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Local History

Local History and Genealogy

Let us help you discover Wayland history or your family roots!   Wayland Library’s local history collection is located by the reference desk, where you can ask for assistance. Our collection includes books, documents, maps, photographs, and several artifacts. 

The library’s historical collections are available to the general public for research involving local, genealogical and/or historical issues. In addition to print copies housed at the library, you will find links to digital copies of many of our items which can be accessed either on Digital Commonwealth or Internet Archive. Click below to access a list of resources, including links to pages on Internet Archive and Digital Commonwealth.  You will also find links to searchable spreadsheets on topics in our local history collection. 

Artifacts in the Library

  • Antique wooden box used to deliver books to Cochituate
  • Grandfather clock in the balcony
  • Clock on the fireplace mantelpiece in the Round Room

Cemeteries 

  • North Cemetery epitaphs A-Z Listing [1976]
  • Preservation Assessments and Treatments from 2003, 2015, and 2017

Directories

  • Residential and business directories 1887-1930 [incomplete]
  • Wayland Phone Books 1977-2011 [incomplete]

Library Records

All of the above records have been digitized in both the original handwritten as well as transcribed formats on the Internet Archive. Please note that there are no Library Trustee Minutes from 1946 to 1973. Other possible sources: Annual Reports, Library Scrapbooks, and Library Records (ask librarian for spreadsheets).

Maps and Atlases

Newspapers

Photographs

Wayland Waterworks Centre System 1926-1927

Portraits in the Library

Published Works

  • Lydia Maria Child Collection, including an original copy and facsimile of the National Anti-Slavery Standard newspaper
  • Edmund Sears Sermon Collection
  • Books by Francis Wayland [a library benefactor]
  • Sermons Preached in and About Wayland, 1772-1876
  • Residential and business directories 1887-1930 and 1977-2012 [incomplete]
  • Reflector, Wayland High School Yearbooks, 1944-present
  • The Puritan Village Evolves by Pulitzer Prize winner Helen Emery
  • The Town of Wayland in the Civil War of 1861-1865 [Autobiographies of soldiers who served] 

Reference Collection

Includes books on a range of topics pertaining to Wayland, East Sudbury, Sudbury and Cochituate. Wayland and Sudbury were one town called Sudbury from 1639 to 1779. East Sudbury broke off from Sudbury in 1780 and was renamed Wayland in 1835. Cochituate is a village in south Wayland.

Special Collections

Vertical Files and Boxes

Library staff have collected materials on a wide range of subjects related to Wayland history.  Typical files include news clippings, pamphlets, article reprints, or other materials relating to persons, places, organizations, events, and subjects relevant to Wayland; and family genealogies. Subjects with extensive files have been moved to gray storage boxes for ease of retrieval. Materials in the vertical files and boxes have searchable spreadsheets below. To search the spreadsheets for a topic, use Control F on your keyboard and enter your search term.

Please visit the reference desk for help locating documents in our local history collection! Some materials have been digitized. Others are only available in the library.

Vertical Files Content List

Hollinger Box Collection Descriptions 

Major subjects 

Other Wayland Historical Resources

Resources Beyond Wayland:

Subscription E-resources

  • Ancestry.com (In-library use only)
    • Premium collection of worldwide genealogy records.
  • HeritageQuest (In-library use, remote use for Wayland Library cardholders only)
    • Census data and documents for genealogy research.

Massachusetts History & Genealogy:  

Related Pages