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Drawing of a group of women gathered together sewing

Hebron’s Josephine Sophia (White) Griffing and a Vision for Post-Emancipation America

From before emancipation and the 13th Amendment, Josephine Sophie White Griffing of Hebron, Connecticut, was an ardent advocate for enslaved and free people.

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Print of a factory

Illuminating Connecticut’s Past: The Bradley & Hubbard Legacy

Meriden’s Bradley & Hubbard Manufacturing Company was an industry-leading American manufacturer of kerosene lamps and metal household items.

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Poster with a blue and red flag and several people underneath cheering

Army-Navy “E” Award Honors Connecticut for Support Against the Axis Powers

During WWII, the US military bestowed 175 Connecticut war plants with the Army-Navy “E” Award for outstanding production contributions to the army and navy.

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Newspaper headline that reads "Girl Flyer Gets License, Aviation Writer's Paper Gets Story By Hard Work"

“Girl Pilot”: Mary Goodrich Jenson Breaks Barriers in Aviation and Journalism

Blending her aviation and journalism careers, Wethersfield’s Mary Goodrich Jenson pushed the boundaries of both fields.

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Tan colored bonnet with a green ribbon attached

Sophia Woodhouse Welles: Wethersfield’s World-Famous Bonnet Maker

Wethersfield’s Sophia Woodhouse Welles made a name for herself as an inventor and a businesswoman in antebellum America with her bonnets.

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Several people in a tobacco barn

Polish Tobacco Farmers in the Connecticut River Valley

Many Polish immigrants found work on the tobacco farms in the Connecticut River Valley that specialized in the tobacco used for cigar wrappers.

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Connecticut Agricultural College coeds gathering maple sap for war effort

A New Source of Farm Labor Crops Up in Wartime

During times of war, in Connecticut, as in many other states, women became an increasingly important resource in food production.

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Black and white profile portrait of a woman looking to the side.

Alice Hamilton: The Nation’s Leading Expert on Industrial Diseases

Dr. Alice Hamilton was a leading authority on industrial diseases and the first female faculty member at Harvard before she retired to Hadlyme, Connecticut.

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Artwork of a ship close to shore with people in rowboats. There is a large flag protruding from the mast of the ship. There is text at the bottom of the image.

Connecticut’s French Connections

From Huguenots to French Canadian mill workers to modern immigration, Connecticut has always been a place shaped, in part, by a steady French influence.

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Gwen Reed, circa 1950's

Actress Gwen Reed Best Remembered for Dedication to Childhood Literacy

Gwen Reed was an actress and educational advocate who grew up in Hartford in the early 20th century.

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The Sea in their Blood: The Portuguese in New London County

Many Portuguese immigrants came to the US as mariners serving aboard ships, some remained to build new lives and communities in Connecticut.

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Oakwood Acres temporary housing

The Debate Over Who Could Occupy World War II Public Housing in West Hartford

In the 1940s, African American war workers eligible for government-funded housing found access restricted to some properties despite vacancies.

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Boot Blacks and the Struggle to Survive in Hartford

January 17, 2023 • Everyday Life, Hartford, Work

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, young boys who shined shoes (sometimes 70 hours per week) were the primary breadwinners for many struggling families.

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Martin Luther King

Dr. King’s Dream Had Roots in Connecticut

In the summer of 1944, a young Martin Luther King Jr. worked at the Simsbury tobacco farm of Cullman Brothers, Inc.

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Writing-arm chair attributed to Ebenezer Tracy

Ebenezer Tracy Made Some of the Finest 18th-Century Furniture

Ebenezer Tracy was a carpenter from Lisbon, Connecticut, who specialized in making fine, hand-crafted furniture.

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Workers on the Charter farm on Crystal Lake Road, Ellington

William Pinney Does It All for Ellington

A lifelong resident of Ellington, William N. Pinney served his town and his state up until his death at the age of 90.

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Southern part of Saltonstalls Pond, East Haven

East Haven was Home to Connecticut’s First Iron Works

The roots of Connecticut’s iron industry lie in East Haven, starting in the 17th century.

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Eleven men standing on the deck of a ship

Africans in Search of the American Dream: Cape Verdean Whalers and Sealers

Cape Verdeans formed parts of whaling and sealing crews leaving Connecticut since the early 19th century, sometimes even rising to positions of authority.

