Prince George's Room, Hyattsville Branch Library

When the Hyattsville Library opened its doors in 1964, it was home to one of four “Maryland Rooms”. These were small special collections dedicated to state and genealogical history. As one of the earliest branches, it played a key role in building the “Marylandia” collection to preserve and share the state’s history. When the newly rebuilt Hyattsville Branch Library opened in 2022, the collection was reopened as the Prince George’s Room, shifting attention to the county’s own communities, records, and histories.

An item that drew special attention at the Hyattsville Library was a 75-page scrapbook of the 1904 Great Baltimore Fire. It was donated in 1960 by Hyattsville’s fire chief and volunteer, Charles J. DiVincenzo, and includes news clippings and photographs documenting the infamous fire. The inclusion of the item in the branch’s "Maryland Room" supported the collection’s purpose to highlight the state’s history.

The Maryland Room reflected earlier efforts to improve access to the state’s historical materials. At the same time, Prince George’s County was growing and developing its unique local history, which needed to be preserved and shared. The collection's focus on the state often overshadowed this local history. The library gradually collected local publications, county records, and community histories about Prince George’s County. The county’s tricentennial in 1996 inspired new works about local communities, historic sites, and key moments in its history.

In 2022, the Hyattsville Branch was rebuilt, and the Maryland Room became the "Prince George’s Room", shifting its focus to county history. The collection now highlights the history of Prince George’s County's people, towns, and civic life, rather than the entire state. Today, the collection is non-circulating and features works by local authors, neighborhood guides, municipal planning documents, and other publications. Together, these works begin to capture the county’s evolving story and the character of its communities.

Focusing on Prince George’s County exposes gaps in the collection, revealing how collecting practices shape which histories are preserved. Many books provide descriptive local histories, but formal scholarly research on the county is limited. Much of the library’s collection, which is focused on Prince George's County, continues to emphasize historic estates, plantations, and the traditions of landholding. These narratives reflect a different approach to documenting Prince George’s County, shaped by availability, resources, and effort.

The library is addressing these gaps by adding contemporary works and supporting the Digital Special Collections Project. These new titles cover wider historical topics and feature diverse voices, including Race and Place: School Desegregation in Prince George’s County and Contemporary Conversations on Immigration in the United States: The View from Prince George’s County, Maryland. Continuing research on Prince George’s County is needed to help understand its history, unravel the library’s collections, and connect the county’s story to the larger story of America.

Within the Prince George's room, the material and books about the broader Maryland region, including other counties, remain more substantial. The collection works best for researchers comparing the county to other areas or those trying to connect Prince George’s County’s story to Maryland’s broader history. Overall, the collection is one of many pieces needed to highlight the county’s unique past. It reflects the character of the county’s history and the ongoing effort to interpret that past, not just store it.

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