Connecticut History

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Connecticut History Online

Connecticut History Online

Launched in 2001, Connecticut History Online has grown in thirteen years and has now evolved into Connecticut History Illustrated (CHI).    CHI is an aggregation of digital primary resources about Connecticut contributed by Libraries, Archives, Museums, Galleries, Historical Societies, and other Cultural Heritage institutions in Connecticut. It contains material as varied as the history of the state, from documents to images, from maps to audio and video covering the entire spectrum of work, play, and life in Connecticut.

CHI currently contains content from three of the original CHO partners (UConn, Connecticut State Library and the Connecticut Historical Society) and migration continues while new partners (Trinity College and Fairfield Museum and History Center) have expanded the content available for research and discovery.  New content and partners are being added regularly

University Resources

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University of Connecticut Bulletin

University of Connecticut Bulletin

Archives & Special Collections has been enhancing access to key University resources for several years.  The agendas  and minutes of the Board of Trustees were the first to be made available online, quickly followed by the fact books and Commencement programs.  With the implementation of our digital repository a year ago, the Libraries’ digital capture lab has worked tirelessly to digitize the Bulletin (course catalog), a frequently consulted and authoritative record of courses offered at the University over the years.  As of today, the course listings at the graduate (1942-2010) and undergraduate (1950-1997) level, as well as the School of Social Work catalog  (1976-1984), are available and searchable online–with more being added regularly.   Check back regularly to see what additional resources have been added!

Climate Change in the American Mind
: Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz

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Leiserowitz-Anthony

Join us on Thursday, November 20 at 4pm as we welcome Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz to Konover Auditorium as the third distinguished lecturer in the Teale Lecture Series.  The Edwin Way Teale Lecture Series brings leading scholars and scientists to UConn to present public lectures on nature and the environment.  All lectures are free and open to the public.

Dr. Leiserowitz is the Director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication and a Research Scientist at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale University. He will report on recent trends in Americans’ climate change knowledge, attitudes, policy support, and behavior and discuss strategies for more effective public engagement.

Dr. Leiserowitz is a widely recognized expert on American and international public opinion on global warming, including public perception of climate change risks, support and opposition for climate policies, and willingness to make individual behavioral change. His research investigates the psychological, cultural, political, and geographic factors that drive public environmental perception and behavior. He has conducted survey, experimental, and field research at scales ranging from the global to the local, including international studies, the United States, individual states (Alaska and Florida), municipalities (New York City), and with the Inupiaq Eskimo of Northwest Alaska.  He also conducted the first empirical assessment of worldwide public values, attitudes, and behaviors regarding global sustainability, including environmental protection, economic growth, and human development.

 

Great News from Barbara McClintock

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Congratulations, Barbara McClintock! Where’s Mommy, written by Beverly Donofrio, has been named one of New York Times Best Illustrated Books for 2014. The NYT website reports:  “Every year since 1952, the Book Review has convened an independent panel of judges to select picture books on the basis of artistic merit. The winning books are chosen from among thousands for what is the only annual award of its kind.” Fantastic news, Barbara!

American Archives Month

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October is American Archives Month and to celebrate the Archives & Special Collections staff have chosen their favorite items from the collection. Take a look at our selection of intriguing archives:

Errantry Scroll.

Errantry by Werner Pfeiffer, 2008.

A sword owned by the U.S. Consul of San Salvador, Brazil, Henry Hill Collection.

A sword owned by the U.S. Consul of San Salvador, Brazil, Henry Hill Collection.

Pins and Vans sneaker, Joe Snow Punk Rock Collection.

Pins and Vans sneaker, Joe Snow Punk Rock Collection.

How do you plan to celebrate American Archives Month?

Louise Menzies: Time to Think Like a Mountain

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Louise Menzies, a New Zealand artist, has returned to Archives & Special Collections to explore the extensive holdings in the Alternative Press Collection, with the help of curators Graham Stinnett, Melissa Watterworth Batt, and Kristin Eshelman. Louise Menzies Ms. Menzies’ new exhibition is a “series of new photographic and paper-based works that merge form and content, raising subtle questions about the values inhabiting certain processes and styles, as seen [in] the predominantly activist and underground press material that comprise the collection.” (Professor Barry Rosenberg).  Ms. Menzies will also present a 16mm film from 2013, entitled The Press, Kodak Eastman 5222.

Ms. Menzies gave a gallery talk on Time to Think Like a Mountain on Wednesday, Oct. 8 to an appreciative audience in the Contemporary Art Galleries, Art Building.  The exhibition will run through November 21, 2014,  For more information contact Professor Rosenberg at 860.486.1511.

Our new exhibit — Hard Work: Connecticut’s Laborers in the Industrial Age

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Farrel Company workers, undated

This exhibit shows scenes of Connecticut’s workers doing Hard Work. Capital H, Capital W.  The kind of work where you surely need the brains but if you ain’t got the brawn it’s not gonna happen.  And we’ve got plenty of photographs in our business collections showing the men and women in the state in various depictions of work where some of the main job requirements are muscle and sweat.  I’m sure tears were there somewhere but the photographs don’t really show that.

In the late 19th and early 20th century — a time period in America known for big industry — Connecticut was one of the major players, producing brass, iron, steel, tools, textiles and more for the state, the country, and the world.  These products didn’t just happen.  It took a workforce of thousands, many of them new immigrants who flocked to Connecticut for these types of jobs, to produce, to make, to build, and to work.

Penn Libraries’ Children’s Book Symposium

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The Penn Libraries’ Children’s Book Symposium Creating Children’s Books: Collaboration and Change will take place in conjunction with two fall exhibitions in the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. The exhibitions are “As the Ink Flows: Works from the Pen of William Steig” which will explore the life and career of the artist, cartoonist, and children’s book author/illustrator William Steig, and “The School of Atha: Collaboration in the Making of Children’s Books” which celebrates the life and work of Atha Tehon, children’s book designer and longstanding Art Director for Dial Books for Young Readers. The symposium will be held on October 17-18, 2014. For more information and the registration form, go to www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/childrensbooks_symposium.html.