New Haven Museum, New Haven

The New Haven Museum and Historical Society (originally known as the New Haven Colony Historical Society) was founded in 1862 for the purposes of preserving and presenting the region’s history. The museum collection includes art, photography, furniture and other artifacts pertaining to New Haven’s history and regularly presents programs and special exhibits. Among these are permanent New Haven, La Amistad, local art and decorative arts exhibitions, with collections associated with Eli Whitney, Winchester, Yale, East Rock, Noah Webster, Benedict Arnold, as well as changing exhibitions.

Educational programs provide interactive inquiry-based learning on local history. The Whitney Research Library at the museum contains manuscript and archival holdings relevant to the New Haven area from the time of the first settlement to the present. This collection includes rare books, more than 300 manuscript collections, including personal papers, business and institutional records, court and municipal documents, maps, 4,000 architectural drawings and resources, account books and a collection of approximately 75,000 photographs. It also contains approximately 30,000 printed titles including monographs and pamphlets.

The current Colonial Revival-style building was constructed in 1929 to the design by J. Frederick Kelly. The building includes a number of artifacts from demolished New Haven houses, including a mantelpiece and urns from the Nathan Smith house and a mantelpiece from the Benedict Arnold house. The Ingersoll Room in the museum is decorated with furniture and portraits from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, documenting the home and life of New Haven’s Ingersoll family.

*** Amistad Freedom Trail ***
The Amistad Gallery within the Museum features, among other exhibits, a portrait of Joseph Cinque, leader of the Mende African revolt aboard La Amistad, painted by New Haven artist Nathaniel Jocelyn (1796-1881) in 1840. The gallery also features documents from the trial, including letters from John Quincy Adams and the Mende African captives.