Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012
Connecticut Historical Society
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May 18, 2012
Eliphalet Chapin (1741-1807) opened his East Windsor cabinet shop in 1771 and introduced a new style of furniture to the Connecticut River Valley. Chapin set himself apart from his Connecticut contemporaries by incorporating various elements of Philadelphia inspired design and detail into h... read more
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May 11, 2012“We personally congratulate you upon your successful completion of one of the greatest missions ever undertaken”. Warm greetings from the Hartford Chamber of Commerce invited Charles A. Lindbergh to not only visit, but “to land at one of the finest airports in the country—our new Brainard Field”, following his historic flight across the Atlantic in 1927.
Eighty-five years ago this month, Charles A. Lindbergh became the first person to complete a transatlantic flight from New York to Pari... read more
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May 4, 2012Abel Buell was by all accounts a colorful character, a typical Yankee jack-of-all-trades and entrepreneur. John Warner Barber, in the 1830s, descr... read more
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Apr 28, 2012John Brown entered the world on May 9, 1800 in a little saltbox house in Torrington, Connecticut. Few people realize the famous abolitionist was bo... read more
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Apr 20, 2012Why would the State of Connecticut go to the trouble of naming the American Shad the official “state fish”? Historically, the spring shad run, in w... read more
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Apr 13, 2012Long after becoming a professional photographer herself, Rosalie Thorne McKenna—known as Rollie—discovered that her paternal great-grandmother, Harriet V.S. Thorne [http://www.yourpublicmedia.org/content/connecticut-historical-society/one-woman-photographer] had also been a photographer. After a... read more
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Apr 7, 2012Following the Union disaster at Bull Run in July 1861 additional regiments were raised throughout the north to continue the struggle. Among these was Connecticut’s Thirteenth Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Though organized in New Haven, the unit boasted recruits from many parts of the state when it... read more
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Mar 29, 2012The newest exhibition at the Connecticut Historical Society brings together craftspeople from across the country, from New England, New York, and P... read more
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Mar 23, 2012Spring has come early to Connecticut this year, with crocuses and daffodils in full bloom by the middle of March. And what better way to celebrate... read more
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Mar 16, 2012On battlefields from Virginia to Louisiana, the soldiers of Connecticut’s Ninth Regiment Volunteer Infantry marched into combat against Confederate forces under a regimental flag unlike any other: a blue banner emblazoned with a golden harp on a field of emerald green dotted with shamrocks and be... read more
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Mar 9, 2012Julian Alden Weir (1852–1919) was a noted American Impressionist painter who purchased a summer home in Branchville (Ridgefield and Wilton) for his family in the early 1880s. Before that, the family lived in Windham. The New York artist was drawn to Connecticut’s picturesque landscape.
J. Ald... read more
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Mar 3, 2012Photography, Harriet Van Schoonhoven Thorne’s chosen interest, was an unusual one for a woman in the late 19th century. Harriet was an active photographer from 1885-1920, a time when photography was changing from a cumbersome process undertaken primarily by professionals to one that, thanks to ha... read more
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Feb 25, 2012When Thomas Hooker and his party reached Hartford in 1636, they would have found majestic elm trees growing in the meadows along the Connecticut River. The American elm is native to eastern North America and grows naturally in flood plains and other wet areas. By the early 1900s, elms were being... read more
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Feb 17, 2012Jennie May Royal could be thought of as an ordinary, everyday person—she wasn’t rich or famous—but her story, which was pieced together through scrapbooks and letters, is extraordinary. Through her story we catch a rare glimpse of everyday life for an African American woman in Connecticut betwee... read more
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Feb 10, 2012A pair of 19th-century prints provides a virtual road map to the human heart, illustrating contemporary male and female attitudes towards courtship and love.
A Map of the Open Country of Woman’s Heartshows canals, rivers, roads, and a railroad connecting the Country of Eligibleness with the C... read more
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Feb 3, 2012Augustus Washington was one of the most talented and successful photographers in mid-1800s Connecticut. He was also an African American. Washington lived in Hartford from 1844 until 1853 and was actively involved in the Abolitionist Movement and the life of Hartford’s free black community. Though... read more
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Jan 27, 2012"What a night - couldn't see my hand in front of my face, so dropped down on all fours and crawled in the direction of the tractor, - just a few feet away mind you, and I just don't know how long it did take me to reach the back door of the tractor which was now half buried in the snowdrift...rec... read more
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Jan 20, 2012Connecticut is widely known as a center of submarine development and production, but few people are aware of the long history of Connecticut’s involvement in this specialized field of naval architecture.
Connecticut’s David Bushnell helped pioneer undersea warfare during the American Revoluti... read more
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Jan 14, 2012Talk about close calls. It could have been the worst disaster in Connecticut history. On January 17, 1978, a Tuesday evening, 4,746 basketball fans... read more
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Jan 6, 2012Mankind has always attempted to ward off the weather with protective clothing. Throughout history fashions have influenced the types of outerwear... read more