Historical Societies and Similar Organizations
The links below will take you to the websites of a few important sites for information pertaining to Middlebury’s history, as well as the history of our entire area, ultimately to Connecticut’s history. Many of these organizations will also be featured on Facebook.
The Naugatuck Valley Genealogy Club. This club meets monthly in the Prospect, Connecticut Public Library, and usually by Zoom. If you are interested in family history and genealogy, monthly speakers and regular members can help you with your project. You are most welcome at any meeting.
Friends of Connecticut History (formerly Greater Naugatuck Valley History Consortium). The group meets every other month at the Naugatuck Historical Society building in Naugatuck. The group is open to town and municipal historians, representatives of historical societies, librarians, archivists, and virtually all who carry forth the task of collecting, preserving and spreading the history of our area.
Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc. This society, the most popular in Connecticut, offers rich resources to its members at its library, presentations and meetings.
Naugatuck Historical Society, Naugatuck, Connecticut. This neighbor society, located in the former home of the Tuttle family, contains much history of the town.
Oxford Historical Society, Oxford, Connecticut. Located to our south, their website has numerous resources about the history of the town.
Prospect Historical Society, Prospect, Connecticut. Located to our east on the other side of Waterbury, Prospect has rich resources on its town. Some Middlebury residents originally came from this town.
Southbury Historical Society, Southbury, Connecticut. Our neighbor society has wonderful exhibits and archives concerning the town.
Waterbury Historical Society. The Mattatuck Museum doubles as the site for the Mattatuck (Waterbury) Historical Society. The museum contains archives from the early days of Waterbury.
Watertown History Museum, Watertown, Connecticut. Our neighbor to the north is in new quarters, and their page contains many resources.
Woodbury Historical Society, Woodbury, Connecticut. Our neighbor to the west, the history of this charming town is represented in several buildings.
Libraries and Repositories
The Connecticut State Library This is one of the top repositories for all things historical about Connecticut. Located in Hartford, the History and Genealogy Unit of the library is especially friendly and can help with almost any genealogical issue. The collections, some of which are available online, are numerous, and there are always expert staff members able and willing to assist you in any way.
The Godfrey Memorial Library This library, located in Middletown, Connecticut, is devoted entirely to genealogy.
The Mattatuck Museum The museum, located in Waterbury, Connecticut, contains a treasure of art and history. Their archives hold many items of special interest about the greater Waterbury area.
The Silas Bronson Library, Waterbury, Connecticut. This library, in downtown Waterbury, five miles from Middlebury’s center, contains many resources, including genealogies, business histories, Connecticut history, especially the Naugatuck Valley, area newspapers and much more.
Websites
FindAGrave.com. This is a free website containing Middlebury Cemetery gravestone images. Simply type in the name of the individual or family, add “Middlebury, New Haven County, Connecticut” to the cemetery location box, and search. You may add other refinements to narrow down your search.
The Library of Congress and the Connecticut State Library jointly offer a free newspaper search site at Chronicling America.
The best sites for genealogical and historical newspaper search sites are subscription sites: Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com. We highly recommend them, along with Fold3, a site that specializes in military records. A higher subscription to Ancestry.com entitles you to access the other two sites for an additional charge. However, there may be another additional cost for the greatest access to those other sites.