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The Stanstead Historical Society was founded in 1929 and acquired its first museum building in Beebe, Quebec in 1973. The museum was later moved to a modern brick building in the town of Stanstead, on the Quebec-Vermont border.
In 1992, the museum was again moved, this time to Carrollcroft , a fine granite house built in 1859 by Charles Carroll Colby in the classic revival style and inspired by contemporary American villas. Carrollcroft and its contents were donated to the Society by the Colby family in 1992.
Today, Carrollcroft houses the expanded Colby-Curtis Museum and Archives. Permanent displays give visitors a glimpse of the gracious lifestyle enjoyed by several generations of a prominent border family of American origin. Changing temporary exhibitions present other fascinating aspects of regional history.
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Carrollcroft , a large heritage house built in 1859 by Charles Carroll Colby. This imposing cut granite and fieldstone house in the Italianate style has been home to the Colby-Curtis Museum since 1992. Together with its adjacent barn building, it contains the collections of the Stanstead Historical Society that continue to grow thanks to local donors.
Boutique. Here are interesting items for sale, many from local artists and artisans : porcelain; paintings; stained glass; pottery; carvings; soaps; jewellery; cards and stationery; books, and the ever-popular "collectibles".
Victorian Garden. The Stanstead Historical Society has developed a garden inspired by Carrollcroft's nineteenth-century gardens and opened it to the public. Visitors can stroll the walkways or relax on one of the garden benches. There are beautiful peonies, iris, roses and other old-fashioned flowers to be admired.
Zig Zag. This is an environmental sculpture based on the equinox created by Vermont artist Kate Pond.
The newly rebuilt solarium. English tea will be served all summer long. Contact us for more details at 819-876-7322.
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Permanent Exhibition
The impressive granite home was built in 1859 by lawyer Charles Carroll Colby and his wife Harriet Child, whose families, like so many settlers of Stanstead Township, came from New England.
Permanent displays give visitors a glimpse of the gracious domestic lifestyle enjoyed by several generations of a prominent border family of American origin.
Temporary Exhibitions:
Pioneer Printers in the Townships (starting June 9)
Stanstead was the birthplace of printing and the press in the Eastern Townships, not long after being established in Québec City (1764), Montreal (1776) and Three -Rivers (1815).
This exhibition features a hands-on approach, where the early presses, typefaces and printing accessories will be displayed in actual demonstrations of the techniques of typesetting and letterpress printing. Among the artifacts displayed, the presentation will showcase presses, equipment and compositors furniture from the early Stanstead Journal Printing Office, as well as other rare printing presses, locally printed books, broadsides and posters will be on display. Visitors and school children will also be invited to try their hands on setting type and printing, in an unprecedented educational program, with printed keepsakes to bring home.
The Writer's Hand (starting June 23 to December 31 2012)
This summer-fall exhibition, held upstairs in Carrollcroft is meant to be a companion presentation to our Pioneer Printers showing, set up in the Doctor's Office. Focusing on the art of Handwriting in all its dimensions from the early schooldays of learning to write, up to calligraphy, penmanship, correspondence, bookkeeping and other business uses of writing by hand in traditional times - long before the advent of computers, keyboards and word-processing. A large range of writing instruments and paraphernalia, and of written material from our archives are displayed. including a wide array of writing boxes and cabinets, pens and pencils, inkwells and writing papers.
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The collections contain some 15,000 artefacts of which more than 4,000 have been catalogued and deposited in the databases of the Société des musées québécois and the Canadian Heritage Information Network (see links below) and features artefacts in the areas of ethnology, military, furniture, decorative arts, costumes, textiles, paintings, and works on paper. Emphasis is on items of local or regional historical significance.
The Colby Collection, with over 3,000 artefacts, includes all of the furnishings that were in Carrollcroft when the Colby family donated the house and its contents to the Stanstead Historical Society in 1992. This collection includes furniture, works of art, books, household implements, decorative art objects (china, glass, silverware), textiles, and Colby family photographs and correspondence.
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NEW: English tea served all summer long or on reservation in our newly rebuilt solarium.
Research Services, educational programs, programs for school children.
Seniors Programs, classes or workshops, lectures
Bilingual guided tours, information centre
Special needs facilities
Publications & products :
Catalogues, posters, postcards, newsletters, brochures
Books and periodicals
Solarium rental for your group activities. Contact Jeanne d'Arc at
819-876-7322 for more information.
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Opening hours Colby-Curtis Museum and Boutique :
June 22nd to September 3rd (Labour Day):
Monday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
September 4th to June 21st:
Monday to Friday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. or by reservation
Museum and temporary exhibitions ($ CAN) :
Adult : $6,00
Senior (65 years old and up) : $5,00
Student : $2,00
Child under 12 years old : $2,00
Group (10 people and more) : $5,00 each person
Family (2 adults and 2 children) : $12,00
Member : free
Group tours welcomed; advance notice preferred.
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History | Physical Decription | Exhibitions | Collections | Services & Activities Hours & Admission | Adress | Links | Français
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Living room
Library
The Boutique
The solarium
The Garden
Wilbur Aaron Reaser
The Reader 1910
Four poster bed
c. 1850
Jumeau, Émile doll c. 1880
Lady's Desk Second half of the 19th century
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