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History of the Society

FOUNDED IN 1856 by citizens interested in preserving the history of their families, town and region, the Litchfield Historical Society was an early example of the growing American desire to preserve the material aspects of what was already being seen as a glorious past.
Museum Gallery c. 1920

In 1901 the Society found permanent headquarters to house its expanding collections of textiles, furniture, art and household objects in the Noyes Memorial Building, home of the town library. The collection of the Society grew with the acquisitions of the Litchfield Law School in 1911 and the Tapping Reeve House and its contents in 1930. Expansions of the Noyes Memorial Building in 1906 and 1989 gave the Society the space and opportunity to exhibit its ever developing collection.

Society members were swept up by the enthusiasm for national history that was sparked by the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Led by local resident and amateur historian Emily Noyes Vanderpoel, the historical society fervently collected 18th and early 19th century objects and papers. This material remains the core of the Society’s collections. In 1962 the town library moved to larger quarters enabling the Society to expand its storage and gallery space to occupy the entire original building.

In 1911, the Society added a building to its growing collection of local artifacts. A community member donated the country’s first law school, and the Society moved the building to its side yard. Nineteen years later, the Society bought the Tapping Reeve House, the home of the law school founder. Using a wooden cab truck with sleigh wheels, members of the Society moved the school down the street to its original home next to the Reeve house. Both buildings were restored and opened to the public in 1933. The Tapping Reeve House and Law School were declared National Historic Landmarks in 1966.

Since 1989, all three of the Society’s buildings have been renovated. Today the museum collects objects—through bequests, gifts, and purchases—in order to preserve Litchfield’s rich past. Items that were created, produced or used in Litchfield, especially whose that reflect local attitudes, beliefs, customs, habits, collections, and occupations, teach us about the town’s residents. New exhibitions show Litchfield’s place in national history through artifacts, videos and hands-on areas.

Over the years, the Litchfield Historical Society has received a 1991 Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History for its development of exhibitions and educational programs, and a 1994 Award of Merit for the exhibition and catalogue To Ornament Their Minds: Sarah Pierce’s Litchfield Female Academy, 1792-1833.

The Tapping Reeve House renovation was recently honored with the Connecticut Humanities Council’s 1998 Wilbur Cross Award (right) for “outstanding contributions to the humanities.”

The Litchfield Historical Society was accredited by the American Association of Museums in 1992.