The Scarsdale Public Library is dedicated to preserving the rich history of Scarsdale and to making that history accessible to the community. With the support of the Scarsdale Historical Society we have digitized the local paper, The Scarsdale Inquirer, from its first issues in 1901 through 1977. Most issues after 1977 are available to view on microfilm at the library. There are searchable indexes available: 1980-1988, 1989-1999, 2000-2005, 2006-2010, 2011-2015. The microfilm reader is available for drop-in use while we are open. If you will need extensive help using the reader, call (914) 358-6060 or email dglauber@scarsdalelibrary.org to make an appointment. We have also digitized much of our collection of photographs, which are accessible on our local history page. We keep subject files containing documents related to the history of Scarsdale which can be accessed by appointment. For a list of local history resources available at the library, click here. Please contact Local History Librarian Dan Glauber with any questions at dglauber@scarsdalelibrary.org.

As America comes to grips with the full scale of slavery in its history, we are learning that Scarsdale is implicated too. As part of this reckoning, the Junior League of Central Westchester (JLCW), Dennis Culliton of Witness Stones Project, genealogist and historian Teresa Vega and faculty and students from Scarsdale High School pooled their resources and their passion for social justice to begin uncovering one of the untold stories of Wayside Cottage in Scarsdale. They discovered that Cottage owner Thomas Hadden enslaved Rose Heady and the seven children she had by Hadden. He freed them upon his death in 1761 —they were the first known freed Black family of Westchester County—and left them resources to become a foundational family in the County, and beyond. Many generations later, their descendants, including Vega, have carried on their legacy. A ceremony was held on Friday, June 7, 2024, as part of dedicating eight Witness Stones at the Cottage in memory of Rose and her children, Elenor, Jacob, Dennes, Amos, Robert, Frances and Lazarus, and to honor the pivotal role they played.

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Local History Exhibits

Scarsdale's Irish community has had a significant impact on the history of our Village. One of the earliest schools in Scarsdale, a boys boarding school called the Scarsdale Academy, was run by an Irish minister named George Donovan. The potato famines of the 1830s and 40s brought thousands of Irish immigrants to New York. As the railroads made Westchester more accessible, some of them escaped the City by finding work here. For Scarsdale, most of that work was either as farm labor or as domestic servants. Many lived with their employers, but some managed to buy or rent their own space. Their children, 1st generation Americans, were even more likely to settle in the area, and by the early 20th century there were enough Irish Catholics in the area to warrant the establishment of the Scarsdale parish, which came to fruition as the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in 1914. Learn more about Scarsdale's Irish history here.

From 1914-1918 the Scarsdale Equal Suffrage Club, led by the dynamic Florence Bethell, worked to further the cause of Women's Suffrage. They held fundraisers, brought in speakers, marched in parades, and even started a community farm during World War I. Click on the banner above to view our exhibit and learn more about this incredible group of women. Click here to view the amazing documentary from the Scarsdale Historical Society.

Resources

This collection of over 600 historical newspapers was donated by Joan and Robert Berlin. Ranging in coverage from the Revolutionary period to the end of the 19th century, the papers are mostly from the Northeast, but the collection also includes newspapers from around the country. The coverage of the Civil War period is especially rich, and has been used for school projects at the Scarsdale High School. The Berlin Collection is housed at the Scarsdale Library and is available for viewing by appointment only. Email dglauber@scarsdalelibrary.org.

In 2020 the world experienced a global pandemic. The Novel Coronavirus, or Covid-19, has had profound effects on the everyday life of people around the world. The purpose of the Scarsdale Library Covid-19 Memory Project is to document how Covid-19 has affected the everyday lives of Scarsdale residents.

This Enumerator's Blotter lists all residents of the 1st Election District in the Town of Scarsdale from 1892.

This is a catalog of houses in the Berkley area of Scarsdale. The catalog was produced by the Crane-Berkley Corporation circa 1935 to advertise their development of this area. It is 16 pages with a brown and gold cover. Crane-Berkley is located in the northwestern section of Scarsdale. Today Berkley is spelled Berkeley on most maps.

Located in the Quiet Reading Room / Local History Room at the Library, these maps range from the 1700s all the way to the 1990s. They are kept in two separate cabinets divided between Scarsdale maps and Westchester maps. Click here to see an index of the available maps. Digitized maps are available from the David Rumsey Map Collection.

"Scarsdale Story: A Heritage History" by Helen Lorraine Hultz tracks the history of Scarsdale through a detailed examination of deeds, wills, mortgages, and other primary sources. Helen compiled the information in this book of over a thousand pages over many years as a side project while working as an elementary school teacher in Scarsdale. The entire volume is now full-text searchable as a PDF!

Scarsdale Town Minutes, 1787 to 1864, is a book of handwritten minutes from the Town of Scarsdale, which touches upon topics from the mundane election of officers to the laws about hogs, to records of slaves born to residents.

This presentation on the history of Black people in Scarsdale by local Historian Jordan Copeland was presented to the Scarsdale Middle School PTA in December of 2021.