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Black and white photograph of a long large building. There is a river and dam in front

Willimantic’s American Thread Plant–A Multinational Corporate Takeover

American Thread’s arrival in Willimantic in 1899 demonstrates Connecticut’s role in the Progressive Era’s “rise of big business” and “incorporation of America.”

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Fire Bucket

Firefighters Answer the Call in Greenwich

November 3, 2022 • Disaster, Greenwich, Work

From neighbors rushing to help neighbors and the town’s first fire department, which opened in 1879, to the present day, the volunteer tradition of firefighting continues despite many changes over the decades.

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Black and white image of a stove

The Stamford Foundry Company Made Notable Stoves

When it ceased operations in the mid-1950s after over 120 years, The Stamford Foundry Company was the oldest known stove works in America.

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Map detail of an island

The “Welcoming Beacon” of Sheffield Island Lighthouse

Sheffield Island, is home to one of Connecticut’s historic lighthouses—a stone structure with a celebrated past dating back two hundred years.

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The Colt's Manufacturing Company float for the parade dedicating the Bulkeley Bridge, October 7th, 1908

Hartford’s Industrial Day – Today in History: October 7

Hartford celebrated the 1908 opening of the Bulkeley Bridge, which connected Hartford and East Hartford, with a three-day extravaganza.

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A Different “Type” of Connecticut Industry

In the middle of the 1800s, the invention of the typewriter revolutionized the way Americans communicated, including in Connecticut.

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Memorial Sculpture, 1988. Mark Rabinowitz, sculptor

Monument to Hero of the Greenwich Police Department – Who Knew?

September 30, 2022 • Crime and Punishment, Greenwich, Who Knew?, Work

A memorial in Byram Park honors Yogi, who became the first police dog of the Greenwich Police Department in 1988.

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Nuclear power plant, Haddam Neck

Connecticut Yankee Brings Power to the People

For nearly 30 years the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company operated a nuclear power plant in Haddam Neck, Connecticut.

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Guyton flying the V-173, November 23, 1942

Boone Guyton Tested the Limits of World-Famous Aircraft

A long-time resident of Woodbridge, Boone Guyton was one of the most prolific test pilots in US aviation history.

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Connecticut Pin Makers

For the latter half of the 19th century and for much of the 20th century, Connecticut led the nation in pin production.

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American Mills Web Shop, West Haven

Elastic Web Expands Textile Manufacturing in West Haven

For the better part of a century, West Haven produced one of the more unique and innovative textile products in United States’ history.

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Picking Tobacco in the Connecticut River Valley

Literacy Tests and the Right To Vote

Connecticut was the first state to require a literacy test of would-be voters and, even as the practice came under fire as a tool of discrimination, the state held steady until 1970.

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Black and white photograph of a large ship next to a dock full of hundreds of people. There are people standing on the ship and streamers coming off the boat

Helen James Chisholm: A Hartford Teacher in Hawaii

Originally from Hartford, Helen James Chisholm’s career took her all the way to the Pacific to teach and run an orphanage.

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Greased pole, Labor Day picnic, Colt Park, Hartford

Labor Day at the Turn of the 20th Century

In February of 1889, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a bill making the first Monday of each September a legal holiday.

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Envelope of the Briggs Manufacturing Company

Briggs Manufacturing Drives Voluntown’s 19th-Century Cotton Economy

The Briggs Manufacturing Company was the premier employer in Voluntown, Connecticut, throughout the latter half of the 19th century.

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A Metal Giant in Wilton

August 14, 2022 • Arts, Business and Industry, Wilton, Work

Kenneth Lynch was an accomplished blacksmith who was a longtime resident of Wilton and created memorable pieces of metalwork found in the Northeast.

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Grey plaque dedicated to Moses Wheeler with the names of the Connecticut governor and state highway commissioner in 1962

Moses Wheeler: Legendary Housatonic Ferryman

Moses Wheeler carried passengers across the Housatonic River as the operator of the first ferry from Stratford to Milford—over 350 years ago.

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Francis Ingals, Chaffinch Island, Guilford

Guilford’s One-Man Fire Department

August 4, 2022 • Business and Industry, Guilford, Work

In the early decades of the 20th century, the town of Guilford had a fire department stationed on Chaffinch Island that consisted of just one man, Francis Ingals.

