Connecticut Historical Society

Connecticut Historical Society

Connecticut Historical Society
Established	1825
Location	1 Elizabeth Street, Hartford, Connecticut, United States
Type	History museum, library, archive, education center
Director	Jody Blankenship
Public transit access	Connecticut Transit Hartford 11 Simsbury-Granby Express 72 Asylum Av
Website	http://www.chs.org

Connecticut Transit Hartford 11 Simsbury-Granby Express

The Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) is a private, non-profit organization that serves as the official statewide historical society of Connecticut. Established in Hartford in 1825, the CHS is one of the oldest historical societies in the nation.

The Connecticut Historical Society is a non-profit museum, library, archive and education center that is open to the public. Its mission is to connect you and the story of Connecticut. The CHS houses a research center containing 270,000 artifacts and graphics and over 100,000 books and pamphlets. It has one of the largest costume and textile collections in New England.

In 1825, the Connecticut General Assembly was presented a petition signed by Connecticut citizens including Thomas Robbins, John Trumbull, Thomas Day, and William W. Ellsworth stating the importance of creating a society for preserving historical materials.

After approval from the General Assembly, the Connecticut Historical Society was created to collect objects related to the history of the United States, specifically Connecticut. The first elected officers were Trumbull, Day, Robbins, Thomas Church Brownell and Walter Mitchell.

With the rise in prominence of Hartford in the 1820s, the Society's committee decided to house its first meetings in the city. Yet despite a flurry of activity, the Society became inactive after 1825 and it was not until 1839 when new interest regained. The first official quarters for the CHS was over a store at 124 Main Street in Hartford.

The CHS' new ideals and direction were spearheaded by educationalist Henry Barnard, who recommended that the Society enroll members from around the state, encouraged a history and genealogy magazine and retrieved speakers for lectures who could address groups throughout Connecticut.