Welcome to the tour of this important non-profit resource center in Old Mystic, CT. In 1965, friends of Eva L. Butler purchased the former historic Mystic Bank (1856 – see below) from the town of Stonington and incorporated as the Indian & Colonial Research Center ~ I C R C
The Center contains the works of Mrs. Eva Lutz Butler, a noted historian and anthropologist who collected a wide range of Indian, colonial, and genealogical materials for the better part of fifty years
The main building was originally the Mystic Bank, the old bank vault contains all of our colonial manuscripts, ledgers, and other primary source documents. Our museum room’s display cases contain pottery, baskets, bead work and textiles fashioned by native tribes with a new focus on our rich local Native American and Colonial history as well as history of the Old Mystic area
Our new Gallery
will feature interesting exhibits that will change periodically and showcase items
from our special collections such as unique photographs, maps and historic houses
The center room is the administrative and computer workstation area where our volunteers spend many hours updating our files and archives as well as weekly business duties. Volunteers are always welcome and appreciated to continue indexing and cataloging Eva’s work as well as many other necessary functions
Our research library is the Mary Virginia Goodman Memorial Room, dedicated to one of our founders and president of the I C R C for 18 years, as well as good friend to Eva Butler
This room houses Eva Butler’s notebooks. There are thousands of documents that Eva collected throughout her years as an avid historian. Volunteers and docents have divided Mrs. Butler’s work into Indian, Colonial, state, local, court records, and genealogy binders. In recent years, having moved into the computer age, we have painstakingly indexed and referenced most of this valuable resource material and continue to update and expand our files and collections
This library room also contains books, journals, periodicals, genealogy notes, scrapbooks, our large map collection, hundreds of vintage photographs of people, events, local houses and stores as well as many early glass plate negatives, including the work of Mystic resident Elmer Waite. There is an extensive collection of arrowheads, projectile points, and stone tools from all over the country. I C R C offers on-line access to catalogs for archives, library, manuscripts and objects in index format
We have a large collection of Arrowheads and Stone Tools
The Mystic Bank building
Built in 1856 as the second bank serving the original town center of Mystic for 33 years before this bank closed when commerce shifted down river in 1889. Title to the sturdy brick bank with attached carriage shed passed to the town of Stonington. Situated in the heart of the village, it was used as a district voting hall until construction of a new Old Mystic elementary school in the early 1960s. No longer needed, the old bank stood empty and forgotten
Officials at Mystic Seaport noticed the barred windows of the little brick structure and proposed to move the building down the road to the museum grounds where it would be rechristened Ye Olde Jail. Led by Mrs. Jack Bucklyn, Old Mystic residents protested. For more than a century the old bank has been important to the village scene and they hated to see part of their heritage depart from Main Street, especially under false colors. The metal window bars had been installed after an attempted bank robbery in the 1870s and although tramps were occasionally locked up overnight in the district hall, the building was never a jail
In 1965, friends of Eva L. Butler purchased the former historic Mystic Bank from the town of Stonington and incorporated as the Indian & Colonial Research Center ~ I C R C – Eva’s extensive collection of
research papers became the nucleus of our research library.
Fifty years and several floods later, we are still here and continuing to fulfill our mission and improve this historic building and the services we offer
This building is now officially recorded with both the National & State Register of Historic Places
Original Vault Doors ~ Accountants Desk ~ Wall Stenciling
Original Front Doors with Hardware, Bell and Key
We hope you enjoyed this digital tour of I C R C but please do come in to see us in person soon
You Tube Power Point Tour of I C R C – https://youtu.be/zBeUPw62FLs