4Titles
Explore publications and collections from the past.
Community History Archive Partner
Meredith Public Library
Meredith, New Hampshire
Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Meredith.
1880 to 2008Dates represented
See individual titles for available dates.
181,238Archive pages
Historical pages reported for this collection.
Explore local history
Discover the people, places, and stories of Meredith, New Hampshire.
Discover another side of Meredith, New Hampshire through newspapers preserved in the Meredith Public Library's digital archive. Its four titles include material from 1880 to 2008.
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Selected titles
The titles shared by Meredith Public Library include “The Meredith Eagle” and “The Meredith Weekly News”.
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Free and open access
No subscription or payment required.
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A closer look
An earlier generation comes into view through the stories its newspapers chose to report, placing familiar names and events within the concerns of their time.
The reporting of earlier years offers a way to explore how events were understood as they happened and how local experiences became part of the historical record. A family story, a classroom project or curiosity about a familiar place can lead to a closer look at the community and the lives of earlier generations. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.
Explore the collection
Titles in this collection
Browse four titles and 181,238 digitized pages, with material from 1880 to 2008. Through a partnership with Advantage Archives, Meredith Public Library shares these sources from the past. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.
Every search for the past starts with a question. Explore the titles below, follow the sources that speak to it, and see what new detail appears.
The Meredith Eagle
1,312 pages from 1880 to 1883
The Meredith Eagle and Blue Ribbon Advocate
32 pages in 1880
The Meredith News
179,684 pages from 1884 to 2008
The Meredith Weekly News
210 pages from 1880 to 1883
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Local History
About the Meredith Public Library’s Local History & Research Resources
The Meredith Public Library , located at 91 Main Street, Meredith, NH 03253, offers free and open access to public library services and local history research tools that support genealogical inquiry, community discovery, and lifelong learning. As a central educational resource for Meredith and the Lakes Region, the Library brings together historical records, reference materials, databases, and community connections that help document people, places, and events that shaped the region’s heritage.
Local History
Local History & Archival Resources
- Genealogy & Research Databases — in-library access to genealogical resources such as Ancestry.com and AmericanAncestors.org, along with cemetery and obituary indexes that support family history research.
- Local Newspapers & Obituary Files — holdings and research assistance for the *Meredith News* obituary and historic newspaper content, reflecting community life from the early 20th century onward.
- Oral History & Community Projects — library-facilitated initiatives such as oral history projects and recordings that preserve firsthand accounts of local life and events.
- Reference Collections & Maps — local reference files, historical studies, regional maps, and curated materials that support research into Meredith’s civic, social, and cultural history.
These resources act as a portal to Meredith’s past — helping community members, students, and researchers explore primary sources and historical context, whether tracing family roots, studying town development, or engaging with local narratives.
About the Library
About the Meredith Public Library
Meredith Public Library is located at 91 Main Street, Meredith, New Hampshire 03253 , and serves a community of approximately 6,200 residents with robust collections and programs. The Library offers books, digital media, public computers and Wi-Fi, interlibrary loan services, community programming, and research support for all ages. Contact by phone: (603) 279-4303. Regular hours are Tuesday–Thursday 9:00 AM–8:00 PM; Friday 9:00 AM–5:00 PM; and Saturday 9:00 AM–2:00 PM (closed Sundays and Mondays).
Library History
The History of the Library & Its Building
The Meredith Public Library began in the spring of 1882 when local citizens launched a public reading room that grew into the town’s free library. In 1900 Benjamin M. Smith offered to fund a new library building as a memorial to his parents, leading to construction of the Classical Revival structure designed by George Swan. The new building was dedicated in 1901 and later expanded with an addition in the late 1980s, preserving its historic architectural character.
About the Community
About Meredith, New Hampshire
Meredith is a town in Belknap County situated at the southern end of Lake Winnipesaukee. Originally settled in the mid-18th century, it became a hub for mills, commerce, and later tourism connected to the Lakes Region. The public library serves as a cultural and research anchor in the community, supporting literacy, heritage exploration, and civic engagement.
Local History
Did You Know?
- Meredith Public Library hosts a Genealogy Club that meets monthly and supports both in-library and Zoom research discussions.
- The library’s obituary and cemetery database includes historic records from the *Meredith News* dating back to the early 20th century, offering insights into local family histories.
- The library building — the Benjamin M. Smith Memorial Library — is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its Classical Revival architecture and community significance.
To explore local research tools, historical materials, digital databases, and community archives: Visit the Meredith Public Library Digital Archives .
More ways to explore and share local history
Research Guidance
Keep publication context with a finding
The history of Meredith includes individual lives as well as events remembered by the wider community. In the digital archive shared by the Meredith Public Library, begin with a name, place or date connected with the story you want to explore. When using historical newspapers, try alternate spellings and nearby dates, then read the surrounding page to place a local story in its time. Compare later reporting or another available title to explore different perspectives rather than treating one account as the whole story. Note the newspaper title, issue date, and page for a useful report. Compare another account where available, and keep differences in timing or perspective visible rather than blending them into a single version.
Save the newspaper title, issue date, and page, then compare another dated account where available. Keep differences in timing and perspective visible so the source context is not lost. If the accounts disagree, record what each source supports and use the difference to shape a further search rather than smoothing them into one version.
A research trail is most useful when it leaves room for what is not yet known. Record the title, date, and page or item reference where available, along with what remains uncertain and which question you want to follow next. Those details help keep a possible connection from becoming an unsupported conclusion.
Community Partnership
Keeping local history a community resource
This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Meredith Public Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.
Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.
Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.
Learn about partnerships
Stories, research tips, and archive news
Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.
May 7, 2025
Why Microfilm is still important in 2023
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Don’t Search For An Obituary By Only Searching For An “Obituary”
In the quest to trace our roots and understand our heritage, obituaries often serve as a crucial starting point. Obituaries are undoubtedly…
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April 9, 2025
Unveiling the Hidden Mysteries: Exploring Cold Cases and Unconventional Clues
Even the most esteemed police forces in the county encounter perplexing cold case files. These unsolved mysteries often leave investigators and genealogists…
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April 1, 2025
This Week in History: March 31st through April 6th
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March 24, 2025
This Week in History: March 24th through March 30th
Discover History in The Community History Archives. It has officially been a year since I started writing This Week in History,…
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March 18, 2025
It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?
We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
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