About Us

The Simsbury Historical Society is a non-profit educational corporation founded in 1911 through a bequest of Abbie Sexton Barber to begin a “Historical Room” in Simsbury.  Our first and current permanent home was acquired in 1962, through the gift of the Phelps family homestead.

The Simsbury Historical Society collections now include more than one dozen structures, significant regional artifacts and important period and thematic collections.  The archives include an impressive collection of primary source materials that relate to early settlements in Connecticut, the founding of Simsbury, and the development of the surrounding region.  Secondary sources are particularly strong in Connecticut, family and regional history, but also include published works on historic interiors, political processes, and social and military history.

Today the Simsbury Historical Society continues its stewardship of period and modern buildings, artifact and manuscript collections, and special events and workshops, which afford the general and professional public the opportunity to research and enjoy Simsbury’s past and present.