About the Historical Society of Old Newbury
The Historical Society of Old Newbury was founded in 1877, originally as the Antiquarian and Historical Society of Old Newbury, amid the patriotic fervor surrounding the nation's centennial. In its early days the organization used space at the Newburyport Public Library to collect and study local history; by the early 1900s it had a building of its own at High and Winter Streets, donated by member Helen Balch Fowler, with a fireproof brick addition built for collection storage. Today it does business as the Museum of Old Newbury, preserving and presenting the history, art, and culture of "Old Newbury," a region that takes in Newbury, Newburyport, Byfield, Plum Island, and West Newbury on Massachusetts' North Shore.
Since 1955 the society has been housed in the Cushing House, an 1808 brick Federal-style mansion at the corner of High and Fruit Streets. The house was the home of Caleb Cushing, Newburyport's first mayor, and was given to the museum by the heirs of Margaret Cushing, Caleb's niece and a longtime benefactor who lived there her entire life. It is Newburyport's only National Historic Landmark, and because it saw minimal modification during Margaret Cushing's roughly 100-year residency, it retains original carpet, wallpaper, and fixtures. A restored 19th-century garden on the grounds is free to visit year-round.
The collections include fine and decorative arts spanning four centuries, archival collections, and approximately 18,000 photographs documenting the region. A significant 1912 gift brought in the collection of the Newburyport Marine Society, founded in 1772: nautical objects, ship portraits, and souvenirs and curiosities gathered from around the globe, a reflection of the port city's maritime past. Guided tours lead visitors through two floors of period rooms and galleries filled with furniture, paintings, and clothing, and the society also offers lectures, cemetery walking tours, and other public programs.
Collections and Research Services
In September 2025 the museum opened the Perkins Art & Research Center (PARC), its library and archives, in the former Perkins engraving and printing plant. The building was constructed in 1808 for Jacob Perkins, whose steel-plate process printed currency for New England banks from 1808 through the 1820s. PARC holds local history books, ship logs, maps, photographs, genealogy books, diaries, ledgers, and ephemera from the 17th century to the present, with the greatest depth in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the digitized photograph collection can be searched through Digital Commonwealth. The genealogy holdings are strongest on Newbury's first settlers of the mid-1600s and include published and manuscript genealogies, 19th- and 20th-century city directories, correspondence, and diaries; more than fifty family genealogies from the Mary Adams Rolfe Collection are sold as PDF downloads for $15 to $50. PARC is open Fridays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (call ahead), in-person research appointments can be scheduled, and remote research assistance costs $40 for the first hour. Our guides to free family history research and old city directories will help you prepare.
Planning Your Visit
The Museum of Old Newbury is at 98 High Street, Newburyport, MA 01950. During the regular season (May 28 through October 11, 2026) the museum is open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with guided tours on the hour and the last tour at 4 p.m.; tours are limited to ten people and every visitor is accompanied by a guide. From October 17 the winter schedule is Saturdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (last tour at 3 p.m., weather permitting), with private tours by appointment. Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, and $5 for youth, and free for members and residents of Newburyport, Newbury, and West Newbury. The museum closes for Juneteenth and Independence Day. Street parking is available on High Street (no time limit) and Fruit Street (two-hour limit). The office is open Wednesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in season and Tuesday through Thursday in the off-season at (978) 462-2681 or info@newburyhistory.org; event tickets and current hours are at newburyhistory.org.
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