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Archive Directory

The historical society's archives are composed of more than 40,000 items, some on exhibit in our museum, and others in our Research Center, located in what once was the police station and is now the office.

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We have files of obituaries and "personal" clippings, which include various feature stories or other papers highlighting one person.

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Our book collection includes histories of Crawford, Venango and Mercer counties as well as that of Greenwood and Summit townships, annual directories from 1920 to the 1940s, showing names and addresses of residents from the Conneaut Lake area, including the east and west sides; Arcadia books of other areas; Camp Lend-a-Hand, Bicentennial, Centennial and Sesquicentennial books; railroad books; Atlas and miscellaneous others.

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We also feature items in 75 categories with each category having its own book.

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For the most part, the books contains newspaper clippings, photographs, postcards and other paper products. A brief description is given for some of the less familiar categories. Otherwise, the topic speaks for itself.

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  • Airport: Did you know Conneaut Lake was once home to an airport and flight school?  It was located on Route 322 going toward Hartstown where the Nutrition Group is now located. This book contains the history and various photographs.

  • Barbara J: Details of the popular boat, from its start to today.

  • Barber Cemetery: Located off First Street, the cemetery contains the graves of many men, women and children who died during a malaria epidemic in the mid-1840s as well as three veterans of the War of 1812; and many of the town's prominent families. The books contains the names of those buried as well as births and dates and descriptions of many tombstones. Also included are many photographs.

  • Boats, other than the Barbara J.

  • Borough Council: Contains newspaper clippings from the last 20 years as well as selected clippings donated to the society.

  • Buildings: Photographs of the various town buildings are the focus of this book. In addition, it contains pictures of most of the homes in the borough in the late 1990s, taken by the late George Rutherford.

  • Businesses

  • Camp Lend-a-Hand:  a camp for handicapped children and later became a camp for Girl Scouts.

  • Celebrities: Did you know Mark Twain once visited Conneaut Lake? The celebrities book shows stories of  many others who were here before they became famous. 

  • Cemeteries other than Barber Cemetery

  • Centennial, Bicentennial, and Sesquicentennial of Conneaut Lake

  • Channellock:  the maker of tools marketed throughout the world, had its beginning at Conneaut Lake. 

  • Churches: This book includes activities of various churches.

  • CLABA (Conneaut Lake Area Business Association) 

  • CLAMA (Conneaut Lake Aquatic Management Association), the group founded to keep the lake free of seaweed and other harmful products.

  • CLJMA (Conneaut Lake Joint Municipal Authority)

  • CLCDC (Conneaut Lake Community Development Committee) and Ice House Park:  This group, founded within the past 10 years, is spearheading revitalization efforts and helps with further development of Ice House Park

  • Community Events

  • Community Organizations

  • Conneaut Lake Park: Many books, tracing history, legal issues, photographs and other items relating the park.

  • Excalibur and Eric Hoover: He was named a national Small Business Owner of the Year and invited to the White House

  • Fairyland Forest: Built by Conneaut Lake Park in the 1960s and located what is now Camperland

  • Fallowfield Township, Hartstown and Jamestown.

  • Farms and Agriculture

  • Fish Commission

  • Fires and Fire Departments

  • Funeral Directors

  • Greenwood Township and Geneva

  • Harmonsburg and Summit Township

  • Harvey Thomas Store

  • Historical Information: General historical information

  • Historical Society: Conneaut Lake Area Historical Society -- includes many books of the various activities since it was formed in 1999.

  • Hotels: Descriptions and history of the many hotels in the area, including pictures and menus.

  • Huidekoper: Details of the Huidekoper family and the stables

  • Ice Houses: Looks back at the history of the ice house industry with pictures and other materials.

  • Indians

  • Iroquois Club

  • Keystone Ordnance Works, located in Geneva during World War II to make war materials.

  • Kiwanis Club and Snowball Festival

  • Lakeland Museum: The predecessor of the historical society with its main focus maintaining and displaying the Liberty the Second boat.

  • Liberty the Second: The boat sank in 1922 during time trials for a speedboat race and was on the bottom of Conneaut Lake until it was retrieved in 1985 by divers Brian Simpson and Bill Houghton.

  • Local Pageants

  • Miscellaneous: Includes other items not specifically related to the other categories.

  • Museum relates to the Conneaut Lake Area Historical Society Museum and the Woolly Mammoth

  • Physicians: Information and biographies of the many doctors in the area through the years.

  • People: Pictures of various people donated to us.

  • Post Office

  • Pumpkin Fest

  • Quilt Shows

  • Railroads

  • Ralston's Hardware

  • Regional Police

  • Restaurants

  • Sadsbury Township

  • Schools: Tracing history of various schools of Conneaut Lake area as well as newspaper clippings about many activities.

  • Shermansville

  • Snow Waters: Information about a planned housing development that never materialized.

  • Sports: Photographs and information about all types of sports at Conneaut Lake

  • Tornadoes of 1985

  • Veterans: Military information

  • Veterans: Personal information and pictures of veterans

  • Weather: Information on unusual weather activities

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