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St. Mary’s Church · Catholic community context · 1900COLLECTION 002 Cemeteries
Saint Bernard Cemetery
New Haven
Burial references and surviving sources within the history of New Haven’s Catholic community.
Historical origins · 1851 / 1854
SILENT GROUNDS COLLECTIVE · DIGITAL READING ROOM
Connecticut history,
in pictures.
Step into the streets, workplaces and gathering places that shaped our communities. Start with a photograph. Follow the story.
OPEN FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHPreserve. Restore. Remember.
A nonprofit educational archive103 collections · Original sources · Searchable downloads
LOOK CLOSER · OPEN ANY IMAGE
A window into the past
2011
English Station in the neighborhood streetscape
The power station rises beyond a New Haven intersection. The street-level view shows how the industrial building remained part of the surrounding neighborhood after generation ended.
1936
Yale Bowl in 1936
Carl Van Vechten photographed the Bowl more than twenty years after its opening. The empty curves of seating make the stadium’s continuous shape especially clear.
Circa 1865–1870
New Haven Harbor from the depot tower
Whitney, Beckwith & Paradice’s stereoscopic view looks toward the harbor and Long Wharf. The two adjacent pictures form one stereograph, preserved here as a complete historical object.
Image credit & source
Whitney, Beckwith & Paradice -- Photographer; Public domain; Wikimedia Commons
Original source1957
New Haven Alcos at New Haven 1957 postcard
1970s postcard of two Alco FA-1 units at New Haven Yard in mid-1957
August 13, 2010
Cedarcrest in August 2010
A surviving Cedarcrest building photographed in Newington in August 2010. The image records the campus in its later hospital era, a century after the tuberculosis institution opened.
Image credit & source
Josh Michtom, Flickr; CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. Reproduced for this noncommercial nonprofit archive under the same license.
Original source · Reuse terms2008-10-24
Andrew Mellon Library
Andrew Mellon Library, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Connecticut, USA. Built 1925.
Published 1919
Winchester Hospital across the grounds
The main hospital appears beyond its open grounds. The 1919 history describes the Army hospital occupying the William Wirt Winchester memorial buildings. A place associated with tuberculosis care became part of the wartime medical system.
Image credit & source
History and Roster of the United States Army General Hospital No. 16 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1919), scan page 12. Internet Archive / Library of Congress.
Original source · Reuse termsUndated; historic engineering survey photograph
Tract K shooting range: northeast exterior
Winchester Tract K shooting range, looking southwest.
Image credit & source
Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service; photographer not identified in source metadata / Public domain
Original sourcePublished 1917
The Union Metallic Cartridge works in 1917
Rail lines fill the foreground of this broad view of the Bridgeport works. Factory blocks, chimneys and a water tower show how the business occupied an industrial landscape connected to transport. Published in a 1917 local history, the photograph records a working complex long before later abandonment.
Image credit & source
George Curtis Waldo, History of Bridgeport and Vicinity, volume I (1917), plate facing p. 182; Internet Archive via Wikimedia Commons.
Original source · Reuse termscirca 1930–1945
A souvenir city after dark
The printed moon, bright signs and crowded amusement frontage make Beach Street into a nighttime destination. This is a colored linen postcard, not an unaltered color photograph. It records how Savin Rock was pictured and sold to visitors.
Image credit & source
Tichnor Brothers, publisher. Boston Public Library, Tichnor Brothers Collection. Public domain in the United States.
Original sourceCirca 1977–1978
Bruce Springsteen at the New Haven Coliseum
Bruce Springsteen performing on stage, identified by source as New Haven Coliseum. Bruce Springsteen performing at the Coliseum, around 1977–1978. Concert photographs reveal the cultural life inside an often-debated building.
Image credit & source
Carl Lender / Carl Lender on Flickr; Wikimedia Commons
Original source · Reuse termsJuly 21, 1968
Open car 1425 at the Branford trolley museum
Roger Puta photographed the former New Haven Connecticut Company open car at the museum in East Haven. This is a preservation-era photograph, not an image of regular street service.
THE COLLECTION CATALOG
Browse by town.
PEOPLE · PLACES · MEMORY
Photographs first. Stories close behind.
Browse 513 images across the archive, with dates, short captions and a closer look at the people and places they show.
County names follow the historical geographic boundaries used in these records.
