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Video – Barbara McClintock Tribute Film
The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame pays tribute to Hartford native Barbara McClintock, a famed geneticist and Nobel Prize winner.
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Video – When Disaster Struck: The Flood of 1936, Part I
The CPTV Original, When Disaster Struck Connecticut, provides an in-depth look at the four major natural disasters that befell Connecticut between 1888 and 1955.
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Video – When Disaster Struck: The Flood of 1936, Part 2
The CPTV Original, When Disaster Struck Connecticut, provides an in-depth look at the four major natural disasters that befell Connecticut between 1888 and 1955.
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Video – When Disaster Struck: King Blizzard
The CPTV Original, When Disaster Struck Connecticut, provides an in-depth look at the four major natural disasters that befell Connecticut between 1888 and 1955.
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Blizzard of 1888 Devastates State
An unexpected and deadly March storm, stretching from Washington, DC, to the Canadian border, buried Connecticut in as much as 50 inches of snow.
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Video – Mary Townsend Seymour Tribute Film
Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame pays tribute to Hartford native Mary Townsend Seymour, a pioneering advocate for equal rights for African Americans and co-founder of Hartford’s chapter of the NAACP.
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Government Orders Horse Pistols – Today in History: March 9
On March 9, 1799, the government issued its first contract for 500 horse pistols to Simeon North of Berlin at $6.50 each.
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Video – Florence Griswold Tribute Film
The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame pays tribute to Florence Griswold, an Old Lyme native who fostered the impressionist art movement in Connecticut.
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Video – Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures: American Clock & Watch Museum
Connecticut’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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Over Time: West Hartford’s Historical Population
Census data, from colonial times on up to the present, is a key resource for those who study the ways in which communities change with the passage of time.
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Video: No Booze for You – Who Knew?
During Prohibition, many Connecticut residents found it easy to obtain alcohol illegally, though violations of Prohibition led to an increase in violent crime.
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Map – Bird’s-eye View of Ansonia, 1875
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries panoramic or perspective maps, also known as bird’s-eye views and aero views, were used to depict many of Connecticut’s town and cities.
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29th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers Fought More than One War
The state’s first African American regiment of the Civil War distinguished itself by battling Confederate forces and 19th-century prejudices.
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Video – When Disaster Struck: The 1938 Hurricane, Part I
The CPTV Original, When Disaster Struck Connecticut, provides an in-depth look at the four major natural disasters that befell Connecticut between 1888 and 1955.
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The Forlorn Soldier
The Forlorn Soldier, a statue by James G. Batterson, survived years of neglect, punishing weather, and movements to tear it down, and yet still serves an important purpose in Civil War commemoration.
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A Soldier’s Welcome
In September of 2013, officials arranged for the statue of the Forlorn Soldier to be placed in its new permanent home at the Connecticut State Capitol.
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Video – William Gillette’s Railroad
Actor William Gillette is featured in this two-minute newsreel, “Sherlock Holmes Turns Engineer,” filmed by Fox Movietone News in 1927.
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Video – Free-for-all Race at Charter Oak Park
A crowd of some 25,000 to 30,000 people turned out to see John R. Gentry compete for a $6,000 purse.
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Hidden Nearby: Two Monuments to Sportsmen at Housatonic Meadows State Park
Two monuments in Housatonic Meadows State Park mark this area’s reputation as one of the finest fly fishing locales in the Northeast.
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An Overview of Connecticut’s Outdoor Sculpture
Public sculpture has punctuated the state for three centuries, reflecting the values of our communities, their times, and their funders.
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A Special Place to Honor Military Veterans in Plainville
On the corner of Maple and Whiting Streets in Plainville, Connecticut, is a special place where the town honors its war veterans.
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Nathan Starr’s Cutlass Fought the War of 1812
On May 18, 1808, the Navy Agent Joseph Hull of New London negotiated a contract with Nathan Starr of Middletown for 2,000 cutlasses.
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Video – Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures: Hill-Stead Museum
Connecticut’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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Video – Connecticut’s Cultural Treasures: Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum
Connecticut’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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A Bird’s-eye View of Bridgeport
The lower perspective of this 1882 example is somewhat atypical of most of the bird’s-eye views of the era, but its emphasis on industrial accomplishment is a hallmark of the genre.
