Local History
Middletown History Online
NEW! We have been busy uploading digitized documents from the Middletown Room Collection to the Connecticut Digital Archive. Many items are now available for viewing. This includes Middletown Press Indexes and Penny Press Indexes.
Middletown Vital Records
Tips and links that will help you search Middletown Vital Records.
Short History of the Middletown Bulletin
The Middletown Bulletin on the Connecticut Digital Archives is a story almost a hundred years in the making. It also took two global disasters to make it happen.
Contact the Info Department
For reference questions, research, online resources, remote printing, and help downloading materials.
The Middletown Room
About the Room
Most of our local history collection is housed in the Middletown Room on the second floor of the library. See below for some highlights of our collection.
Mission
Identify, collect, organize, preserve, and provide public access to the materials that document the economic, natural, political, and social history of Middletown.
Microfilm
Microfilm archives include Mellili church records, discontinued Middletown Newspapers, The Middletown Press, passenger lists, etc.
Access to the Room
Register to use the Middletown Room at the Information Desk. If you need help getting started on your research, click here to request an appointment with a librarian.
Local History Resources
Architectural Materials
The library has the working files and a printed copy of an architectural survey of homes and buildings in Middletown conducted by the Greater Middletown Preservation Trust in 1976. Published histories and surveys conducted for other towns within Middlesex County are also included in the collection.
Atlases and Maps
The collection includes a variety of topographical, population, town, city, and state maps.
Cemetery Records
A book of cemetery inscriptions known as the Hale Collection is available for Middletown on microfilm. The cemetery headstone inscriptions were surveyed and transcribed in the 1930s. Inscriptions for other towns in Middlesex County are also available.
Census Records/Indexes
The library has the 1790 Census of the United States in printed form. A microfilm collection of census records for towns in Middlesex County is available for the years 1790, 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. Name indexes to the Connecticut Census are available for the years 1800, 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, and 1860.
Church Histories and Records
The collection includes histories of local churches and sermons. Transcribed copies of baptismal, marriage and death records for various Middletown churches are available on microfilm.
City Directories
City directories for the years 1871-1990 (with gaps) are shelved in the Middletown Room. Additional directories are also available.
Ephemera Collection
The ephemera collection includes newspaper clippings from the Penny Press and Middletown Press, pamphlets, posters, newsletters, annual reports, and journal articles.
Genealogies
Printed genealogies of Middlesex County families are available. The collection includes the following names, as well as many others: Hall, Hamlin, Hubbard, Lyman, Miller, Pelton, Ranney, Sage, Starr, Ward, and Wetmore.
High School Yearbooks
Middletown and Woodrow Wilson High School yearbooks are available from 1908 to the present (with gaps). Xavier, Vinyl, and Mercy yearbooks are also included in the collection.
Land Records
Microfilmed copies of the deeds recorded in Middletown are available for the years 1654-1907. The early deeds include vital records and a grantor/grantee index to deeds recorded from 1654 to 1855.
Microfilm Collection
The microfilm collection includes sermons, company catalogs, addresses, works by Middletown authors, and much more. A finding aid is available.
Naturalization Records and Indexes
A name index to Middlesex county residents who applied for citizenship between 1844-1955 is on microfilm. Declarations of Intention and citizenship papers are not included in this collection. The National Archives and Records Administration is a repository for naturalization papers.
Mayoral Scrapbooks
Newspaper clippings for mayoral administrations starting in 1954 to the present are available in scrapbooks
Military Histories
The collection includes records of men from Connecticut who served in the following wars: War of the Rebellion, War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War, and World War I. Regimental histories compiled during the Civil War are also in the collection.
Newspapers available on microfilm
The following newspapers are available for viewing on microfilm, with some gaps:
Middlesex Gazette, May 1, 1790 – Mar. 20, 1834, weekly.
Connecticut Spectator, May 20, 1814 – Dec. 28, 1814, weekly.
American Sentinel, 1823-1826, weekly.
Constitution, 1842-1884, weekly.
News and Advertiser, 1851-1854, weekly.
Sentinel and Witness, Sept. 25, 1869 – Dec. 27, 1884, weekly.
Middletown Daily Constitution, July 10, 1872 – Aug. 5, 1876, Mon-Sat
Middletown Daily Sentinel, Jan. 3, 1876 – June 10, 1876, Mon-Sat
Middletown Tribune, April 24, 1893 – Aug. 6, 1906, Mon-Sat
Middletown Sun, May 16, 1908 – April 30, 1914, Mon-Sat
Middletown Times, Oct. 1, 1914 – Jan 5, 1915, Mon-Sat
Penny Press, Sept. 29, 1884 – Mar. 30, 1918, Mon-Sat
Evening Press, March 13, 1918 – May 31, 1919, Mon-Sat
Middletown Press, June 2, 1919 – present, Mon-Sat
Oral Histories
A collection of interviews from 1976 is available on cassette. Russell Library Oral History Project is available on Cassette, CD-ROM and transcriptions (most).
Postcard Collection
The collection includes over 700 postcards depicting scenes of Middletown, the Connecticut River, and Wesleyan University. Examples of the postcards in the collection are available in the Russell Library Postcard Collection Sampler.
Reports of Various Government Agencies
Special reports, annual reports, charters and ordinances for the City of Middletown are included in the collection.
School Reports
The collection includes Annual Reports of the Board of Education (1874-1959 with gaps), Annual Reports of the Director of the Connecticut Industrial School for Girls (1872-1914), and Reports of the Board of Director of Long Lane Farm (1932-1944 with gaps).
Vital Records
The Barbour Collection of births, marriages, and deaths up to approximately 1854 for towns in Middlesex County are available on microfilm. Copies of birth records to 1868, marriage records to 1912, and death records to 1900 filed with the City of Middletown are also available on microfilm.
Russell Library
123 Broad Street
Middletown CT 06457
Phone
860-347-2528
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Sunday 1-5pm (October-March)