FALL ISSUE CELEBRATES CT’s 375TH
Join us as our Fall issue celebrates Connecticut’s 375th anniversary and some of the family businesses that helped it grow and prosper over nearly four centuries.
But is the state really 375 years old? Find out in State Historian Walter Woodward’s story “Celebrating Connecticut’s Founding.” Then read on about one of the state’s rare family-owned newspapers (founded 166 years ago); how one of Litchfield’s first families adapted their business when spinning wheels became obsolete; about the illustrious Trumbull family which counted governors, patriots, merchants, and an artist in its ranks; how three generations of the Liverant family developed a thriving antiques business beginning in the 1920s; and more! We’ve got stories from across the state and covering the 18th to the 20th centuries. Subscribe or purchase the current issue online.
Every issue, I learn something about our cultural heritage that enriches my life and deepens my appreciation for our state.
Your mouth will be watering after reading our photo essay on Waterbury’s Frankies Hot Dogs. Brothers Frankie and Paul Caiazzo founded the popular eatery in the midst of the Depression and built their success on the motto, “Come in and Eat or We’ll Both Starve.” You’ll learn about one business that found innovation in making square boxes (in the hat-making town of Danbury which only had use for round and oval hat boxes). And you’ll learn about the surprising role that Danbury played in the famous and enduringly popular children’s book series, Little House on the Prairie.
I invite you to join me by subscribing. Our readers are lifelong learners and avid “Connecticutophiles.” Readers have told us they value:
“The unique material presented in each issue! You just don’t find that anywhere else,”
and
“The human stories that have made our state what it is today. “
And, more big anniversaries are coming up that you won’t want to miss—notably Connecticut’s role in the Civil War and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 200th birthday. Begin your exploration of Connecticut history today. You’ll enjoy one good story after another!
Elizabeth Normen
Publisher
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.
