Search by keyword or browse among selected photographs and objects in the museum's collection.  Tour the streets of Northampton through the vast collection of photographs of downtown Northampton and over 700 images of Northampton, Florence and Leeds photographed by the Howes Brothers. Examine stereoscopic views of the Mill River Reservoir Disaster. View the contents of Wallace Howes' World War I footlocker. Research the women's footwear, headwear and fan collections.

Read history in the making in the pages of the Hampshire Gazette..  Downloadable images of this weekly newspaper are available for the years September 13, 1786 - December 28, 1796. Also online is the Index to Local News in the Hampshire Gazette Northampton, Mass., 1786-1937, (1939) compiled by Charles Dean.

The Parsons House affords an overview of Colonial domestic architecture with its interior walls exposed to reveal evolving structural and decorative changes over more than two and half centuries. Study the in-depth investigation of the building materials and surviving interior finishes conducted in the early 1990s by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England).

From the mid 1970s through the early 1980s a comprehensive survey of Northampton's historic structures - commercial, residential and the Northampton State Hospital buildings -  was undertaken by teams of trained volunteers. Over 1100 structures were surveyed according to guidelines established by the Massachusetts Historical Commission, using the commission's Form B survey form.  Using deeds, probate records, newspaper articles and historical documents, the building's history and ownership was traced back to its original construction.  Each form also contains a contemporary photograph and site map of the property. Historic Northampton has archived the results of the "legacy" survey online. The 2011 updated version is available on the website for the City of Northampton in the public filing cabinet of the department of Planning and Sustainability.