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Hidden Gems in the UConn Archives, Post 2

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Written by Jonathan Trinque, Research Services Coordinator, UConn Archives & Special Collections

The UConn Library’s Archives & Special Collections holds over 1000 archival collections. Some of these collections are well known and are used all the time for research, while others may not have been accessed since they arrived at the archives. Because of this, I thought it would be fun to spotlight some collections that I have come across that seem interesting, and that researchers have not used much or simply do not know that they exist.

Here are some other collections that I have come across that piqued my interest. I hope you find them as interesting as I do, and maybe reading about them will spark your next research project!

Nonny Hogrogian Papers

Original Artwork from Nonny Hogrogian’s The Contest (1976). Nonny Hogrogian Papers, Box 1, UConn Archives & Special Collections.

Nonny Hogrogrian was a critically acclaimed Armenian American author, illustrator, and designer of children’s literature.

Hogrogian grew up in an artistic family; her parents were amateur painters, and her sister went on to become an interior designer. Hogrogian began painting at a very young age. She always had a love for folktales and fantasy, as well as poetry, which is clearly shown in her body of work. Hogrogian is known for intricate illustrations and attention to detail that capture the personalities of her various characters. She has also been attributed to bringing multiculturalism into children’s literature by incorporating her Armenian heritage into her books.

Hogrogian studied fine art at Hunter College, earning herself a B.F.A in 1953. She freelanced as a book-jacket designer for William Morrow after graduation. Hogrogian continued her studies at The New School for Social Research where she studied life drawing. While at the New School, Hogrogian learned the art of woodcutting from Antoni Frasconi. Shortly after graduating from her master’s program in 1957, Hogrogian became a production assistant at Thomas Y. Crowell Co. in 1958. At Crowell, she illustrated her first published children’s book, King of the Kerry Fair. Hogrogian eventually moved on to work for Holt & Co. as an art director. Her work at Holt earned her first Caldecott Medal in 1966 for her work with Leclaire G. Alger (also known by the pen name, Sorche Nic Leodhas) on Always Room for One More. Hogrogrian won another Caldecott in 1972 for her self-illustrated book One Fine Day, and a Caldecott Honor Award in 1977 for The Contest, a retelling of an Armenian folktale.

I wanted to spotlight this collection because Nonny’s work is extraordinary but is often overshadowed by other big names that she has collaborated with. I resonate with her love of folktales and fairytales, and the beautiful illustrations that often accompany such stories. I also found her background and how she charted her career through various educational institutions and jobs in the publishing industry to be important and inspiring for early career professionals in children’s literature trying to break into the industry.

I strongly recommend experiencing Nonny Hogrogian’s collection in-person in our reading room and giving this underutilized collection the attention it deserves.

Related Resources:

Nonny Hogrogian Papers | UConn Archives & Special Collections

David Kherdian Papers | UConn Archives & Special Collections

Michael Rumaker Papers

Michael Rumaker in Sausalito, 1956. Photograph by Jonathan Williams. Western Regional Archives. Asheville, North Carolina.

Michael Rumaker was an American author known for his semi-autobiographical novels that document his life as a gay man from his early life in the 1950s to his death in the 2010s.

Rumaker was born in South Philadelphia and grew up in a small town in New Jersey. He went on to attend Rider College in Trenton where he majored in journalism, but after hearing Ben Shahn’s enthusiastic praise of Black Mountain College, he applied and was accepted.

Rumaker was granted a work scholarship where he worked seven days a week in Black Mountain’s kitchens. During his time at Black Mountain College, Rumaker studied writing under the tutelage of Charles Olson and Robert Creeley. Rumaker’s breakthrough work was his short story “The Truck.” He originally wrote in one of Olson’s writing classes in 1954 and sent it to Robert Creeley to be published in the Black Mountain Review. This was a very encouraging experience for Rumaker that led to his writing of three additional stories during his winter break that followed, including “Exit 3” and “The Pipe,” both of which were eventually published.

In 1955, Rumaker graduated from Black Mountain with an honors degree with Robert Duncan as his outside examiner. He was one of very few students to have graduated during the college’s final years. After graduation, Rumaker worked various jobs during the day and worked on his writings at night. He worked in Philadelphia at an advertising agency. He eventually quit and hitchhiked all the way to San Francisco where he found work as a clerk for a steamship company. He continued writing in his spare time and stayed with friends from Black Mountain. From then on, his life continued to intersect with other artists from the Beat Generation.

There is still much more to Michael Rumaker’s interesting life and career that I could not include in this already-too-long blog post. I really wanted to spotlight his collection and published works as I feel together they really capture the life of someone who was a writer and creative to his very core and was so deeply dedicated to his craft. Reading about how hard he worked for his education, going from a kid in a small town to being a well-regarded published author, was inspiring and encouraging.

There is so much untapped research potential in this extensive collection, and if my enthusiastic review of it has not persuaded you to check it out, maybe George Butterick’s words will finally sell you on it.

According to George Butterick, who began reading and collecting Michael Rumaker’s literary papers at the University of Connecticut in 1974, “Rumaker has proceeded from writing about disengaged youth in a generation willing to declare its difference, to being a celebrant of total life and human joy. Actively participating in his own destiny, he has left a glowing trail of work to document the struggle toward identity. He represents, in his later writings, one extension of the Beat revolution: the embracing of sexual diversity. Governing all his work is an indefatigable spirit that gives the creative life reward.”

Related Resources:

Michael Rumaker Papers | UConn Archives & Special Collections ArchivesSpace

BMC Yearbook Biographies | Michael Rumaker

Merrill Gillespie Papers

Merrill Gillespie photograph included with student application. Western Regional Archives. Asheville, North Carolina.