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L. B. Haas & Company address label, 1958

Cash Crop: L.B. Haas & Co. and the History of Tobacco in Connecticut

Louis B. Haas was a Dutch immigrant who opened a retail cigar store, Essman & Haas, on Central Row in Hartford in the late 1840s.

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Western view of Plainfield

Plainfield Academy: Grooming Connecticut Scholars in the 18th and 19th Centuries

July 22, 2022 • Education, Plainfield, Work

Founded in the late 18th century, the Plainfield Academy went on to become just the third school incorporated in the state of Connecticut.

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Detail of Beacon Falls Mill, Beacon Falls

Weaving the Cultural Fabric of Beacon Falls

The textile mills of the Naugatuck Valley brought tremendous change to towns like Beacon Falls.

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1893-94 Duryea

Frank Duryea Drives the First Automobile in Connecticut

In 1893, Frank Duryea, along with his brother, built one of the first cars in the country to have an internal combustion engine.

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John Howard Hale: Glastonbury’s Peach King

May 12, 2022 • Agriculture, Glastonbury, Seymour, Work

John Howard Hale came from a family of fruit growers in Glastonbury and developed a new type of peach that flourished in the harsh New England climate.

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Map of a collection of islands. There is a key in the bottom left hand corner

The Incident of the Stonington Schooner ‘Breakwater’: A View from Indian Country

Hundreds of American Indians served as mariners, including on the Stonington schooner ‘Breakwater,’ which survived capture in the Falkland Islands.

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Woman sitting in a small boat on a body of water with a fishing pole in her hand.

Edith Watson: Camera Artist

Over the five decades Edith Watson traveled around North America, her keen eye and box camera lens captured the otherwise untold stories of women.

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Detail from Map of Windham County, Connecticut

The Pike Family Lived a Life of Dyeing

The Pike family of Sterling, Connecticut worked in textile dying for four generations.

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Vivien Kellems Takes On the IRS

Reformer Vivien Kellems fought her most famous battle against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as she sought tax reform for businesses and single people.

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Charles H. Dow

Humble Beginnings of the Dow Jones: How a Sterling Farmer Became the Toast of Wall Street

The life of Charles Dow, in many respects, follows the storyline of the prototypical self-made man.

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Black and white photo of a large brick and wood house. The house is asymmetrical and has many gables. There are large trees surrounding the house.

George Griffin: “Devoted Friend” to Samuel Clemens

Mark 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.

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Aetna Helps Make Hartford “The Insurance Capital of the World”

Aetna started out as fire insurance company in Hartford in 1819, but spread into life insurance and is now a global leader in the health insurance industry.

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Detail from a glass plate negative showing the rear of one of the tenements that lined the Park River

Hartford’s Sex Trade: Prostitutes and Politics

March 23, 2022 • Hartford, Social Movements, Women, Work

Union organizer Rebecca Weiner was among the few who proposed to address the social and economic conditions that enabled the world’s oldest profession to thrive in the capital city during the 1800s.

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The health of the child is the power of the nation

Helen F. Boyd Leads the Charge for Better Public Health

A long-time Connecticut resident, Helen F. Boyd Powers was a national advocate for greater public access to nursing and healthcare education.

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Early 20th-Century Immigration in Connecticut

Connecticut played host to new, vast populations of Italian, Polish, and French Canadian immigrants who helped reinvent the state’s cultural identity.

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Anna Louise James seated, with a cat on her lap

Miss James, First Woman Pharmacist in CT Right in Old Saybrook

Remembering Anna Louise James, the first woman pharmacist in the state of Connecticut.

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Emily Pierson handing out leaflets in New York State Suffrage Campaign

A Feeling of Solidarity: Labor Unions and Suffragists Team Up

The voting booth and the shop floor were two important arenas in the fight for women’s equality.

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Excelsior Cutlery

Connecticut Pocketknife Firms

Connecticut pocketknife production began around 1840. Over the next two decades, Connecticut became the earliest state to have a burgeoning craft.

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Providing Bundles for Britain and News for America

Janet Huntington Brewster Murrow was a Middletown native who grew up to be one of America’s most trusted news correspondents, philanthropists, and the wife of Edward R. Murrow.

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Sexton family home, now the Ellington Historical Society

Nellie McKnight Promotes History and Literacy throughout Ellington

March 2, 2022 • Ellington, Education, Women, Work

Nellie McKnight was a teacher, librarian, and historian who served the town of Ellington for most of her life.

