Special Collections Selections for Online Access
Our Special Collections Curator and her staff have selected these following resources for you to enjoy at home.
Selections from the Special Collections
Books from the Libraries of Henry David Thoreau and other members of the Thoreau Family, 1776-1869
Titles published between 1776 and 1869, representing a variety of genres and subject areas (science, mathematics, surveying, Native American culture, and etiquette as well as language, literature, and history) and several foreign languages in addition to English. The collection includes London, Paris, and Edinburgh imprints, as well as American.
Most of the volumes bear evidence of once having belonged to Henry David Thoreau, constituting the largest group of surviving volumes from Thoreau’s library anywhere. Selected pages from each volume have been digitized and show annotations and markings.
Ruth Robinson Wheeler - Concord Articles - A Selection
Beginning in the 1930s, Ruth Wheeler—whose book Concord: Climate for Freedom, first published in 1967—devoted her talents to writing a series of essays for the Concord Enterprise and Concord Journal on the history of the town and its historic structures. These essays contain a trove of valuable information for those interested in Concord and New England history more generally.
The Renee Garrelick Oral History Program Collection
The Renee Garrelick Oral History Program (also known as the Concord Oral History Program) consists of interviews with Concord citizens from all walks of life and representing many points of view. This initiative has resulted in the collected histories of hundreds of Concord citizens. Interviews through 2006 were conducted by Renee Garrelick and transcribed by Nancy McKinney. Photographer Alice Moulton’s portraits also form an essential part of the collection through 2006. Since 2008, Concord Oral History interviews were conducted by outside contractors Michael and Carrie Kline of Talking Across the Lines and transcribed by Adept Word Management. In addition to the transcriptions, selected interviews are also available online in .mp3 format.
The Landscape Photography of Herbert Wendell Gleason: Gleason’s Concord
The Concord Free Public Library holds a rich and extensive archive relating to Herbert Wendell Gleason, an early 20th-century American landscape photographer, and environmentalist. The library's Special Collections include close to 7,000 Gleason negatives on glass and film.
We are pleased to present an online our of selected artwork from the Concord Free Public Library's William Munroe Special Collections.
AND BEYOND!
Explore historical collections from libraries, museums, and archives across Massachusetts!
Digital Public Library of America
DPLA seeks to give universal access to digital resources of American libraries and archives.
Internet Archive
The website is a vast repository of text, audio, and video files, including public domain titles. You can browse and read online over 5 million books and items from over 1,500 collections. Catch up on some Concord history titles including town histories by Allen French, Lemuel Shattuck, and Charles Walcott, and manuscripts transcripts of town records, 1780-1781, prepared in Concord under the direction of Whitney S. Smith, working under a Civil Works Administration project, 1933-1934.
The Thoreau Society, in collaboration with UMass Lowell and the Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts, has digitized Saunterer issues dating back to 1966. These issues are now freely accessible as full-text-searchable PDF documents at the Internet Archive
Finally, click here explore collections from Massachusetts libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, schools, and other cultural heritage institutions digitized in partnership with Digital Commonwealth and the Library for the Commonwealth program of the Boston Public Library.
Want to go further? Check out Europeana.
Europeana offers access to millions of digitized items from European museums, libraries, and archives. More than 2,000 European institutions across Europe contribute to the site, including the British Library and national libraries from many countries.