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Sheff v. O’Neill Settlements Target Educational Segregation In Hartford
This landmark case not only drew attention to inequalities in area school systems, it focused efforts on reform.
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Video – Rudolph Zallinger’s Masterpiece, “The Age of Reptiles”
The Yale Peabody Museum is home to one of the world’s largest murals, which illustrates changes in the earth’s flora and fauna between the Devonian and Cretaceous periods.
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Understanding the Environmental Effects of Industry by Examining the Starr Mill
The development of resources both in and around the Coginchaug River in Middletown were representative of prevailing attitudes about industrial expansion and environmental protection.
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Video – Martha Parsons Tribute Film
The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame pays tribute to Enfield native Martha Parsons, the first female business executive in Connecticut to earn her position based on merit.
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Heart Pump out of an Erector Set – Who Knew?
Yale medical student William Sewell Jr. built the first artificial heart (partly out of Erector Set pieces), and conducted successful bypass experiments in 1949.
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Video – Haunted History: Harriet Beecher Stowe House
Your Town’s History in Video: Harriet Beecher Stowe House
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The Hartford Courant: The Oldest US Newspaper in Continuous Publication
On October 29, 1764, New Haven printer Thomas Green began publishing The Hartford Courant (then known as The Connecticut Courant) in Hartford, Connecticut.
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Video – Home Front: Connecticut During World War II – Migration and Housing
This excerpt from the Connecticut Experience series provides a glimpse into the people, places, and events that have shaped our state’s history.
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New London’s Sound Defense
The use of privateers to supplement naval forces and wage war on an enemy was established European practice—and one the rebellious North American colonies readily adopted as they faced Britain, one of great military powers at sea, during the Revolutionary War.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Published 1852
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s most famous book is Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was published in 1852.
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Looking Back: the First “Aero Planes”
New flying machines drew excited crowds to the 1911 opening of a new bridge between Saybrook and Old Lyme.
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Wesleyan Hills Helps Redefine Suburbia
The design of the Wesleyan Hills community in Middletown, Connecticut, stands in stark contrast to the uninspiring, cookie-cutter suburbs of the Post-World War II era.
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Over Time: Redding’s Historical Population
Census data, from colonial times on up to the present, is a key resource for those who study the ways in which communities change with the passage of time.
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Over Time: Ridgefield’s Historical Population
Census data, from colonial times on up to the present, is a key resource for those who study the ways in which communities change with the passage of time.
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Designed to Heal: The Connecticut General Hospital for the Insane
The design of this state facility in Middletown reflects 19th-century beliefs about the environment’s ability to influence mental health.
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The Frost House Once Offered Travelers a Warm Welcome
The Levi B. Frost House (or the Asa Barnes Tavern) represents over two centuries of Southington history.
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A Better Home and Garden in Bethlehem
The Bellamy-Ferriday House is a three-story, white clapboard house located in the center of Bethlehem, Connecticut.
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The Darlings Make Preservation a Family Affair
Thomas Darling was an 18th-century merchant, farmer, and politician and a member of the colonial elite.
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Diamonds of the Past: Hartford’s Lost Ball Parks
Erected in 1874, Hartford’s earliest baseball stadium was the Base Ball Grounds in Colt Park, on the corner of Wyllys Street and Hendricxsen Avenue.
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George Washington Slept Here (Just Perhaps Not Well)
After his stay at the Perkins Tavern in Ashford, George Washington commented in his personal journal on the accommodations.
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Echoes of the Old World: The Architectural Legacy of Ithiel Town
Ithiel Town was one of the first professional architects in Connecticut and one of the first to introduce the architectural styles of Europe to the United States.
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Video – Mark Twain at Stormfield
This rare footage is thought to be the only film of famed author Samuel Clemens.
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100 Years of Workers’ Compensation
Early attempts to enact industrial accident protections for workers were ruled unconstitutional by US courts, but a New York tragedy paved the way to successful legislation in Connecticut and elsewhere.
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