Special Collections
See our collection
These are collections devoted to specific subject areas, some of which were purchased with gift or grant funds.
Bedford Collection
Bedford Newspapers
Bedford Minuteman
The complete run of the Minuteman (1957–2022) is now online — and searchable! — through Advantage.
Older Bedford News
An incomplete run of the Bedford Enterprise (1915–1921 and 1931–1937) is also available at the website listed above– as are several issues of the Bedford Bulletin (1879–1896), along with many clippings from the Boston Herald (and other newspapers covering Bedford) collected by Charles Jenks (ca. 1913–1926).
Bedford High School Yearbooks
All of the Bedford High School yearbooks from 1958 to the present have been digitized and are available for viewing and download via the Internet Archive. This digitization was made possible by the Digital Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which offers free digitization services for members provided by the Boston Public Library, through a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant awarded by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
Chinese Collection
In fiscal year 2005, the Bedford Free Public Library was awarded a $15,000 Community Languages Grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
We used these funds to establish our Chinese-language collection and we continue to add to it every year.
We now own many hundreds of books in Chinese, along with Chinese-language periodicals, and Chinese movies and TV series on DVD and VCD. These materials can be found in the Adult stacks and in the Children’s Room.
Nickerson Collection
The Daniel R. Nickerson Foundation provides funding for the development of a special collection of materials on learning and developmental disabilities at the Bedford Free Public Library. The Foundation’s gift has allowed the Library to acquire many of the latest and most relevant materials on this topic and to become a major regional resource within Eastern Massachusetts.
In honor of their son Daniel, the Nickerson family has helped the Bedford Free Public Library establish a collection of materials aimed at helping families and individuals live their lives to the fullest while confronting the unique challenges that come with learning and developmental disabilities including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome, Tourette syndrome, ADD, ADHD, Epilepsy, Dyslexia and more.
For a list of recommended online resources, see here:
Zuckerman Collection
In honor of Andrew (“Andy”) Zuckerman, who died March 1, 2009, as a result of injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident in Huay Xai, Bokeo Province, Laos, where he taught English at the Dream Center through the Volunteers in Asia (VIA) program. He was 24.
Andy was born Oct. 4, 1984, in Bedford, Mass. and graduated in 2008 with high honors from Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont, with a Bachelor of Arts in Asian & Developmental Studies. He had keen interests in ecology, sustainable agriculture, bio-medicinal chemistry as well as psychology and eastern religion. His interests first took him to wildlife conservation projects in the Ecuadorian Amazon Basin then eastward to Vietnam, northeast Thailand, southern India and eventually Laos. Also an enthusiast of languages, Andy spoke Lao fluently and was learning some of the ethnic minority tongues in Laos. Andy is survived by his parents, Disty Pearson and Phil Zuckerman of Bedford, Mass. and his brother, Chip. Andy grew up in Bedford and loved the Bedford Library, so his family asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to establish this special collection in the hometown Library Andy loved.
The Library is focusing its collection on topics that were particularly meaningful to Andy, such as:
- Global poverty
- Southeast Asia (languages, music, books, histories, travel, memoirs, etc.)
- Eastern religions
- Native American beliefs
- Sustainable agriculture
- Volunteering & Social Action
- Ecology & the environment
- Medicinal plants and herbs
- Wildlife conservation
- Some of Andy’s favorite books (as selected by family)
Click here for the complete obituary from the March 10, 2009, edition of The Boston Globe.