Rick Kretschmer's License Plate Archives

Introduction

The black on white screened "Maryland" plates were first issued in 1986 with 1987 expirations, and remain the current base as they are considered to be permanent issues.  On this base, for the first time, all organizational member plates were made distinct in appearance from standard-issue plates.  There is now no longer such a thing as reserved-series passenger format organizational member plates.  Full-sized organizational member plates are available for passenger cars, multi-purpose vehicles (typically mini-vans, SUVs, and motor homes), and light trucks.  There's no distinction between organizational member plates issued to these various vehicle types. 

In the early 1990s, as Maryland began issuing graphic organizational member plates, they apparently loosened the requirements for organizations to obtain their own plates, and since then there has been a virtual explosion of available Maryland organizational member plates.  Also, several graphic military-related plates were made available; these require no organizational affiliation other than the appropriate military service. 

Organizational member motorcycle plates began to be made available as well, although only for certain organizations that are either motorcycle-related, or that are large enough to have a significant motorcycle-riding contingent.  Most military service plates are available in motorcycle versions. 

I sincerely hope that you find this information useful.  If you find an error or have additional information, or can provide a plate or a photo of a plate that I'm missing, please send me an e-mail.  There's a link to my e-mail address at the bottom of every page. 

Mouse over any image to see a description of the plate.  Click on any image to see an enlarged version. 

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Non-graphic and minimally graphic organizational member plates

With two exceptions, for the first five years or so of the script "Maryland" base plate, all organizational member plates were non-graphic, and their plate numbers were in the formats xx00000 or xxx0000, with the letters uniquely identifying the organization.  A few new organizations were given their own plates in addition to the traditional groups that had had organizational plates on the previous all-embossed bases.  In most cases, the name of the organization was screened on the bottom center of the plate.  Some groups chose not to clearly identify themselves on the plate; these tended to be ethnic-based and police-related organizations who wanted their members to be able to recognize each other on the road, but did not want their vehicles to become easy targets for individuals who had something against their group. 

Two organizations were issued what I call minimally-graphic organizational plates during the early years of the script base.  These were the same two that had had embossed graphics on the previous base – the Maryland State Firemen's Association and the National Guard.  These minimal graphics were all black and were screened onto the plate.  Early-issue Firemen's Association member plates had the familiar maltese cross logo, with the letters "F/D" inside the center of the cross, but considered part of the serial number.  Early National Guard plates had a screened minuteman silhouette, and later a screened line drawing of a minuteman.  The other distinction is that these early National Guard plates had the letters "N/G" stacked on the right side of the numeric serial.

In the early 1990s, the state began making graphic organizational plates for those groups who requested them.  Most did, and so their non-graphic plates ceased being issued.  Many motorists with non-graphic organizational plates then traded them for the fancier variety as they became available.  However, I don't think there was ever a requirement to do so.  Also, a small number of groups have continued to only offer non-graphic plates to their members even today.  Possible reasons include the additional anomynity the non-graphic plates provide, the organization not having a suitable logo or other graphic design, and financial considerations, as the non-graphic plates are less expensive to register. 

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Graphic organizational member plates

Beginning in the early 1990s, graphic organizational plates began to appear, for old as well as new organizations.  At about the same time, it seemed that every obscure organization or cause or interest group in the world was now able to get their own Maryland plate.  The current rule is that an organization only needs 25 members (presumably with vehicles registered in Maryland) to qualify.  Lots of individual fire stations and church congregations and labor union locals now offer their own specific organizational plates.  The number of different groups with their own plates now number well over 700.  Shown below is a representative sampling of available graphic plates, arranged by category of the sponsoring organization. 

Charitable and philanthropic organizations

Civic and fraternal organizations

College and university alumni associations

Cultural and historic preservation organizations

Event related organizations

Firefighting, rescue, and EMS related organizations

High school booster clubs and alumni associations

Labor and professional organizations not related to public safety

Law enforcement related organizations

Military related organizations

Recreational organizations

All graphic organizational plates are made on the standard black on white script "Maryland" base. The serial formats generally follow the pattern of a screened image of the organization's logo on the left side of the plate, followed by two or three stacked letters (which are considered part of the serial) uniquely identifying the organization, followed by a three or four digit serial number.  Formats x/x 000, x/x 0000, x/x/x 000, and x/x/x 0000are used.  Format x/x/x 000 is not widely used because the plate numbers would conflict with those of standard passenger car plates.  However, there are a few organizations that do have this format because they use at least one serial letter not issued on standard plates (I, O, Q, or U).  Usually, the name of the group is screened along the bottom edge of the plate.  Firemen's Association plates continue the [F/D] 00000 format introduced in the early 1970s. 

