A Maryland family of packrats has historians excited. A treasure trove of maps, letters, financial records, printed bills, political posters, bills of sale of slaves and crops, political posters, and things that an incredible 400 years. All in the attic of a former Centerville, Maryland plantation. This provides a firsthand account of life from the 1660s through World War II. It's something that is interesting to not only collectors of such historic documents, but to anyone that is interested in how this country even came to be.

"Historians are used to dealing with political records and military documents," Adam Goodheart, a history professor at nearby Washington College, told The Associated Press. "But what they aren't used to is political letters and military documents kept right alongside bills for laundry or directions for building a washing machine."

Goodheart is leading a team of state archivists and student interns to collect the documents from the Emory family. They're in decent condition, considering they're merely stuffed in barrels, peach baskets, and various boxes.

The Emory's apparently were prominent tobacco and wheat farmers, and they settled on Maryland's Eastern Shore, across the Chesapeake Bay, on a land grant from Lord Baltimore in the 1660s. The former plantation is still in family hands, but the mansion is now used as a hunting lodge. The documents were moldering in the attic. At this time, I'm not sure of the condition. But since everyone is reporting on what the documents say and what they are, apparently they are in good enough condition to read.

"Look at this: 'Negro woman, Sarah, about 27 years old, $25,'" Goodheart read to AP from a 19th century inventory. "It was as though this family never threw away a scrap of paper."

There were Valentine's cards from the early 1800's, with locks of hair. A graphic poem from a few decades after that, which details what one man would do with his sweetheart if he snuck into her room.

Some letters tell about the family's torn allegiances during the Civil War. The Emorys owned slaves, but some members of the family signed an 1832 petition to the Maryland legislature calling for the gradual eradication of slavery. Some of the Emorys fought for the Union, while others fought for the Confederacy. A number of the letters discovered detail the divided feelings, which many Maryland historians say was common among Maryland families at the time.   

A comment from Emory cousin Mary Wood surprised me. She said, "I don't believe any of us knew these papers were there. We didn't go there all that often, and when you do, you don't go up in people's attics and look around."

I know someone whose grandfather died, and he was friends with Babe Ruth. They knew he had baseballs and signed bats in his attic, and when he died, that's the first place they went. Unfortunately, other family members had already been there, a few years earlier. I think in this day and age, most people check attics.

Although Washington College has had access to the plantation for years, Goodheart told AP he assumed the disorganized, mouse-eaten papers in the attic weren't old or important. Once they are sorted and analyzed, the papers will be stored in the Maryland State Archives. But, I'm guessing a few will find their way onto eBay.