This small but important collection features correspondence from Michael Rumaker to his long-time friend and former partner, Merrill Gillespie, documenting the pair’s early relationship in the mid-1950s while they both attended Black Mountain College.

Gillespie was born in Kewanee, Illinois and attended Black Mountain College from Spring 1949 – Fall 1952 pursuing his studies in music composition. He attended with composer David Tudor, artist Herb Roco, poet Marie Tavroges Stilkind, and of course Michael Rumaker. At an early age, Gillespie contracted an ear infection that made him hard of hearing for most of life. Despite this, he followed his passion for music studying under Lou Harrison during his Black Mountain College years, and David Garner during the last 25 years of his life. Over the course of his life he composed many works including several chamber works and three orchestral works.

I wanted to draw attention to this small collection because it complements Michael Rumaker’s collection and is easy to overlook. I think through the letters included in this collection you can really get a sense of each of them as individuals, their relationship with one another, and what their lives were like while attending Black Mountain College. I think these collections work together to accomplish one of the main goals of an archive; to give the fullest picture possible of an individual, the life they lived, and the context in which they existed.

Related Resources:

Merrill Gillespie Papers | UConn Archives & Special Collections ArchivesSpace

BMC Yearbook Biographies | Merrill Gillespie

Merrill Gillespie Obituary | 1931 – 2017 | Daly City, CA

If any of these collections have piqued your interest, you are always welcome and encouraged to view them in-person in our reading room or by accessing them remotely through reproductions. To learn more about how to access our collections, please visit our website: https://s.uconn.edu/asc

Citations:

Photograph of Michael Rumaker in Sausalito, 1956. Photograph by Jonathan Williams. Western Regional Archives, Asheville, North Carolina. Retrieved on February 17, 2026. https://bmcyearbook.org/bio/michael-rumaker  

Photograph of Merrill Gillespie included with student application. Western Regional Archives, Asheville, North Carolina. Retrieved on February 17, 2026.  https://bmcyearbook.org/bio/merrill-gillespie  

Original Artwork from Nonny Hogrogian’s The Contest (1976). Nonny Hogrogian Papers, Box 1, University of Connecticut Library, Archives & Special Collections

Hidden Gems in the UConn Archives

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Jonathan Trinque, Research Services Coordinator

The UConn Library’s Archives & Special Collections holds over 1000 archival collections. Some of these collections are well known and are used all the time for research, while others may not have been accessed since they arrived at the archives. Because of this, I thought it would be fun to spotlight some collections that I have come across that seem interesting that researchers have not used much or simply do not know exist.

Here are some of the collections I found while perusing our online finding aids and physical collections:

University of Connecticut Agricultural Economics Department Records

Based on the collection’s title I did not expect it to be as interesting as it turned out to be. I assumed that this collection would only be administrative records and economic data, but I was completely wrong.

Women's Land Army trainees, 1944.

This collection contains over 80 linear feet worth of newspaper clippings, correspondence, pamphlets, brochures, photographs, and other print materials that document the evolution of the agricultural sector on a local and national level over the course of more than a century! It covers the intersection of agriculture and massive historical events such as World War II and the labor shortage created as a result of the Selective Service draft and how the State of Connecticut and the University of Connecticut worked together to create the Emergency Farm Labor Department in response to this crisis.

The Emergency Farm Labor Department established the Woman’s Land Army as well as nine farm labor camps for housing and training new agricultural workers. These farm laborers included urban youth and women, soldiers, white collar professionals, displaced Japanese Americans, returning war veterans, workers from other states, migrant workers from Mexico and Jamaica, and even German prisoners-of-war.

This collection also includes correspondence documenting UConn’s Agricultural Department’s growing responsibility as part of the Emergency Farm Labor Committee and their work with the United Stated Department of Agriculture.

There is so much more to explore in this collection. I highly recommend reading through the collection’s finding aid and if anything piques your interest, you can always visit our reading room to see the collection in person.

Margaret Waring Buck Papers

When I came across this small collection, I knew I had to shine some light on it as it covers many of my interests, children’s literature, illustration, and natural history. This collection contains materials relating to Margaret Waring Buck’s self-illustrated books that often detail the lives of animals in the wild through black-and-white drawings of the flora and fauna of the outdoors. These books are often geared towards young naturalists who are just starting their dive into ecology and natural history.

I think it is important to note Margaret Waring Buck’s interest in physiognomy, also known as face reading and anthroposcopy, a pseudoscience now considered to be a form phrenology. I feel analyzing her work through this lens could yield interesting discoveries regarding the various influences on her work.

In this collection you will find many different types of materials from Margaret Waring Buck’s personal papers, correspondence, and photographs from the early history of photography, as well as original notes and sketches. I highly recommend reading through this collection’s finding aid and inventory and visiting our reading room if anything in the finding aid catches your eye.

Charles Pease Papers

Charles Pease was a Connecticut-born businessman who worked as a printer and editor of the Connecticut Western News in Canaan Connecticut. Pease had a love for beekeeping that turned into a small but profitable side hustle.

This tiny collection (only 2 linear feet) is largely comprised of his own handwritten journals documenting his beekeeping activities (cutely named Pease’s Beeses) from 1919 through 1949. Pease also documented his observations of birds, flowers, and the natural world in his hometown of Canaan, Connecticut.

We also have another collection, the Hewitt Bee Collection, that complements Pease’s and is comprised of over 300 books and 40 different periodical titles on beekeeping and bee culture.

If you are an avid beekeeper, looking to start your own honey-selling business, or simply interested in Pease’s activities as a naturalist, I recommend experiencing these collections in person by visiting our reading room.

