Stamford Historical Society Photo Archives

The Photographic Archives at the Stamford Historical Society hold over 10,000 images, dating back to Civil War times. The photographs provide a rich pictorial history of the growth and development of Stamford; its people, industries, government, and communities. The collection embraces visual images in a wide variety of formats. In addition to early and modern prints, there are daguerreotypes, tintypes, ambrotypes, stereographs, postcards, carte de visite and cabinet cards, films and glass plate negatives, and 35 mm slides.

The diversity of collection has made it an excellent resource for researchers, historians, educators, publishers, students, authors, film makers, graphic designers, interior decorators, businesses, and others.

The Photo Archives have a long history of voluteers. The Virginia T. Davis Stamford Historical Society Distinguished Service Award 2000 was presented to Chet Buttery. Chet was instrumental in organizing the photo collection when the Society moved into the current headquarters.

The Photo Archivist's Selection of the Month is an ongoing online feature!

Volunteering

The Department is currently without an archivist or assistant archivist and help is urgently needed! Volunteer position descriptions.

Contributions to the Collection

The collection has grown out of generous donations from local families and photographers, and continues to grow as new contributions are made. New contributions are accepted gratefully, but selectively.

Aside from vintage photos from your family's attic, we are looking for photos dated post WWII, especially, but by no means exclusively, for the following:

• general photos between 1945 and 1966.
  Research requests show an almost total lack of photos of any kind from this time frame.
  A recurrent request, aside from street scenes, are photos of Stamford High School.
• photos 1966 up to today
• photos of WWII, Korea and Vietnam Veterans
• postcards 1950 and later
• digital scans

If you want to donate photos, postcards, or scans, please call for an appointment at (203) 329-1183,
or e-mail us at adminstrator@stamfordhistory.org.

Finding Your Photos

Only photographs of Stamford are archived. They are filed by subject category. Because many of the photos are fragile, they cannot be directly accessed by the public. Staff will retrieve them for you for viewing.

Also Available for Research

The Stamford Historical Society houses several books containing photographs of Stamford. If you are looking for a picture of your house, you might try the survey done by Renee Kahn and Virginia Davis on significant architecture in Stamford, and our Historic House Survey on homes before 1820.

There are three photo books by Carl Lobozza, Pictures from the Past, Journey through Time, and the Changing Face of Stamford. A newer publication is Images of Stamford. Browsing these books might reveal the image you are looking for. These books may be found in the Marcus Research Library.

To Obtain Images from the Collection

Details and photographic reproduction fees

The Marcus Resarch Library is open Tuesday through Saturday from Noon until 4 PM. For the Photo Archive, please call for an appointment, or e-mail to administrator@stamfordhistory.org.

Can you identify these photos?

Visit our Blog

Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900 by Joan L. Severa ISBN: 0873385128

Dating Old Photographs 1840-1929 by Halvor Moorshead Jeff Chapman Family Chronicle ISBN: 0968507638

Collector's Guide to Early Photographs by O. Henry Mace ISBN: 0873417208