How to Read an Early American Real Property Deed

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

Flip it and Reverse it: The Other Side of Archival Materials

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

#AskAnArchivist at Greenwich Historical Society

Archivists are responsible for the care and preservation of historic records – the documents, photographs, and ephemera that keep our community’s history alive for future generations. At the Greenwich Historical Society, we’re lucky to be the stewards of thousands of records documenting the history of our town. For Ask An Archivist Day, an annual celebration … Read more

Finds from Summer 2022 Excavation

During June 2022, while digging a trench for a new drainage pipe, construction workers uncovered dozens of objects that had been buried under the lawn of the Greenwich Historical Society. The objects were gathered and cleaned by members of staff and two Greenwich High School interns before being cataloged and researched. Unfortunately, any dating of … Read more

An Old Glory Comes Home

We are lucky here at the Greenwich Historical Society to be the benefactors of the many local history lovers who entrust us with their artifacts. As collectors and stewards of Greenwich history, we see the full gamut of historical objects. The extraordinary and the mundane – from a handwritten letter by Arthur Conan Doyle to … Read more