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To show an image of Mary Townsend Seymour

Mary Townsend Seymour: Hartford’s Organizer, Activist, and Suffragist

Mary Townsend Seymour was a leading organizer, civil rights activist, suffragist, and so much more in Hartford during the early 20th century.

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Colt's Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company

Samuel Colt: From Yankee Peddler to American Tycoon

Hartford native Samuel Colt built a financial empire on his design and automated production of the revolver.

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Cheney Brothers Mills

The Cheney Brothers’ Rise in the Silk Industry

February 9, 2022 • Business and Industry, Manchester, Work

Building a business on the back of an insect may seem foolish but for Manchester’s Cheney Brothers silk mill, it became the ticket to global success.

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G. Fox and Co. Delivery Fleet, ca.1910-1950

G. Fox and the Golden Age of Department Stores

Founded by Gerson Fox in 1848, G. Fox & Co. went on to become the nation’s largest privately owned department store.

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Improvement in Cards for Hooks and Eyes

Family Ties Bring Together North Branford Industry

In 1830, a resourceful industrialist opened a button making shop in what today is the Northford section of North Branford.

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Image showing the expanse of the Bigelow-Hartford Carpet mills

First Connecticut Carpet Mills Emerge in Simsbury and Enfield

In the 1820s, the first two notable carpetmakers emerged in the north central part of Connecticut—the Tariff Manufacturing Company and the Thompsonville Carpet Manufacturing Company.

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Ashbel Woodward house, Franklin

Franklin’s Ashbel Woodward was a Battlefield Surgeon and Historian

Ashbel Woodward was a physician, historian, and farmer who spent most of his life serving the town of Franklin.

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Receiving end of the first successful pipe-line built in 1865

William Hawkins Abbott Finds the Energy to Power the Northeast

William Hawkins Abbott helped transform the market for affordable energy through his oil refining, pipeline, and distribution networks.

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The Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company in East Hartford

The Early Years of the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company

Wasp and Hornet engines secure the reputation and success of this 1920s start-up venture.

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The American Brass Company: Leading the Way in the “Brass Valley”

The American Brass Company helped make the Naugatuck Valley a center of international brass production until the late 20th century.

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Bacon Jabez House, Woodbury

Daniel Curtiss: The Life of a 19th-Century Self-Made Man

Daniel Curtiss spent most of his life in Woodbury, thriving in business, pioneering the sale and distribution of commercial goods, and serving his town by holding political office.

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Wethersfield's four-wheeled combination hook, ladder and bucket carrier

Connecticut’s Oldest Fire Department

November 19, 2021 • Everyday Life, Wethersfield, Work

The Wethersfield Volunteer Fire Department is the oldest continually operated fire department in Connecticut.

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American Whaler printed by Elijah Chapman Kellogg

New London’s Indian Mariners

November 18, 2021 • Law, Native Americans, New London, Work

In an era of dispossession and diminishing autonomy on land, Native American mariners learned to use Anglo-American structures and institutions to establish a degree of power and personal freedom for themselves.

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Policeman, ca. 1905

Enforcing Law and Order in Greenwich

November 14, 2021 • Crime and Punishment, Greenwich, Work

A short history of police work in one Connecticut town.

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Samuel A. Foote

Samuel Foot: A Trader Turned Governor

Samuel Foot was a West India trader from Cheshire, Connecticut, who went on to a successful career in politics in the US Congress.

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Man wearing a hat with card stating "Bread or Revolution"

How the Wobblies Won Free Speech

Denied the right to free assembly in public spaces, Connecticut workers joined in a larger national movement of civil disobedience.

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A Revolutionary Book Designer: Bruce Rogers of New Fairfield

October 19, 2021 • Arts, Belief, Literature, New Fairfield, Work

Bruce 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.

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German American workers from the buff room

Late 19th-Century Immigration in Connecticut

Immigration to Connecticut in the second half of the 19th century proceeded much as it had in earlier decades.

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The crew and passengers of the steamboat Sunshine

Rising Tide: Steamboat Workers on the Connecticut River

October 8, 2021 • Transportation, Work

For the deck hands, stevedores, and firemen who made the steamboats of the Hartford Line run, 18-hour days, dangerous conditions, and lousy food were the norm.

