Resources Available at Jenks Library Archives

See our Collections pages, including:

• Documents
• Newspapers
• Photographs
• much more...

Online Resources, Listed by Category

General History of Acton:

• Overview of Acton's History, by Isabella Choate 1996
• Digitized Town Histories & Records:
  • Rev. James Fletcher's Acton in History
  • Harold Phelan's History of the Town of Acton
  • Josiah Adams' 100th Anniversary Address, 1835 (with history to that point)
  • Shattuck's History of the Town of Concord
  • Hudson's History of Concord, Massachusetts (Vol. 1, Colonial Concord)
  • Town Meeting Records
    • 1735-1829 (transcriptions)
    • 1735-1797
    • 1798-1818
    • 1819-1839
    • 1839-1862
    • 1863-1889
    • 1889-1913
    • 1914-1930
  • Records of Acton's First Parish Church 1738-1819
  • Tax Valuations
    • 1860
    • 1875
    • 1890
    • 1900
    • 1910
    • 1926
  • Land Records
    • Registry of Deeds, Middlesex South
  • Census Records (available on paid sites and FamilySearch except for)
    • 1855 Census page 1 (East Acton households)
  • Other Records
    
    • Acton's Reply to town of Boston's committee of correspondence, relating to British infringements on colonists' rights, 18 January 1873
      
• Maps at other Repositories
  • Map of Acton by Jabez Brown, 1794
  • Middlesex County, Walling, 1856
  • Beers Atlas of Middlesex County, 1875 (see pages 43, 44)
  • Map of South Acton, 1886
  • Boundary Atlas, 1904
  • Concord, Maynard & Hudson Street Railway Route
  • Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps 1916
  • Roads and Buildings of Acton, W. P. A. 1937
  • Roads and Waterways of Acton, W. P. A. 1937
    • Symbols for W.P.A. maps, 1937
  • Acton Map, Town Engineering Dept., 1984
• Acton Historical Society-Created Content, Blog Posts
  • Abolition and Rev. Woodbury
  • Acton Women's 1895 Vote
  • Acton Women Get Right to Vote, 1920
  • Bicentennial Celebration in Acton, 1935
  • Bounty Controversy after Civil War
  • Cannon on the Common Controversy
  • Cannon on the Common, 1942 Controversy
  • July 4th Celebrations in Acton (1889-1920)
  • Patriots' Day 1895
  • Postmaster Dispute, 1880s
  • Stagecoaches Through Acton
  • Temperance and John Fletcher
  • Watering Troughs in Acton
  • West Acton's 1913 Fire
  • West Acton Tried to Secede (1868-1869)

Arts in Acton:

• Blog Posts
  • Annie E. Payson, Artist in Acton
    
  • F. J. and Margaret Taylor, Photographers
  • The Singing Turner Sisters

Black Actonians:

• Blog Posts
  • Acton's Early Black Residents
  • Titus Haywood, Revolutionary War Soldier
  • John Oliver, Revolutionary War Soldier
  • John Oliver's Farm

Business and Industrial History of Acton:

• Blog Posts
  • Barker's Cider Mill
  • Ebenezer Davis Sr. & Jr.'s Bellows & Other Businesses
    
  • Fessenden West Acton Barrel Shop
  • John Fletcher & Sons, Boots & Shoes
  • Hall Brothers (Pails & Churns) Photos
  • Heywood's Soapstone & Grist Mill
  • John Sherman Hoar (New England Vise Company)
  • Ice Harvesting in Acton
  • Hanson A. Littlefield's Many Business Ventures
  • N. L. Merrill, Traveling Photographer, 1856
  • Morocco in South Acton
  • New England Vise Company, Part 1
  • New England Vise Company, Part 2
  • Powder Mills, 1898-1899
  • F. J. Taylor and Margaret Taylor, Photographers
  • West Acton Roller Skating Rink

Churches in Acton:

• Evangelical (Congregational) Church - History & Catalogue of Current and Former Members,  dated 1868
  
• Records of Acton's First Parish Church 1738-1819
  

Immigration:

• Irish in 1850s Acton
  

Military History of Acton:

Revolutionary War:

• Documents (digitized)
  • Captain Joseph Robbins' militia company, Sept. 29, 1774
    
• Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors Buried in Acton's Cemeteries
• Markers and Monuments Relating to the American Revolution
• The Issac Davis Story & Rediscovery of the Trail
• Blog Posts
  • Acton's Early Black Residents (includes John Oliver & Caesar Thompson)
  • Captain Joseph Brown
  • Remembering Thomas Darby
  • Isaac Davis's Home
  • James Emery
  • Titus Haywood, Revolutionary War Soldier
  • Did Deacon Jonathan Hosmer Serve in the Revolution?
  • Did Jonathan Hosmer Jr. Serve in the Revolution?
  • Jonathan Hosmer III in Bennington
  • John Oliver
  • John Oliver's Farm
  • Samuel Parlin
  • Isaac Ramsdell
  • Prisoners of War in Acton (James Sherland and William Haywood)
  • Sorting out John Swifts
• Books of Interest for Acton, digitized:
  • Josiah Adams' 1850 "Vindication" of Captain Isaac Davis
  • French's The Day of Concord and Lexington The Nineteenth of April 1775
  • Commemorative of Calvin and Luther Blanchard, 1899
• Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War
  • Vol. 1: A - Bery
  • Vol. 2: Bese - Byxbe
  • Vol. 3: Caal - Cory
  • Vol. 4: Cose - Dry
  • Vol. 5: Dua - Foy
  • Vol. 6: Fra - Gyp
  • Vol. 7: Ha - Hix
  • Vol. 8: Hme - Jyp
  • Vol. 9: K - Lsu
  • Vol. 10: Lua - Mop
  • Vol. 11: Mor - Payzel
  • Vol. 12: Pea - Razaray
  • Vol. 13: Rea - Sey
  • Vol. 14: Sha - Sth
  • Vol. 15: Stibbens - Tozer
  • Vol. 16: Tra - Whe
  • Vol. 17: Whit - Zyr
• Not Digitized
  • History of the Acton Minutemen and Militia Companies, Charles R. Husbands, 2003.

War of 1812:

• List of Capt. Silas Jones' Company, raised in and around Acton 1814
  

Civil War:

• Markers and Monuments Relating to the Civil War
• Blog Post about Veterans' Bounties, Co. E, 26th Regiment
• See also
  • Acton Memorial Library's Online Civil War Archives
  • History of the Old Sixth Regiment (Civil War)
  • Roster of Isaac Davis Post No. 138
  • Records of the 26th Mass. Regiment Association
    

Spanish American War:

• Spanish American War Monument
• Blog Post, William Rodway
  

World War I:

• Online World War 1 Exhibit
  
• Veterans from Acton Listed on World War I Memorial
  
• Markers and Monuments Relating to World War I
• Blog Posts
  • Sidney Edwards, Killed in France
  • New England Sawmill Unit

World War II:

• Blog Post about Scrap Drive and World War I Cannon
  

School History in Acton:

• Blog Posts
  • Yesterday's Problems in Acton Education
  • Schoolhouses, Early History and North Acton
  • Schoolhouses, East Acton district
  • Schoolhouses, Maintenance and Improvements
  • East Acton School District Students 1828 (includes information on individuals)
    
  • Lyman Cutler's Select School, 1849
    
  • F. W. Pelton's Private High School, 1852 (includes biographies of students)
    
  • Acton High School in the 1880s
    
  • An Acton Schoolteacher's Commute, Early 1900s
    
  • Acton High School's Concord Hiatus
  • Homework, 1915-Style
    

Social and Fraternal Organizations in Acton:

• By-Laws of Corinthian Lodge, Louis Surette (includes Acton men who belonged to the Masons)
  

Sports and Recreation in Acton:

• Blog Posts
  • Acton Baseball's Early Days
  • Baseball Team to Identify
  • Dances in Acton
  • West Acton's Football Team
    
  • Roller Skating & Roller Polo in West Acton
  • Early Acton Football Revisited
    
  • Summer Activities, 1921
    

Women of Acton:

• Blog Posts
  • Acton's First Women Voters (1879)
  • Acton Women's 1895 Vote
  • Acton Women Get Right to Vote, 1920
  • Clara (Hapgood) Nash - Teacher, Lawyer, Poet & Reformer
  • Ella Miller's Early Life in North Acton - Diarist, Schoolteacher
  • Ella Miller's Commutes to Acton Schools
    
  • Annie E. (Hardy) Payson - Artist
  • Sarah (Faulkner) Skinner - Discovered through Letters
  • Margaret (Dorsey) Taylor - Photographer
  • Estelle (Turner) Davis and Harriet Turner - Singers
  • Estelle (Turner) Davis and Harriet Turner - Singers, Part 2

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List in progress, please check back as online indexing continues.  See also our Acton Family Resources page.