Educator Resources
Below is a list of resources you may wish to use in your classroom. This is based on a presentation we gave in November 2022. We are happy to host you and your students to expand upon these offerings. Please email us to schedule, or with any questions or possible additions.
Our objective on this page is to provide links to online resources which correspond to our physical holdings.
Hartford Public Library provides a number of Research Tools. These include:
Hartford Courant, 1764-present
The links we provide are for HPL cardholders. If you have a card from another library, you may try accessing the databases through that library.
1764-1996: Full page PDFs in black and white. Scanned from microfilm.
1992-Present: Only contains text, not the context from the pages.
2008-Present: Full page PDFs in color. May be a lag of up to three months.
Sanborn Maps
Access is provided by the Library of Congress. No login or library card is required. These maps provide historical information on city streets and buildings. We hold physical copies of several years, including 1917 and 1920.
HHC Digital Collections
All of the photographs we have digitized, and a few other items (a 1920 City Directory and high school yearbooks) are available for download and use through the Connecticut Digital Archive.
Side note: Some of the photograph collections that have not yet been digitized may be searched here. Click on the title of a collection (at present, Tony DeBonee, City Parks, and Hartford Times). You may either use the Search Collection box, or scroll through list under Collection organization.
HHC Books
All of the books in our collection may be searched through the HPL catalog. Please note this will search all HPL holdings. To limit to just HHC material, start here.
Guides and Exhibitions
Finding aids, which are guides to our archival collections, may be found here. These are more in depth than catalog records. If you find a catalog record for a collection, there should also be a direct link to the finding aid.
Subject Guides
Black, Latinx, and Indigenous leaders in Hartford history
Puerto Rican/Hispanic Genealogy
Online Exhibitions
An exhibit focused on the history of Hartford City Parks
Celebrating the centennial of women’s suffrage. Includes suggested classroom lesson/activities for Grade 10.
Hartford History Center
Hartford Public Library
500 Main Street
Hartford, CT 06103
860.695.6297