The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society has announced that researchers and local history enthusiasts are now able to access the museum’s collections through an online database.

By Ronni Newton

The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society has an extensive archive containing printed images and physical artifacts – housed in what is now known as the Tracey M. Wilson West Hartford History Center  – at the 227 South Main Street museum, but now there are elements of that collection accessible online for use by researchers and other history enthusiasts.

The new online collections catalogue portal contains thousands of digital images and highlights from the museum’s archive.

“Museums and historical societies exist as educational institutions within their communities – to collect and preserve local stories so that future researchers can revisit and learn from the past,” said Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society Executive Director Jeffrey Mainville. “West Hartford’s former Town Historian Tracey Wilson had advocated for the development of an online collections database for decades, and sharing the museum’s unique holdings with the world was critically important to her. We are proud to finally make this a reality.”

Judd’s Drug Store. Courtesy of Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society

Wilson, who passed away in February 2025, donated her papers to the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, which later that year named the history center in her honor. The museum’s website includes the following statement from Wilson: “The most important thing to me as a Historian is to inspire others to love history and scholarship. The stories of local history are the stories of our nation. History is grounded in a struggle for the United States to make good on its constitutional promises of equality, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, democracy, and the right to rebellion. It is important to ensure access to primary documents that can help illuminate our town in a new way. Engaging people in doing history with primary sources helps to tell inclusive stories and leads to civic engagement.”

Bat Battalino. Courtesy of Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society

The Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society was founded in 1965, and in the past six decades has collected and preserved photographs, artifacts, archives, and books that pertain to the life and published works of Noah Webster. In its capacity as the town’s historical society, the institution has also built an archive pertaining to the history of the Town of West Hartford – from its beginnings as a rural farming community through its transformation to a vibrant and diverse suburban center.

Mainville said the portal is now available to the public on the museum’s website under the Tracey M. Wilson West Hartford History Center menu. The database is hosted by PastPerfect software and the project launch was made possible with initial funding support from M&T Bank.

“Museums don’t run on pixie dust. It takes steady funding to keep our professional staff working and hundreds of hours to get these projects completed. We are grateful to M&T Bank for providing the seed funding, as it’s been a multi-year journey to get the Tracey M. Wilson West Hartford History Center back up and running,” said Mainville. “Launching the online portal is another service that we provide to this community and we’ll continue to add content as funding becomes available. We hope that local folks will enjoy exploring the town images and appreciate the work we do here, and that researchers from anywhere in the world can find information that is useful to their projects. It’s taken many, many months of diligent focus to get to this point.”

Beatrice Barton Bagley and Baby Jane. Courtesy of Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society

Please note that “images found within the online collection database are property of the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society, and Rights & Reproduction Fees will apply for commercial use.” Images include a digital watermark.

Researchers wishing to visit the Tracey M. Wilson West Hartford History Center at 227 South Main Street should call 860-521-5362 to make an appointment.

The historic house and public exhibit spaces are currently operating under a summer schedule, and are open Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

For more information, visit our website at www.noahwebsterhouse.org or call 860-521-5362.

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