Some of the plates pictured above may at first glance appear to be special interest plates; for example, the "Maryland's Eastern Shore" and "Spay and Neuter" plates.  But they are indeed all organizational.  The distribution of organizational plates are actually controlled by the organizations themselves, using whatever criteria they want.  Some groups only offer their special plates to their members or employees.  Some charitable groups will authorize the issuance of plates to people who have first made a donation directly to the group.  In the case of the Eastern Shore plate above, this plate is controlled by the James M. Bryan, Jr. Building Dreams for Youth Foundation.  Apparently this charitable group realized that perhaps not many people would want to pay for the privilege of displaying plates with the organization's name and logo, and that they could raise more money by offering a more appealing design that doesn't identify the group itself.

Maryland only offers two true special interest plates that are avaialable to anyone, directly through the Motor Vehicle Administration – the well known Treasure the Chesapeake (in old and new versions) and Our Farms, Our Future plates.  These plates are of a completely different design than the standard-issue plates.  While these plates are used to raise money for specific organizations, the MVA collects the money from the registrant and distributes it to the groups after the plates are issued.  Also, these special interest plates are issued in different serial formats for use on trailers and by handicapped persons, for example, and are also available as vanity plates.  Sample versions of these plates are also available to the general public.  None of this is applicable to organizational plates.  (Treasure the Chesapeake version 2 plate in actual use)

The best source of detailed information about current Maryland organizational plates is the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration's web site.  The section covering current organizational and military service plates contains a comprehensive listing of all available plates, and for each one, shows the name of the organization and a digital image of that group's plate.  However, please note that the MVA site provides no information about obsolete organizational plates that were previously issued on the script "Maryland" base, including the many discontinued non-graphic organizational plates.  Also, although the information is generally accurate, I have spotted a few errors. 

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Military service plates

Maryland has decided it should also issue various military service related plates to veterans and medal recipients.  These look just like organizational plates; the main difference is how you qualify to get a set.  No organizational membership is required; you just have to be able to show that you qualify for the specific plates you want based on your military service record.  Again, what is shown is only a sampling of the available types. 

Disabled veterans (veterans who are truly handicapped, not necessarily members of the Disabled American Veterans organization) are issued plates with the wheelchair graphic at far left, followed by a serial number in format DV0000.  These plates carry the screened legend "Disabled Veteran" at the bottom. These plates are free of charge to the registrant. 

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Organizational member and military service motorcycle plates

A number of groups have arranged for Maryland to issue graphic organizational motorcycle plates to their members.  These plates have the organization's logo on the left side of the plate, and the organization's name screened at the bottom edge of the plate.  Serial numbers are in the formats 0000 x/x or 0000 x/x/x, using the same letters to uniquely identify the organization as are used on full-sized plates, but on motorcycle plates the letters are at the end rather than at the beginning of the serial number. 

Known organizations with motorcycle plates include the various chapters of the Harley Owners Group (each with its own suffix), various other motorcycle clubs, the state organization and various locals of the International Association of Fire Fighters union (again, each with its own suffix), the Maryland State Firemen's Association, the state lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the Vietnams Veterans of America. 

All miltary service full-sized plate types have equivalent motorcycle plate types, with the exception of the World War II Veteran plate.  These look just like organizational motorcycle plates; the main difference is how you qualify to get one.  No organizational membership is required; you just have to be able to show that you qualify for the specific plate you want based on your military service record. 

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Organizational member and military service sample plates

Samples of various organizational plates have been observed, but these are very difficult to obtain.  Very few are made, and these are not given out to the general public.  Typically, these plates have the normal logo and alpha prefix or suffix for the appropriate plate, but all of the numeric digits are zero. 

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Related links

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Page credits

Thanks to those who have directly contributed to the information on this page:  Tim O'Connor, Jeff Ellis, Xavier Hadjadj, Andrew Pang, "Tiger" Joe Sallmen, and David Doernberg.

O'Connor and Pang photographs © copyright by Tim O'Connor and Andrew Pang, respectively.  All rights reserved.  Used with permission. 
Hadjadj, Sallmen, and Doernberg photographs are presumed to be copyrighted by Xavier Hadjadj, "Tiger" Joe Sallmen, and David Doernberg, respectively, and are used with permission.

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All text and photographs © copyright 2004-2009 by Rick Kretschmer, except where noted.  All rights reserved. 
This page last updated January 2, 2009