J. Gilman D'Arcy Paul photograph collection

J. Gilman D'Arcy Paul (1887-1972) was the only child of D'Arcy Paul (1854-1890, born Petersburg, Virginia) and Charlotte Abbott Gilman Paul (died 1954). Charlotte Paul was the daughter of John Stratton Gilman, a financial leader of Baltimore in the 19th century and partner in the Abbott Iron Works in Canton. The Gilman family estate was called Woodlands, located on Gorsuch Avenue where City College was later built. An adjoining property, extending east to Harford Road, was Abbottston, the home of Horace Abbott (1806-1887), founder of the Abbott Iron Works.

Gilman Paul attended Gilman School, Harvard and Johns Hopkins Universities, taking a Master of Arts degree from Harvard in 1914. He worked first as a journalist, editor and translator, then became involved in foreign affairs around the time of World War I, working for the United States government in diplomatic capacities from circa 1915-1922, and again during World War II. In Baltimore, Paul was a trustee of the Johns Hopkins University, Peabody Institute, the Peale Museum, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. He served as vice-president of the Maryland Historical Society, and contributed articles and reviews to the Maryland Historical Magazine. Well known as an authority on Maryland history and architecture, Paul strongly advocated architectural preservation of downtown Baltimore, especially the Mount Vernon neighborhood. In the early 1920s, Gilman Paul resided with his mother at the Woodlands house on Gorsuch Avenue. Beginning circa 1925, they lived in a home with elaborate gardens at 16 Blythewood Road in north Baltimore (this latter residence seems also to have been called "Woodlands").

Paul also owned and operated a farm near Havre de Grace (Harford County) called Land of Promise, near the outlet of Deer Creek into the Susquehanna River. A nearby property was Rock Run Mill, owned by Henry Archer at the end of the 19th century, a photographer whose pictures are part of the present collection. This area later became part of Susquehanna State Park, the establishment of which was accomplished partly through Mr. Paul's influence. Also living in the area was Samuel Mason, Jr. (1888-1957, born Philadelphia) who resided on Little Pines Farm in Darlington, and produced some photographs in the present collection. Gilman Paul shared his interest in Maryland history with J. Alexis Shriver (1872-1951) and William B. Marye (1886-1979), who made or are pictured in some of these photographs.