Pilgrim Hall Museum - Collections

The Library & Archives of the Pilgrim Society are housed in Pilgrim Hall Museum. Since its founding in 1820, the Society has collected books, manuscripts and source materials that relate to the Plymouth colonists and the history of the colony and town they founded.

Our collections are historical, not genealogical.

For genealogical reference, please contact:
The General Society of Mayflower Descendants
Winslow Street
Plymouth, MA 02360
(508) 746-3188
www.TheMayflowerSociety.org

New England Historic Genealogical Society
101 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 536-5740
www.americanancestors.org

The collections of the Pilgrim Society are non-lending reference collections; materials do not circulate. The collections are open to historians by appointment. Please call (508) 746-1620 Extension 5 to make an appointment.

The collections of the Library & Archives are diverse and come in a variety of formats. They include:

The Reference Collection, related to the Pilgrim settlement in America and to Plymouth history.
The Lord Collection, a large collection of pre-1925 materials relating to the Pilgrims.
The Rare Book Collection, including the Bradford and Alden Bibles, books printed by William Brewster in Leiden, and titles included in 17th century Plymouth inventories. A number of rare books are always on display. For information on four Bibles in the Pilgrim Society collection, click here.
The Manuscript Collection of primary source material on early Plymouth history.

A bibliography on the history of Plymouth Colony and the Pilgrims, provisions lists, wills and inventories and biographical information, lists of Native leaders and colonial governors, texts of documents such as the Mayflower Compact, a list of Mayflower passengers and much more information about the Pilgrims, the Native Americans, and the Town of Plymouth -- all researched in the Library & Archives of Pilgrim Hall Museum -- can be found in Beyond the Pilgrim Story.

Two specific collections of documents located in “Beyond the Pilgrim Story” are In Their Own Write: Native American Documents from the Collections of the Pilgrim Society and Long Road to Freedom: Documents Relating to African Americans in Plymouth Colony

You will also find a selection of the writings of John Robinson, pastor to the Pilgrims, by clicking here.

Back to Our Collections

Pilgrim Hall Museum
75 Court St, Plymouth, MA 02360 | Phone (508) 746-1620