Bernard C. (Bernard Christian) Steiner

Born in Baltimore in 1867, Bernard Christian Steiner became an important scholar of Maryland history and an early leader in American library work. He studied at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University, and he spent much of his career connected with Johns Hopkins, where he served as librarian.

Steiner wrote widely on history, politics, and public institutions. His books included History of Slavery in Connecticut, The Life and Correspondence of James McHenry, and Life of Horace Greeley. He also took a strong interest in state and local history, helping document Maryland's political and cultural past with the careful habits of both a researcher and an archivist.

He died in 1926, but his legacy remained closely tied to the growth of scholarly libraries and historical research in Baltimore. For listeners interested in older nonfiction, his work offers a window into how American historians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries studied the nation, its leaders, and its institutions.