Related Resources

Bees and Beekeeping – UConn Library

The Connecticut honey bee. – UConn Library

Archives & Special Collections in the Connecticut Digital Archives

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The Connecticut Digital Archive is a collaborative member organization that supports digital preservation and access for all Connecticut’s people. Established in 2013, the CTDA has become the digital repository for multiple cultural heritage institutions across the state, including Archives & Special Collections (ASC). 

As one of the inaugural members of the CTDA, the ASC digital collections have grown and expanded over the years. The original seven categories have expanded to ten but the addition of thousands more resources has pushed the limits of these categories.

In the intervening years, ASC has also enhanced access to our collection finding aids and the ability to create direct links between the finding aids and the digitized collection materials has expanded discoverability, access, and availability of materials to researchers across Connecticut and beyond.

With the historic upgrade of the CTDA undertaken in 2022-2023 and expanded capabilities, ASC will also be revamping its space and collection presentation in the CTDA. All the content currently available digitally will retain their URLs (handles) but the categories in which they “live” will be expanded to mirror the collection areas under which our finding aids are categorized (https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/classifications ).

We believe this restructuring will make it easier to identify and locate our digital and digitized collections and ask for your patience as this migration unfolds in the New Year.

If you have any questions or have difficulty locating our digital content during or after this transition, please contact us at archives@uconn.edu for assistance.

The New Haven Railroad during World War II: Mexican Braceros Come to the Rescue

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On January 3, 1944, 300 men from Mexico arrived in Connecticut after a journey of 3700 miles which started six days earlier in Mexico City. They were hired as Braceros, or manual labor, to work on the New Haven Railroad for a term of six months through a diplomatic collaboration between the United States and Mexico which provided needed workers for the nation’s railroads during World War II. 

Bracero workers wave at a New Haven Railroad engineer in the cab of a locomotive, 1944

The Bracero program had its origins as far back as the 1880s, when Mexican workers were recruited in building the vast network of railroads in the United States. Although later better known as a program for agricultural workers, the Bracero program was an important means to alleviate the shortage of American workers in the railroad industry. 

America’s railroads had a crucial role to play during World War II, transporting war materiel from industries that switched production to provide arms, ammunition, and other goods, to transporting soldiers to training camps and points of embarkation. Shipping slowed due to the threat of German submarines off of the U.S. east coast, thus the demand for moving oil and coal fell on the railroads. Civilian passenger service was up due to the rationing of gas for private automobiles. Just at the time the railroads needed more employees to handle this surge in service, they were left short-handed when many of their workers left for the armed forces. 

The New Haven Railroad, which provided passenger and freight service throughout southern New England, noted in their 1944 annual report that as of May 1944 over 5500 of their workers left for the armed services; that number rose to 7200 by the war’s end. Although the railroad was able to hire women to make up some of the lost workers, they relied on the Bracero program for the unskilled labor they needed to clean ash pits and fires, load coal, shovel sand, remove snow from tracks, and many other manual labor jobs. 

Beginning in Spring 1943 the Bracero program recruited over 100,000 Mexican men to work for thirty railroads throughout the United States. While most of the men were recruited for railroads in the Midwest, South and West, over the two-and-a-half-year period of the program the New Haven Railroad received approximately 1000 workers. 

The Mexican men, with an average age of 28, were dispersed among several locations in the New Haven Railroad area; in Connecticut they worked at engine houses and railyards including Cedar Hill in New Haven, East Greenwich and Guilford. The contracts drawn up between the U.S. and Mexican governments stipulated that the men would receive the same rate of pay as American workers and work a ten-hour day, six days a week.  

In an article that ran in the February 1944 issue of the railroad’s employee magazine, Along the Line, it was noted that the men were given warm clothing suitable for hard industrial work in cold climates. They were housed in a dormitory in North Haven and chefs were brought from Mexico to accommodate the men’s eating preferences. Priests were brought in for Sunday services. It was also noted that most of the men sent their pay back to their families in Mexico. 

The men were given a warm welcome by the railroad, with the acknowledgement in Along the Line that “…it takes plenty of courage voluntarily to break off home ties, to leave families three thousand miles away, in an endeavor to improve their living conditions. It was the same spirit which in earlier years guided immigrants to America and resulted in the building of our great nation. We salute our Mexican friends, as fellow employees, thank them for their cooperation in coming, and express the hope that they will enjoy their stay with us. Bien Venido, Amigos!” 

By the end of the war, with the return of almost 90% of the New Haven Railroad’s workforce from the armed forces, the contracts for the Mexican Braceros expired and the men returned home.

Please Reduce Racism at UConn: The December 3, 1987 Incident

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The exhibit is available at Homer Babbidge Library Plaza Level, from April 2 until May 5, 2024.

An exhibit created by Edward Junhao Lim, the Business & Entrepreneurship Librarian of the UConn Library, and a member of the Association for Asian American Faculty and Staff (A3FS).

Target Practice was a comic strip published in the Daily Campus illustrated by Chris Sienko ’88 (SFA). This bigotry – depicting Asian teaching assistants as illiterate and stupid because of their accent or English language ability – reflected the sentiment in many American university campuses in the 1980s-1990s. This was published in the October 7, 1987, issue, p. 13.
The Target Practice comic strip on Asian teaching assistants sparked off a series of letters to the editor published in the October 12 & 14, 1987 issues of the Daily Campus. The Vice President of the UConn Korean Club defending Asian T.A.s, two letters suggesting that Asian T.A.s are poor in communicating in English, and even the comic artist (Sienko) defending and denying its racist intent.

