Local History
 

Leominster Monument Square 1906
 
This special collection includes many types of material on the city of Leominster. Also included is information about Massachusetts state, counties and communities, and some history of the other New England states.
 
Leominster materials include such items as directories, yearbooks, church histories, annual reports and anniversary publications.
 
This collection includes many types of material about the city of Leominster and its surroundings, including Worcester County. It also contains state, county and community histories for much of Massachusetts, as well as some adjacent states.
 
Compiled Massachusetts military records from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War may be found here as well. Also among the holdings are incomplete sets of yearbooks from Leominster High School and the now-defunct Leominster Hospital School of Nursing.
Directories held in book format include Leominster, 1900-1990; Fitchburg, 1876-1990; an assortment of suburban directories 1970s and 1980s;and most telephone directories from 1981-present.
 
Clippings file
This collection comprises copies of newspaper articles on Leominster people, places and activities.
 
Some thin brochures and publications are also included. Of particular interest is the “Citizens” component of the clippings file. Folders are filed alphabetically on families and individual citizens of Leominster, or of particular interest to Leominster. The folders are not exhaustive nor do they cover a set range of dates, though the latter 20th century predominates. Researchers should be aware that this is very much a work in progress.
 
Fitchburg State Local History Conference papers (selected)
The library maintains copies of papers dealing with Leominster history that were presented at the Local History Conferences held at Fitchburg State College during the 1980s. Most of the papers bear directly on some aspect of Leominster history. Papers were written by adults, college and high school students.
 
Maps
Atlases of Leominster, Worcester County and Massachusetts in various years, largely the late 19th and early 20th century, are available for study in the special collections area, though they may not be copied because of their fragility.
 
Individual maps of Leominster may be studied in several parts of the library.
 
In addition, the Reference Department holds microfilm reels of multiple Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Leominster (reel 22), Fitchburg (reel 17), and some other Massachusetts towns. These reels are not located physically within the Local History and Genealogy Collections. Check with the Reference Desk on the second floor for assistance.
 
Microform
The library’s collection of microforms is located adjacent to the Reference Desk on the second floor, separate from the Local History and Genealogy Collections. These include microfilm of The Leominster Enterprise (weekly 1873-1903; daily 1895-1973; merged with Fitchburg Sentinel September 3, 1973 – present); a complete run in microfilm of The Pioneer (a weekly published 1985-1989); and both microfilm and microfiche of pre-1900 Leominster directories. Other microfilm reels include Proprietors’ (1701-1847) and town records (1740-1900); records of the First Church in Leominster, originally Congregational, now Unitarian-Universalist (1743-1960); and multiple Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Leominster, Fitchburg and some other Massachusetts towns.
 
Microfiche of both Leominster and Worcester vital records to around 1900 are also available for research.
 
Check with the Reference Desk on the second floor for assistance.
 
Reports
Photocopies and typed transcriptions of the proprietors’ records (1710/11-1834) are available in the collection, as are town/city reports (1866/67-present), school reports (1848/49-present), poll tax reports (1915-1931), valuations (1876-1923) and street lists (1958 to present).
An assortment of city and regional reports of various types is also maintained.