New CMA Project Features the Work of Longtime Volunteer, Ron Fedorczak

August 29, 2023

Guest Post by Erin Berry, Archivist & Manager at Columbia MD Archives

Our latest project at the Columbia MD Archives (CMA) highlights the dedication of one of our incredible volunteers, Ronald (Ron) Fedorczak.

If you don’t know Ron, it’s likely you’ve seen him at community events with a camera in hand. As an amateur photographer, he began donating his photographs to CMA back in the 1990s. We’re proud to share the Ronald P. Fedorczak photograph collection, a four-year project (2019-2023) that consisted of a dozen volunteers and many staff members individually numbering and rehousing over 20,000 printed photographs. 📷

Ron taking photos at the Columbia City Fair, 1987. Ronald P. Fedorczak Photograph Collection, PC-RF-0067-1-633.

Capturing community in photos

In the early days, Ron donated his photos of Columbia happenings in print form and sometimes as scrapbooks. Today, he donates them in digital form.

We appreciate Ron’s generosity in allowing anyone to use his photos, which are an amazing documentation of the community throughout the years. In fact, they are some of the only documentation that CMA has in its collection of various programs, celebrations, festivals and construction that have occurred in Columbia from 1981-2015. This is a great support to our mission at CMA, which is to provide access to information through preservation and organization (and, of course, to protect and preserve the material so it can last for generations).

Performers at the Columbia Festival of the Arts, June 2004. Ronald P. Fedorczak Photograph Collection, PC-RF-0089-75.

A participant of the Great Cardboard Boat Regatta on Lake Kittamaqundi, June 13, 1992. Ronald P. Fedorczak Photograph Collection, PC-RF-0141-103.

To see Ron’s incredible body of work, you can check out the collection record on the digital catalog here, or you can view all 358 records in the collection here. The CMA digital catalog is just like a library catalog: When you search, you can see what photographs CMA has and request to view them. The next step will be to get all of Ron’s digital-born photos cataloged in a similar way, which consists of over 100,000 photographs and is growing weekly.

You can get involved, too!

Interested in getting involved in projects like this one? You’re in luck: Anyone over the age of 16 and interested in history, public history, research, archives or curation is welcome to volunteer at the CMA!

Most volunteer projects involve inventorying and numbering collection material, rehousing material into archival safe storage, writing descriptions or creating online exhibits. We also do our best to tailor volunteer activities to the individual to fit their interests and skills. Feel free to contact Columbia.Archives@columbiaassociation.org. You can learn more about the CMA here.

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