December 3, 1987, was a significant marker for the Asian American movement at the University of Connecticut. Eight Asian American students boarded a bus at Belden Hall to attend an off-campus semi-formal dance at the Italian American Club in Tolland. Belden and Watson Hall sponsored the semi-formal.

The written statement to the UConn Department of Police about the bus incident by Feona Lee ’87 (CLAS, BUS) – one of the eight victims – dated December 12, 1987. She describes how the perpetrators – a group of white, drunken students, some of whom were chewing tobacco – spat on her and her friends and making racist remarks.

During the 45-minute bus ride, they were spat upon and subjected to racial slurs and physical intimidation from a group of UConn football players. Even at the dance hall, one of them continued harassing the group, including indecent exposure. The victims asked one of the Resident Advisors for help and permission to leave but were denied and asked to stay away from the troublemakers. The female victims hid in a closet until the threat of violence had seemed to pass.

This photograph published on the May 16, 1988 issue of the Hartford Advocate featured two of the eight victims of the December 3, 1987 bus incident: Marta Ho (left) and Ronald Cheung ’89 (CLAS, BUS) (center). Accompanying them is Maria Ho ’88 (CLAS) (right), sister of Marta. Both sisters played an important role in the founding of the UConn Asian American Association student group in January 1988, formed as a response to the bus incident.

The inability of both local law enforcement and university officials to address and remedy the situation led to eighteen months of struggle, protest, and examination. No one seemed willing to help at the beginning: the UConn affirmative action office could not interfere because it did not involve faculty and students; the UConn campus police claimed no responsibility since it happened off campus, and three other local police departments (Vernon, Stafford Springs, and Tolland) claimed to have no jurisdiction since the incident started on campus.

Paul Bock was the Professor Emeritus of Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of Connecticut. He pitched a tent on the Student Union lawn at Storrs campus and conducted a hunger strike to call attention to their demands. He obtained seven hundred signatures on a petition to bring about an investigation of the incident. He chose the window between the end of the summer session and the beginning of the fall session in August 1988 to avoid disrupting classes. This photograph by Rick Hartford was published in the Hartford Courant as an update a decade after the bus incident on May 17, 1998.

The perseverance of the victims eventually led to the identification and prosecution of only two from a group of attackers. One was suspended for one year. The other was barred from living on campus but continued to play for the UConn football team until his graduation.

This exhibit seeks to raise awareness about the incident on December 3, 1987, against Asian Americans at the UConn. This incident was a catalyst for change at UConn, leading to the establishment of the Asian American Cultural Center (AsACC), which provides resources to enhance the University’s diversity commitment through its recruitment and retention efforts, teaching, service, and outreach to the Asian American community on campus.

Through personal narratives and historical documents, the exhibition will explore this event’s origins and immediate consequences on the Asian, Asian American and broader campus communities. The day after the incident, Homer Babbidge Library was where Marta Ho told her sister Maria Ho what had happened. Maria insisted on reporting the incident to the police.

There’s Something About an Aqua Velva Man: the J.B. Williams Company, Connecticut’s Maker of Men’s Toiletries

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An exhibit of historical records and items manufactured by the J.B. Williams Company, shown on the Plaza Level of Homer Babbidge Library through March 2024.

The exhibit shows photographs, advertisements, and historical documents from the J.B. Williams Company Records, but includes a special component — almost 80 collectible items manufactured by the company.

All of the collectibles shown in this display are from the collection of Boyd and Melissa Williams, residents of Franklin, Tennessee.

Melissa and Boyd Williams, 2023

About eight years ago Mr. and Mrs. Williams were in an antique store and found a J.B. Williams Company shaving soap box. Knowing nothing about the company, with no connection to Connecticut, they purchased the box on the basis that the company’s name was theirs as well. After that, they perused antique shops and Ebay for other company items and slowly amassed their collection of about 150 items, which they display in a vacation cabin they own.

The focus of the collection is solely on items that indicate that they were produced in Glastonbury, 1960 and earlier.

In June 2023 Mr. Williams contacted the UConn Archives asking for information from the J.B. Williams Company Records about their products, to supplement his knowledge of the company. When the archives staff learned about the Williams’ extraordinary collectible collection, the couple generously agreed to loan the items for this display.

About the J.B. Williams Company:

James Baker Williams was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1818 and worked at a general store in Manchester beginning at the age of 16. When he was 22 he began to experiment with soaps to determine which were best for shaving, and developed Williams’ Genuine Yankee Soap, the first manufactured soap for use in shaving mugs.

In 1847 Williams opened his soap company on Williams Street in Glastonbury, where he continued to manufacture shaving soap and other products.

By the early 1900s the company was known throughout the world for its line of shaving creams, talcum powder, toilet soaps, and, later, for Aqua Velva, Lectric Shave, and Skol. After 1950 the company, in mergers with other businesses, became known for producing Conti Castile Soap, Kreml Hair Tonic, and Kreml Shampoo.

In 1957 a New York based conglomerate, Pharmaceuticals, Inc., acquired the J.B. Williams Company and moved the headquarters to New Jersey. In 1971 the company was sold to Nabisco.

The plant in Glastonbury was taken over by former Williams Company employees and became Glastonbury Toiletries, producing shaving soaps, bathroom soaps, aerosol shaving creams, body lotions and shampoos. This company closed in 1977. The original 1847 factory was converted to condominiums and, in 1983, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The company records were donated to the UConn Archives in 1967.

In Memoriam: Norman Finkelstein

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Norman Finkelstein

The UConn Archives is sorry to hear about the death of one of our donors, Norman H. Finkelstein, on January 5, 2024. He was an author of over 20 non-fiction books for young readers, a retired school librarian for the Brookline (Massachusetts) Public Schools and teacher of history for the Prozdor Department of Hebrew College. Among his writing honors are two National Jewish Book Awards, the Golden Kite Honor Book Award for Nonfiction and a “highly recommended” award from the Boston Author’s Club.

