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.

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.

This is our fourth issue under our new name (from 2002 to 2009 we were called Hog River Journal). 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.

In our photo essay, you’ll read all about Forestville, a campground in Plainville infused with religious fervor in the late 1800s that is now a charming secular cottage colony.   Find out about the Civilian Conservation Corps’ good works in Connecticut parks in the 1930s (if you know a CCCer, our author wants to hear from him); the historic landscape under three of Connecticut Landmarks’s historic house and garden sites (and which one was waterfront 325 years ago); the speculative craze for mulberry trees—the food of choice for silkworms—that cause financial ruin in the 1820s and 30s; and the myriad uses for pegmatite, a rock made up of feldspar, mica, and quartz (including gem-grade tourmaline), and where it was mined.  Plus, where to find a great barn, Hartford Parks history, and a couple of great lighthouses.  And don’t miss the childhood memoir of retired Hartford fire chief Charles Teale’s summers at Camp Courant!

What’s up next?  For fall, we’re taking a look at the family business and the State’s 375^th Anniversary.  From minding the store to inventing new products, Connecticut clans built the state’s economy—and continue to today!

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

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!

Mark Twain House, Hartford

Mark Twain Library, Redding

Twain Project Blog

Hartford Public Library

Hartford Stage Company

For a listing of events in Hartford and nationally:  www.twain2010.org

Through January 2011

Exhibit: Legacy. Mark Twain House
Legacy examines how Twain’s persona, and the public’s perception of him and his works, has both changed and remained constant over the years. Visitors are encouraged to record their own thoughts about Twain and his current relevance in guest books that will become part of the museum’s archives.

Through July

Exhibit: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain House

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer will feature popular culture artifacts related to Tom Sawyer, and include fun family-friendly activities.

Ongoing

The Nook Farm Book Club – Free. Meets the first Thursday of every month, reading works by or about Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe, as well as exemplary books on subjects that captivated them.  Reception at 5 p.m.; discussion at 5:30 p.m. Presented in collaboration with the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center with support from the Connecticut Humanities Council.  To register, call Kate Rounds at (860) 522-9258 ext. 317.  All books are available at the the museum gift shops.

JULY

Saturday, July 24, 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.   Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford
Twain’s Companions and Cohorts Tour
A tour of Cedar Hill Cemetery, a landmark example of Gilded Age funerary splendor, tells the tales of Samuel Clemens’ contemporaries, friends and foes, many of whom are interred there. Led by Steve Courtney of the Mark Twain House & Museum, biographer of Clemens’ close friend, the Rev. Joseph Twichell. Presented in association with the Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation.
Tickets are $5.00. Further information is available at Cedar Hill Cemetery & Foundation, 860-956-3311

AUGUST

Monday, August 9
Exhibit Opening: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  The Mark Twain House & Museum
On view through January 2011
Commonly recognized as one of the greatest American novels, this epic journey of Huck and his friend Jim along the Mississippi River is one of the most enduring images of escape. Explore this often controversial work and its impact on our culture through rare artifacts and children’s programming.

OCTOBER

Saturday, October 16.  Immanuel Congregational Church, Hartford
Mark Twain concert featuring VOCE
Fall into the melodic sounds of VOCE, a singing group that combines excellence in music with service to the community. The concert will feature a Mark Twain theme.  Details to be announced.

]]> http://connecticutexplored.org/?feed=rss2&p=1432 0 http://connecticutexplored.org/?p=1634 http://connecticutexplored.org/?p=1634#comments Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:09:57 +0000 admin http://connecticutexplored.org/?p=1634 Dr. Matthew Warshauer, associate professor of history at Central Connecticut State University has been appointed the new chair of CT Explored’s editorial board. The Editorial Board is an advisory group that reviews articles, makes recommendations for stories, and helps keep the magazine connected to the museum and academic community.  Warshauer was the editor of our sister publication, the academic journal Connecticut History, published by The Association for the Study of Connecticut History.  Matt has been an enthusiastic member of CT Explored’s editorial board for years.  He succeeds Cynthia Cormier of Hill-Stead Museum who chaired the editorial board from the publication’s inception.  Cindy remains a member of the editorial team, the group that plans the magazine’s content.

Also, William Hosley, independent historian, and Jose Cruz, associate professor of political science and U.S. Latino studies at SUNY Albany, have recently rotated off the editorial board, and Katherine Kane, director of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, has joined.  We welcome Katherine and thank Cindy, Bill, and Jose for their service to and support of the magazine!

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

 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.