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.

What’s New?

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

We are busy planning programs for the 2020 Season and are interested in learning what New Ipswich residents and NIHS members may want to learn about. Please use email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to make suggestions.

Projects

We have a 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.

Facebook

We are on Facebook! To see what’s new at the Historical Society or just to post your questions or comments, try our new Facebook page.