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A photo of snow cleanup in 1948 from the Concord Public Library Digital Collections, which goes live on December 9. -
A grocery receipt in 1907 from the Concord Public Library Digital Collections. -
An image of Blanchard & Co. from the Concord Public Library Digital Collections, which goes live on December 9. -
Concord Library volunteer Ginny Babczak prepares to scan in materials for the digital archive for the library. Babczak is a former librarian who comes in to scan materials. The archive goes up live on Dec. 9. -
Volunteer Ginny Babczak holds up a 1855 invitation to the New Hampshire Press Association at the Eagle Hotel as she prepares to scan it in for the digital archive for the library. Babczak is a former librarian who comes in to scan materials. -
Concord Library volunteer Ginny Babczak holds up an etching of President Abraham Lincoln as she prepares to scan it in for the digital archive for the library. Babczak is a former librarian who comes in to scan materials. -
Concord Library volunteer Ginny Babczak looks over documents as she prepares to scan in materials for the digital archive for the library. Babczak is a former librarian who comes in to scan materials. -
Concord Library volunteer Ginny Babczak prepares to scan in materials for the digital archive for the library. Babczak is a former librarian who comes in to scan materials. The archive goes up live on Dec. 9.
Snowstorm cleanup in 1948. Views of Main Street from more than a century ago. A Woodworth Grocery receipt from 1907 for apples, oats, corn flakes and beer.
The Concord Public Library holds a trove of city history in its archives, and now an online version accessible to anyone called CPL Digital Collections will go live on Dec. 9, eliminating the need to access the library’s Concord Room.
The archives hold records retained by the city like annual reports and master plans as well as generations of ephemera donated to the library, like old photographs. Upwards of 1,500 files dating back more than 200 years have been added to the website, and more are coming. The platform hosting the archives is more suited to short-form files like pictures and documents, so some of the longer records — like the city directories, annual reports and yearbooks — won’t be included, for now.
The Concord Room has long been a popular destination for genealogists, local authors and other researchers — and it’s not going anywhere — but digitization expands access: people anywhere will be able to dig around in this collection of local history at any time. The files will be sorted into collections, searchable and free to download.
“This was all about accessibility, and making sure that anyone from anywhere would be able to access the information without that any sort of barrier,” archivist Jennifer Needham said at a presentation to City Council earlier this month.
Libraries nationwide have been making more and more of their content and resources available online in recent years, a trend that accelerated during the pandemic.
“Overall, our online presence has really grown as a result of that, and will continue to grow,” library director Todd Fabian said in an interview. “We want to reach as many people as possible, from their living room, from their work — wherever people access this.”
Fabian and Needham also hope that the digital collection will spread awareness, both of how much history the library has in its files and that people can add to them through donations.
“I think people have an idea of what we have, but they don’t have a complete understanding of the depth of the material there,” Needham said.
“As we launch this,” Fabian continued, “and people think about us as they’re going through old things and moving and decluttering and spring cleanups, I really think it’s gonna increase the amount that people consider donating things. … We don’t want to lose the history.”
Starting Dec. 9, the CPL digital collections will be accessible via the library’s home page at https://concordnh.gov/1983/Library. Downloads are free, but those wishing to use them for any kind of publication are asked to get permission from the library.
