New Hampshire Historical Society: Protecting Granite State History Since 1823

The New Hampshire Historical Society has for nearly two centuries showcased and protected the history of the Granite State for the education of future generations. The New Hampshire Historical Society actually consists of three buildings in downtown Concord: a commercial structure built in the mid-19th century that’s been converted to a museum, a library built in 1911 designed by famed architect Guy Lowell, and the Eagle Stable, a brick building next to the museum currently in use as office rental space.

Together these three locations contain 30,000 museum objects, 50,000 printed volumes, 1.5 million pages of manuscripts, 800,000 pages of newspapers, 200,000 photographic images, and 10,000 broadsides and ephemera items from all corners of New Hampshire. Objects in this vast collection range in age from several thousand years ago all the way up to the present day, all with the aim to educate visitors about the diversity of the people, economics, and societal history of New Hampshire.

Among the most prominent pieces owned by the society are the original eagle from the New Hampshire State House and the Mystery Stone, an egg-shaped stone carved with Native American images that was discovered in 1872 at a dig near Lake Winnipesaukee. Donated to the New Hampshire Historical Society in 1927, the Mystery Stone has attracted worldwide attention because of it unknown origins or purpose. According to the museum’s information, a stone like this has never been unearthed anywhere else.

The library at 30 Park Street contains a non-circulating research collection that boasts, among other things, more than 5,000 genealogies of New England families, compilations of cemetery records from more than 100 towns, 3,000 volumes of periodicals on Granite State history, and the largest collection of New Hampshire newspapers from the time period between 1756 and 1900. The library is open to the public, with a small $7 a day fee to non-members for usage of materials. That fee allows access to the entirety of the general and special collections, but the library does ask that researchers call ahead so they prepare materials ahead of time.

The Eagle Stable is the only building of the three not open to the public, but the museum and library are more than enough to interest even the most ardent student of New Hampshire history. Special exhibits are held at the museum throughout the year.

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