TOWN READING ROOM
New Haven
St. Mary’s Church · Catholic community context · 1900
A directory entry for Mary E. Hart · 1872COLLECTION 003 People & families
Mary “Midnight Mary” Hart
Evergreen Cemetery · New Haven
A life behind a local legend: the monument, burial-index evidence, historical pages and published grave photographs.
Monument life dates · 1824–1872
Center Church crypt · Marty Aligata · CC BY-SA 4.0COLLECTION 004 Churches
Church burial & death records
New Haven & West Haven
Follow a name through church death lists, early burial entries and the pages of local histories.
Center Church organized · 1639
First home on Grove Street · engraving published in 1887COLLECTION 006 Orphanages and Children’s Homes
New Haven Orphan Asylum / Children’s Center of Hamden
New Haven & Hamden, Connecticut
Expansion of the existing New Haven Orphan Asylum collection to follow its 1916 Hamden plans, 1925 relocation and successor Children’s Center.
Opening / first recorded · First week of May 1833 in New Haven; Hamden campus in 1925
Factory panorama, dated 1920 · Original publication unidentified; rendering dated 1920 by Walk New HavenCOLLECTION 009 Businesses
New Haven Clock Works
New Haven, Connecticut
Original advertisements, illustrated products and contemporary records trace the company’s work and changing identity.
Opening / first recorded · Jerome case works: 1844; movement works: 1845
Fine Light Carriages advertisement, 1887 · 1887COLLECTION 010 Businesses
New Haven Carriage Company
New Haven, Connecticut
Original advertisements, illustrated products and contemporary records trace the company’s work and changing identity.
Opening / first recorded · Operating at 5–19 Franklin Street by 1887
Campus and surrounding landscape — Fairfield Hills · 2006-04-05COLLECTION 014 Hospitals & care
Historic Mental Health Institutions
New Haven & Fairfield counties, Connecticut
Explore six documented institutions, their changing names and uses, and the archives that preserve their histories.
Opening / first recorded · Westport Sanitarium: 1891
Chapel Street looking west, New Haven · Circa 1930–1945, catalog rangeCOLLECTION 019 Transport
New Haven & West Haven Trolleys
New Haven & West Haven, Connecticut · connecting towns
Follow trolley tracks from city streets to Savin Rock through five maps, historic postcards, a federal photograph and a 1904 passenger guide.
Opening / first recorded · 1861 — horsecar service · 1892 — electric service
1886 New Haven directory, classified business section · 1886COLLECTION 020 Recreation & landscapes
Historic Roller Rinks
New Haven & West Haven, Connecticut
Original directory entries and a WPA town history recover rink names, locations and the places of skating in local recreation.
Opening / first recorded · New Haven Roller Skating Rink documented in 1884
A Cruel Husband — Horan household newspaper notice · 1885-09-23 (date supplied by reproducing researcher)COLLECTION 021 Cemeteries
New Haven Municipal Burial Grounds
New Haven, Connecticut
Blake Street and Woodin Street, the two documented New Haven municipal cemeteries often called paupers’ burial grounds.
Opening / first recorded · 1884 (Blake Street); 1927 (Woodin Street)
Evergreen Cemetery’s founding and first interment · 1887COLLECTION 022 Cemeteries
Evergreen Cemetery, New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
The 1848 cemetery association, early interments, enlargement and the craftspeople who made its monuments.
Opening / first recorded · Late 1848; consecrated June 29, 1849
Fair Haven Union Cemetery’s 1885 gateway · 2010-10COLLECTION 023 Cemeteries
Fair Haven Union Cemetery
New Haven, Connecticut
The Grand Avenue burial ground, its maritime neighborhood, brownstone gateway and memorial chapel.
Opening / first recorded · Early nineteenth century; graves as early as 1803 reported
Bridgeport: Ringling Bros. Circus Headquarters postcard · 1911 reported postmark; view undatedCOLLECTION 024 Entertainment and public life
Barnum & Bailey Circus: Bridgeport and New Haven
Bridgeport & New Haven, Connecticut
Bridgeport winter quarters and a documented New Haven circus day, told through nineteenth-century engravings, a touring poster, a postcard, and local newspaper evidence from June 1908.
Opening / first recorded · Local winter-quarters opening date not established
West River Memorial Park toward West Rock · 2014-07-09COLLECTION 026 Landscapes & defense
Marginal Drive and the West River landscape
West Haven & New Haven, Connecticut
A former river-edge motor road in West Haven, its New Haven park setting, and the changing tidal landscape around it.
