Special Collections
Genealogy Collection
Located in the Lemcke Reference Room and including some duplicate copies of selected titles available for check out, the Genealogy Collection is a popular attraction for both local patrons and visitors researching their roots. Highlights are listed below. A reference librarian would be happy to show you more. For free help from members of the Falmouth Genealogical Society, come to their drop-in help session every Tuesday from 2:00 -4:00 PM in the Reference Room.
- Access to American Ancestors, Ancestry’s Library Edition, & HeritageQuest Online
- Guides for researching family history
- Family Histories, including the Hatch Family, the Swift Family, & the Davis Family
- Vital Records to 1850 for most Massachusetts towns
- New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1847 to present day
- Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, v. 1-22
- Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War and Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Civil War
Katharine Lee Bates
Katharine Lee Bates, poet, professor of English, and author of America the Beautiful, was born in Falmouth on August 12, 1859. A representative collection of her works is on view in the Lemcke Reference Room.
Local History
Located in the Lemcke Reference Room and partially online, the Local History collection contains a variety of materials to aid the researcher and casual reader interested in the history of Falmouth and Cape Cod. Highlights are listed below. A reference librarian would be happy to show you more.
Primary Sources
Annual Town Reports, 1873- present (online from 1873 – 1962)
Atlas of Barnstable County, 1880 and 1910
Blue Books, 1908 – 1937 (various years) “Containing lists of the summer residents of the principal resorts along the South Shore … including the Falmouths [sic] …” (The South Shore Blue Book, 1908)
Bourne, Falmouth and Sandwich Directories, 1900 and 1903
Cape Cod Standard Times, on microfilm from October 19, 1936 – September 1, 1975
Cape Cod Times, September 1, 1975 – present (online from 1998 – present; on microfilm September 2, 1975 – December 2016)
Falmouth Enterprise, 1896 – present (online from 1896 – 1962; on microfilm 1896 – present)
Index to the “Mail Away Edition” of the Falmouth Enterprise, 1932 – 1944 & 1946 – 1985
An annual special edition of the newspaper focusing on “the personality and life of our people” (Falmouth Enterprise, May 11, 1956 p. 10) to mail away to visitors from off-Cape.
Falmouth High School yearbooks, 1931 to present (nearly complete set). To access the digital yearbook collection in reverse chronological order, click here. The links below will bring you to the catalog entries for the print editions.
The Broadcaster (Jr. High)
Clipper Compact (Sr. High)
The Lawrencian (Sr. High)
Falmouth Street List, 1980 – present
Log of a voyage on the ship Samar, 1876-1877
Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of Falmouth, 1901, 1906, 1914, 1923, Jan. 1930 – Sept. 1942
Secondary Sources
The Book of Falmouth, a tricentennial celebration, 1686-1986, edited by Mary Lou Smith (1986)
History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, edited by Simeon L. Deyo (1890)
History of Cape Cod: the annals of Barnstable County, including the district of Mashpee by Frederick Freeman (1858-1862)
The Names of Cape Cod by Eugene Green, William Sachse and Brian McCauley
Ring Around the Punch Bowl: the story of the Beebe Woods in Falmouth on Cape Cod by George L. Moses
Robert C. Hunt Jr. Postcard Collection
The Robert C. Hunt Jr. Postcard Collection features old postcards from Falmouth’s villages collected over many years by Robert Hunt of Connecticut. The scanning of the original postcards to digital form was paid for by the Friends of the Falmouth Public Library. You can view all the postcards here.