The Historical Collections at the Plumb Library

Rochester, Massachusetts

The Historical Collections at the Plumb Library include material pertaining to the town of Rochester, Massachusetts, her daughter towns Marion, Mattapoisett and Wareham, as well as research material on towns in Massachusetts and New England, genealogical resources, maps, photographs, and artifacts. The collection consists of material from the library’s collection, the collection of the Rochester Historical Society, the Rochester Historical Commission, the records of the North Rochester Congregational Church, and the Captain Dexter Collection of artifacts and mineralogical specimens.

Get online access to in-depth information on historic buildings and homes, as well as monuments and cemeteries in Rochester.

You can view, read, and print out pages from the Rochester Community-Wide Historic and Architectural Survey. These volumes contain the 1997-1998 Town Survey of historic properties done by the Public Archeology Laboratory, Inc. of Rhode Island with the help and co-operation of the Rochester Historical Commission. They also include surveys completed and submitted to the Massachusetts Historical Commission in Boston by the Rochester Historical Society in 1973.

Our state of the art historical preservation techniques ensure these resources will stand the test of time.

In the fall of 2000, the collections and the library building underwent an in-depth preservation survey, which helped us prioritize our preservation needs and decide which materials in our collection were most in need of treatment. We also learned ways we could keep our collection safe from deterioration while increasing access to and awareness of these valuable resources.

In 2001 the library, in partnership with the Historical Society, Historical Commission, and area churches, began a grant-funded project to preserve the most fragile and unique items in the collection, improve the storage of historic materials, and improve access to the materials through our online catalog, the internet, and in-person use of the collections. Funding for this project was provided by the cooperating groups, as well as through a generous federal LSTA grant, which was administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

The material was treated at the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, and copies of the originals are available for use by researchers. Please feel free to contact us for a list of titles or search for individual titles in our Historical Collections in the SAILS Catalog. This important resource is made available through the SAILS Digital History Collection.

 

For more information, contact the library at (508) 763-8600 or email us: info@plumblibrary.com