North Conway Branch: Wilkinsen-Greenberg Library

The Library at our North Conway location is a lovely space with fireplace, chairs and table, making for a cozy spot to relive ski history as you peruse our collection. You will find a collection of hundreds of ski books and numerous ski magazines – current and from years past.

The Robert J.A. Irwin Library at the Paumgarten Building (Franconia)

The Museum’s oldest holding is a book published in 1555 containing the first printed images of skiers. The title translates as A Description of the Northern Peoples in English. Olaus Magnus, a Swedish bishop of the Catholic Church, published Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus in Rome in 1555. The illustrator of the woodcuts never saw a skier and created fanciful images of skis from verbal descriptions, but his work remains the first with depictions of skiers.

The Museum owns over 3,100 books and 390 titles of ski periodicals, which amount to 108 linear feet of periodicals, and 1,500 ski posters.

Archives access is only available with an advance appointment. Research requests can be submitted via email to our curator at cathryn@skimuseum.org. All requests will be answered as time allows. Priority is given to Members.