MARGARET NOBLE FREEMAN LOCAL HISTORY ROOM

The Hadley Public Library's Margaret Noble Freeman Local History Room is a repository of materials relating to the history of Hadley, Massachusetts and surrounding towns.

Some of our most frequently referred to collections, such as our cemetery records and town annual reports, have been digitized and can be accessed on the Web. These items, along with other print resources may be accessed via the Internet Archive. An ongoing digitization project has also been undertaken to make various historical photographs, maps, and other documents and ephemera available via the state's Digital Commonwealth project.

HPL maintains a subscription to Ancestry.com, however access is limited to in-library use only.

The standard work on the early history of Hadley from settlement through to the revolutionary era is Sylvester Judd's History of Hadley. The book is available both in the library as well as online as a downloadable/searchable text via the Internet Archive and Google Books

Other local historical resources that we recommend include: 

• The Hadley Historical Society (hours by appointment) located at 12 Middle Street [(413) 587-2623]

• The Porter-Phelps-Huntington House Museum located at 130 River Drive [(413) 584-4699]

• The Hadley Farm Museum located at 147 Russell Street (seasonal)

• The Summit House at Skinner State Park (seasonal) 

• Special Collections at the Jones Library, Amherst

• The Hampshire Room For Local History & The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum at Forbes Library, Northampton

• Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center