Help us buy quality storage containers for our archival collection: your donation will preserve the core of our museum!
Our archive is ready for an update-- and we need your help! We’re fundraising to purchase new preservation and storage supplies for our most vulnerable collections.
The archive of the New Britain Industrial Museum contains thousands of rare and unique documents and small objects— from 1820 clothing fasteners to WW2 factory badges— that tell the story of New Britain’s manufacturing firsts, along with more than two hundred years of city history. These collections are vulnerable to environmental, mechanical, and chemical deterioration, and require specialized storage materials in order to be preserve them for the future of the museum and our community.
To bring our archive up to current preservation standards, many of the materials held within need to be re-housed in special containers. You can help us do this by donating towards our goal of $2000, which will be used for archival containers, tools, and other storage supplies.
Donors who give $35 or more may claim a gift of a vintage apple crate, while supplies last!
Typical pictured above, pick up at NBIM
Pictured from our archives, counter-clockwise from top left: Stanley Works instructional film reels, documents from the Stanley Historical Collection, business ledgers from Stanley Works and Corbin Cabinet Lock, memorabilia from the desk of former New Britain Herald editor Judith W. Brown, and World War II-era employee ID badges from several New Britain companies, including Stanley, Landers, Frary, & Clark, Fafnir Bearing, and more.