Our Community's Heritage

From agriculture to architecture, hospitality to education and coverlets to canning, The Town of Lincoln has a rich and fascinating history. The Lincoln Museum & Cultural Centre, Friends of Lincoln's History and Lincoln Pelham Public Library are working together to preserve and share this heritage. If you would like to do some research, find the answer to a historical question or enquire about donating objects or archival materials, you've come to the right place! Click on the links below to get started.

Lincoln Museum and Cultural Centre

The Lincoln Museum and Cultural Centre: Home of The Jordan Historical Museum of the Twenty is dedicated to the interpretation, exhibition, research, collection, and preservation of past, present, and future narratives relevant to the Town and the Niagara Region. The museum and its site are a vibrant gathering place that shapes our community by engaging and inspiring residents and visitors in the celebration of heritage and culture. Our site encompasses 1.3 acres of land, bordered by the Niagara escarpment, and directly connects to the Twenty Valley Trail. Our site is also home to several historical buildings and commemorative sites, including the Fry House, the 1859 Schoolhouse and Haines Cemetery.
The Museum welcomes those interested in conducting research with our objects or reference library. Researchers must book a time in advance, complete a Research Application, and provide a valid photo ID. For those interested in having research conducted on their behalf, the museum charges a fee for staff time. Payment must be made in advance before research is conducted. Fees are charged regardless of the success of the research.
The Lincoln Museum and Cultural Centre welcomes proposals for donations of artifacts that support its mission. Contact Adam Montgomery, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions to see if your donation is a good fit for our collection. We are particularly interested in developing our collections of Pennsylvania-German and Upper Canadian Fraktur, early Upper Canadian pottery and early Upper Canadian quilts and coverlets. We are also interested in hand and agricultural tools if they were made in Lincoln.
At the present time we are not accepting donations of china or other dishes, tea sets and porcelain objects, household items and kitchen utensils. Please note that we cannot accept objects for appraisal, authentication or identification for which we cannot acquire clear and unrestricted title, if they contain hazardous or dangerous materials or violate municipal, provincial or federal law.

Friends of Lincoln’s History

The Friends of Lincoln’s History, formerly the Lincoln History Club (est. 1981), was established in 2010 in association with the Ontario Historical Society as a not-for-profit and registered charitable organization. We are self-, donor-, and grant-funded and our Archives is staffed by volunteers who accession, digitize the details and safely store donated historical items and collections. In addition we take every opportunity to promote local history which has included Heritage House Tours, Cemetery Tours, Walking Tours, and placing plaques at the sites of historical businesses and locations.
We collect and preserve the paper history of our community. We accept donations reflecting the history of the Town of Lincoln. Our holdings include land documents, abstracts, maps, deeds, census records, directories, town minutes, church, cemetery and school records, birth, marriage and death notices, regional and local books, newsletters and newspapers. We also have family genealogies, histories and written accounts, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, business ledgers, and bibles
Types of documents and paper artefacts that we would love to receive from you include family stories, histories, and genealogy; family diaries, letters, land documents/deeds, and bibles; personal scrapbooks covering local topics, people, and events; photographs (including people, streetscapes and buildings); school, church, and business histories, records, and ledgers; local area maps; old newspapers and newsletters and local and regional historical books and reference material

Lincoln Pelham Public Library

Lincoln Pelham Public Library has digitized numerous historic images of the Beamsville, Vineland, Jordan and Campden areas. There is also a searchable index of many birth, death and marriage notices placed between approximately 1900 and 1961 in two local newspapers (the Beamsville Express and the Lincoln Post Express).
The Pelham Historical Calendar was published annually from 1977-2001 by the Pelham Historical Society. Local artists, photographers and residents contributed information about the history of Pelham, Ontario.
The Pnyx Collection presents student articles and photographs from the 1933-1950 issues of the magazine of Pelham Continuation School, from 1949, Pelham District High School. While the Calendar describes the homes, families and communities of nineteenth century Pelham, the Pnyx collection shows students adapting to the changes and challenges of the 1930s and 40s.