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Evelyn Beatrice Longman Commemorates the Working Class

September 27, 2021 • Hide Featured Image, Arts, Hartford, Windsor, Women, Work

“Industry,” also known as “The Craftsman,” by Evelyn Longman, resides in Hartford and is a celebration of the working class and their contribution to society.

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Penguins, 1933-35, Antarctic

Sixty Degrees Below Zero: Connecticut Man Explores Antarctica

September 15, 2021 • Bolton, Exploration and Discovery, Science, Work

John Henry Von der Wall, a life-long resident of Bolton, took part in Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd’s famed expeditions to the South Polar regions.

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The Wheeler & Wilson Ruffler

Wheeler & Wilson: A Stitchy Situation in Watertown

The Watertown firm of Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing produced one of the most successful products of the late 19th century.

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Straitsville Schoolhouse, Naugatuck

Child Labor vs. Schooling in 19th-century Naugatuck

September 4, 2021 • Henry Barnard, Education, Naugatuck, Work

The Naugatuck school system today consists of 11 public schools that provide a thorough contemporary education to over 4,000 students—but this was not always the case.

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Workingmen's Restaurant, 129 Market Street, Hartford.

Serving Up Justice: Hartford’s Black Workers Organize

The earliest labor union for African American workers in Hartford appeared in 1902 with the birth of the Colored Waiters and Cooks Local 359.

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The Danbury Hatters

References to the hat making industry abound in Danbury and continue to shape much of the city’s identity today.

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Hope on the Wall: Connecticut’s New Deal Post Office Murals

Between 1934 and 1943, the federal government placed murals in twenty-three Connecticut post offices.

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Brass City/Grass Roots: Waterbury Farming in the Late 1800s

This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”

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Brass City/Grass Roots: Farming as Recycling: The Becces in the North End

This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”

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Brass City/Grass Roots: From Farmers to Developers: The Rasmussens of Town Plot

This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”

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Brass City/Grass Roots: The Pierponts of East Farms

This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”

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Brass City/Grass Roots: Struggles and Decline

This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”

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Brass City/Grass Roots: Food Marketing and Processing as Part of Civic Culture

This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”

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Brass City/Grass Roots: What Makes a Farm a Farm? Other Sites of Food Production in Waterbury

This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”

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Brass City/Grass Roots: Remnants and Revivals

This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”

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Brass City/Grass Roots: Bucks Hill: Waterbury’s Rural Holdout

This article is part of the digital exhibit “Brass City/Grass Roots: The Persistence of Farming in Waterbury, Connecticut”

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Greenwich Emergency Responders: On the Move Overtime

Horses, motorcycles, and boats are just a few of the modes of transportation that town emergency personnel have used over the years to get to where they’re needed.

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North Haven: Fabricating Sculpture in the 1960s and 1970s

Lippincott, Inc., in North Haven, was one of the most highly respected fine-arts metal fabricators in the country in the second half of the 20th century.

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Hitchcock chairs

Built on Innovation, Saved by Nostalgia: Hitchcock Chair Company

In the 1820s Lambert Hitchcock adapted mass production concepts pioneered in the clock-making field to chair manufacture.

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Boyhood home of Amos Bronson Alcott, Wolcott

Amos Bronson Alcott Changes the Way Connecticut Children Learn

Amos Bronson Alcott was an educator and reformer born in Wolcott, Connecticut and father to best-selling author, Louisa May Alcott.

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The Collapse of the L’Ambiance Plaza

On April 23, 1987, twenty-eight workers lost their lives during a collapse at the L’Ambiance Plaza construction site in Bridgeport.

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Child Labor in Connecticut

While Connecticut proved to be one of the more progressive states when it came to child labor laws, it still took federal legislation to protect children in the workplace.

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Blacksmith Isaac Glasko Challenges the State Constitution

Isaac Glasko was a blacksmith of mixed African American and Native American descent who challenged 19th-century voting rights in Connecticut.

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The Girl in White, movie advertisement starring June Allyson as Emily Dunning Barringer

New Canaan’s Pioneering Female Physician

Dr. Emily Dunning Barringer was the first female ambulance surgeon in New York City and the first female physician to work as an intern in a New York City hospital.

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Vera Buch Weisbord’s “Radical” Life

Vera Wilhelmine Buch Weisbord was a labor activist who helped organize trade unions and strikes that shaped the labor movement of the 1920s and 1930s.

