Founded 1913

In 1913, a group of town residents concerned about preserving the town's historical resources founded the New Ipswich Historical Society. The hopes and goals of the founding members, Sarah Fiske Lee, William A. Preston, Mary F. Preston, Herschel W. Lewis, Helen M. Brooks, and Helen A. Sargent, have persisted for all of these years. Their original mission was "to discover, secure, and preserve whatever may relate to the natural, civil, literary, family, and ecclesiastical history of the town." Although the Society has grown, relocated, and modernized, it remains essentially an expression of those original sentiments--an institution committed to preserving and presenting the history of New Ipswich, in as many ways as we can imagine.

Today, the collection of the New Ipswich Historical Society includes books, photographs, maps, letters, paintings, samplers, trade signs, bandboxes, furniture, cooking implements, tools, clothing, firefighting equipment, and a myriad of other historical artifacts that enrich our understanding of the history of this place.

The Historical Society will be open to the public on the second and fourth Saturday of the month, June 6th - October 11th 2020  and open for special events as published here.

Research Inquiries

The New Ipswich Historical Society Board is comprised of volunteers who open the building every other week on Saturdays (generally 1-3 p.m. and by appointment) from early June through mid-October. We welcome visitors to use the resources available at the Society to do their own research and will do our best to refer visitors to other local and regional resources if we do not have the materials they need. The New Ipswich cemetery records have been digitized, and interested individuals seeking genealogical information may contact Ollie Niemi, Sextant of the Cemetery Committee (New Ipswich). In addition, the New Ipswich Town Offices have records of vital statistics that visitors to the Society may be seeking.

Cemetery Database

The Cemetery Database can be downloaded, from here.

New Ipswich Center Village Historic District

If you live in one of the houses listed on the National Register of Historic Places (the New Ipswich Center Village Historic District), or if you are just interested in the architectural history of New Ipswich, see our new page dedicated to the Historic District.

Programs

The Salem Witchcraft Trials and ‘Moldy Bread’: A Case Study in Fake News

Presenter: Margo Burns

Date: Oct 29, 2023 at 2:00pm

Location: The New Ipswich Library, 6 Main St, New Ipswich, NH

Margo Burns’ Bio: The 10th-generation great-granddaughter of Rebecca Nurse, who was hanged in Salem in 1692 on the charge of witchcraft, Margo Burns is the project manager and an associate editor of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, published in 2009 by Cambridge University Press. This work is the definitive collection of transcriptions of the legal records of the episode. Burns is also a lifelong fan of cartoons, cutting her teeth on Popeye and Yogi Bear on Saturday mornings as a child, then formally studying animation for two years in the Rhode Island School of Design's Continuing Education Program as an adult. She has been leading computer animation projects with middle and high school students since 2001 at UNH's Tech Camp in Durham, where each crew makes a complete film in a week. Burns recently retired from St. Paul's School, as the Director of The Language Center, where she was also the adviser to a student club, the International Lunchtime Animation Festival (iLAF), which tapped her personal library of animation of over 750 titles.

 Click here for more information.

Projects

Click to read about our latest Preservation Project and signup to receive out New Ipswich Historical Society Newsletter.

We also have a ongoing project called “The Greatest Generation,” which involved scanning and interpreting a photo album in the collection with pictures of the young men and women from New Ipswich who went to fight in World War II. We would love to have you contribute your memories to this project.

Donations

Please consider donating to the New Ipswich Historical Society

 Donations to the New Ipswich Historical Society can now be made via PAYPAL.

Click here to donate via PAYPAL!