From HHS President Ken Minkema's dedication at the naming of the
Al Gorman Hamden History Room
Al Gorman served the town of Hamden for many years and in many capacities - as a civic leader, as a politician, and as a preservationist. He was the driving force behind the creation of the Hamden Historic Properties Commission, and was involved with the Hamden Historical Society as a member and as its president for decades. He, with his wife Betsy, were also great recruiters for the cause of history - I am evidence of that, as I'm sure are many people here today.
One of the main activites of the Historical Society is this History Room, where we make our manuscript, printed, visual, and other resources available for researchers, students, and town members. It is entirely right and proper, therefore, as a tribute to the memory of Al Gorman, to the service that he rendered to our community and to its cultural and historical legacy, to the love that he had for this town and the love we have for him, that we give his name to this space.
|
Our Mission:
.
The Hamden Historical Society is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and making available to researchers and the general public materials relating directly and significantly to the history of Hamden and its citizens.
.
The Hamden Historical Society Library (History Room) is staffed by a partitime professional archivist, assisted by trained volunteers. There are over 100 collections, which consist of primary source documents, organization records, photographs, and artifacts. It is located on the third floor of the Miller Library, 2901 Dixwell Avenue.
|
| Come visit us at the Al Gorman History Room
on the top floor at Miller Library
Miller Memorial Library
2901 Dixwell Avenue
Hamden, CT 06518
Hours:
Tuesday, 11 am to 3 pm
History Room E-Mail:
hhs@hamdenlibrary.org
History Room Phone:
(203) 287-2680 ext. 7721
|
Our collections The History Room has many texts on state, regional and local history, volumes of agency and government publications, directories of services, and several historical society publications. Regional and town maps from 1854, grave-site directories, family and personal narratives, Bibles, diaries and ledgers from the early families in Hamden complement the document collections and shed additional light on the history of Hamden. We have an online index for our collections and several indexes for specific collections: Searching Our Collections
|
Researching in the History Room
You may research our archives during regularly scheduled hours or by appointment. Staff will provide you with assistance. The archivist, under limited circumstances, will scan, photograph, or photocopy archival materials. Donations for such services are appropriate.
|
Requesting research by staff
We offer the services of our staff in answering your requests for specific information. There will be nominal charges for copying material; and a donation to the Historical Society is not only appropriate but also much appreciated.
We cannot respond to requests for general searches, as we do not have a computerized database and many of our records are handwritten and/or hard to read.
To facilitate your request, please supply as much of the following as possible:
- approximate dates (within 10 years) of the event,
- locations (neighborhoods) where the subject(s) lived,
- background of the family members or organization and other relevant information
|
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
|