Library, Archives, & Essays
The Regional History Room at Bennington Museum is open Monday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons, 1-4pm (by appointment when the Museum is closed January-March: [email protected]).
The library collection which is managed by the Bennington Historical Society is the region’s most comprehensive resource on the history of Vermont and genealogy of New England and Vermont families. It includes resources not found online such as rare books, family history files, maps, newspapers, and archival resources in the Museum’s collection.
The Regional History Room is staffed by knowledgeable volunteers who will be happy to help you with your Bennington-related research. The library is non-circulating and access is free.
If you are unable to travel to Bennington, we recommend these other resources
- The Museum’s catalog is online and copying services are available upon request.
- Digital typescripts for the Harwood Diaries provide rich details of early 19th-century agricultural life in Bennington.
- High resolution scans of early records from Bennington’s Old First Church made available through the Congregational Library.
- Bennington Historical Society Research Projects
- Vermont related content is available on Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com for free to Vermont residents through the myVermont.gov portal
- Vermont History (journal, 2000-present)
- Digital Resources in Vermont Historical Society
- Digital Collections at the University of Vermont
- Internet Archive – excellent source for pre-1927 books including family histories.
- The Vermont Genealogy Library offers research assistance, online classes, newsletters, and membership benefits.
- The Genealogical Society of Vermont offers newsletters, online content, and an online query option.
In 2023 the Museum hosted a popular major joint exhibit of Vermont art based on Lyman Orton’s collection. For the Love of Vermont, a book about the exhibit, is available for purchase HERE. A nine-page index to this beautiful volume is also available and provides access by artist, name of artwork, and subject. Thanks to the work of David Pilachowski, you can download the index HERE.
Essays
In addition to the resources directly affiliated with the museum’s library, many scholarly essays have been written by staff members and volunteers.
- Research Files
- Research Files Index
- Library Books
- Rare Books and Archives Online
- Scholarly Essays
- Walloomsack Review Articles
- The Fourteenth State
- The BHS Newsletter
Questions? Please email [email protected]
Thank you to Nexus Consulting for helping to make the Museum more environmentally friendly and temperature stable for the sake of our collections. In addition to their stellar work on our HVAC system, Nexus is giving back to the Museum to support the library and associated programming this coming year!