Connecticut Historical Society

The Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) is a private, non-profit organization that serves as the official statewide historical society of Connecticut. Established in Hartford in 1825, the CHS is one of the oldest historical societies in the US. The Connecticut Historical Society is a non-profit museum, library, archive and education center that is open to the public. The CHS houses a research center containing 270,000 artifacts and graphics and over 100,000 books and pamphlets. It has one of the largest costume and textile collections in New England. History In 1825, a petition signed by citizens of Connecticut including Thomas Robbins, John Trumbull, Thomas Day, and William W. Ellsworth, was presented to the Connecticut General Assembly, calling for the establishment of a society to preserve historical materials. The General Assembly gave its consent, and the Connecticut Historical Society was established to collect objects important to the history of the Connecticut, and the United States more generally. The first elected officers were Trumbull, Day, Robbins, Thomas Church Brownell and Walter Mitchell.