In an interview with Contemporary Authors published in 2011 Finkelstein remarked, “Readers often want to know what keeps me going as a writer. When I asked the late CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt to share a memory of Edward R. Murrow, about whom I was writing a biography, Kuralt responded: ‘Beginners need confidence; of course, I never had the nerve to ask Murrow for advice directly, but if I had, I believe he would have said, “Become good at what you do, and everything else will take care of itself.”‘ I couldn’t have said it better myself. I would, however, add two more words, persistence and patience.” (Source: “Norman H. Finkelstein.” Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors, Gale, 2011. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.http://gale.com/apps/doc/H1000112338/GLS?u=22516&sid=bookmark-GLS&xid=2702ce1e. Accessed 9 Jan. 2024.)

Norman Finkelstein’s work as an author is preserved at the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection, Archives and Special Collections, University of Connecticut. https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/374

Forgotten, Neglected and in Ruins: Abandoned Industrial Spaces in Connecticut

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Sometimes it is hard to recall that the Connecticut of not too long ago was an industrial powerhouse. From the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s the state was a major producer of brass, tools, textiles, clocks and household goods that were valued throughout the nation, and the world. While Connecticut today is still an industrial engine, we remember a time when large factories teemed with workers and railroad lines traveled into almost every town and city in the state.

There is a mix of emotions when we view images of abandoned factories and railroad stations. There is a nostalgia for the past, one that we know through old photographs or movies, a time we somehow imagine was simpler. Or there is a curiosity in the creepy side of the structures, covered in vines, roofs sagging, broken windows, old equipment splayed about the factory floor, and, if we’re lucky, perhaps a spray of graffiti on the walls.

Now available in the Richard Schimmelpfeng Gallery in the Dodd Center for Human Rights is an exhibit that shows photographs from the Railroad History Collections and the Connecticut Historic Preservation Collection, both held in the UConn Archives.

The foundational collection for the Railroad History Archives are the corporate records of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, better known as the New Haven Railroad, which was established in 1872 from the merger of smaller lines throughout Connecticut, Rhode Island, southern Massachusetts and eastern New York, and spanned from Grand Central Terminal in New York City to Boston. Other collections, from photographers, collectors and historians, supplement the corporate records and provide resources that illustrate the impact of the railroad on the industry and culture of the region until it was absorbed into Penn Central in 1969.

While the railroad collections provide documentation on the entire New Haven Railroad region, for purposes of this exhibit we have focused exclusively on Connecticut sources.

The Connecticut Historic Preservation Collection (CHPC) is comprised of architectural and archaeological surveys, maps and documentation studies of historic buildings and sites in the state. They are provided to the UConn Archives by the State Historic Preservation Office. The CHPC materials you see in the exhibit are almost solely those in the documentation studies series, which were created by professional industrial historians to document historical properties that were planned for demolition or renovation.

The exhibit is available Mondays through Fridays, 8:00a.m. to 4:30p.m., until October 13.

Several historians have graciously aided us with this exhibit, by either providing their advice or expertise of railroad properties, or by allowing the use of photographs they have taken of abandoned sites.

Robert Joseph Belletzkie has done extensive research into the history of Connecticut railroad stations. He created and maintains a website – Tyler City Station, at http://www.tylercitystation.info/ — that details the history of virtually every station and depot in Connecticut.

Matthew Chase is dedicated to a project to document the deterioration of the Cedar Hill Rail Yard, located in New Haven. His Facebook page, Friends of Cedar Hill Yard, has hundreds of photographs of the yard, both historical and in its deteriorating condition in the present day.

Richard A. Fleischer is a historian, writer and photographer with a broad and deep knowledge of the history of New England’s railroads.

J.W. Swanberg is a former railroad employee, photographer and historian of the New Haven Railroad, with a lifetime of knowledge about railroads in Connecticut, the region and the world. He is the author of the seminal history of the New Haven Railroad’s locomotive fleet, New Haven Power, and has written extensively on topics related to railroads in the region.

Encounters with the Natural World:  Work by Margaret Waring Buck, Katherine Shelley Orr and Jean Day Zallinger  

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The artists and scientists presented in this exhibition began observing their natural surroundings at a young age.  One is the daughter of a draftsman, one a trained portrait painter, one a self-described “doodler and daydreamer” who loved the sea.  Either formally or informally, all have used art to communicate through visual representation what they systematically observed.  Each shared their observations in non-fiction books for children in the hope of instilling a strong desire to learn and a curiosity about the world.   

On view are paintings, drawings, sketches and notes answering the question “what do I see around me?”  These artists responded to what the author of The Beginning Naturalist, Gale Lawrence, encouraged her readers to do, “begin to look at what’s around you, ask yourself questions about what you see, and find answers.  Only in this way will you establish a meaningful and lasting relationship with the natural world – of which you, too, are an important part.”    

This exhibition is being shown to complement Raid the Archive: Edwin Way Teale and New Works on view at the William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, from January 17 to March 10, 2023.   

UConn Archives & Special Collections 

Richard H. Schimmelpfeng Gallery 

January 31, 2023 – April 21, 2023 

The Famous Ghost Train of the New York and New England Railroad

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On March 16, 1891, the opulent White Train, a luxury passenger train of the New York and New England Railroad, pulled out of Summer Street station in Boston on its first run, set to arrive in Grand Central Station in New York City in six hours. The Boston Herald reported that people lined the route through the city and suburbs “and gazed with mingled curiosity and delight at its handsome appearance.” 

