Delaware Public Archives

Delaware Public Archives Created in 1905, DPA is one of the oldest state archives in the country. Welcome to the official Delaware Public Archives page.
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DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸Saved by Its Friends Today being the last day of National Historic Preservation Month, we highlight o...
05/31/2026

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸
Saved by Its Friends
Today being the last day of National Historic Preservation Month, we highlight one of our state’s earliest, most visible saves – and a once-a-year prime time to see it up close. Old Drawyers Church near Odessa was built in 1769-73 at the site of its Presbyterian congregation’s original wooden church. The stately brick church closed in 1861 after members built a new church in town. The Friends of Old Drawyers formed in 1895 to preserve the old church and grounds, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and noted by a Delaware State Historical Marker. The public is invited to its annual opening day/public service at 2 p.m. this Sunday, June 7.
– Compiled by robin brown, Writer in Residence
Delaware Public Archives
General Photograph Collection
Photo: June 6, 1909
ID: 1325-006-003_001p

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸Cap & Gown TimeThese young women – left to right, Florie Booze, Dalema Wilson Isaacs, Anna Archer Hac...
05/30/2026

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸
Cap & Gown Time
These young women – left to right, Florie Booze, Dalema Wilson Isaacs, Anna Archer Hackenburg, Ann Hall Wilson and Emma Sipple Burn – were in the Class of 1904, the last to graduate from the old South Milford High School. Now 122 years later, it’s tassel-turning time again as more Delaware teens graduate to the next stages of their lives. Our public high school graduation rate, 87.02% in 2021, is expected to top 91% this year. Local high school yearbooks are preserved in the Delaware Public Archives, welcoming donations of those missing from the collection. To see if yours, one you inherited or thrift-shopped could fill a gap, email [email protected].
– Compiled by robin brown, Writer in Residence
Delaware Public Archives
Private Photograph Collections
Milford Historical Society Collection
Pictorial History of Milford Photograph Collection
Photo: 1904
ID: 9015-009-001_045pn

05/29/2026

Classic Road Trip Through Delaware!

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸Never ForgottenCalled the oldest ongoing event of its kind, the Wilmington Memorial Day Parade return...
05/29/2026

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸
Never Forgotten
Called the oldest ongoing event of its kind, the Wilmington Memorial Day Parade returns for its 159th year – 6 p.m. May 30, the original holiday – to honor our war dead. The march begins at Delaware and Woodlawn Avenues, ending on Broom Street with a brief service at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Dedicated on Memorial Day 1871, this was the city’s first public monument. Its column came from a razed bank and old cannons were melted for its eagle. But funds were scarce and bills were not. A panel on its base thanks supporter Eli Crozier, discreetly omitting that his fundraising kept the sheriff from selling the monument to pay its debt.
– Compiled by robin brown, Writer in Residence
Delaware Public Archives
General Photograph Collection
Monuments
Photo: Undated, hand-tinted
ID: 1325-003-036_004p_

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸A Cornerstone of HistoryHoly Trinity (Old Swedes) Church is a top landmark of our New Sweden heritage...
05/28/2026

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸
A Cornerstone of History
Holy Trinity (Old Swedes) Church is a top landmark of our New Sweden heritage but the church came decades after colonists’ 1638 arrival. The cornerstone of the church, built at colonists’ burial ground, was laid May 28, 1698. The Swedish Lutheran congregation later became and remains Episcopalian, worshipping in one of the oldest U.S. churches continually used at its original site. Next to it, a 1700s’ house was saved and rebuilt in 1958 after its disassembly in Pennsylvania, where it was to be razed. Honored by a Delaware State Historical Marker, Old Swedes Historic Site is a National Historic Landmark and part of our First State National Historic Park.
– Compiled by robin brown, Writer in Residence
Delaware Public Archives
Photo: 1938, hand-tinted
ID: 1325-003-036_ch613p_

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸Our Mighty FortressOn May 27, 1813, Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River was part of our state. Nex...
05/27/2026

