Rutland Free Library

10 Court Street
Rutland, Vermont 05701-4058
802-773-1860

The Old Section of the Library

Year round:
Monday - Wednesday 9 am - 9 pm
Tuesday 9 am - 5:30 pm (summers)
Thursday - Friday 9 am - 5:30 pm
Saturday 9 am - 5 pm
Closed major federal holidays.

The collection is accessible to the public during all hours the library is open and no fees are charged. Certain rare books and other selected materials are kept in a locked case with key available at the Reference Desk.

There are two photocopiers ($0.15 per copy) as well as four microfilm readers including one reader-printer.

No interlibrary loan available; the Vermont Historical Collection is completely non-circulating. However, we are willing to do a reasonable amount of photocopying in connection with genealogical and other research queries at our regular rate.

General Description of Vermont Collections: Our Vermont Historical Collection contains about 4,000 volumes focusing on state and local history, genealogy, and vital records with a strong emphasis on Rutland City and County.

Books: About 4,000 titles are housed in our first-floor Vermont Room. The collection is expected soon to be completely accessible through the library's computerized catalog. Of particular interest to researchers are census microfilm and indexes, city directories and reports, local and town histories from Rutland and neighboring counties, the DAR and Swan collections, a substantial run of Walton's Vermont Registers and a set of Hemenway's Vermont Historical Gazetteer. There is also an extensive collection of vital records from other New England states, particularly Massachusetts.

Newspapers: The library has a complete run of the Rutland Herald from its founding in 1792. From 1970 through 1992, the Herald is indexed on microfilm, microfiche, and computer, but no indexing exists for issues prior to 1970. Also available are full runs of other Rutland newspapers which flourished briefly during the 19th century such as the Courier and the Independent. We have an index to the Burlington Free Press from 1848 to 1870 in 10 volumes but not the newspaper itself.

Serials/Periodicals: We have bound volumes of the Rutland Historical Society Quarterly, Vermont History, Vermont History News, and Vermont Life. We also have bound volumes of Branches & Twigs, the Genealogical Society of Vermont's quarterly publication from 1974 to the present and bound volumes of The Vermonter from 1895 to 1939 along with indexes to the latter.

Documents: The library's collecting of Vermont-related federal, state, and/or local documents is very selective. Examples are federal censuses of population, retail trade, or agriculture; county business patterns; Lake Champlain Basin studies; Rutland downtown master-plan; and Rutland by-pass or flood-plain studies.

Maps/Atlases: We have Beers's atlases covering most of the state as well as an extensive collection of U. S. Geologic Survey topographic maps covering most of Vermont and some of New Hampshire along with other New England states. Older Vermont maps are found in various volumes compiled and edited by Kevin Graffagnino.

Broadsides: The library does not collect broadsides or other archival material. An important collection of such material, however, is maintained at the nearby Rutland Historical Society.

Manuscripts/Archives: Neither manuscripts nor archives are collected by the library, but we have the research collections of local genealogist Marvel Swan. This collection includes not only books but more than 30 volumes of bound typescript and loose-leaf notebooks containing in some cases unique compilations of cemetery records from Rutland City and nearby towns.

Photographs/Pictures: No attempt is made to collect or maintain a photo collection, this area being the province of the Historical Society.

Film/Video: The library owns the 8-part Vermont Heritage Series of videos produced for the state's Division of Historic Preservation. These videos are not technically part of the Vermont Historical Collection and are available for circulation for a three-day period free of charge.

Music: The collection contains three or four volumes of old Vermont folk songs and ballads but no sheet music or recordings.

Vertical files: The Vermont Room contains two file cabinets containing vertical files. This material, which has accumulated over the years, includes studies, miscellaneous state reports, brochures, pamphlets, and genealogical information such as individual family newsletters.