Photo Archives at the Lynn Museum & Historical Society

Since its founding in 1897, the Lynn Museum & Historical Society has realized the importance of the photographic record.  Among the duties first recognized by the founders were the need to collect as many images of the past as possible and the responsibility to document the city as it then existed.   Since that time, the LMHS Photo Archives have grown to an impressive 25,000 photographs, depicting nearly every aspect of life in Lynn between 1848 and the present.  Photographic collections include:

The Ezra Fraser Collection

The Ezra Fraser Collection contains over 170 glass-plate negatives of photographs taken in 1879 and 1880.  Many of these images were reproduced in Photographic Views of Lynn with Historical Sketches from 1629 to 1879, a book published in commemoration of Lynn’s semiquincentary (250^th anniversary) in 1879 and were again published in 2002 in Lynn in the Victorian Era, written by former LMHS Archivist Diane Shephard. 

Daguerreotype Collection

The LMHS Photo Archives contain approximately 100 daguerreotype portraits of Lynn citizens, including members of the John Hutchinson family dating to the 1850s.  Also of note are three daguerreotype memorial portraits and an unusual daguerreotype of a dog.

Lynn Fire Images

Fire has been an unfortunate yet prominent part of Lynn’s history, and the LMHS Photo Archives feature hundreds of photos documenting devastating blazes and their aftermaths.  Many of these photos were donated from the personal collection of Joseph Scanlon, Jr. (Lynn Fire Chief, 1972-1987, and son of Joseph Scanlon, Sr., Lynn Fire Chief, 1939-1960).

Lynn Through The Lens: A Snapshot of the City

In 2007, LMHS launched the “Lynn Through The Lens” project.  Designed to boost the contemporary archival holdings and involve community members in documenting local history, this project culminated in a month-long photographic exhibition and a calendar of its most memorable images.  With 230 images currently in this collection, LMHS plans to continue “Lynn Through The Lens” annually.

Other Photographs

The LMHS Photo Archives contains thousands of other photographs of life in Lynn: images of local landmarks, businesses and workers, the construction of the Lynnway, special events, citizens, schools and their students…the list goes on and on.  If you are interested in learning if the LMHS Photo Archives contain a photograph of a particular subject, please contact us for more information.

Why Our Photographs Are Not Available Online

Digitizing our collection, and thereby making it available for online viewing, is a priority for the Lynn Museum & Historical Society.  However, the expense of undertaking such a large scale project is beyond our current budget.  We are actively seeking funding opportunities for this and other preservation projects. If you are interested in making a contribution to aid our efforts to bring our Research Library and Archives into the 21^st century, please contact us today.