Inside the CHS

By Barbara Austen What goes through the minds of those who murder groups of people, often our youngest and most vulnerable, for no apparent reason? While these horrible actions continue to haunt our nation, they are not new in our history. Did you know that the first documented mass murder-suicide in North America occurred in…
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By Ilene Frank Ilene Frank recently joined the Connecticut Historical Society as chief curator. From time to time, she’ll write about what’s new with the collection, educational programs and exhibitions. Why do museums keep collecting objects? In this day of digital imagery, can’t a picture be enough? What does a diary, or a skirt, or…
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Callie Prince and Melissa Traub are this year’s Dangremond Museum Studies Interns at the Connecticut Historical Society. Through this ten-week internship, they are gaining exposure to different aspects of the museum field. Melissa and Callie’s first assignment was in developing and setting up a new display, Trends in the Tides: Connecticut’s Beaches that opened July…
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Houston, we really have a problem, due to inclement weather, tonight’s showing of Apollo 13 has been cancelled, and rescheduled to next week, July 22, at 8:15 pm, doors open at 7:00 for access to the Connecticut 50 Objects/50 Stories exhibit.

In the summer of 2014, the exhibit Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Screen and Stage was on display at the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS). I had just begun to work at the welcome desk and was impressed by the droves of people who visited the exhibit every day.

By Kevin Hughes, Director of Administration at the CHS Summer is upon us and warm weather beckons us outdoors. In many respects, February is a distant memory. Or is it? February 2015 in Hartford was one for the record books. With an average daily temperature of 16 degrees, it eclipsed the old record of 16.5…
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By Corinne Swanson, Coordinator of Youth and Family Programs at the CHS Last week, the CHS education staff wrapped up our last school programs for the 2014-2015 school year, bringing a very busy year to a close. However, even after all the school buses left, we held our Home School Day: Summer Kick-Off on Monday,…
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Beer connoisseurs believe that the United States is currently in a craft-brewing renaissance. The number of microbreweries is at an all-time high and some American beers are considered to be the best in the world. But the history of brewing beer in Connecticut, like other states in America, has had its ups and downs. Beer,…
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By Sara Plante, Visitor Services Associate With the arrival of the glorious summer months, comes the desire to take advantage of the freedom the warm weather provides. As you find yourself out and about, don’t forget the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS)! Escape the heat, visit our new exhibit Connecticut 50 Objects/50 Stories, and of course,…
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By Tasha Caswell, Research & Collections Associate, the Connecticut Historical Society How often do you think about the buttons on your clothes? Unless you’re into fashion or design, you probably don’t think about them that much (unless one falls off). I know I don’t. Maybe you’ll be surprised at how much impact such small objects…
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By Corinne Swanson, Coordinator of Youth and Family Programs at the Connecticut Historical Society Do you have a childhood memory of visiting a museum with your class or family? During these visits, did you ever feel that if your voice rose above a whisper, or if you dared to try to touch something, that you…
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By Sierra Dixon, Research and Collections Associate, Connecticut Historical Society One of my favorites is a handmade wedding dress that was produced by the late Maisie Shenandoah, Clan Mother of the Oneida Indian Nation. The wedding dress was made for her relative Butch Laydem’s fiancée, Kay Kayser, of the Schaghticoke tribe, which spanned the area…
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By Jill Padelford, Development Services Associate for the CHS Those of us of a certain age may remember the outrageous hijinks of the POWs in the 1960s comedy Hogan’s Heroes. (Some interesting trivia: Waterbury, CT native Bob Crane portrayed Colonel Hogan in that popular show.) Working from within a German stalag, the heroes of the…
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By Jenny Steadman, Adult Programs Manager of the Connecticut Historical Society On May 21, CHS welcomed a group of Decorative Arts enthusiasts who spent the whole day literally turning things upside down under the expert guidance of Dr. Philip Zimmerman, a museum and decorative arts consultant, author, and nationally recognized authority on early American furniture. Focusing…
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By Richard Tuchman, Chief Development Officer, Connecticut Historical Society At noon on Tuesday, May 19 the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) opened its first crowd-sourced exhibition, Connecticut: 50 Objects/50 Stories, at its museum in Hartford. It will run until October 24. The objects in the new exhibit and online gallery bridge centuries, locations, ethnicities and cultures…
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By Jody Blankenship, CHS Executive Director We’re pleased to welcome Bichop Nawrot as the CHS’s recently-elected president of the board. Bichop has served on our board for a decade, much of that time as treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee. He also worked on the strategic Planning Committee and the Executive Director Hiring Committee….
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By Jody Blankenship, CHS Executive Director On behalf of the Connecticut Historical Society’s board and staff, I want to thank three individuals who will be leaving or taking a new position on the Board of Trustees, Lynn Szwaja, Chief Charles Teale and Paul Beach. Lynn Szwaja is completing her second term as a CHS trustee….
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by Jody Blankenship, Executive Director, Connecticut Historical Society What’s your Connecticut story? At the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS), we’re highlighting 50 Connecticut-defining items in our new exhibit, Connecticut: 50 Objects/50 Stories. In parallel, the exhibit’s online gallery has 150 items and that number continues to grow! Earlier this week, more than 220 CHS members and…
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By Tasha Caswell, Research and Collections Associate at the CHS  Here at the Connecticut Historical Society, we do a lot of preservation work. Preservation is different from conservation – when an item is preserved, it is not altered; rather, steps are taken to protect it from deterioration. Conservation, on the other hand, involves physically treating the…
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On Saturday, May 16, the Connecticut Historical Society hosted 35 members of the Pewter Collector’s Club of America who have come from all over the U.S. to study the CHS’s remarkable pewter collection. Expert Wayne Hilt leads the discussion. For more information about the Pewter Collector’s Club of America, go to www.pewtercollectorsclub.org. About the Connecticut…
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by Jody Blankenship, executive director of the Connecticut Historical Society On May 30, 1825 thirty-one men from across the state of Connecticut met at the State House for the first meeting of the newly chartered Connecticut Historical Society. At this gathering The Rev. Thomas Robbins gave remarks on the “objects of the Society,” the members…
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El Museo Textil e Histórico de Windham Nos Enseña a Compartir La Historia de Connecticut en Dos Idiomas By Gerson Escobar-Arroyo, Member Relations Associate, Connecticut Historical Society Author’s Note: This blog is the first of what will be regular bilingual (English and Spanish) posts that share Connecticut’s diverse history with its Hispanic/Latino citizens. Is your…
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Curiosity comes naturally to an engineer, and that is what sparked Lester Smith’s passion for history. A former trustee of the Connecticut Historical Society and now the historian and curator for the Suffield Historical Society, Lester has dedicated decades to research and the preservation of Suffield’s history. Although his initial curiosity veered towards cartography (his…
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By Jenny Steadman, Adult Programs Manager, CHS The costume and textile storage on the CHS’s third floor is my favorite space in the Connecticut Historical Society museum. Every time I go up there, I get a shiver down my spine thinking of all the stories that go with all the dresses and uniforms and even…
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By Corinne Swanson, Coordinator of Youth and Family Programs, Connecticut Historical Society I’m a huge fan of maps. When studying history, maps are essential for getting a visual, concrete understanding of the places where events take place. They can be incredibly powerful in influencing the way we think (Remember the episode of “The West Wing” where C.J….
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By Barbara Austen, Archivist, Connecticut Historical Society  CHS recently received the archive of Thomas Barber, a detective with the Hartford Police Department. In 1944, he was one of the men charged with identifying the bodies found in the Hartford Circus Fire that July. It always haunted him that no one identified or claimed a young girl;…
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By Sara Plante, Visitor Service Associate, Connecticut Historical Society.  As the winter finally wanes and spring unfolds, opportunities to explore our state and take pleasure in nature increase. As you venture out to enjoy the warming weather and general greenery, consider a stop at the Connecticut Historical Society’s gift shop. We carry many Connecticut-made items…
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By Mike Messina, Interpretive Projects Associate, Connecticut Historical Society. This post originally appeared on ConnecticutHistory.org (CT Humanities) and WNPR.org Stay tuned for WTNH-TV News 8’s in-depth series on Connecticut’s Italian communities, coming the week of May 4!  In the early 1900s, Hartford was a booming economic center. Italy, on the other hand, suffered both economically and…
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A lock of hair, a bloody bandage, a Treasury Guard flag “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will…
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The Connecticut Historical Society’s “From Bonnets to Bell Bottoms: A Century of Connecticut Fashion” road show has drawn people from all over the state who are interested in the history of style. On March 18, Karen DePauw, research and collections associate at Connecticut Historical Society, gave a fascinating presentation on clothing from the Civil War…
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Hartford, Conn., February 19, 2015: Continuing in its effort to bring the resources of its museum into the community, the Connecticut Historical Society has partnered with TheaterWorks to present a satellite exhibit that visually explores the presence of arts and culture organizations in downtown Hartford with an emphasis on how they were affected by urban…
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The Connecticut Historical Society’s (CHS) “Lincoln Flag, was one of five flags used to decorate President Abraham Lincoln’s box at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D. C. the night he was assassinated, April 14, 1865. Two of the flags present that fateful night were borrowed from the Treasury Guard, a unit formed to defend the nation’s…
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Starting February 10, 2015, there are expanded hours at the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS). The new hours are Tuesday-Thursday 12:00 – 5:00 pm, and Friday-Saturday 9:00 – 5:00 pm. Full service will be offered in Waterman Research Center during all public hours. Click here for more information about the Waterman Research Center.