Opening / first recorded · Unknown; first paving documented in 1963
Strong School and U.S. Post Office · circa 1901–1907 (postcard format; photograph undated)COLLECTION 028 Schools
Strong School, New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
The Fair Haven school lineage and its successive buildings at 69 Grand Avenue, illustrated by pre-fire postcards and the surviving Tudor building.
Opening / first recorded · 1915 (replacement building; exact opening day not established)
Welch’s Congress Avenue facade in autumn · October 20, 2008COLLECTION 029 Schools
Welch Training School, New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven’s municipal teacher-training experiment and the Queen Anne school at 495 Congress Avenue.
Opening / first recorded · 1883; formally dedicated February 4, 1884
Hopkins before the hilltop move · Photograph undated; published 1910COLLECTION 030 Schools
Hopkins School, New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
A school founded in 1660, its downtown history, and the later development of its Forest Road hilltop campus.
Opening / first recorded · 1660 (school); 1926 (present campus)
Center Church, documented in 1967 · June 1967COLLECTION 031 Churches
Historic Churches of New Haven and West Haven
New Haven & West Haven, Connecticut
A sourced directory connecting congregations, buildings, dated photographs and period church publications in two towns.
Opening / first recorded · Multiple buildings; see institution profiles
Tract K shooting range: northeast exterior · Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service; photographer not identified in source metadata / Public domainCOLLECTION 040 Industrial sites
Winchester Works & the Factory Neighborhood
New Haven
Factories, testing facilities and surrounding streets reveal the scale of Winchester’s New Haven operations.
Opening / first recorded · 1870 site; major expansion 1914–1916
Eli Whitney Museum, Hamden · Magicpiano / CC BY-SA 4.0COLLECTION 041 Industrial sites
Eli Whitney Armory & Mill River
Hamden · New Haven
Water power, manufacturing and the surviving landscape of an early American armory.
Opening / first recorded · 1798 federal musket contract
New Haven from East Rock cropped · Charles Barneby / Public domainCOLLECTION 051 Historic lands
East Rock Park & Civic Memory
New Haven · Hamden
Designed parkland, monuments and city views reveal how New Haven made public space.
Opening / first recorded · Late nineteenth-century park development
LIGHTHOUSE POINT CAROUSEL BUILDING, NEW HAVEN, CT · JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD / CC BY-SA 3.0COLLECTION 052 Historic lands
Lighthouse Point & Five Mile Point Light
New Haven
Maritime navigation and shoreline recreation share the same New Haven landmark.
Opening / first recorded · 1805 first light; 1847 stone tower
Farmington canal lock 12 · Staib (talk) / CC BY-SA 3.0COLLECTION 059 Railways & transit
Farmington Canal: New Haven, Hamden & Cheshire
New Haven · Hamden · Cheshire
Locks, walls and a later rail route reveal successive solutions to moving people and goods.
Opening / first recorded · 1828–1847 canal service
New Haven Union Station, September 2018 · Pi.1415926535 / CC BY-SA 3.0COLLECTION 060 Railways & transit
New Haven Union Station
New Haven
A monumental passenger station connects New Haven’s railroad history with continuing public use.
Opening / first recorded · 1920 present station
Chapel Square Mall, New Haven, Conn. — interior postcard · Undated historical postcardCOLLECTION 076 Shops & businesses
Chapel Square Mall
New Haven
Downtown shopping, redevelopment and the streets that preceded New Haven’s enclosed mall.
Opening / first recorded · Developed in the 1960s
Bruce Springsteen at the New Haven Coliseum · Circa 1977–1978COLLECTION 077 Recreation & entertainment
New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum
New Haven
Architecture, concerts, public memory and the end of a major downtown arena.
Opening / first recorded · 1972–2002; demolition 2007
COLLECTION 078 Shops & businesses
Hallock’s Furniture & Appliances
New Haven · West Haven · Branford
Advertisements and storefront photographs trace a retailer through downtown and later locations.
Opening / first recorded · Early 1920s origins reported
COLLECTION 079 Shops & businesses
Carroll Cut-Rate Furniture
West Haven · New Haven
Allingtown’s furniture landmark, its earlier manufacturing life and the redevelopment that followed.
Opening / first recorded · Perfume business 1926; furniture from 1952
Yale New Haven Hospital 1911 · Published 1911; capture date unspecifiedCOLLECTION 080 Hospitals & care
New Haven, Grace & Yale–New Haven Hospitals
New Haven
Two hospital traditions, nursing, transport and institutional growth in New Haven.
