Hartford Treasures On View Thru Sept. 30th

Hartford Public Library has a terrific exhibition from its historic Hartford Collection on view in the library’s ArtWalk Gallery, and in the Hartford History Center itself, an exhibition of the drawings of artists Richard Welling who passed away just last year.  Welling chronicled Hartford’s buildings with pen-and-ink drawings for more than 40 years.  Both exhibitions are free and open to the public.  For more information visit www.hplct.org/hhc.

CELEBRATE THE STATE’S 375th

The state’s historic museums are celebrating Connecticut’s 375th anniversary!  Special tours are offered September 25 & 26 at the Henry Whitfield Museum in Guilford (the state’s oldest stone house).  Learn about the Housatonic Valley iron industry at the Sloane-Stanley Museum in Kent on September 18 at 1 p.m..  Visit the Prudence Crandall Museum in Canterbury on October 10, 2 p.m., to learn about Crandall’s neighbors and on November 7, enjoy “Tea with Prudence and Sarah.  For more information visit CCT’s web site.

Governor M. Jodi Rell kicked off the state’s official celebration of the 375th anniversary of the founding of Connecticut on February 17, 2010 with Executive Order No. 37 establishing a “375 Commission.”  Though we’re facing hard times, she noted we need this celebration now.  The Web site www.ct375.com is your go-to source of celebration information and anniversary mugs, hats, t-shirts and more!

Bruce Fraser. The End of a Life. The End of an Era.

By Walter Woodward, State Historian

For the last 30 years, virtually every history program of substance produced in Connecticut could have carried the credit line, “Brought to you in part by Bruce Fraser.” His June 13 death after a hard-fought battle with cancer leaves an unfillable void in the history community. It also marks the end of an era.

Bruce became executive director of the Connecticut Humanities Council in 1982, when both the organization and the concept of government support for the humanities were in their infancy.  With boundless energy, rapier wit, a zealot’s passion for history, and an athlete’s stamina for the block and tackle of politics, Bruce transformed the little bastion of heritage funding that was the CHC into an organization recognized nationwide for the strength of its funding and the quality of its programs. In 1995, he secured one of the first state appropriations to any humanities council. Under his leadership, CHC support for Connecticut cultural activities grew to more than $2 million annually sustaining many organizations through difficult times and helping to improve institutions and their offerings at all times.

A Ph. D. in history from Columbia University, Bruce passionately believed in creating history that people enjoyed but that was also subject to the rigorous analysis of academic scholarship.  In this regard, he led by example.  His multi-year project The Connecticut Experience, a 19-part history series for public television, received four regional Emmys. His exhibit on Connecticut’s history at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford is a permanent reminder of history’s importance for citizens and legislators alike. Bruce’s final project, the Encyclopedia of Connecticut History Online, scheduled to launch in 2012, will be a remarkable marriage of technology and history, making the state’s past instantly available to all its citizens.

Under Fraser’s leadership, the CHC’s extraordinary performance was awarded on 10 different occasions by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Four times, Connecticut received the Schwartz prize for producing the “best state council initiative in the nation” from the Federation of State Humanities Councils.

Bruce’s death came at a time when economic imperatives put the question of public funding for the humanities under unprecedented scrutiny.  The CHC he built will of course continue its important work, though it may be that the era of generous state support for history Bruce was instrumental in creating is passing.  Our community will miss his unique ability to make the case for supporting history so compelling.

I will miss the brilliance and the humor of a man I deeply admired.

August 7: The Life and Times of Nathan Hale

On Saturday, August 7th,  10 am to 4:30 pm, Connecticut Landmarks invites you to a symposium on the life and times of Connecticut State Hero, Nathan Hale. Walter Woodward, Connecticut State Historian, will be the keynote speaker; other presentations are by Richard E. Mooney, Kevin M. Sweeney and M. William Phelps. Bruce M. Stave will moderate a panel discussion. The event will conclude with a reception and special tour of the Nathan Hale Homestead, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and evokes a sense of Connecticut’s legendary patriotic and agrarian heritage. The house, built in 1776, belonged to the parents and family of Nathan Hale and is located on the only site he ever called home.

