Special Collections

The Cyrenius H. Booth Library houses a number of Special Collections located in the front rooms of the library building. The Reference Staff on the 3rd Floor will be glad to assist you in locating and using any of these collections.

• Antiques & Collectibles
• Newtown Historical Images Archive – Reference Prints
• Local Authors
• Genealogy
• Books about Newtown, Connecticut

Antiques & Collectibles

The Antiques and Collectibles Collection includes more than 3,000 books donated by R. Scudder Smith, publisher of Antiques and the Arts Weekly and The Newtown Bee.  The collection is located on the third floor of the library in one of the front rooms. The Friends of the Library help update the collection and have provided signage to assist patrons in finding material.

Most of the books in this collection can be checked out.

A sampling of the types of books you will find in this collection:

• Pottery, silver, dolls and other items generally have an mark identifying the manufacturer or artist.  We have books that tell you what these marks mean.
• Price Guides to help you value your antique or collectible.  Current price guides were purchased by The Friends of the Library and are found in the Reference section.
• Books that are highly illustrated will help you identify what exactly it is you have and from what era.  Most of the books in the collection have beautiful color or black-and-white illustrations; often these books will give the histories of the objects and manufacturers, and some idea of  how valuable the piece is.

Newtown Historical Images Archive - Reference Prints

5x7 digital prints of more than 2,000 images of Newtown primarily between 1880 and 1940 are in binders at the Reference Desk on the third floor of the library for the public to use as reference.  These images are all watermarked as the property of the Newtown Historical Images Archive.  The images are digital prints of the majority of the collection owned by the Newtown Historical Society.  As a community resource, these images may be used by students, researchers, or anyone interested in local history. 

8x10 digital prints (approx size) are available of any of the images in the binders that the Society has the right to reproduce.  A limited number of images are available as fine art inkjet prints on German etching paper are also available for sale.

The Newtown Historical Images Archive is a project of the Newtown Historical Society.  It was established in 2003 to rescue and preserve photographs that document life in Newtown primarily between 1880 and 1980, make available copies of these images, and educate the public about our local heritage.

• The short-term goal is to unify, catalog, and offer for public use three known and significant collections – images currently held by the Newtown Historical Society,  Mitchell/Goodrich photographic survey of historic homes in Newtown, and pertinent images by The Newtown Bee.  
• The long-term goal is to collect and preserve images that would otherwise be “lost” by way of deterioration or abandonment. Photographs will be solicited from older residents, local collectors, businesses, acquired from estates, and purchased from ephemera dealers. 

Local Authors Collection

The Local Authors Collection is a representation of past and present Newtown authors.  There are a variety of writers and genres represented – first novelists, mystery writers, Pulitzer Prize winners, children’s authors and illustrators, political writers.   Some of the works are set in Newtown (or a “fictionalized” representation of the town).

The collection, which includes 220 titles by 110 authors, was the brainchild of Library Curator Caroline Stokes.   Twenty-five years ago she established this special collection to honor local writers and celebrate the library’s 50th anniversary.  Caroline continues to maintain and add to the collection.

Newtown resident and author Mary Mitchell has researched 39 local authors represented in the collection and written biographies on each.   This research has been bound in the volume, Newtown Authors.

Genealogy

The Genealogy Room is available during library open hours. It houses the Julia Brush Collection of published genealogies and local histories on Newtown and Danbury area families.  The genealogy room also has an extensive collection of Connecticut and New England resource material.  The room’s aesthetic beauty makes it the perfect place to research.  Please sign-in and then “dig-in.”  We hope you find exactly what you are looking for.

Genealogist Harlan Jessup is available Monday afternoons between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. for genealogical research assistance. We suggest you call the library at (203) 426-4533 before arriving to make sure Mr. Jessup is available.

Click here to link to the Genealogy page of our website.

Genealogy Room Computer - The first page of the instruction binder lists useful Web sites, as well as library subscription sites with sign-on information.  Our databases include Heritage Quest, New York Times online, Ancestry.com, New England Historic and Genealogical Society, British Origins, Ellis Island, and Family Tree Legends.