Opening / first recorded · Founded 1826; first hospital building 1833
COLLECTION 081 Hospitals & care
Hospital of Saint Raphael
New Haven
A Catholic hospital’s beginnings, expansion and later place within Yale–New Haven.
Opening / first recorded · 1907
89. East Haven Tunnel, Sec. 4209, MP 77.00 · 1977COLLECTION 086 Railways & transport
Documented Tunnels of the New Haven Region
New Haven · East Haven · Hamden · Woodbridge
Evidence-based histories of East Haven Tunnel, Heroes Tunnel and documented urban connections.
Opening / first recorded · Rail, road and service connections
North toward West Rock along memorial canal · 2021-09-13COLLECTION 087 Parks & historic lands
Horseshoe Lagoon
West Haven · New Haven
Excavation, recreation, drainage and restoration beside Marginal Drive.
Opening / first recorded · Twentieth-century park landscape
English Station in the neighborhood streetscape · 2011. Dougtone; CC BY-SA 2.0; Wikimedia CommonsCOLLECTION 088 Industry & working life
Ball Island & English Station
New Haven
An island transformed by electricity: brick turbine halls, river channels and the power plant that served New Haven.
Opening / first recorded · 1929 — first generating units
Yale Bowl in 1936 · 1936. Carl Van Vechten; Public domain; Wikimedia CommonsCOLLECTION 089 Schools, sports & community
Yale Bowl
New Haven · West Haven
From opening-season players to packed stands: a stadium built into the landscape and a century of Saturdays.
Opening / first recorded · November 21, 1914
UNH June 2011 · 2011-06-01. Zrosen88; CC BY-SA 3.0; Wikimedia CommonsCOLLECTION 090 Schools, sports & community
University of New Haven
West Haven · New Haven
From YMCA classrooms to a West Haven campus: students, buildings and the making of a university.
Opening / first recorded · 1920 — institution founded; 1960 — West Haven campus
New Haven Harbor from the depot tower · Circa 1865–1870. Whitney, Beckwith & Paradice -- Photographer; Public domain; Wikimedia CommonsCOLLECTION 092 Transportation & waterfront
New Haven Docks & Long Wharf
New Haven
Sailing vessels, rail connections and a changing shoreline: the people who built New Haven’s working harbor.
Opening / first recorded · 1663 — first wharf grant
New Haven Alcos at New Haven 1957 postcard · 1957. J.W. Swanberg; Public domain; Wikimedia CommonsCOLLECTION 093 Transportation & waterfront
The New Haven Railroad
New Haven · North Haven · Bridgeport · Waterbury · Greenwich
Beyond the station: locomotives, shops, freight yards and the people who kept southern New England moving.
Opening / first recorded · 1872 — New York, New Haven & Hartford formed
La Amistad off Long Island · 1839. Unknown author Unknown author; Public domain; Wikimedia CommonsCOLLECTION 094 People, freedom & civic life
Amistad & New Haven
New Haven
Faces, a ship and a city: the Africans who fought enslavement and the New Haven places connected to their freedom struggle.
Opening / first recorded · September 1839 — New Haven imprisonment begins
A photograph of the facade of the New Haven Armory on Goffe Street in New Haven, CT, USA · 2021-06-13. Staib; CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikimedia CommonsCOLLECTION 095 Military & civic buildings
New Haven Armories
New Haven
Drill halls and public gathering places: three armories and the civic life of Goffe Street.
Opening / first recorded · Goffe Street: 1930 · Orange Street: 1906 · Meadow Street: 1883
COLLECTION 099 People, freedom & civic life
New Haven Jail & the Fire of 1910
New Haven
Two jail sites and a deadly workshop fire: a history of confinement, work and loss.
Opening / first recorded · 1857 — Whalley Avenue jail occupied
Federal courthouse and post office: a period view · Undated historic postcard. General Services Administration; Public domain; Wikimedia CommonsCOLLECTION 100 People, freedom & civic life
New Haven Courthouses
New Haven
Marble halls, courtrooms and the Green: the buildings in which New Haven’s public justice took shape.
Opening / first recorded · County courthouse: 1914 · Federal courthouse: 1919
COLLECTION 102 Parks & historic lands
George Washington Trail
Wallingford · Durham · New Haven
Roads, taverns and bronze markers: following Washington’s journeys through Wallingford and Durham.
Opening / first recorded · 1932 — commemorative route markers
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These are growing research collections. A source link identifies material held elsewhere; it does not mean a copy is included. Dates, credits and gaps accompany the records.