nylon flag with appliqued stars ($73.50). Proceeds benefit three nonprofit organizations, the American Flag Foundation, Friends of Fort McHenry, and The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House.