The train was pure Gilded Age splendor – its parlor cars were fitted with velvet carpets, silk draperies, and white silk curtains. The chairs were upholstered in gold plush; full-length glass mirrors were installed at each end of the cars. The coaches were heated with steam piped directly from the locomotive, an improvement over the fat-bellied stoves used in ordinary coaches. Pintsch gas lights brightly illuminated the coaches, replacing oil burning lights normally in use. 

The dining car’s menu included baked striped bass with Italian sauce, roasted spring lamb, ribs of beef, sauté of chicken with mushrooms, and a wide array of vegetables, salads and desserts, with every fine wine and liquor available. There is no question that this luxury train was meant to serve the exquisite tastes of the robber barons and financial kings of the time. 

The White Train’s name was literal – all of the cars were painted white. On its first run the crew, which included the famous locomotive engineer Gene Potter, wore white coats or overalls, white caps and white gloves. As time passed, when the white cars traveled through the countryside, particularly at dusk or in the evening, observers came to refer to it as an “eerie apparition.” Thus the White Train was soon better known as the Ghost Train. 

In 19th century America, the railroad train held a place of prominence as the fastest mode of transportation. As the century progressed and more railroad lines were formed throughout the country, the railroad companies competed on which could produce the fastest trains. Prior to the 1880s travel between the financial centers of New York City and Boston usually involved steamships along Long Island Sound, connecting with trains in New London, Connecticut, or Fall River, Massachusetts. It wasn’t until 1893, when the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad completed its Shore Line Route, that passengers could ride uninterrupted between the two cities. 

The New York and New England Railroad (NY&NE) was one of several inland routes, running from Boston to the Hudson River. Despite promoting itself as the “Air Line Route,” a reference to a route that cut through Connecticut and central Massachusetts on a diagonal, giving the impression it was faster than the Shore Line routes, it had to contend with the region’s many grades, curves and lightly constructed bridges. That did not deter the NY&NE’s goal of dominating passenger service between New York City and Boston. 

The NY&NE debuted its first high-speed train along the Air Line Route in November 1884.  Named the New England Limited, it was initially successful but by the late 1880s began to lose ridership to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad’s Shore Line trains, which included the The Gilt Edge and the Shore Line Flyer. 

In an effort to bring back customers to its inland route the NY&NE transitioned the New England Limited into the White Train, which was touted as the height of luxurious travel. The White Train was actually two trains, each leaving New York or Boston at 3 p.m., arriving at the other city at 9 p.m. 

When leaving from Boston the train traveled 86 miles through central Massachusetts into Connecticut, on a right-of-way owned by the NY&NE, with no stops until it arrived in Willimantic, where it changed engines. The train then went on to Middletown and New Haven, completing its journey into Grand Central on right-of-way owned by the NYNH&HRR. 

The NY&NE found the cost of keeping the white cars clean to be exorbitant, and the Ghost Train lasted just four and a half years. Its last run was on October 20, 1895, and was succeeded by the Air Line Limited. That same year the NY&NE was taken over by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. The Air Line Limited ran until 1902, and passenger service ended on the old Air Line route by 1937. 

The Ghost Train lives on in legend as one of the Gilded Age’s most opulent and noteworthy trains. This poem was distributed to its passengers on its first run in 1891, and well describes its impact at the time. 

List, oh list to the railroad bard, Our new “White Train’s” the latest card; List to the poets’ dulcet rhyme, This train is always in on time!

Spread the glad news wide and fast The White Train’s come to Town at last! Such beautiful cars have never been seen, Outshining in splendor the sun’s bright sheen. 

Without a jar, or roll, or antic, Without a stop to Willimantic, The New England’s Limited takes its way, At three o’clock each and every day. 

One half the glories have not been told, Of that wonderful train of white and gold, Which leaves every day for New York at three, Over the scenic NY & NE! 

Special thanks to historian Richard A. Fleischer for his help in clarifying the many confusions involving 19th century New England railroads, editing this writing and providing research and photographic materials. 

Finding Primary Sources Online

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With so many primary sources available online researchers don’t necessarily have to travel to an archives to find what they need. Academic and cultural heritage institutions have spent the last many years scanning large swaths of their collections and making them available in digital repositories, or have highlighted their collections in online exhibitions. Given the vast amount of primary sources held in the institutions’ physical spaces the resources that are available online are often just a drop in the bucket, but for many researchers the materials now available online have been as helpful as if they had made the trek to the research institution.

These databases are some of the best we know to provide primary sources to any researcher:

How to find archival materials in the UConn Archives:

The UConn Library digital repository holds holds scanned items from the archives. Note that while there are over 1,000,000 scanned items from the UConn Archives this represents only a small percentage of our overall collections: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/20002:UniversityofConnecticut

Information about all of our collections, some of which may be digitized but most of which are not in the digital repository: https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/ 

The UConn Library’s catalog, which provides information about published sources in the UConn collection but also leads to primary sources, at https://primo-pmtna01.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/search?vid=01UCT&lang=en_US

If you’re not finding what you’re looking for from the UConn Archives please contact us directly, at archives@uconn.edu, to discuss your research with our staff.

How to find sources in other archives in Connecticut:

The Connecticut Digital Archive has digital collections from dozens of cultural heritage institutions in the state (including the UConn Library), at https://ctdigitalarchive.org/

Connecticut Archives Online is a searchable database of the finding aids to collections in the state, at https://archives-library.wcsu.edu/cao/search/

Connecticuthistory.org, at https://connecticuthistory.org/, provides stories on Connecticut topics, often illustrated with archival sources.