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Martha A. Parsons House

A Pioneering Woman in Business: Martha Parsons of Enfield

Enfield’s Martha Parsons broke new ground in her pursuit of employment opportunities for women. Her family home now belongs to the Enfield Historical Society.

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Portrait of Dr. Charles Johnson

Hartford’s Great Migration through Charles S. Johnson’s Eyes

During the Great Migration of the early 1900s, African Americans from the rural South relocated to Hartford and other Northern cities in search of better prospects.

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Laboring in the Shade

Thousands of Black Southern students, including a young Martin Luther King Jr., came north to work in Connecticut’s tobacco fields.

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Hazard Powder Company gunpowder barrel

One-Legged Stools – Who Knew?

Hazard Powder Company employees sat on one-legged stools to keep them from falling asleep while working with dangerous materials.

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Valley Forge, 1777

A Connecticut Slave in George Washington’s Army

Nero Hawley, born into slavery in Connecticut in the 18th century, fought in the Revolutionary War.

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Case Paper Mill, circa 1925

Andover Looks Good on Paper

In 1889, Fred Case built a paper mill on the Hop River in Andover.

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An example of two different Kewpie dolls

The Kewpies Buy A House in Westport

The Kewpies originally appeared as a comic strip in the Christmas issue of the 1909 Ladies Home Journal.

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Merritt Hat Factory, Danbury

Ending the Danbury Shakes: A Story of Workers’ Rights and Corporate Responsibility

Despite the known dangers of prolonged exposure to mercury, the hat-making industry was slow to safeguard workers against its toxic effects.

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Bevin Brothers Manufacturing Company

Bevin Brothers Helps Transform East Hampton into Belltown, USA

Home to 30 different bell manufacturers, the town of East Hampton is informally known as “Belltown, USA.”

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American Cookery, or, The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and Vegetables by Amelia Simmons

Amelia Simmons Adds a Uniquely American Flavor to Cooking

In 1796, Amelia Simmons authored American Cookery—believed to be the first cookbook authored by an American published in the United States.

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Birthplace of Seth Thomas

Seth Thomas Works Around the Clock in Wolcott

Seth Thomas was a Connecticut native who became a pioneer in the mass production of high-quality wooden clocks.

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Congressional pugilists

Roger Griswold: A Governor Not Afraid To Challenge Authority

Born in Lyme, Roger Griswold was a lawyer, judge, and politician who spent the better part of his life in service to Connecticut.

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Westport Country Playhouse

Broadway Comes to Westport

The Westport Country Playhouse is meant to provide artists, students, and entertainers with a place to create and produce live theater experiences away from traditional big city theater districts.

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View on the Erie Canal

Benjamin Wright: The Father of American Civil Engineering

October 18, 2020 • Transportation, Wethersfield, Work

Benjamin Wright helped build transportation and canal systems in the United States and served as the chief engineer on the construction of the Erie Canal.

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New Haven: What Was Everyday Life Like During the Civil War?

A great primary resource for digging into a community’s everyday life is a city directory.

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Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company

Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company Puts Best Foot Forward

October 13, 2020 • Beacon Falls, Business and Industry, Work

Father and son George and Tracy Lewis not only founded a business together, they also had a hand in more than doubling the population of Beacon Falls.

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Improved Centrifugal Governor

Portland Improves the Steam Engine

Thomas R. Pickering, an engineer, ran a factory power plant in the mid-1800s and made improvements.

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The Wallingford Oneida Community

In the late 1800s, Wallingford was home to a small branch of the Oneida Community.

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Nicholas Grillo and his Thornless Rose

Nicholas Grillo was a self-made floriculturist who earned international acclaim for developing the world’s first thornless hybrid tea rose.

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Work on foundation of the Bulkeley Bridge

The Sand Hogs Set the Foundation for the Bulkeley Bridge

August 15, 2020 • Social Movements, Transportation, Work

Toiling in dangerous conditions beneath the Connecticut River’s surface for only $2.50 a day, African American workers dug the foundation for the Bulkeley Bridge.

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Workmen in quarry with stone for Bulkeley Bridge, Branford

Branford’s History Is Set in Stone

Recognized for its superior quality, the polished rock that came out of Branford traveled by schooner or rail to points as far as Chicago and New Orleans.

