Answering local history reference questions is an important (and fun) part of my job. When I hear from a researcher in person, by email, or over the phone, I have several resources to check for possible answers, clues, or materials of interest. Every single question I get is an opportunity for me to learn something new about the collection, as well as the history of Farmington and Unionville. This month, I thought I would share some of my go-to sources. A few of these are available online and accessible anytime you are in front of a computer with internet access, which I really appreciate!
The most frequently asked questions are:
- What can you tell me about the history of my home/building?
- I am tracing my ancestry. What information do you have about my family?
- Do you have any images, maps, or addresses for historic Farmington/Unionville businesses, land plots, schools, etc?
- Can I see the Farmington High School yearbook from 1976? (Or any year really, our collection goes back to the 1920s!)
Often, I will start simply by searching our online catalog! Most of our archival materials, special collections, and reference books are cataloged and searchable at any time, though they must be used in-house. We do also have a small number of local history books in our circulating collection.
For house research, I will check our home surveys, which are online as well as physically on shelves. There have been three major surveys of homes in town, that occurred between the 1940s and the 1980s: The History and Architecture of Farmington, CT (mid-1980s); The Prentice Papers (early 1970s); and the Hurlburt-Lewis House project (late 1940s/early 1950s). Not every address was included in all three, but we often find information in at least one of them.
A number of years ago, Farmington librarians undertook an enormous project: they made digital scans of the three home inventories and organized them by address. Then, they posted many of them on the Farmington Libraries website. It is possible that the house you live in contains a file with information from one or all of these inventory projects. Some include photographs! Addresses for Farmington and Unionville are on separate pages (they are quite a lot to behold all together). You can see them here!
An index of the Prentice papers is available online at the CT Digital Archive. This allows you to search the Prentice papers by name. While it will connect you to the entry associated with the name as opposed to the address, it is great to be able to know whether the person you’re searching for is mentioned in this comprehensive project. Follow this link for the index!
Jerusha Neely (she/her)
Information Services and Local History Librarian
Email: jneely@farmingtonlibraries.org
Phone: (860) 673-6791 x5213