Inside the Concord Public Library, there’s a room that you need a member of the staff to let you in.
You have to leave a picture ID at the front desk and you’re not allowed to check anything out of it. And something that seems that secretive is definitely going to be considered a hidden gem.
It’s called the Concord Room and as you might expect, everything in it has to do with Concord – or at least New Hampshire.
“Ninety-five percent is Concord related with a little bit about the state,” said Sandi Lee, technical services manager.
It’s where you’ll find old Concord high year books, phone books and annual reports. There’s also city directories, planning board clipping, maps, an extensive photo collection and books written by Concord authors.
“It’s mostly the written word,” Lee said.
The room was created in the mid-1980s thanks to a collection of Concord stuff from Elwin Page and has been expanding ever since.
“He collected a great deal of Concord history,” Lee said.
A lot of the stuff is pretty old, which is why it needs to stay in the room and you need to be of a certain age to use it. Adults, 18 and older, can use the room with a photo ID, while children 8 to 17 can do so with an adult.
“Some of it is irreplaceable. It’s not that it’s worth a lot of money, but some of the information in the room, there’s not another copy,” Lee said.
People organizing class reunions love the countless number of yearbooks, while new property owners use the resources to learn more about the home they’ll be living in.
Lee said about 30 people a month use the room, but if you want to learn about Concord, this is a great place to go.
“They’re looking for all kinds of historical information about the city,” Lee said. “There’s a sub group that knows about (the room) and use it a lot, but most people probably would not know about it.”
There’s a sign from Franklin Pierce’s original office and one from the library when it was at a previous location. No word if there’s an Insider collection in the works, but there should be.
The Concord Room is open during normal library hours, you just might have to wait a few minutes for a staff member to have time to unlock the door. But it will definitely be worth it, especially if you want to learn about Concord.
“There’s some pretty cool things in here,” Lee said. “They will find an awful lot. Not everything, but an awful lot.”
