http://www.danburymuseum.org

About us:

          The Danbury Museum & Historical Society is YOUR hometown museum.  Preserving, protecting, and educating Danbury’s friends and neighbors about the heritage and history of our community is our main focus.  Situated in downtown Danbury, Huntington Hall is a modern exhibit building containing the museum offices, research library and gift shop.  Huntington Hall is also a place for local groups to hold meetings, and  used by the museum to host a diverse series of lectures and programs that are free and open to the public.

          The museum preserves several historic buildings including, the John and Mary Rider House (c. 1785), the John Dodd Hat Shop (c. 1790), the Marian Anderson Studio, the King Street Schoolhouse, the Little Red Schoolhouse and the Charles Ives Birthplace.  The collections stored in theses historic buildings encompass everything from hats to colonial kitchen equipment from the 18th century, to the christening costume of Charles Ives, and gowns worn by Marian Anderson onstage during her career. The Danbury Museum has an outstanding collection of historic textiles and one of the oldest quilts in Connecticut.  The archival collection is an amazing example of diverse ephemera tracing the life and lifestyles of Danburians past and present.   In addition, historic newspapers, city directories, letters, diaries, and a wide-ranging photo collection provide a unique glimpse of our local, regional and national history.
          Since 1941 the museum has preserved Danbury’s heritage and historic properties as it continues its mission to increase historic based tourism, museum programming, and the expansion of local history curriculum in our public schools.  The Danbury Museum is thrilled to provide tours of the historic buildings in its collection, and to safeguard the documents that reflect the myriad of faces of our city’s history.

Our accomplishments:

           The recent completion of an extensive renovation to Huntington Hall provided the museum with handicap accessibility and facilities, a permanent Danbury history timeline exhibit, and the installation of new display cases that will be used for ongoing exhibits.
           The museum continues to concentrate on highlighting Danbury’s local history and providing a rich diversity of programs. Programs in our January to June series focused on local history and musical performances in the Marian Anderson Studio.  The museum launched a renewed initiative to increase school programming for Danbury children inclusive of tours, on-site re-enactors and in-school programs which reached over 1,000 children in the last fiscal year alone.  Research services are readily available for addressing local history and genealogy-related queries.  In the past year, we are thrilled to have accommodated students, family historians, authors, and filmmakers from all over the globe.  Recently secured funds will enable the museum to purchase and install software that will allow us to fully catalog materials for easier access.           

           Since July 1, 2008, the city and the museum have been working as partners regarding the formation of the Danbury Museum & Historical Society Authority.  The new authority is an agency focused on continuing the preservation of our rich history, and participating in our bright future, with special attention on meeting the needs of the Danbury community.

           The Danbury Museum & Historical Society launched a new and improved website recently for the dissemination of information related to Danbury history.  It has become a successful vehicle for drawing people to the museum, and for access to our research services.  You can also find us on Facebook!