Research Library and Services

The Museum’s Ladson Research Library is a non-lending library featuring an extensive collection of vertical files related to the historical people, places, and organizations of Sandy Spring. Among the contents are news clippings, document reproductions, photographs, research notes, and pamphlets. Other locally significant holdings included in the Library collection are all volumes of the Annals of Sandy Spring, a collection of Sherwood High School yearbooks, and commemorative booklets of the area’s numerous social clubs.

Publications in the reading room can be browsed whenever the Museum is open to the public. The vertical file collection is open to all yet housed in a restricted area so must be retrieved by the Collections staff.  To access these resources, please make an appointment by email.

Resource-Use and Research Fees

  • Appointments for Sandy Spring Museum members: FREE.

  • Appointment fee for non-members: $10/day.

  • Non-members who submit written questions receive ½ hour of complementary research by staff and will be charged an hourly fee of $25 thereafter. Research services are dependent upon staff availability.

Rules for the Research Library

  • No food or drink allowed. Water may be carried inside a closed container.

  • Please use pencils only for note-taking.  No ink pens will be allowed on the tables.

  • Laptops and phones/cameras are allowed.

  • Staff will retrieve and return all materials.

Research Inquiry