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The New London County Historical Society was incorporated on July 6, 1870, “for the purpose of collecting, preserving, and publishing historical and genealogical matter relating to the early settlement and subsequent history, especially of New London County,” and organized the following year. One of the first goals of the organizers was to begin to collect materials of historical and genealogical value. By 1900 they had succeeded in amassing approximately 2800 items, housed on the second floor of the Public Library of New London. The collection has continued to expand, and now encompasses books, pamphlets, manuscript materials, and one of the largest collections of Connecticut newspapers in the state. In the early 1900s, the Society purchased the Shaw Mansion on Blinman Street, New London, after an extensive public campaign to raise the funds, and moved out of the library. The Mansion is open for tours Wednesday through Saturday year round, and also open Sundays in the summer. We are open for research by appointment. Besides researchers who come to the Mansion to do their own work, we answer telephone, mail, and email queries. Publishing has always been one of the Society’s mandates. In the past ten years we have published a new edition of The Diary of Joshua Hempstead 1711-1758 (1998), A View From the Sixties: The Black Experience in Southeastern Connecticut (2001), Black Roots in Southeastern Connecticut, 1650-1900 (also 2001), The Amistad Incident as Reported in The New London Gazette & General Advertiser (2003), The History of the Amistad Captives, a reproduction of an 1840 pamphlet by John Warner Barber (2003), and The Life of Venture, an autobiography by an ex-slave (2004). View From the Sixties was the recipient of the Betty Linsley Award from the Association for the Study of Connecticut History for the best book on Connecticut history published by a local history organization in 2001. We sell our books at the Mansion, on our website, and at some of the festivals and fairs that occur throughout the region. Besides selling some books, our presence at these fairs is good publicity and introduces us to people who might not know we exist. In addition to books, we publish a bi-monthly newsletter (enclosed). This features articles on various subjects connected with the region’s history, as well as news of the Society. |
There have been many exhibits at the Mansion over the years. The current major exhibit is “Den of Serpents: New London During the Revolution”, which opened in June of 2003. The previous major exhibit, which took up most of the first floor, was “From Slavery to Civil Rights: African Americans in New London County”, in 1999. We also put on smaller exhibits that go along with other programming, such as the nautical exhibits set up for OpSail 2000 and the current “Maps and Charts of New London Harbor”.
From the late 1990s we have also made an effort to provide monthly public programs on a wide variety of historical topics, mostly related to this area. (See list.) The Second Sunday series has developed a regular following, as well as attracting different people with each different topic. Besides the usual programs, we hold special events, such as the garden party, from time to time.
The Society has been involved in the Thames River Maritime Heritage Group since its inception three years ago. This is the second summer the group has received a grant from the Connecticut Humanities Council to publicize the many maritime-themed activities happening on both sides of the Thames River. These include our exhibits and the bus tours of historic New London we have run for the past three summers.
In January of 2004 the Society hired an educator to develop curricula and educational programs for local schoolchildren, as well as develop tours of the Mansion and recruit and supervise docents. We are currently working with the Custom House and Hempsted Houses to develop joint educational programs, particularly for school groups and homeschoolers.
Recently,
the Board completed a long range planning process, and received a “Heritage
Advancement Grant” from the Connecticut Humanities Council of $20,000.
In the Fall of 2005, we hired a full time executive director. We plan
to extend our outreach to the community and increase our visibility.
NLCHS, 11 Blinman St., New London, CT 06320
