Skip to content

OWL Historical Collection

OWL Historical Collection

The Oliver Wolcott Library has a small, limited historical collection most of which is in a closed stack area. You may search our holdings by using our catalog. Most items in our historical collection are allowed to circulate but a librarian will need to retrieve the items for you. Follow these steps to narrow your search to only the books in our Historical Collection

  • Go to our website at www.owlibrary.org. At the top right corner hover over “library catalog”, select “OWL Catalog”.
  • Select “Advanced Search” on the catalog search page.
  • Under “Shelving location” select “Closed Stacks Historical Collection” from the list.
  • If there is a topic that you are interested in, you may type in the topic under keyword and select “search”.
  • Otherwise, if you would like to virtually browse our collection, you do not need to fill in the keyword, title or author sections, just select search to view the Historical Collection.

Historical Collection at The Helga J. Ingraham Memorial Library of the Litchfield Historical Society

The Litchfield Historical Society is a separate nonprofit, 501(c)3 and is not associated with the Oliver Wolcott Library. The Litchfield Historical Society Museum and Library are exceptional resources for historical documents and information.

The Ingraham Memorial Library houses information about Litchfield’s 280 years of growth and change as reflected through the papers, publications, photographs, and ephemera of local residents, homes, businesses, institutions and organizations. The Library also serves as the official repository for the records of many local institutions including the Garden Club, the Litchfield Red Cross, the Junior Women’s Club and the Mary Floyd Tallmadge Chapter of the DAR.

Birth, death, and marriage records, as well as land and probate records, are located in the town halls of each town and are not collected by the Historical Society or the Oliver Wolcott Library.

For questions about the historical collection or genealogy questions, please visit the Litchfield Historical Society website at https://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ or contact Archivist at archivist[at]litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org


Genealogy Questions

The Oliver Wolcott Library has a collection of books that assist with how to conduct genealogy research. We also have a small historical collection that may be used. The Oliver Wolcott Library is not equipped to answer genealogy questions or to provide research assistance. For specific genealogy questions and genealogical research, please visit the Litchfield Historical Society website at https://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ or contact Archivist at archivist[at]litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org. Please note that the Oliver Wolcott Library and the Litchfield Historical Society are two separate nonprofit organizations.