The Elizabeth Nord Library collects, preserves, conserves, interprets, and exhibits books and archival materials related to the Shaker religious sect, Shaker Heights, Warrensville Township, and the surrounding area. 

1. The library is freely available for public use, although research appointments are required in order to best serve your needs. To make an appointment, email collections@shakerhistory.org or submit our Research Request form.

2. Upon entering, sign in with a staff member.

3. Library and archives materials must be consulted in the assigned work area in the museum and may not be removed from the area at any time. No eating or drinking is allowed in the work area. Water bottles are allowed but must be in a tightly closed container and kept on the ground.

4. No more than three items will be available to you at a time.

5. Please do not re-shelve books or archival documents without permission from staff.

6. Please maintain the existing arrangement of the material within folders and boxes. If anything appears to be misfiled, the researcher should not attempt to correct it but call it to the attention of museum staff.

7. Only pencils may be used for note taking. No pens, inks, erasable inks, or post-it notes may be used. Tracing from or writing on collection material is not permitted. Laptops, tablets, and mobile phones may be used, but they are not supplied by the museum.

8. A limited number of copies can be made for free by museum staff. The Shaker Historical Society may decline a request for duplication because the materials are oversize, too fragile, or fall outside the “fair use” standard. All duplication requests, including photocopies, must be approved by museum staff. A fee will be charged for high-volume photocopy requests and high resolution images.

9. Digital copies of any library or archival document are prohibited without prior written permission. Depending on staff availability, the Shaker Historical Society can produce digital images of documents with 7-10 business days notice with an appropriate fee depending upon the nature of its use. Museum staff may decline a request for duplication because the materials are oversize, too fragile, or fall outside the “fair use” standard.

10. Photographs must be for personal research use only. Patrons interested in acquiring high resolution images for publication should ask staff about options. Personal cameras and cell phones may be used. No use of flatbed scanners, laptop cameras, tabletop tripods, camera bags, flash, lights, copy stand, extension cords, audio or video recording equipment is permitted.

11. Photographs taken in the archives may not be donated or sold to another repository or exhibited. Prior written permission from Shaker Historical Society staff is required to publish or post on the internet photographs taken in the archives. SHS reserves the right to deny your request to publish photographs or post photographs online.

12. All high-resolution and personal images published or shared with permission from SHS staff must be credited “Shaker Historical Society, Shaker Heights, OH”.

13. The researcher is responsible for complying with copyright law and agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Shaker Historical Society, its officers and employees, from and against all claims demands, costs, and expenses incurred by copyright infringement or any other legal or regulatory cause of action arising from the researcher’s use of collection materials or reference photographs.

14. The Elizabeth Nord Library and Archives accepts gifts of books and other materials in accordance with our collection policy and the Shaker Historical Society’s mission.

The Shaker Heights Public Library's Local History department is who to talk to! They hold many City records and blueprints and share an excellent guide to researching your Shaker home. You can also refer to the Shaker Heights Building Card Database for building information and/or microfilm number. If you are looking for blueprints or original plans of your house, contact SHPL at localhistory@shakerlibrary.org!

Although the Shaker Historical Society does not have many housing records, we are happy to search our archives for material related to your house. Please submit a request through our Research Request form that includes your address and any relevant information, such as previous owners or a former address if the street and/or house number changed.

Please submit our Research Request form to schedule an onsite research appointment or to request a Shaker Historical Society staff member complete research on your behalf. All research requests are processed on a first-come, first-served basis and are time dependent on staff availability. Once you submit this form, a staff member will contact you to confirm your request and to give you an estimated time frame.

• Applicants will be notified after the first free 15 minutes of staff research to assess the acquired research and determine if additional time is needed.

• If additional time is needed, there is a nonrefundable $25.00 deposit that covers the first hour of research. Additional research is $25.00 an hour. Our fees help to defray the costs of maintenance, care of materials, and staff time.

• Staff will not begin research until the nonrefundable deposit is submitted. All remaining research fees must be paid upon completion of research. We accept cash, checks, credit cards, and PayPal. 

• SHS members receive a 10-40% discount depending on membership level, and museum personnel receive a 50% discount.

Please submit our Image Reproduction Request form. The Shaker Historical Society can provide high-resolution images for commercial, academic, and personal purposes. All image reproduction requests are processed on a first-come, first-served basis and are time dependent on staff availability. If you are on a deadline, please submit requests 10-14 business days in advance if possible.

All image fees must be paid before images and/or prints are sent.

• The Shaker Historical Society charges $75 per image for a single use. These funds help us care for our collection.

• For high quality prints, we charge $25 to scan each image + cost to print and ship (if applicable).

• The credit line should read as follows: “Shaker Historical Society, Shaker Heights, OH”. We do not necessarily hold copyright for all of the images in our permanent and archival collections, so you accept these images knowing that responsibility to obtain permission rests with you.

• If images from our collection are published in a print or digital publication, we request a copy of that publication be mailed/emailed to our museum. Likewise, we would like to be informed of any websites that use images we have provided to you.

• SHS members receive a 10-40% discount depending on membership level.

We are actively working to inventory and create findings aids for our archival materials. These are the finding aids currently available:

• Shaker Historical Society Institional Archives Finding Aid

• Library Catalog

• Scrapbook Collection

• Map Collection

• Stereoview Collection

• James Toman Photograph Collection

• Shakers & Kirtland by Louis Baus

We get asked this question a lot! The main difference is that the Shaker Historical Society (SHS) collection is focused on objects while the SHPL collection is focused on archival materials, although the lines have been blurred over the years and SHS has collected archival materials since our founding

SHS founded in 1947 to preserve the legacy of the North Union Shaker community. Because of this, the majority of our collection is Shaker-related artifacts, including furniture, farming equipment, clothing/textiles, and household implements. The museum relocated several times before settling permanently in the Myers Mansion, our current home, in 1969. Galleries dedicated to Warrensville Township and the Van Sweringen brothers were established in the early 1970s, and our collecting focus expanded accordingly. Although our collections are comprised mostly of objects, Elizabeth Nord, founding trustee and curator from 1956-1972, collected many archival materials that formed the basis of our library and archives. 

Did you know SHS helped start the Local History department at the library? As stated on the department's website, the Shaker Historical Society teamed up with Shaker Library, the City of Shaker Heights, Shaker Heights City Schools, and interested citizens in 1994 to form The Inter-Institutional History Committee, which began developing the Local History Project. The Local History department serves as a the primary repository for papers and archival material from the Shaker Library, the City, local schools, and community groups. Since many housing records were held by the City, this is why they are at SHPL and not SHS!

Of course there is some overlap in our collections in both scope and specific content. For example, SHPL holds the Shaker Heights Fire Department's records (archives), but SHS holds their fire helmets, badges, and scrapbooks (objects). SHPL holds some photocopies of records from our collections (e.g. Warrensville West Cemetery records collected by Elizabeth Nord), and we hold some housing records donated by individual donors. And we both hold a lot of maps!

We are aware this can be confusing, but merging the Local History department and SHS is neither feasible nor desired by both parties at this time. When researching your home or a local history topic, we recommend reaching out to both organizations for the best chance of find relevant information and resources. 

SHS Research: collections@shakerhistory.org or Research Request Form

SHPL Research: localhistory@shakerlibrary.org