New London City Historian Sally Ryan has slowed down after presenting a series of history lessons for more than 20 years, but at 85, she has no plans to stop.

“This is my home. Since I’ve retired, this history series is the only organized thing I do and I love it,” Ryan said in a recent interview at the Public Library of New London where she leads a history class with gusto in the downstairs community room. She is more or less adored by the library staff.

Information Services Director Madhu Gupta recalled one session in the spring with a visitor who went faithfully to Ryan’s weekly classes and later brought along someone else because of how great he thought it was.

“He went home and told his wife about the class every week because he found it so exciting,” Gupta said. “His wife joined him in the end to see what it was about, and they both loved it. It’s always been a very well received event.”

Over the years, the classes have been popular, counting anywhere between 20 and 40 people a night, coming from within the city and throughout New London County to hear Ryan talk about New London’s history.

“After all these years, you’d think I’d run out of people, but I haven’t,” Ryan said.

Librarian Kate Treadwell-Hill said the sessions are a good thing for the community, but especially for newcomers to the area.

“There are more strangers moving to New London and wanting to know about the history of where they’re living,” she said. “It’s amazing. Their curiosity is amazing, and the history series is a very good thing for them to learn from.”

For the series’ first meeting this fall, Ryan discussed the Connecticut colonies between 1614 and 1688, including the Hartford, Saybrook and New Haven colonies and the 1637 Pequot War.

Mary Kilpatrick of Waterford was among the group of approximately 15 people in the class.

“I read a lot of books out of school about the history of the Pequot War and the Mystic massacre,” Kilpatrick said. “Now that I’m finally here, I thought it was very good; very informative and better than what I thought it would be.”

Ryan credited the turnout to her teaching manner. She always tries to keep her lessons “interesting” and allows students to move around her classroom.

She had a similar structure when she taught during a nearly 30-year career as a teacher to fourth-graders at the old Edgerton Elementary School. She retired in 1990 and the school closed in 2006.

“Edgerton was a good school. We would go on field trips to the old Hempstead Houses, to Fort Griswold over in Groton, but that was back when I could make the walk,” said Ryan.

Ryan, who is the city’s first and only historian, was born and raised in New London. Her interest in the city’s history was nurtured by her family, particularly by her father and grandmother, who were born and raised in Ireland.

“I grew up in a family who saw history as something to be enjoyed; as something important,” she said. “If you know your history, you know your roots. You value who you are and where you came from.”

Ryan also remembered her father taking Ryan and her sister to Fort Griswold and a reservation area for the Mashantucket Pequot tribe.

Another piece of history, one dear to Ryan’s heart and memory, is of the 1938 Hurricane.

The hurricane, one of New England’s deadliest, caught the U.S. Weather Bureau off guard when it changed its course and headed toward Long Island and New England. The hurricane killed about 600 people and caused around $306 million in damages, which amounts to $18 billion today.

She incorporated the impact of the hurricane into her lesson plans as well, as she said that New London wouldn’t have Ocean Beach Park if not for the hurricane. It’s this same significance that drives Ryan to teach for as long as she can.

“I try and stress our history,” she said. “Who we are as people is because of our history, and we’re better people than we know.”

Ryan’s history class is held every Thursday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the community room of the Public Library of New London. The free series is scheduled to run through Oct. 22. Anyone can drop in to any class.