HARDWICK HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS
Bear in mind that we add materials to these collections constantly, and we update our inventories frequently. If you don’t find something you would like to see, contact us – info@ hardwickvthistory.org – for assistance.
Updated: May 27, 2023
The Hardwick Historical Society holds an extensive collection of historical records, images, newspapers, government publications, and ephemera. Each collection documents the history of the town, the village, the schools, the businesses, and the people.
Quick Access:
For quick access to inventories of our various document holdings, click on these links. For more information on each category, see the narratives below.
Archival Materials:
French Heritage Festival Notebooks;
Hardwick Newspapers are available on Newspapers.com;
Bound Volumes: Annual Reports for the Town of Hardwick; Annual Reports for the Village of Hardwick (1891-1989); Annual Reports for the Schools; Books and Bound Manuscripts; Government Documents; Laws of Vermont; Military Rosters;
Serial Publications: Vermonter Magazine; Vermont History; we have a complete run of the Hazen Road Dispatch; we have incomplete runs of Student Publications and Yearbooks; Text Books; The Waltons Registers/Vermont Yearbooks;
Archival Holdings:
French Heritage Festival notebooks: As early as 1870, people from Quebec made their way into the Hardwick area, and they came in large numbers shortly after World War I. The children and grandchildren of the settlers collected their stories and celebrated their culture at the French Heritage Festival every year between about 1980 and 2000. The organizing committees created notebooks celebrating individual families. To see an inventory of our French Heritage Festival notebooks and a few other published items about the French-Canadian experience in the area, click here.
Manuscripts: hold a large collection of business records from the granite industry that dominated the community’s economy during the first half of the 20th century. It also has smaller collections reflecting the life of a particular person, family, or business of the area. To search the index to the manuscript collection, click here. When you find something of interest, contact us – info@ hardwickvthistory.org – and we will make arrangements for you to see the materials.
Maps: We hold both the 19th century maps of Hardwick, an original 1895 Sanborn Map, and a set of the 1922 Sanborn maps. We also hold a large collection of aerial maps from the second half of the 20th century. For an inventory of the maps, click here.
Newspapers: hold the great majority of the local paper, the Hardwick Gazette, which started publishing in 1889. The HHS has a nearly-complete run from 1897 to the present. The HHS also has a complete run of The Hardwickian, published between 1970-1975 and Our Community Journal, published for 9 months in 2005/2006. All the Gazettes appear in digital form through an arrangement Vermont State Archives and Records Administration and Newspapers.com. To access them, Vermont residents must create an account with MyVermont.gov; the account will get you free access to all Vermont newspapers. People living outside Vermont should create an account with Newspapers.com. Our Community Journal and the Hardwickian have not been digitized, but they will be, eventually.
Notebooks: holds the work of volunteers who have compiled several dozen notebooks to provide researchers with of copies of primary materials or previously published material. Some hold histories of local places or buildings. Others hold collections of obituaries of prominent men and women of the 20th century. Yet others provide genealogical essays, compiled information about sports at Hazen Union High School, and assorted school projects. For a list of our notebooks, click here.
Pictures: contains photographs, print-outs of electronic images, and post cards which document Hardwick as a place and community. It holds thousands of images of commercial and residential buildings, town and village streets and roads, community events, individuals, and groups of people, including a large collection of school class pictures dating to the late 19th century. We have filed the images in folders by subject and date, and the index provides a list of those folders – right now, we have no digitized images online. To search the index to the picture collection, click here. When you find something of interest, contact us – info@ hardwickvthistory.org – and we will make arrangements for you to see the materials. Updated: June 19, 2022
Tubes: contain large documents rolled and stored in tubes – most of them blueprints related the Woodbury Granite Company projects. The rest are a few drawings and some gravestone rubbings. To search the index to the tube collection, click here. When you find something of interest, contact us – info@ hardwickvthistory.org – and we will make arrangements for you to see the materials.
Vertical files: contain hundreds of folders with materials about people, families, buildings, businesses, lakes, rivers, bridges, the Town and Village of Hardwick, Hardwick history, and other topics that shed light on the life and times of the people of Hardwick. It also includes a sample collection of legal documents, letters, business documents, cookbooks, music, and ticket stubs, etc. To search the index to the vertical file collection, click here. When you find something of interest, contact us – info@ hardwickvthistory.org – and we will make arrangements for you to see the materials Updated: October 7, 2021
Bound Volumes:
Annual reports hold annual reports issued by the Town of Hardwick and by the incorporated Village of Hardwick (1891-1989), and by local school districts. All reports issued by Hardwick Academy (1860-1866) and the Hardwick Academy and Graded School District (1866-1969) appear as part of the Schools manuscript collection. Other schools: Hardwick Elementary School (1970-2015), Orleans Southwest Union Elementary School District and Hazen Union High School appear in our inventory of Schools Annual Reports.
Books: Our book collection contain published works by local authors, published works describing Hardwick people and businesses, and a few general published reference works. Bound manuscripts include a substantial number of 19th century financial records. We have organized them using a three-digit Dewey Decimal number to bring similar materials together. To view the inventory of the books and bound manuscripts, click here.
Government Documents: We have a collection of Reports to the Legislature made by various Vermont executive departments. For an inventory of our Government Documents collections, click here.
Laws of Vermont: We have an extensive collection of the published laws created by legislative sessions from the early 19th century into the 21st. For an inventory of our Laws of Vermont collection, click here.
Military Rosters: We have a collection of military rosters from the Revolutionary War through the Vietnam War. For an inventory of our military rosters, click here.
Serial publications: We have three collections of serial publications. The Vermonter magazine, which published stories about Vermont history and culture, ran from 1895 to 1946. For an inventory of our The Vermonter holdings click here. The Vermont Historical Society publishes a scholarly journal called Vermont History. For an Inventory of our holdings of Vermont History and its predecessors click here. The Greensboro Historical Society publishes a journal called the Hazen Road Dispatch. We have a complete run. Click here for the Table of Contents and Index on the Greensboro Historical Society’s website.
Student publications and yearbooks: Hardwick Academy, the local high school between 1870 and 1970, published student work and year books. When students moved to Hazen Union High School, in 1971, they continued the practice. For an inventory of student publications and yearbooks, click here.
Text Books: We have a sampling of text books used in the local schools through the 19th and 20th century. For an inventory of our text books, click here.
Waltons Registers/Vermont Yearbooks: From the early 19th Century, a series of books generally referred to as Walton’s Registers followed by the Vermont Yearbooks, published descriptions of all the governmental bodies in Vermont, consistently gathering the same information every year. The information includes officers in local government and local businesses. For an inventory of out collection of Waltons Registers and Vermont Yearbooks, click here.
Nothing Circulates. When you find something of interest, contact us – info@ hardwickvthistory.org – and we will make arrangements for you to see the materials. That may require a trip to Hardwick, but not always.
Records not at the HHS: Permanent land, tax, and vital records exist at the Town Clerk’s Office. The Vermont State Archives holds microfilms of
1. Volumes 1 to 16 of Hardwick Town Records contain the minutes of Town Meetings going back to 1795, election results, petitions, and a variety of official documents.
2. Deed Books 1 – 13
3. Miscellaneous Records, 1799-1970
4. Vol. 1 of cemetery records
5. Vital Records books 1-3
6. Town Proceedings, 1863-1893
7. Vital Records (Births, Deaths, and Marriages) 1794-1856, 1870-1881