About the Nassau County Historical Society
A Century of Long Island History
The Nassau County Historical Society was originally organized in 1915, incorporated in 1920, and received a permanent charter from the New York State Education Department in 1958. A volunteer-run organization based in Garden City, the society works to enlarge public understanding of the history of Nassau County and to encourage the study of Long Island history generally. It sponsors regular program meetings featuring speakers who are authorities on Long Island life and history, held at local venues such as area libraries and offered in hybrid in-person and online formats.
The society's flagship publication is the Nassau County Historical Society Journal, whose first issue appeared in 1937. More than one hundred issues have been published since, and the journal is now issued annually to all members, carrying articles on every aspect of the county's past. Over its history the society has also erected historical markers, financed document conservation, sponsored building reconstructions at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, supported the Cradle of Aviation Museum, and donated the 1702 Saddle Rock Grist Mill to Nassau County.
The society began collecting artifacts, documents, books, and other writings related to the county's history a century ago. Its collections were first housed at the Rockville Centre Public Library, moved to Adelphi College in the 1940s, and then to Hofstra College in the early 1950s. Since 1987 the society's library collections have been part of the Long Island Studies Institute at Hofstra University, where the Nassau County Museum Reference Library is open to the public. Because the society is entirely volunteer-based, it does not fill research or genealogical requests directly; researchers are directed to the Long Island Studies Institute for onsite study.
Plan Your Visit
The Nassau County Historical Society is a membership organization without a public museum building of its own; its mailing address is PO Box 207, Garden City, NY 11530. Program meetings are held at Long Island venues, and the society's collections may be studied at the Long Island Studies Institute at Hofstra University. For upcoming lectures and membership details, visit nassaucountyhistoricalsociety.org.
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