The Baltimore City Archives holds a wealth of unique materials and tools that help flesh out the lives of our ancestors and provide context for their everyday experiences. Join us as professsional genealogist Malissa Ruffner discusses how the partnership between the Maryland State Archives and the Baltimore City Archives has expanded access for genealogists, how to prepare for an on-site research trip, and what you can expect to find there.   

Malissa Ruffner holds JD and MLS degrees from the University of Maryland and worked in a number of settings, including libraries and archives, before heeding the call of genealogy. A Board-certified genealogist since 2014, she served as Director of the Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed) from 2015 until 2020, and on the Executive Board of the Maryland Genealogical Society from 2012 until 2022, including two years as the managing editor of the Maryland Genealogical Society Journal.  Since 2016, she has worked for the Georgetown Memory Project, tracing descendants of people enslaved on Jesuit plantations in Maryland.