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Looking to research in person?
Book onsite staff-assisted research time!
If you are planning to come to the Danbury Museum and conduct in-person research, we do require you make a reservation in advance. All the details are available on our Research page.
Help Us Help You!
Your support and contributions will enable us to continue to digitize and upload archival materials now and into the future. Please consider a donation of $10 or more to help us to continue to help you!
Digital Danbury
The archives of the Danbury Museum are a wonderful repository of knowledge. Creating access to that knowledge has, historically, been defined by the size of the research spaces within the museum's Huntington Hall.
In an effort to reimagine our research and archival space, the Danbury Museum has embarked on a journey of digitization to best meet the myriad needs of our elementary, middle school, high school, and adult researchers.
To that end, museum staff and volunteers have been busy creating online research files replicating our archival filing system and making our local history accessible, no matter what your age or area of interest--beginning with Danbury's role in the Revolutionary War.
Though we’ve begun the project in earnest this year, we envision it as a labor of love, with yearly updates as our collection continues to expand and our research community helps us decide the directions in which we grow—together!
Additionally, we have digitized the five pamphlets published by Danbury's Tricentennial Committee in 1984-85, and there are pdfs of both James M Bailey's History of Danbury: 1684-1896 and the Danbury section of History of Fairfield County by Lynn W Wilson.
These are a kind of "greatest hits" of our vast archival collection, subjects that are often asked about. If you are looking for more detail, context, genealogical records, microfilm or other primary sources please visit our Research page and book a research appointment. Note that onsite, staff-assisted research must be scheduled in advance to give us time to prepare for your visit.
Danbury and the Revolutionary War
Danbury's role in the Revolutionary War is a fascinating and impactful part of our town's history. We're pleased to start making available some of our subject files for students and researchers. Simply click the linked file below to be taken to Dropbox where you can download these resources for yourself. You do not need a Dropbox account to access or download these files. Happy researching!
2511 Rev War - Letters of Jonathan Crane
2512 - Rev War, Diary Stephen Jarvis
2513 Rev War - Journal Joseph Joslin
2523 Rev War - Hospitals/Doctors
2527 Rev War - Society of the Cincinnati
2528 Rev War - Sons of the American Revolution
2529 Rev War - Siege of Danbury, American Perspective
2529.3 Rev War - Siege of Danbury, Books/Excerpts
2529.4 Rev War - Siege of Danbury, Letters
2529.5 Rev War - Siege of Danbury, Danbury Records
2530 Rev War - Siege of Danbury, British Perspective
2531 Rev War - Tories of Danbury
2534 Rev War - West Point Chain
2535 Rev War - Student Projects
2536 Rev War - Commemorative Events
2536.1 Rev War - Commemorative Souvenirs
2536.2 Rev War - Soldiers, Skeletal Remains
2538.1 Rev War - Soldiers Lost in War
Danbury and the Civil War
Thanks to the work of museum staff and interns, our #DigitalDanbury initiative continues to make progress digitizing Danbury Museum subject files, making them more readily accessible to students, researchers, and history buffs alike. We know how important access is, and getting to the museum isn't always possible, so we'll be updating with new files as often as we can. Stay tuned!
We are pleased to start off the digitization of our Civil War holdings with the James E Moore Post, Grand Army of the Republic book. This volume is a rich resource and we think it's the perfect book to showcase the breadth and depth of our Civil War collection.
2545 Civil War - General Information
2546 Civil War - Military History
2547 Civil War - Volunteer Enlistment
2548 Civil War - Ist CT Cavalry.
2549 Civil War - African-American Soldiers
2550 Civil War - Battle of Charcoal Run
2551 Civil War - Muster In Roll
2552 Civil War - Pensions
2553 Civil War - Medal of Honor Recipients
2554 Civil War - Wooster Guards
2555 Civil War - Commemorative Events
2556 Civil War - Matthew Brady Prints
2557 Civil War - Letters
2558 Civil War - Crofut Diary.
2559 Civil War - Home Activities in Danbury.
2560 Civil War - 13th Infantry CT Volunteers / E Dunbar
2560.1 Civil War - 11th CT Volunteer Infantry Regiment
2560.2 Civil War - Flag of the 11th CVI
2561 Civil War - Reconstruction Attitudes in Danbury.
2562 Civil War - War of Rebellion
2563 Civil War - James S McCollum Diary
2564 Civil War - James M Bailey Diary Transcript
2565 Civil War - Official Papers, Records
2566 Civil War - Nurses
Danbury Times Civil War Research
Danbury and the Spanish American War
Danbury and World War I
Danbury's community response to the First World War was incredibly impressive. Each and every Liberty Loan and fundraising goal was met or exceeded (this would include Danbury's over-production of potatoes on the hat factory war farms) and this in a community where, at that time, roughly 25% of the population had been born in the United States. Thanks to the stalwart work of Frank M Stone the Danbury Museum has an excellent collection of materials related to the Old 8th Company--many of whom served in WWI. And the cornerstone of our WWI collection are the letters from the front in France sent home by Ernest H Patchen.
2570 WWI - General
2571 WWI - Danbury Involvement in WWI
2571.1 WWI - Danbury WWI Committees
2572 WWI - Men & Women Who Served
2573 WWI - Old 8th Company
2574 WWI - Divisions
2575 WWI - Instruction Manuals
2576 WWI - Letters
2577 WWI - Art
2578.1 WWI - Newspaper Articles
2578.2 WWI - Newspaper Articles, continued
2578.4 WWI - 56th Battalion
Celebrating Marian Anderson
On Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, Marian Anderson sang before tens of thousands of people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
As part of the Danbury Museum's #DigitalDanbury initiative and to commemorate Ms Anderson's famous concert, we've scanned and uploaded the museum's subject file holdings that relate to Marian Anderson's life in Danbury and beyond.
Hat Life magazine
The Danbury Museum has a small collection of Hat Life magazines from the late 1930s through the early 1950s. These magazines chronicle emerging trends, famous styles, and have some incredible artwork in as well.