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Globe Onion

The Many Layers to Onion Farming in Westport

Westport’s fertile soil and ease of access by boat and rail once made it home to a thriving onion farming industry.

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Detail from the map Colony of Connecticut in North-America by Moses Park

East Haven’s Revolutionary Salt Works

East Haven’s Amos Morris helped supply Americans with salt (essential for preserving food) during critical shortages brought on by the American Revolution.

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Plan of USS monitor, 1862

Cornelius Bushnell and His Ironclad Ship

Cornelius Scranton Bushnell was a 19th-century Connecticut businessman and shipbuilder whose successfully lobbied on behalf of a local railroad enterprise.

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Mayor Insists Air Terminal to Aid Idle

“Something to Show for Our Work”: Building Brainard Airport

At the height of the Great Depression, unemployed men living around Hartford, became a cheap source of labor to help build Brainard airport.

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Mary Hall: Connecticut’s First Female Attorney

Writer and suffragist Mary Hall studied law under John Hooker and became Connecticut’s first female attorney.

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The Newsies Strike Back

Despite organizing in 1909 to fight pay cuts, ultimately, vending machines and changing business models brought an end to the era of the Hartford newsie.

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The Innumerable Accolades Afforded Dr. William H. Welch

Trained at Yale, William Welch was a native of Norfolk, Connecticut, and one of the most celebrated physicians of his time.

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1920s photo of the Fuller Brush plant in Hartford

Hartford’s Fuller Brush Company Goes Door-to-Door Across US

Founded in 1906 by Alfred C. Fuller, the Fuller Brush Company was one of Connecticut’s most notable corporations.

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Video – Emily Dunning Barringer Tribute Film

The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame pays tribute to long-time New Canaan resident, Dr. Emily Barringer, the first female ambulance surgeon and first female physician in the nation to secure a surgical residency.

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Triangle Shirtwaist Fire: Connecticut Lessons from a Tragedy

While the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York City is one of the most famous tragedies behind the organized labor movement, Connecticut had its share of equally dangerous work environments in the early 20th century.

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Waterbury’s Radium Girls

In the early 20th century, girls working at the Waterbury Clock Company faced death and disease from exposure to radium in the workplace.

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Early 19th-Century Immigration in Connecticut

Numerous factors contributed to the growth of Connecticut in the decades following American independence.

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A Woman Ahead of Her Time: Mabel Osgood Wright

This writer and photographer founded the Connecticut Audubon Society and created Fairfield’s Birdcraft Sanctuary.

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Assembly of parachute flare casings

Munitions Assembly Line 1943

Because so many men enlisted in the military during WWII, women were recruited to take their places in the all-important factory jobs that kept the forces abroad supplied.

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North and South: The Legacy of Eli Whitney

After studying to become a lawyer, Eli Whitney actually helped further American industrial production methods through his numerous clever inventions.

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Detail of the W.A. Slater's Jewett City Cotton Mills in the foreground from Jewett City, Conn, bird’s-eye map by Lucien R. Burleigh

The Industrial Revolution Comes to Jewett City

The site of earlier mills, Jewett City seemed well-suited to the Tibbets’ textile enterprise: the Jewett City Cotton Manufacturing Company.

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Paul Robeson by Gordon Parks, 1942

“Negroes Who Stand Up and Fight Back” – Paul Robeson in Hartford

November 15, 2019 • Arts, Enfield, Hartford, Social Movements, Work

Called the “greatest mobilization of police in the city’s history,” the event that brought law enforcement out in force to Keney Park was not a riot, not a strike, but a concert by this singer-actor and activist.

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Clarence Dickinson Carries Printing Innovation into the 20th Century

October 25, 2019 • Invention and Technology, Haddam, Work

Clarence Dickinson was a long-time Haddam resident and pioneer in offset lithography—a process using printing plates on chemically treated flat surfaces.

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Tobacco barns in Windsor, Connecticut

Windsor Tobacco: Made in the Shade

By the mid-19th century, the “Tobacco Valley,” Springfield, Massachusetts to Hartford, Connecticut had become a center for cash-crop production.

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Samuel Colt…and Sewing Machines?

The National Museum of American History explains how a revolver, sewing machine, bicycle, and early-model electric automobile are connected.

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Interior of Otto Henning's Cafe

Union Brew

April 11, 2019 • Food and Drink, Work

Brewery strike in 1902 leads some to drink ginger ale, rather than beer, as a sign of solidarity.

