Although born in Louisville, Kentucky, Marjorie (Marge) McNinch considers herself to be a native Delawarean. She was two months old when the family moved to Bear, DE due to her father's transfer to E. I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. She has lived out of state only twice -when she served as a nanny for a German family near Düsseldorf for one year in the mid-sixties, and when she finished her BA degree study at the University of Vermont in Burlington in the late sixties.

In October 1971 Marge began her employment in the Pictorial Collections Dept. at the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, DE. In 1978 she was transferred to the Research & Reference Dept. When that department was dismantled in 1985, she was transferred to the Manuscripts & Archives Dept. where she has been working ever since. She attended school part time for five years, finally getting her MA degree in history from the University of Delaware in 1984. Marge is now in her 27th year at Hagley.

Her love for history developed in college, and was further inspired by her work with Betty-Bright Low - head of the Research & Reference Dept. at Hagley. It was Mrs. Low who encouraged her to publish.

The first article that Marge published was a result of an historical editing course at University of Delaware taught by Barbara E. Benson - now director of the Historical Society of Delaware. The piece Marge edited was the 1830 travel journal of Elizabeth Gilpin who was a daughter of a Wilmington paper manufacturer - Joshua Gilpin. The project was published in the Fall/Winter 1983 issue of "Delaware History".

In 1989 she was approached by Joseph Toomey - a local resident and historian - about doing a history of the Church of St. Joseph on the Brandywine. Once that was done, the church decided to publish a history of the church, the church's education system, parishioners and life in the Brandywine community. "The History of St. Joseph on the Brandywine, 1841-1994" was published in 1994, co-authored with Joyce Longworth. That was the first book that carried the name, Marjorie G. McNinch.

With her background as a historian and her considerable writing talents, Marge has since done books on subjects such as the covered bridges of New Castle County, DE, the ethnic festivals of the Wilmington area and the cinema theaters of the area.

In May 1999 Marge started a new project, the history of the Pusey & Jones Company - a Wilmington ship yard which also was the world's largest supplier of paper making machinery of yesterday.

At the Paper History Channel we welcome this project and encourage those of our visitors who may have information on the subject to convey any such to Marjorie.

Contact Marge McNinch to forward information direct:

E-mail: mmcninch@udel.edu
Phone: 302-658-2400.
Fax: 302-658-0545
Visit the Hagley Museum at: Hagley Museum, Wilmington, Deleware