The Adult Nonfiction Department on the third floor of the library has circulating how-to books in genealogy as well as a fine collection of New England and Connecticut histories.

Newtown Remembered: An Oral History of the 20th Century is a two volume collection of oral histories of long-time Newtown residents. An easy to read narrative format, Newtown Remembered can be borrowed from the library for reading and research on local families.

A Bibliography of Books on Newtown

Boyle, John Neville, Historical Notes and Maps Newtown: 1708 – 1758, Bee Publishing Company, Newtown, Conn., 1947.

Carini, Esta, Dorothy M. Douglas, Lois D. Heck, and Marguerite Pearson, The Mentally Ill in Connecticut: Changing Patterns of Care and the Evolution of Psychiatric Nursing 1636-1972, State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health, 1974.  (Chapter VII is devoted to a history of Fairfield Hill Hospital 1933-1972).

Cruson, Daniel, Mary Elizabeth Hawley, The Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, Conn.

Cruson, Daniel, Images of America: Newtown, Arcadia, Great Britain, 1997.

Cruson, Daniel, Images of America: Newtown 1900-1960, Arcadia, Great Britain, 2002.

Cruson, Daniel, Judge William Edmond, The Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, Conn.

Cruson, Daniel, Educating Newtown’s Children: A History of Its Schools, The Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, Conn., 2000.

Cruson, Daniel, A Mosaic of Newtown History, The Newtown Tercentennial Commission for the Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, Conn., 2005.

Cruson, Daniel, History of the Newtown Savings Bank, The Newtown Savings Bank, Newtown, Conn., 2005.

Cruson, Daniel, The Prehistory of Fairfield County, The Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, 1991.

Cruson, Daniel, Newtown’s Slaves: A Case Study in Early Connecticut Rural Black History, The Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, 1994.  (Expanded and Revised,

2007)

Cruson, Daniel, A Victorian Murder in the Newtown, Easton, Redding Frontier, The Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, 1999.

George, James Hardin, and Allison Parish Smith, and Ezra Levan Johnson, eds., Newtown’s Bicentennial, Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, New Haven, 1906.

[Green, Clifford H.], Matthew Curtiss Jr and His House,  The Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, Conn., 1986.

Johnson, Ezra, Newtown’s History and Historian, Newtown, Conn., 1917.

League of Women Voters, Newtown Past and Present, League of Women Voters, Newtown, CT, (three editions: 1955,  1975).

League of Women Voters, Newtown, Connecticut: Directions and Images, League of Women Voters of Newtown, Inc., Newtown, Conn., 1989.

Lucas, Mary R., ed., Newtown Congregational Church: 250th Anniversary Year 1714 – 1964, Newtown Congregational Church, Newtown, Conn., 1964.

Mitchell, Mary and Albert Goodrich, Newtown Trails Book, The Friends of the C.H. Booth Library, Newtown, Conn., 2000 (fifth ed.)

Mitchell, Mary and Albert Goodrich, Touring Newtown’s Past: The Settlement and Architecture of an Old Connecticut Town, The Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, Conn., 1996.

Scott, Justin with Daniel Cruson,  Newtown 2005:  The Way We Are After 300 Years, Newtown Tercentennial Commission, 2005.

Zimmermann, Andrea, Eleanor Mayer’s History of Cherry Grove Farm: Three Generations on a Connecticut Farm, The Newtown Historical Society, Newtown, Conn., 2005.

Zimmermann, Andrea, Daniel Cruson and Mary Maki, Newtown Remembered: Oral histories of the 20th century, bound and available at the C.H. Booth Library, 2002.

Zimmermann, Andrea, Mary Maki and Daniel Cruson, Newtown Remembered: More stories of the 20th century.

Smith, Mortimer, One Hundred Years of Schools in Newtown, Bee Publishing Company, Newtown, Conn., 1946.

Dalgliesh, Alice, and Leonard Weisgard (ill), Adam and the Golden Cock, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1959.

1714—1914 The Story of Two Centuries with an Account of the Celebration of the Bicentenary of the Congregational Church of Newtown, Conn., Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Co., New Haven, Conn., 1914.