Our Collections

Beige and green map of Peekskill with black writing from 1867
Stack of city directories with burgundy binding and yellow covers in the foreground of picture with “Myers brothers Storage Co,” Background features filing cabinet
Image of letter from Schuyler J. Murden, a civil war soldier, to his mother. In the top middle, there is an image of a woman with an American flag. Text below reads “flag of the free, hearts only home,by angel hands to valor given, They stars have lit the well in dome, And all thy hues were born in heaven.”

The Peekskill Local History Collection, in the Colin T. Naylor, Jr. Archives is an extraordinary collection of photos, maps, books and extensive genealogical data offering a central repository of information on the history of Peekskill. This includes:

  • Digitized Historic newpapers available HERE
  • The Evening Star and Z Photo Collection and Index, a series of local photographs spanning the late 19th and 20th Century
  • Peekskill City Directories from 1891-1985
  • Subject files on a variety of topics. These files include newspaper articles, booklets, pamphlets, and other ephemera related to Peekskill and Westchester County’s past
  • The Franklin Couch Genealogical files
  • A complete collection of  the Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books
  • Map Cabinet filled with historical maps, blueprints, city planning documents, and various oversized ephemera
  • The Schuyler J Murden Papers, which offer a first hand account of a Peekskill boy’s experience in the American Civil War. These letters are in the process of being transcribed and digitized.

The Abraham Lincoln Collection is an outstanding group of books and materials about Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, his politics, and his personal life. Including current as well as rare, older volumes, this collection is supported by the Peekskill Lincoln Society, the oldest Lincoln society in the country. First founded in 1903, the Lincoln Society is a civic group dedicated to the memory of Lincoln.

Front page of Westchester and Peekskill Sentinel from 1830