Our Mission

First settled in 1644, the Town of Longmeadow has a long and interesting history.

The mission of the Longmeadow Historical Society is to preserve our Town's history and inspire public awareness of the people, places, and events that have contributed to Longmeadow's history. 

Our organization, which is a 501(c)(3) corporation, was founded in 1899.

• We operate the Storrs House Museum and manage its extensive and diverse collections and archives. Each week, an educational post is distributed to over 1,600 persons through our email newsletter and Facebook page. 

• During the summer, students intern in our archives research subjects which is part of our educational outreach to the town.

• Throughout the year, we conduct Museum house tours, sponsor speakers, host smaller events, and interact with persons who inquire about people or events associated with our town’s history.

• Each May, we run Long Meddowe Days, a community fair held on the town green which celebrates history; each October, we host Ghosts in the Graveyard, an evening tour of the old burying ground which includes dramatizations of former citizens.

Our Program

Over the past six years, we have worked to update our home, the Storrs House Museum, so that it adequately protects our textile and furniture collections. Community Preservation Act funds have provided monies for a new roof and gutters, heating and air conditioning system, waterproofing, and electrical and safety systems. Our documentary archives, which contain original town records dating from the early 1700’s, are now in acid-free boxes in our secure archival storage vault.

Each room in the museum reflects different periods or exhibit themes. In 2016, we created a new exhibit space in one of the upstairs chambers. The current exhibit in this room illustrates the history of our town from the 1690s to the 1780s and the life of Longmeadow's first minister, Rev. Stephen Williams.

A second upstairs chamber was renovated for an exhibit that opened in May 2018 which focused on international, national, and regional history from 1890–1920 from the perspective of Longmeadow residents. Some of the exhibit was changed to include the 125th anniversary of the split of Longmeadow into two separate towns- Longmeadow/ East Longmeadow by the state legislature on July 1, 1894.

Archivists funded by a grant from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts have cataloged and organized our documents and other historical objects.  This project developed an online finding aid which enables researchers to locate all documents about our town’s history in one database.