Resources include maps, genealogies, family records, architectural plans, house histories, yearbooks, street directories, and transcripts of town meetings, beginning in 1656.  

 

Subjects include family gatherings, historic home and buildings, school graduations, natural disasters, town organization, parades, and many more.

 

The Society’s photography collection contains over 10,000 photographs and continues to grow. Images of Andover’s development from the late 1840s to the present include family portraits, holiday events, sport clubs, businesses, parades, class photos, mill workers, and many other subjects.

 

Published and non-published sources of Andover families make this a valuable genealogy center in New England. The Charlotte Helen Abbott Collection contains her works from 1853 to 1920 and is the beginning for any search. Church records, cemetery inventories and family files round out the collection. We have extensive records on the Abbott, Chandler, Foster, Bailey, Jenkins, Carrier, Wardwell, Peters, Holt, Osgood, Frye, Ames and Poor families.

 

Martha Carrier and Andover’s role in the Salem Witch Trials
The Anti-Slavery Movement
Andover During the Civil War
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Anne Bradstreet
Early settlement of Andover
Phillips Academy
Andover Theological Seminary
Architectural history & how to research “my” old house
William Wood and the Development of Shawsheen Village
Black History, especially Salem Poor and others who served in Revolutionary War
Andover Village Improvement Society
 

Research requests
If you are unable to come in person, you may submit a research request. Please send a detailed written request to:
 

Research
Andover Historical Society
97 Main Street
Andover, MA 01810
or email your research request to:  info@andoverhistorical.org
 

How you can help
Currently, a project is underway to digitize and catalogue the entire collection to both protect the original photographs and, at the same time, make then more accessible to researchers. If you are interested in volunteering to help with this project, please call 978-475-2236 or email info @andoverhistorical.org .