Cobb Archive

The Cobb Archive houses maps, charts, books, photographs, family memorabilia, and other historical documents. This 1912 building was designed in the Arts and Craft style and originally served as the town’s first public library. Located in Truro Center, the Cobb Archive is accessible to the public for research.

Location: 13 Truro Center Road
Phone: 508-349-0200

Open by appointment, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30 AM-12 PM

To schedule an appointment, send an email to [email protected].

From Provincetown: Take the Truro Center Pamet Roads Exit and continue straight along Truro Center Road, past Jams on your left. The Cobb Archive is a couple buildings up on the right, on a hill. It’s at 13 Truro Center Road, Truro, MA.

From Wellfleet: Take the Truro Center Pamet Roads Exit and take a right off the exit. At the stop, take a right and drive under the highway. At the next stop take a right onto Truro Center Road and pass the Post Office on the left. Up a few buildings on the right you’ll find the Cobb Archive at 13 Truro Center Road, Truro, MA.

The Cobb Archive Collections

Sea Charts and Maps
Historic maps of Truro
Survey maps of town roads, power lines, and properties by John Raymond Dyer, Surveyor, 1925 to 1957
Capt. Atkins Hughes’ sea charts from the early 1800s
19th century U.S. Coastal Survey maps

Photographs
A collection of about 2,000 images of Truro: people, families, buildings, landscape, leisure, livelihood, and scenery (at Highland House Museum in the summer)

Works by Truro Authors
Prose and poetry
Fiction and non-fiction

Books and Oral Histories
Cape Cod and Truro history
Etiquette and household hints for women
Bibles and other religious works
Children’s literature

Family Memorabilia
Valentines, greeting cards, wedding and graduation invitations, and more

Records
Newspapers
Merchant ledgers
Pamphlets

How you can help the Cobb Archive
Donations
We are always interested in expanding our collections. If you have maps, books, other works on paper, and images that you would like us to preserve and make available to researchers and the public, please contact us at the Cobb Archive at 508-349-0200 or at [email protected].

How our volunteers can help you
Our volunteers will assist your search for information from our Museum and Cobb Archive collections. The first cumulative half-hour per day of assistance is free. Any additional research may be subject to an hourly fee of $20 (10 percent discount for members). Simple inquiries by email are also welcome, and follow-up assistance is subject to the same pricing policy. Printing, shipping, and handling costs will apply.

A joint project of the Truro Historical Commission and the Truro Historical Society, this guidebook was created to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower in Cape Cod Bay in 1620 and is an update of the 1984 guide that celebrated the 275th anniversary of the founding of Truro.

Click here to download the guidebook: Historic Truro Tours

This program was supported in part by a grant from the Truro Cultural Council, a local agency that is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. Funding for printing was also provided by the Truro Chamber of Commerce, Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association, and Truro Vineyards of Cape Cod. Chuck Steinman, Editor and Graphic Design, Truro Historical Commission.

Our Support for Racial Justice

The Truro Historical Society (THS) supports the peaceful Black Lives Matter movement for racial justice that is taking place in the United States and around the world. “Liberty and justice for all” means justice for Black and Indigenous populations, and for all people of color.

Museums and archives are not neutral spaces. Because we interpret history, we have the responsibility of presenting the past as fully and accurately as possible, including painful and uncomfortable aspects. The past feeds into the present, and when a community actively engages with its past, it can use its understanding to make a better society.

Truro was founded on land that had been inhabited by Native People for thousands of years, but these people were displaced by English settlers. There were enslaved people and indentured laborers enduring near-slavery conditions in Truro. In 1754, the town’s first minister, Reverend John Avery, bequeathed to his children three African-American enslaved men and “my Indian Girl Sarah.”

After reflecting on the “settler privilege” that most of us enjoy, the THS decided in late 2019 to mark the 400^thanniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival with a decolonial exhibition celebrating Truro’s first inhabitants, the Wampanoag Nation, from its origins to today. During the postponement caused by the coronavirus, the THS will continue to consult with Indigenous scholars and community members. We will increase our commitment to diversity and inclusion. As a token of our commitment, the THS wishes to share the Land Acknowledgment we have prepared in consultation with members of the Wampanoag Nation. This statement will stand at the entrance to the Highland House Museum’s permanent exhibition about the Paomet and the Wampanoag peoples.

Land Acknowledgment

The Highland House Museum stands on the traditional homeland of the Paomet Tribe, members of the Wampanoag Nation, who have inhabited Cape Cod for more than 12,000 years and who knew this part of Truro as Tashmuit. The Truro Historical Society acknowledges the displacement, suffering, and forced assimilation of the Wampanoag and other Native Peoples caused by European contact and colonization. We honor the struggles of the Wampanoag, People of the First Light, and support their resilience, and we ask museum visitors to reflect on our shared responsibility to maintain social justice.

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