Connecticut History Illustrated, http://connecticuthistoryillustrated.org/

Connecticut State Library Digital Collections, http://cslib.cdmhost.com/index.php

Yale digital collections,  http://web.library.yale.edu/digital-collections and  http://web.library.yale.edu/digital-collections/all

How to find finding aids and research guides, with information about collections in the United States:

ArchiveGrid, which provides access to over 5 million finding aids of collections across the United States and internationally, https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/

Online Archive of California, https://oac.cdlib.org/

How to find archival collections at archives in the United States:

The Digital Public Library of America provides access to digital collection across the United States, https://dp.la/. It also provides themed primary source sets and online exhibits at http://dp.la/primary-source-sets and http://dp.la/exhibitions. If there is any one source to go to for comprehensive information about digital collections this is it!

National Archives catalog, http://www.archives.gov/research/catalog/, their resources for students and teachers, DocsTeach.org, and their online research tools: https://www.archives.gov/education/history-day/online.html

Smithsonian Institution, at https://library.si.edu/collections

The Library of Congress digital collections, at https://www.loc.gov/collections/ and their digital newspapers, at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Digital Commonwealth, which provides access to digital collections in Massachusetts, https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/

Calispere, of the University of California system, https://calisphere.org/

New York Public Library, https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/

New-York Historical Society, http://digitalcollections.nyhistory.org/

Avalon, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/ provides access to documents in law, history and diplomacy from ancient times to the present

The UConn Library has a guide to eResources available primary to members of the UConn community, https://blogs.lib.uconn.edu/news/new-eresources-at-the-uconn-library/

Published historical resources, which can often be used as primary sources:

HathiTrust— https://www.hathitrust.org/ — provides access to millions of historical books and journals online

Google books, https://books.google.com/

Research guides to help you get the most from primary sources:

Primary and Secondary Sources Overview, https://guides.lib.uconn.edu/primary

What is a Primary Source?, https://guides.lib.uconn.edu/primary_source

Latin American & Caribbean Studies Guide – Primary Sources, https://guides.lib.uconn.edu/lacarib/primarysources

Resources in the Archives Related to Reproductive Rights and Abortion

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In light of the June 24, 2022, United States Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overruled previous decisions Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), Archives & Special Collections here provides a list of materials related to reproductive rights and abortion that are held in our collections.

The landmark decision in Roe in 1973 stated that “the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides a fundamental “right to privacy” that protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to abort her fetus,” while the 1992 decision in Casey modified Roe by holding that requiring spousal awareness in order to get an abortion put undue burden on married people seeking abortions.

As of the 2022 decision in Dobbs, abortion is no longer a constitutionally guaranteed right in the United States, leaving the decision to individual states. 

For those conducting research projects about reproductive rights, abortion, or related topics, Archives & Special Collections holds resources related to the topic in various media, both from pro-choice and anti-abortion perspectives. These materials range from polling information, correspondence, political documents, organizational literature, and much more.  Among some of our archives’ relevant items are:

Connecticut Women’s Educational and Legal Fund Records.  Connecticut Women’s Educational and Legal Fund (CWEALF) was founded in 1973. Related to reproductive rights, one major point in the collection is the Pregnancy Rights Project/Program, which took place in the 1980s, but CWEALF continues its work in advocacy, education, and empowerment to this day. Within the collection are publications, press releases from the organization, various writings, educational texts, administrative files, and more. Alongside reproductive advocacy, the records also include information on work CWEALF has done for LGBTQIA+ people. For more information on how to navigate this collection, a finding aid can be found online here: Connecticut Women’s Educational and Legal Fund Records

National Organization for Women, Connecticut and Rhode Island Chapters Records.  Founded in 1966, the National Organization for Women is a feminist organization, with currently around 500,000 members.  The organization advocates for women’s rights across many fronts, including reproductive health.  This collection includes informational literature, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, and more from both the Connecticut and Rhode Island chapters of NOW. For more information on how to navigate this collection, finding aids can be found online here: National Organization for Women, Connecticut Chapter Records and National Organization for Women, Rhode Island Chapter Records

Connecticut Civil Liberties Union Records.  The CCLU was founded in 1949 as the New Haven Civil Liberties Council, and is now the Connecticut affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (it currently goes by the name ACLU of CT). This collection includes records from the original NHCLC, as well as administrative records from the CCLU from 1958-90.  On the subject of reproductive rights, the collection includes legal documents from two cases: Women’s Health Services v. Maher (1979-1981) and Doe v. Maher (1981-90).  Both deal specifically with Connecticut law surrounding abortion.  For more information on how to navigate this collection, a finding aid can be found online here: Connecticut Civil Liberties Union Records

Alternative Press Collection Files.  The Alternative Press Collection consists of publications created by various people, groups, and organizations. There are many items in the collection that cover the topics of reproductive rights and abortion, both in digitized online form and solely in the physical stacks.  Below are a few links that will help to navigate the collection.

APC File Inventory – This link goes to a list of all the publications within the APC Files, both digitized and physical.

 Abortion Rights Movement of Women’s Liberation Advertisement – This link goes to an advertisement for ARM’s (Abortion Rights Movement) services to aid women in receiving, specifically late term abortions.  Also includes a letter from Sandra Sullaway, Los Angeles coordinator of ARM (February 23, 1979).

Archives Batch Search for “APC Abortion” – This link goes to a search result on the UConn Library website that includes 22 results for items in the APC Files related to abortion. 

Public Official’s Records. The following list are each their own collections, consisting of papers belonging to political officials, with each collection including text related to reproductive rights or abortion.  For more information on how to navigate these collections, finding aids can be found online at the links with each name.

