Research Materials

A wide assortment of research materials have been collected and carefully preserved at Billings Farm & Museum. The following is an overview of the types of materials that the Museum currently maintains:

Library bound book collection: 9,385 cataloged books under various subject headings relating in a very general sense to 19th and early 20th century agricultural practices and farm life in Vermont and New England. All catalog card information has been digitized and is accessible through PastPerfect.

Textual materials: An extensive collection of manuscript/typescript materials including letters, diaries, journals, bills, receipts, typed correspondence, etc., relating to the Billings family, the farm operation, and related activities from the mid-nineteenth century onward.

Photographic materials: Approximately 2,000 photographs, negatives, slides and glass plates, dating primarily from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and relating to agriculture and farm life in the upper Connecticut River Valley.

Audio and video holdings: Over 100 oral history recordings (many now in digital format) relating to agriculture and farm life in the upper Connecticut River Valley. Several mid-to-late 20th century film and video recordings relating to agriculture, farm life, and craft practices in the upper Connecticut River Valley. There is also an extensive collection of oral history transcripts relating to the Blodgett family, the source for over 6,000 items currently in the museum collection, which describe and discuss many of the above noted objects.

Access and/or use of any of these materials is by prior arrangement. Please contact Darlyne Franzen, Deputy Director, at 802-457-2355, ext. 18 or by email at dfranzen@billingsfarm.org