On February 7th, the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS), with support from Berkshire Bank, hosted a program for children and their families to create personal and unique Valentine’s Day cards inspired by Valentines from long ago. With snow falling on the ground, this event was well attended with many creative designs made.        …
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Last year, the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) received a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission to digitize microfilmed manuscript collections to make them available on the Connecticut Digital Archive. Highlights of online collections include: Samson Occom, Governor Thomas Fitch, John Trumbull (poet) and John Trumbull (artist) as well as parts of Silas…
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The Connecticut Historical Society’s Path Forward The values each of us hold dear, and the choices we make as free individuals, are heavily influenced by what we draw from experience. An informed appreciation of history enables each of us to appropriate the wealth of accumulated human experience beyond our own. Useful history provides context for…
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On January 31, 2015, will be Curtis Veeder’s 153rd birthday. Curtis Veeder received his first patent at the age of 18 for a new type of bicycle seat. He started his own company in 1895 in Hartford, the Veeder Manufacturing Company, to produce cyclometers – distance trackers for bicycles. The company soon expanded to other…
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Hartford, Conn, January 22, 2015 – Richard J. Tuchman has been named chief development officer for the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS). Tuchman, a prominent Connecticut fundraising professional, began in the position January 12. Before joining CHS, Tuchman served as vice president for university advancement at the University of New Haven. With nearly three decades of…
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I don’t know when we first started to visit Connecticut’s historic houses. My earliest memories are probably from the 1960s, but I think it began even earlier than that. I remember marveling at the massive stone walls of the Henry Whitfield House in Guilford, so unlike anything else in the state.

What is one thing that makes Connecticut, Connecticut? We’ve got a list going here, and you need to add your two cents.