About Us
Events
& Calendar
Membership/Individuals
Membership/Business
Shaw Mansion
Historic House Museum
Hours/Directions
Shaw Family History
The Architecture
The Grounds
Historic House Renovation
Newsletter
Preview Collection
Research
Research Policies
Youth Education
New London County Historical Society has one of the most extensive collections pertaining to genealogy of families in the New London County region.
RESEARCH
& GENEALOGY |
As well as housing an historical society and historic house museum, the Shaw-Perkins Mansion contains a research library for those interested in the history of New London County and the families that originated there.
For those interested in doing genealogical research, we offer
-
an extensive collection of family histories and genealogies
-
WPA notebooks of headstone inscriptions for each town in the county
-
indexes of marriage and death records from county newspapers, 1758 - 1866.
The
newspaper collection, useful to both the historian and genealogist,
is the third largest in the state. It concentrates on New London County,
with some out of county issues. The earliest newspaper in the collection
(a photostat) dates from 1758, but coverage is spotty until the mid-1800s,
when newspapers seemed to publish more consistently and for longer stretches
of time. The regular series of our newspapers ends in 1904, with scattered
issues of various papers, mostly commemoratives, after that year.
Manuscripts are also useful to both the historian and genealogist. The
Society’s manuscript collection includes
-
wills,
-
property transactions,
-
justice of the peace and tax records
-
ship registers and logs
-
diaries, correspondence
-
minutes of societies
-
account books
-
records of the Lewis Female Cent Society.
Some collections of particular note include
-
historian Frances M. Caulkins’s genealogical and historical notes
-
the Wies collection dealing with urban renewal in New London
-
the city directories of New London andNorwich, beginning in the 1850s, which include surrounding towns.
The
Society has the microfilm of the Shaw Papers, the originals of which
are at Yale University.
Some newspapers are on microfilm also, as are the R. B. Wall scrapbooks
of his articles on New London, written in the early 1900s.
Other reference works include
-
the Records and Papers series of both the colony and state of Connecticut,
-
Governors’ papers published by the Connecticut Historical Society
-
Connecticut Registers from 1785
-
town and county histories.
TOP
If you are new to genealogy research, below are some links to helpful resources.
RESEARCH
can be accomplished either in person or by the staff.
FEES:
$15
Entitles nonmembers to three visits; members may research for free.
$10
Initial search fee for requesting staff research.
We will inform you of the results of the search and send you a “first
round” of information, including photocopies if requested.
$35/hour
Longer searches on request (such as looking through months’ or years’
worth of old newspapers, which are not indexed, for certain references),
are billable in half hour increments.
Copy
work is charged at $.25/copy.
While we cannot guarantee we will find the information you are looking
for, often the first round of information is all that is needed.
Please make an appointment when coming to do research. We do sometimes
have to turn people away because of limited space or special events.
Contact
us to discuss your needs for genealogy research.
Telephone
860-443-1209
Email
info@newlondonhistory.org
NLCHS, 11 Blinman St., New London, CT 06320 email
