[1] The Stamford History Center was founded in 1901 and incorporated in 1909 as the Stamford Historical Society, Inc.[2] The early collections included mainly agrarian objects such as wooden implements, early furniture, ironware, earthenware, pewter and silver.
In 1979 the Historical Society was named principal beneficiary of the Cruikshank Collection, 350 pieces of Early American furniture and other objects, as well as $1.2 million at the bequest of Charlotte Dewing Smith Cruikshank, a lifelong resident of Stamford and member of the Historical society.
[4] In 1984 the Historical Society moved to the Martha Hoyt School, a vacant 1914 fieldstone schoolhouse, owned by the City of Stamford.
[5] In 2017, the board of directors voted to use the name, Stamford History Center, to reflect the physical change of the organization.
[6] The Center includes the Marcus Research Library and Archives, which holds books, pamphlets, and periodicals and boxed manuscript materials from the 17th century to the present.