Southern Maryland Studies Center

Providing resources that document the history, culture and development of Southern Maryland.

 

The Thomas and Maxine Headen Photo Collection

 

 

In December 2007, the SMSC received the Thomas and Maxine Headen Collection, which depicts life in Charles County, MD circa 1952-1967.

This is the largest photographic collection the SMSC has ever received, with nearly 4,000 images. The collection represents a 20-year history of the social life, historic houses, civic events and activities in Charles County, including county fairs, school graduations, tobacco barns, 4- H meetings and even portraits and family photos.

The collection is currently being digitized by the SMSC, for ease of use by our patrons.

If you would like copies of images from the Headen Collection, please contact the Southern Maryland Studies Center for details. All reproductions will be made using archival quality digital images available only at SMSC.

 

Biography of Thomas and Maxine Headen

Thomas Headen started his career as a journalist at the Kansas City Star in 1924. One of his first journalism assignments, in a career spanning more than 50 years, was as a writer alongside Ernest Hemmingway at the Kansas City Star, a job that earned him $20 a week. In a few years, he moved to New York City where he would meet his wife Maxine Humeston and take a job at the New York Sun, where he stayed until he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943.

As a captain, Headen worked as a media specialist and was assigned to spearhead media relations after the invasion of Europe. His son recounts that in 1945 following the defeat of Germany, his father was given several assignments in information media including conducting a covert propaganda campaign to instill democratic thought in Germany, for which he received a bronze star. He also was instrumental in gathering, documenting and filming evidence of Nazi crimes against humanity for the Nuremberg War Trials. (These photos were donated July 11, 2006 to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.) After a brief retirement, the elder Headen, a lieutenant colonel, was called back to active-duty in 1950 to write a unified public relations policy for the Army, Navy and Air Force. He served for more than a year as the director of the publications division of the Federal Civil Defense Administration and was instrumental in the publication of the Duck and Cover Civil Defense Project and film, which featured Bert the Turtle.

In 1952, Headen resigned his post to return to civilian life and establish the Waldorf Leaf newspaper. After its purchase by the Times Crescent, he continued as the paper's editor. In his retirement, he worked on projects for the college and continued to write for the Times Crescent until his death in 1977.

His wife, Maxine, began her career as a teacher in Greeley, Colorado before moving to New York to pursue her interest in theater. Following her marriage to Thomas, Maxine raised two children, Judith and Peter, and followed her husband to numerous duty stations including Germany. Following Thomas’ retirement, the family settled in Charles County where they resided at Rose Hill before building Promise on Billingsley Road. Her son recalls that his mother became active in the Port Tobacco Players, earned a masters degree from Rutgers University, started the first Charles County bookmobile and worked as a traveling teacher in the area before being appointed librarian at the Walter Mitchell School, where her love of theater infused the teaching process. In 1974, the Port Tobacco Theatre and the Walter Mitchell library were dedicated in her memory. Mostly though, her son recalls her dedication to her family.

Thomas and Maxine Headen pushed for social change and encouraged people to consider the consequences of their actions and or inaction. In a sense, they grew up here along with the county. They documented what it was like during segregation and how it changed. Peter Headen says that when people initially asked where Charles County was, Thomas. Headen would reply, ‘100 years from Washington, D.C.’ “All that has changed and we are all better for it, and they would be proud,” said Peter Headen, who noted that he would like to see people fully utilize the photos in the collection.

*Special thanks to Peter and Jaqueline Headen who provided information on the collection’s background and to Mary Lohnes of CSM’s Community Relations Department.