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Video – Augusta Lewis Troup Tribute Film

The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame pays tribute to Augusta Lewis Troup, a pioneering labor leader, journalist, educator, and suffragist.

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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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Camp Cross Housatonic State Forest

Hidden Nearby: Two Monuments to Sportsmen at Housatonic Meadows State Park

June 20, 2016 • Cornwall, Environment, Sharon, Work

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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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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Connecticut Courant building

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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Thomas Darling House and Tavern, Woodbridge

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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The boiler that fed the machinery at the Fales & Gray Car Works in Hartford exploded

100 Years of Workers’ Compensation

April 18, 2015 • Business and Industry, Law, Work

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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Free Speech for Some – Who Knew?

October 4, 2014 • Hide Featured Image, Law, Work

In 1939, 150 years after the original passage, Connecticut finally ratified the US Bill of Rights, guaranteeing workers the right to free speech.

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American Chairs, Made in Connecticut

While the Windsor chair’s style and manufacture emerged in England in the early 1700s, it became extremely popular in North America during the 18th and 19th centuries.

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A Shipping and Railroad Magnate Remembers His Connecticut Roots

From Connecticut, Charles Morgan was a shipping and railroad magnate who became one of the most esteemed New York millionaires of the 19th century.

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One Powerful Family in Bozrah

April 22, 2014 • Bozrah, Business and Industry, Work

The operation of BL&P began strictly as a family affair with a focus on providing exemplary service to the local community.

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William E. Simonds

William Edgar Simonds: A Schoolteacher Turned Civil War Hero

Originally a teacher, William Edgar Simonds’ service during the Civil War launched Simonds into a life of politics and international acclaim.

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Stanley Works for New Britain

In 1843, Frederick Stanley founded a small shop in New Britain to manufacture bolts, hinges, and other hardware products for sale to local residents.

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Andrew Mamedoff

Connecticut Daredevil Andrew Mamedoff Joins Royal Air Force

Andrew Mamedoff was a daredevil, pilot, and war hero who became one of the first Americans to join England’s Royal Air Force.

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When Milk Powered Watertown’s Industry

The story of the dairy industry in Watertown mirrors that of many industries in Connecticut.

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Elias Perkins: One of Lisbon’s Most Accomplished Public Servants

Elias Perkins’s career in public service lasted nearly half a century and made him a popular figure both locally and nationally.

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Palmer Brothers' Fitchville Mills

When Bozrah Provided Comfort to the Nation

April 3, 2014 • Bozrah, Business and Industry, Work

For the better part of a century, the Bozrah mills utilized by the Palmer Brothers company served the Fitchville section of town and the surrounding community.

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A page from a clock design booklet by Daniel Burnap

When the World Ran on Connecticut Time

The success of the clock- and watch-making industries in Connecticut came about in an era when the state was just beginning to realize its industrial potential.

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Colt workers in front of the Armory, 1876

Workers at the Colt Armory, Hartford 1867

Colt Firearms has been one of the most prominent industries in Hartford for over 150 years.

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The General Superintendent, Z. R. Brockway, interviewing new arrivals

Zebulon Brockway: A Controversial Figure in Prison Reform

January 2, 2014 • Crime and Punishment, Lyme, Work

Zebulon Brockway was one of the more successful and controversial figures in prison reform during the 1800s.

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New Haven Harbor, US Coast Survey, 1872

Three Young Engineers: Charting New Haven

When the United States Coast Survey set out to compile detailed charts of New Haven Harbor in the 1870s, they hired recent graduates of Yale’s Sheffield Scientific School as assistants.

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Armstrong Rubber Company ad, June 1953

Armstrong Finds a Niche in the Tire Market

Armstrong tires, one of the most popular brands of automobile and farm equipment tires in the 20th century, has its roots in West Haven, Connecticut.

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Philip Corbin

Philip Corbin: Manufacturing A Legacy for New Britain

The P&F Corbin Company manufactured builders’ hardware, including hooks, sash fasteners, picture nails, locks, and knobs, and coffin trimmings.

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The lock and trigger assembly on the Deming rifle neatly combine function and aesthetics

A Pioneering Connecticut Firearm

Before Colt and others ushered in the age of mass production, individual makers, such Harmon Deming, handcrafted firearms.

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