John Warner Barber chronicled 19th-century Connecticut history through his historical writing and hundreds of engravings—many of which still exist today.
ReadBy the late 1950s, Charlton Publications was home to some of the most accomplished artists and writers in the comic book industry.
ReadTwo undergraduate literary societies, Linonian and Brothers in Unity, donated their large book collections to Yale’s nascent library.
ReadLillian Hoban contributed her talents to nearly one hundred books, securing herself a place as one of the country’s best-loved authors and illustrators.
ReadAs one of the leading American poets of the 20th century and Connecticut’s first poet laureate, James Merrill lived in Stonington for four decades.
ReadBest remembered for her short story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” this Hartford author’s larger legacy is a life dedicated to women’s issues and social reform.
ReadClare Boothe Luce became the first woman to represent Connecticut in the US House of Representatives and later became an ambassador to Italy.
ReadInspired by Connecticut communities, Richard Scarry invented and illustrated some of the most beloved characters and communities in children’s literature.
ReadOn January 11, 1817, Timothy Dwight (theologian, educator, poet, and eighth president of Yale) died in New Haven, Connecticut.
ReadThis small enclave in the capital city’s west end became home to many of the 19th century’s most celebrated and creative personalities.
ReadLiving most of her life in Old Saybrook, Ann Petry was the first African American woman to sell over one million copies of a book with her first novel, The Street.
ReadMark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and used his “good-natured” and “devoted” servant, George Griffin, as a likely model for one of literature’s most memorable figures—Jim, the runaway enslaved man.
ReadAuthoring and illustrating dozens of books, such as ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ and ‘In the Night Kitchen,’ Maurice Sendak redefined children’s literature throughout the 20th century.
ReadFor over two decades, The Reader’s Feast was the most progressive independent bookstore in the Hartford area and provided a space for literature, community, food, and affirmation.
ReadSmith’s account sheds light on the experience of enslaved and free blacks in 18th-century Connecticut.
ReadIda Tarbell became one of the most famous “muckraking” journalists in 19th century America, thanks largely to her investigation of the Standard Oil Company.
ReadIda Tarbell became one of the most famous “muckraking” journalists in 19th century America, thanks largely to her investigation of the Standard Oil Company.
ReadEmile Gauvreau, former managing editor of the Hartford Courant, became a pioneer in the rise of tabloid journalism.
ReadBruce Rogers was a book designer who settled in New Fairfield. Considered one of the great typographers of his time, his masterpiece was the 1936 Oxford Lectern Bible.
ReadTimothy Dwight was an influential preacher, poet, and educator who served as a chaplain during the Revolutionary War and later as the president of Yale College.
ReadIn April 1918, Governor Holcomb designated English as the only language to be used in teaching and prohibited schools from employing “alien enemies.”
ReadOn June 14, 1811, author Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Litchfield.
ReadBest remembered for the dictionary that now bears his name, Noah Webster played a pivotal role in shaping the young nation’s political and social identity.
ReadAuthor Charles Dudley Warner penned significant volumes of work, leaving an impact through his enduring social commentary in the second half of the 19th century.
ReadAmos Bronson Alcott was an educator and reformer born in Wolcott, Connecticut and father to best-selling author, Louisa May Alcott.
ReadPopular poet, singer, and activist Carl Sandburg had numerous connections to Connecticut and promoted social reform in the early 20th century.
ReadConnecticut artist Amelia Watson’s works adorn some of the most elaborately designed and treasured volumes of the 19th and 20th century.
ReadIn Richard Yates’s 1961 book Revolutionary Road, living in the Connecticut suburbs is held up as the ultimate badge of success.
ReadHaving escaped from slavery in Maryland, this accomplished pastor, publisher, and freedom fighter challenged racism wherever he found it, even within the ranks of the abolitionist movement and the ministry.
ReadOn January 29, 1783, Connecticut became the first state to pass a general colonial copyright law.
ReadThornton Wilder, author of such renowned works as Our Town, The Matchmaker, and The Bridge of San Luis Rey, lived in Hamden for much of his life.
ReadSamuel Clemens experienced America’s rapid change—from westward expansion to industrialization‚ the end of slavery‚ advancements in technology‚ and foreign wars.
ReadLes Payne grew up in Hartford and became one of the best-known African-American journalists in the United States.
ReadOn August 2, 1955, the great American poet Wallace Stevens died at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford.
ReadOn August 1, 1814, a young teacher named Lydia Huntley opened a school for young women in Hartford.
ReadLyman Beecher was one of the most influential Protestant preachers of the 19th century, as well as father to some of the nation’s greatest preachers, writers, and social activists.
ReadEventually taking the name the “Hartford Wits,” influential figures of the 18th century got together to write poetry that documented the state of the times.
ReadIn 1853, in cities and villages across Britain and Europe, throngs of admirers pushed to catch a glimpse of a barely 5-foot-tall writer from America whose best-selling novel had taken slavery to task.
ReadOn June 5, 1851, the first chapter of what became the landmark novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin appeared in the National Era, an anti-slavery newspaper in Washington, DC.
ReadOn May 8, 1920, American author Sloan Wilson was born in Norwalk, Connecticut. Readers know Wilson best for his 1955 book The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.
Read…that Gertrude Chandler Warner, a lifelong resident of Putnam, Connecticut, authored the popular series The Boxcar Children Mysteries?
ReadOn February 10, 2005, the award-winning American playwright Arthur Asher Miller died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut, of congestive heart failure.
ReadIn 1783, Connecticut became the first state to pass a general colonial copyright law, entitled “An Act for the Encouragement of Literature and Genius.”
ReadJupiter Hammon, who endured life-long enslavement, became the first African American writer to be published in America when his 88-line poem, “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries”, was published.
ReadOn July 3, 1860, Charlotte Anna Perkins (Charlotte Perkins Gilman) was born in Hartford, Connecticut.
ReadThis bucolic oasis on Hartford’s western edge became home to great literary talents, social reformers, politicians, and other nationally-regarded luminaries of the mid-to-late 1800s.
ReadHarriet Beecher Stowe’s most famous book is Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was published in 1852.
ReadThis rare footage is thought to be the only film of famed author Samuel Clemens.
ReadIn 1874, after living in Hartford for three years, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and his wife Olivia moved to a home in the area known as Nook Farm.
ReadConnecticut’s Cultural Treasures is a series of 50 five-minute film vignettes that profiles a variety of the state’s most notable cultural resources.
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