Audrey Beck Papers – Audrey P. Beck (1931-1983) was a Connecticut politician and professor. She served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1967 to 1975, followed by a term in the Connecticut Senate from 1975 until her death in 1983. Prior to her political career, Beck taught Economics at the University of Connecticut.

Barbara B. Kennelly Papers – Barbara B. Kennelly (born 1936) is a former U.S. Representative from Connecticut’s 1st District, where she served from 1982 to 1999. Prior to this, she served as Connecticut Secretary of State from 1979 until 1982.

Chase Going Woodhouse Papers – Chase G. Woodhouse (1890-1984) was a U.S. Representative from Connecticut’s 2nd District, where she served two terms, from 1945 to 1947 and then from 1949 to 1951.  Prior to this, she served as Secretary of State of Connecticut from 1941 to 1943.

Nancy L. Johnson Papers – Nancy L. Johnson (born 1935) is a former U.S. Representative, where she served both Connecticut’s 6th District from 1983 to 2003 and its 5th District from 2003 to 2007. From 1995 to 1997, she chaired the House Ethics Committee. She served in the Connecticut Senate from 1977 to 1983.

Prescott S. Bush Papers – Prescott S. Bush (1895-1972) was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut, serving from 1952 to 1963.

Robert N. Giaimo Papers – Robert N. Giaimo (1919-2006) was a U.S. Representative from Connecticut’s 3rd District, where he served from 1959 to 1981.

Robert R. Simmons Papers – Robert R. Simmons (1943-) is a former U.S. Representative from Connecticut’s 2nd District, serving from 2001 to 2007. He served in the Connecticut House from 1991 to 2001, and after he left office he served as First Selectman of Stonington, Connecticut from 2015 until 2019.

Sam Gejdenson Papers – Sam Gejdenson (1948-) is a former U.S. Representative from Connecticut’s 2nd District, where he served from 1981 to 2001. He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1975 to 1979.

Stewart B. McKinney Papers – Stewart B. McKinney (1931-1987) was a U.S. Representative from Connecticut’s 4th District, where he served from 1971 until his death in 1987. He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1967 to 1971.

William R. Cotter Papers – William R. Cotter (1926-1981) was a U.S. Representative from Connecticut’s 1st District, where he served from 1971 until his death in 1981.

Connecticut State Labor Council, AFL-CIO Records.  This collection consists of the records of the Connecticut branch of the AFL-CIO, the United States’ largest labor union federation.  Relating to the issues of reproductive rights and abortion, one item that the collection has is a group of letters from people commenting on whether or not the union should take a pro-choice stance. This debate took place in the early 1990s, and since then, the AFL-CIO currently is a pro-choice organization. For more information on how to navigate this collection, a finding aid can be found online here: Connecticut State Labor Council, AFL-CIO Records

American Association of University Women, Connecticut Division Records.  Founded in the 1880s by Marion Talbot, a graduate of Boston University, and Ellen Swallow Richards, an MIT graduate, what began as the Association of Collegiate Alumnae has been supporting women who have graduated from college ever since.  This collection includes information on the organization’s history, programs it has run, legal activity, information on specific branches within Connecticut, and more.  Information on what the AAUW has done regarding reproductive rights can be found mostly in the legislative information section. For more information on how to navigate this collection, a finding aid can be found online here: American Association of University Women, Connecticut Division Records

Laurie S. Wiseberg and Harry Scoble Human Rights Internet Collection. The Human Rights Internet consists of materials related to human rights organizations from across the world, including newspapers, reports, NGO literature, books, journals, correspondence, and more.  The collection began in 1977, with Drs. Laurie Wiseberg and Harry Scobie as its founders. It includes human rights documents in many languages, including “English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Swedish, Chinese and Japanese (among many others),” according to the finding aid.  Within the collection are materials belonging to Human Rights Watch, the International Council on Human Rights Policy, Amnesty International, and Anti-Slavery International.  For more information on how to navigate this collection, a finding aid can be found online here: Laurie S. Wiseberg and Harry Scoble Human Rights Internet Collection

Connecticut Citizens Action Group Records.  Founded in the early 1970s by Ralph Nader and Toby Moffett, CCAG states that its goal is to empower citizens of Connecticut in their roles as “consumers, workers, tax payers, and voters.”  Information on reproductive rights may be found within the “Health Project” series of the collection, as well as in Director Marc Caplan’s files.  For more information on how to navigate this collection, a finding aid can be found online here: Connecticut Citizens Action Group Records

Samuel Lubell Papers.  Samuel Lubell (1911-1987) a journalist and public opinion pollster.  This collection includes notes, manuscripts, correspondence, and reports belonging to Lubell.  One portion of this collection that is relevant to reproductive rights is public opinion polling he did of students in the 1960s, with abortion being one of the topics polled about.  More broadly, he also worked on studies related to women’s issues in the 1940s and 1950s.  For more information on how to navigate this collection, a finding aid can be found online here: Samuel Lubell Papers

Stephen Thornton Papers.  Stephen Thornton (born 1951) is a community organizer in Connecticut.  Since his days at UConn organizing student protests of the Vietnam War, Thornton has been advocating for various causes, with groups such as the Peoples Bicentennial Commission, the Anti-Racist Coalition of Connecticut, and more.  This collection includes newspapers, alternative press, flyers, correspondence, notes, writings, and other forms of paraphernalia.  Within the collection are some items related to reproductive rights.  For more information on how to navigate this collection, a finding aid can be found online here: Stephen Thornton Papers

This post was written by Sam Zelin, formerly a UConn undergraduate student in the Neag School of Education who was a student assistant in Archives & Special Collections.