Archives & Special Collections for Local History Research

The collection consists of archaeological surveys, historical and architectural surveys, documentation studies of properties, and maps, produced for the Connecticut Historical Commission by archaeologists and historians.

The collection contains reports, studies, interviews and other records produced as part of the federal Works Progess Administration (renamed in 1939 as the Works Project Administration) project to document ethnic groups and communities living in Connecticut between 1929 and 1935. The collection contains materials both unique from and duplicated in the WPA collections of the Library of Congress and the Connecticut State Library.

The collection contains a wide variety of materials more specifically detailed in the series descriptions. All aspects of the project are documented in the collection from the working papers of the grant to the published curriculum guides and bibliographies. Reference and resource materials pertinent to the ethnic groups represented by Connecticut's residents are included in Series IV-VII. The collection also includes some general reference materials pertaining to these ethnic groups in the United States, as well.

The CCLU was founded in 1949 as the New Haven Civil Liberties Council, and is now the Connecticut affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (it currently goes by the name ACLU of CT). This collection includes records from the original NHCLC, as well as administrative records from the CCLU from 1958-90. On the subject of reproductive rights, the collection includes legal documents from two cases: Women’s Health Services v. Maher (1979-1981) and Doe v. Maher (1981-90).

Founded in the early 1970s by Ralph Nader and Toby Moffett, CCAG states that its goal is to empower citizens of Connecticut in their roles as “consumers, workers, tax payers, and voters.” Information on reproductive rights may be found within the “Health Project” series of the collection, as well as in Director Marc Caplan’s files.

The 4-H Clubs of Connecticut originated in 1913 with the establishment of the first club in Mansfield, Connecticut. A part of the United States Department of Agriculture's Cooperative Extension System, 4-H clubs have aimed to educate Connecticut's youth in agriculture, home economics, and new technologies.

The Keeney Newspaper Collection contains a variety of newspapers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, with a focus on agriculture and domestic life.

Contains individual manuscript items collected by Gaines dating from 1786-1842, including correspondence, petitions, legal documents, receipts, and reports concerning such issues as slave trade, Quakers, taxes, state of the Treasury, etc. Other materials in the collection include research notes and correspondence with fellow collectors and librarians relating to Gaines's collecting activities and historical and bibliographical publications; and inventories and notes on items in his collections.

The collection, at present, contains several diaries, postcards and the papers of multiple servicemen active in the American Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict and the war in Vietnam. [Disclaimer: Please be advised that some of these resources contain descriptions for ancestral, racial, ethnic, and gender identity that may be offensive or harmful to individuals investigating these records, and are considered inappropriate to use in modern times. Also, please note that inclusion in this subject guide does not necessarily constitute endorsement--we encourage investigators to use their own judgment when evaluating books, websites, articles, documents, and other resources.]