The Dedham Museum & Archive preserves, collects, protects, and shares material from the past through to the present day, creating educational outreach and programming to make history relevant and engaging for all audiences. While the organization’s focus is on the history of the area that is Dedham, before and after settlement, the DM&A also celebrates the influence that the people of Dedham, events, and industry have had on the development and growth of the nation. The organization’s mission is to preserve and share the Town’s history and the stories of its people and places, across Dedham and beyond, and connect the past with the present.
The museum houses important regional collections.
The archive holds important records and manuscripts related to Dedham and the nation.
The library and archive of the Dedham Museum & Archive is an independent research facility. It collects, preserves, and provides access to records and material relating to Dedham and Dedham history. All are welcome to visit and utilize the library and archive.
View a selection of collections and archival items through our online catalog.
In progress.
Details about visiting the Archive, Research and
Reproduction Fees, Copyright and more.
The majority of digitized material consists of Dedham and area newspapers dating from 1796-1973. Some of the newspapers include the Dedham Transcript and Dedham Gazette. Other digitized materials include film, the Nathaniel Ames Diary, Passenger Lists, Sanborn Fire Maps, Dedham Historical Register, First Parish Records, Dedham Pottery Catalog -1938, Norfolk County Census -1790-1930, Herman Mann, Jr.- The American Heroine, and the Corbin Collection located at NEHGS.
The brick building at 612 High Street, Dedham, was built on the site of the home of Jeremiah Shuttleworth. Shuttleworth ran a dry goods store on the first floor and was also Dedham’s first postmaster, appointed by George Washington. Both the property and a bequest for the construction were left to the Dedham Historical Society (as it was known at the time) by Hannah Shuttleworth, Jeremiah’s daughter and niece of Fisher and Nathaniel Ames. In 1886 the Shuttleworth house was moved to Bryant Street; it was razed in the 1970s due to becoming derelict. Architect Edwin J. Lewis, Jr., designed the present two-story structure containing a lecture-display hall, basement storage area, and office. The building was dedicated in 1888 and is one of the oldest purpose-built historical societies in the nation. In 1965 a second exhibition room was added along Church Street with more document storage space beneath, and the earlier basement was modernized to contain what is one of the most important archives in New England, and a historic and genealogical library.