LOCATION:
The morning portion of the symposium will take place at the First Congregational Church of Coventry, 1171 Main Street, followed by the tour and reception of the Nathan Hale Homestead, 2299 South Street, Coventry.

FEE:  $50 per person, or $40 for CTL members, which includes lunch. Registration is required. To register call 860.247.8996 ext. 23, or email jamie.fontaine@ctlandmarks.org.

PROGRAM:

The Burning Issue About Nathan Hale
by Walter W. Woodward, Connecticut State Historian
Woodward is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Connecticut and author of Prospero’s America: John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy, and the Creation of New England Culture, 1606-1676.


Nathan and Me: What I Learned from Nathan Hale
by Richard E. Mooney
Mooney is the former Executive Editor of The Hartford Courant, correspondent and member of the editorial board of The New York Times and curator of “Nathan Hale: Yale, 1773,” an exhibition commemorating the 250th anniversary of the hero’s birth ( www.library.yale.edu/mssa/exhibits/hale/).


Hale, His Life & Legacy: Separating Fact From Fiction
by M. William Phelps
Phelps is an investigative journalist and author of the recent biography, Nathan Hale: The Life and Death of America’s First Spy.


The Hales’ Homestead: Material Life in Colonial Connecticut
by Kevin M. Sweeney
Sweeney is a Professor of American Studies and History at Amherst College and author of Captors And Captives: The 1704 French And Indian Raid on Deerfield.

Panel Moderator:

Bruce M. Stave is Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History and Director, Oral History, at the University of Connecticut. Stave is a resident of Coventry and author of Mills and Meadows: A Pictorial History of Northeast Connecticut.

Spring Issue Explores Hard Times Past

Welcome to our third issue under our new name:  Hog River Journal is now Connecticut Explored!  The new name better reflects our mission to uncover and discover the Connecticut story–statewide.  Every issue, I learn something about our cultural heritage that enriches my life and deepens my appreciation for our state.

This spring, we’re exploring how Connecticans have faced personal, economic, and political hardships in times past.  We’ve got three stories from the Great Depression but that’s not the only time we’ve faced hard times, so you’ll also find stories from the Colonial era, the 1830s, the late 1800s, WWII, and the Vietnam War era.   From the 1930s, we’re exploring how the citizens of Seymour pulled together to help one another before there was such a thing as the New Deal and Federal Aid; how the Peter Paul candy company  (makers of Mounds and Almond Joys—my fave!) of Naugatuck actually succeeded during the Depression; and a photo essay on how the WPA’s Federal Art Project gave work to artists and great works of art to the State.  New York University professor Thomas Truxes regales us with Connecticans’ exploits smuggling contraband under the noses of the British before the Revolutionary War, and we learn about Mary Hall’s personal struggles to be admitted to the bar as Connecticut’s first female lawyer—and then to practice the law!

What’s up next?  For summer we’re planning an issue aptly themed “Exploring Connecticut,” that is, we’re taking a look at the historic landscape and historic places to visit this summer.  You’ll learn about pegmatite mines, the mulberry tree-growing craze, where to see the work of the Civil Conservation Corps, Connecticut’s own Chattaqua and more!

I invite you to join me by subscribing.

Begin your exploration of Connecticut history today. You’ll enjoy one good story after another!

Elizabeth Normen

Publisher

LISTEN TO US ON WNPR

Colin McEnroe Show: Gregg Pugliese and Elizabeth Normen talk about the Spring 2010 Hard Times issue and Peter Paul company.

 And

Hear Mary Donohue and Elizabeth Normen talk about the Berlin Turnpike and the Winter 2009/2010 issue on Colin McEnroe’s show on WNPR.

SEPTEMBER FEATURED ARTICLE

The Nation’s Oldest High-School Football Rivalry

Featured article in the current issue!

Geoff Serra, head of the English Department at Norwich Free Academy, writes about the longest-standing high-school football rivalry (verified by the National Football League) in the nation in the current issue.  NFA has been playing New London since their first match May 12, 1875–just six years after the first collegiate American football game between Princeton and Rutgers in 1869.  For more on this and other Connecticut sports stories, subscribe or purchase the issue online or on selected newsstands.  See this issue’s Table of Contents for what else you’ll read about in the current issue!