As well as covering fifty years of PAHS activities, it also includes details of members who helped shape the Society and an overview of Petersfield in 1973 and 2023. The Petersfield Area Historical Society was founded in 1973 to promote the study, recording and research of local history in the county of Hampshire, England.

In June 2023 the Petersfield Area Historical Society will celebrate its 50 th anniversary. This important milestone is to be commemorated with a series of special events.

For the two decades following the formation of the Society, the membership recorded the history of Petersfield and its environs producing superb publications. With equal enthusiasm, they collected photographs and historical objects in abundance. As the collections grew members offered their homes as a repository for the objects collected.

Petersfield Museum and Art Gallery also contains Petersfield's magistrate's courthouse, built in 1893, located behind the police station. The 'Petty Sessional Court House' was the original site of Petersfield Museum founded by the 'Petersfield Area Historical Society' in the 1990s.