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸
Our Mighty Fortress
On May 27, 1813, Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River was part of our state. Next day, it wasn’t. That day we ceded it, as federal officials asked, because it sat in a good spot to defend Philadelphia and Wilmington. A fort was built, burned and replaced. The fort later held 33,000+ Civil War prisoners but was only lightly staffed during World War I & II. Then Pea Patch, fort and all, was declared surplus in 1944 and returned to us. In 1950, citizens formed Fort Delaware Society, still active today. In 1951, the fort became our second state park. The fort’s new Delaware State Historical Marker was unveiled in April in Delaware City at Battery Park near the river.
– Compiled by robin brown, Writer in Residence
Delaware Public Archives
Private Photograph Collections
Project Delaware Photograph Collection
Lloyd Teitsworth & Dee Andrews
Photo: 1970s
ID: 9015-010-000-T18-077_

THEN AND NOW 🕰️Main Street, CheswoldTake a trip through time with this vintage photo from our vaults and a new one taken...
05/26/2026

THEN AND NOW 🕰️
Main Street, Cheswold

Take a trip through time with this vintage photo from our vaults and a new one taken recently from approximately the same location.
Photos: Detail; 1959, 2026

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸Prepare for Greek FareThe region’s largest celebration of Greek culture returns on June 1-6, as Holy ...
05/26/2026

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸
Prepare for Greek Fare
The region’s largest celebration of Greek culture returns on June 1-6, as Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church hosts its annual Wilmington Greek Festival in the 800 block of North Broom Street. With free admission, the longtime festival creates its memorable atmosphere from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily with its authentic Greek food, music, dancing and market. The church’s stunning iconography makes it a must-see. Delaware’s Greek community – estimated to include about 5,000 people – is said to date from the arrival of Delaware’s first known Greek immigrants, brothers James and Panagiotes Tsagares, who came to Wilmington in 1890.
– Compiled by robin brown, Writer in Residence
Delaware Public Archives
Private Photograph Collections
Robert J. Bennett Photographs
Photo: Undated
ID: 9015-036-001_09400p_

Marker Monday: Dover Light Infantry - Kent County, Delaware Militia, 1776-1777Dover, Kent CountyLearn more - https://arc...
05/25/2026

Marker Monday: Dover Light Infantry - Kent County, Delaware Militia, 1776-1777
Dover, Kent County
Learn more - https://archives.delaware.gov/delaware-historical-markers/dover-light-infantry/

The Light Infantry Company of Dover, a part of the 1st Battalion of Kent County, mustered in on 2 April 1776. Each militia volunteer was uniformly armed, equipped, and wore a standard military coat of green faced with red lapels, cuffs, and collar. From 14 December 1776 to 14 January 1777, Captain Thomas Rodney, youngest brother to Declaration of Independence signer Caesar Rodney, and his light infantry company responded to General George Washington’s Call to Arms for militia during the darkest days of the American Revolution. Members of the company who volunteered for this perilous mission marched from Dover, crossed the Delaware River into New Jersey, and as part of Brigadier General John Cadwalader’s Pennsylvania Brigade, played key military roles in Washington’s decisive victories against British and Hessian forces at the Second Battle of Trenton, and the Battle of Princeton. For distinguished service, Washington appointed the Light Infantry Company of Dover “to be his own guard.” This memorial is dedicated in remembrance of these patriots who served “in the Defense and Protection of American Liberty.”

Marker installed in 2008.

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸Honoring Our Fallen TroopsToday is Memorial Day, the federal holiday honoring our fallen military per...
05/25/2026

DELAWARE SNAPSHOT 📸
Honoring Our Fallen Troops
Today is Memorial Day, the federal holiday honoring our fallen military personnel. The holiday began as Decoration Day, proclaimed by General John A. Logan – for whom Wilmington’s Logan House is named – to decorate graves of Civil War soldiers on May 30, 1868. Ours and other states observed May 30 as Memorial Day for generations before a 1968 law made it both a U.S. and Monday holiday. American flags are flown at half-staff until noon and a memorial minute of silence rolls cross-country at 3 p.m. local time. The Wilmington Memorial Day Parade, often called the nation’s oldest continuous Memorial Day parade, always is held May 30.
– Compiled by robin brown, Writer in Residence
Delaware Public Archives
Delaware in World War II Photograph Collection
Wilmington Memorial Day Parade
Fort DuPont soldiers
Photo: 1941
ID: 1325-003-205-049pn

Address

121 Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard N
Dover, DE
19901

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 4pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 4pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 4pm
Thursday 8:30am - 4pm
Friday 8:30am - 4pm

Telephone

+13027445000

Website

https://archives.delaware.gov/

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