Community History Project

Extended Hours! Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 5 pm, until 8 pm on Thursdays, Sunday noon - 5 pm.

Your support helps to collect, preserve, and share Connecticut's culture and history. Give Today!

CREATING THE ARCHIVE OF TOMORROW

What is the Community History Project (CHP)?

  • The Community History Project at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History (CHS) is community-driven history-making made possible by a Museums for America grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
  • Over two years the CHP will use contemporary collecting practices to strengthen communities and document the diverse experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Community members are invited to document and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut for themselves and their community, and for future historians and future exhibits at the CMCH.
  • CHP ensures that stories from the most impacted and historically marginalized communities during COVID are not lost to time.

Who is working on the CHP?

  • The Connecticut Museum in collaboration with Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA), public libraries in Hartford, New Haven, and Norwich, and diverse communities across the state.
  • Community members are at the heart of the CHP and we need your help to:
    • Identify possible oral history participants
    • Participate in an interview
    • Conduct an interview
    • Donate pictures and objects related to the pandemic experience

How can you be a part of this project?

  • Join a Community History Council in your hometown: councils will meet regularly to guide oral history collecting in Hartford, New Haven, and Norwich.
  • Serve as a Community Historian and conduct an oral history interview. Training will be off­ered virtually and in-person in Hartford, New Haven, and Norwich through each Community History Council.
  • Volunteer to be interviewed. Interested individuals and organizations can contact any CHP sta­ff member. Community Historians and sta­ff will conduct oral history interviews with individuals selected by Community History Councils.

Interested? Send an email to ask_us@connecticutmuseum.org

Learn more about recently rewarded federal funding to help sustain the CHP!

Connecticut Historical Society Receives $3 Million in Federal Funding for 3 Projects

LISTEN TO AUDIO CLIPS FROM COMMUNITY HISTORY PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

Alberta

Click the YouTube link to listen.

Bettie

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Devin

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Emmett

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Jay

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Justin

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Melissa

Nicole

Click the YouTube link to listen.

Swaranjit

Click the YouTube link to listen.

Tyrone

Click the YouTube link to listen.

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Location

One Elizabeth Street
Hartford CT, 06105

860.236.5621

 

Museum Hours:

Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 5 pm, Thursday until 8 pm
Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm

Research Center Hours:

Tuesday-Saturday 12 pm - 5 pm, Thursday until 8 pm
Always by appointment only.