Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Library
Hartford, CT

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center holds the largest collection of materials related to Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the influential anti-slavery novel and 19th century best seller, and multiple other books. The Library and Archives contain more than 12,000 books, 4,000 pamphlets, and 180,000 manuscripts, as well as 12,000 images — photographs, prints, broadsides, posters, and drawings. The Library is open by appointment Monday through Friday.
The Stowe Center Library is housed in the Katharine Seymour Day House, adjacent to the Harriet Beecher Stowe House. Day (1870-1964) was Harriet Beecher Stowe’s grandniece. An ardent preservationist and activist, she purchased the gilded age mansion (1884) in 1941 to save it from demolition. That same year she founded the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center.

The Day House and the Harriet Beecher Stowe House are located in the west end of Hartford in what was once the Nook Farm neighborhood, home to writers (Mark Twain), politicians, and reformers, including Stowe's sister, women’s rights activist Isabella Beecher ******. Stowe moved into the house in 1873 with her husband and adult twin daughters. The family remained there for the last 23 years of Stowe’s life.

The Library will be closed on Monday, June 19, in observance of Juneteenth National Independence Day.

We are hoping it will not rain on our parade! We will decide by early afternoon if we have to reschedule, and we will post the information on social media and on our website. Please call the Library for more information.

Click here for More Information About The Norfolk Library Night Owl - June 16, 2023