160 years ago today, Abraham Lincoln gave one of the most famous speeches in American history – the Gettysburg Address. This short speech – only 271 words – has remained in the general consciousness of the American people ever since. Although the speech was written to dedicate a cemetery, it spoke mainly of the larger … Read more
On February 28th, 1837, the Selectmen of the Town of Greenwich gave permission for the teachers of the North Greenwich Congregational Church Sabbath School to educate a woman named Emaline Foster. The letter shown bellow, granting Ms. Foster permission to attend the church’s school, highlights a brief but important moment in the history of civil … Read more
Our beautiful and all powerful love, my darling, will carry us through everything, and crown us with success and happiness in the end. Elmer Livingston MacRae to Emma Constant Holley, February 14, 1898 Elmer Livingston MacRae and Emma Constant Holley first met in the summer of 1896 when Elmer, New York City native and budding … Read more
Josephine Holley, the proprietress of the Holley boardinghouse, and noted American Impressionist painter John Henry Twachtman were close, supportive friends. Their letters preserve the system of support and care that sustained the Cos Cob art colony.
If you’ve ever come across a deed from the eighteenth or even nineteenth century, you’ve probably been confused by the language used more than once. Are we sure this is English, and how can I get any usable information from this document? This post will break down a deed from top to bottom, defining terms and giving … Read more
In the Library & Archives, we have the privilege to work with and care for the materials that make up our collective history. Archivists organize, inventory, describe, digitize, and maintain vast collections with hundreds of thousands of individual pieces that can include anything from photographs to deeds to VHS tapes to ledgers. All of this … Read more
Help us to fulfill our mission to preserve and interpret Greenwich history to strengthen the community’s connection to our past, to each other and to our future.
