Mildred Bennett Local History Special Collections

Inventory
Processed by: Joanne Sawyer
Prepared for Internet by: Santi Thompson, Spring 2005
51 Cubic Feet

Background
The Hiram Historical Society was created in 1929 to celebrate and preserve the history of local events and individuals from the founding of the Connecticut Western Reserve to the present day. The Society shares a long and productive relationship with Hiram College and allows various members of the community – from faculty, staff, and students of the college to interested members of the village and surrounding regions – to gather on a regular basis and discuss historical events and people that shaped the local area. The society meets in the Hiram Century House and Museum (illustration on right) located in Hiram’s Bicentennial Park.

Linocut by Martha Kenyon

In addition to the continual preservation of the History House, the Society also publishes articles on local interests, produces programs and events that appeal to the area history of Hiram and the greater Western Reserve, and engages Hiram College students in academic research through a scholarship competition in conjunction with the Department of History.

Mildred Bennett was an enthusiast of local history. In addition to her active participation in the village of Hiram and her long time association with the Hiram Historical Society, Mildred Bennett donated portions of her personal historical collection to the local history collection. In recognition of her contributions to both the collection and the overall operation of the organization, the Hiram Historical Society named the local historical collection in her honor.

This vast collection contains published books on area events and locations and scrapbooks of news clippings documenting area events and important people and places. The Mildred Bennett Collection also holds financial records from various public utilities and organizations, programs and pamphlets from area church and secular groups, and folders containing correspondence, personal interviews, and other miscellaneous public records.

The Mildred Bennett Local History Special Collections contains the local history collections of the Hiram Historical Society and is housed in the Archives of the Hiram College Library.