The J. V. Fletcher Library can help you discover local history or research your family’s roots. Due to our move to our temporary location at 515 Groton Road, much of our Local History collection is stored off site and so unavailable. We look forward to having all of our collection available at our newly renovated building!
We have several collections online:
- The Westford Eagle (the local newspaper) from 1970-1976 (scanned, searchable) and from 2005-2019 (text-only). Due to copyright restrictions, electronic access to the Westford Eagle from 1977 on is only accessible in our building, see below;
- The Jubb Brothers Civil War letters;
- The Rustic, a newspaper that included local news from Westford and surrounding towns for the year 1885;
- The Church Book of the Second Church in Chelmsford (which became the First Parish Church in Westford), with information from 1727-1866;
- Town of Westford Annual Reports, from 1840. (Hosted by the town.)
Many of our collections are only available in person. They include:
- The Westford Eagle (the local newspaper) from 1977-2011 (scanned, searchable from any computer in our building);
- Vertical file of Westford related materials: citizens, churches, schools, town departments, military, monuments, recreation, geology, industry, Wal-Mart, Revere Bells;
- Town meeting warrants, budgets and Westford By-laws;
- Westford street listings and city directories;
- Civil War letters and manuscripts concerning the Sanitary Commission in Westford;
- Westford Knight collection of manuscripts, magazine and newspaper articles, and books;
- Reminiscences and oral histories by local students and residents;
- Westford Writers: a collection of books written by authors who live in town;
The following items are temporarily unavailable while at 515 Groton Road:
- Westford Eagle on microfilm;
- Microfilm of Westford Town reports, school records, tax records, vital records;
- Yearbooks for Westford Academy and Nashoba Valley Technical High School;
- Map case containing historic and present day maps of Westford and the area;
- Scrapbooks of Westford related articles from the Lowell Sun (1931-1962).
For assistance or to make an appointment with the Local History Librarian, Charles Rose-Schweppe, call the Reference Desk at 978-399-2304.