CT Explored/Inbox
SPRING 2025: The Power of Words. Welcome to your bi-weekly newsletter from Connecticut Explored with the latest stories, the newest Grating the Nutmeg podcast, and programs from our partners.
The Connecticut Careers of Sinclair Lewis
Sinclair Lewis, the first author from the United States to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, took much inspiration from Connecticut, even stating that the legendary Hartford resident, Mark Twain, was “perhaps the greatest of our writers.” It might be surprising that four years earlier, Lewis declined the Pulitzer Prize for his best-known novels, Main Street, Babbitt, and Arrowsmith. With family roots running deep in the Housatonic River Valley, Lewis repeatedly returned to the state, from graduating Yale in New Haven, to moving to West Hartford where Lewis’s first wife, Grace Hegger, confided to a friend,“After three dinners we knew why Hartford had killed Mark Twain” (Richard Lingeman, Sinclair Lewis: Rebel from Main Street, Random House, 2002). Despite passing away in Rome, Italy, over 4,000 miles away, one thing is certain, Lewis viewed Connecticut as home. To read more about how Sinclair Lewis’ ties to Connecticut shaped his work and life subscribe to the magazine.
Does our newsletter inspire you to want to dive deeper into Connecticut's fascinating history? Connecticut Explored has options for everyone to enjoy.
Subscribe to our quarterly print magazine, delivered straight to your door. You'll also have access to a digital PDF library of our magazines, right at your fingertips!
Click below to view our print and digital magazine subscription options!
Our biweekly premium e-newsletter subscription ensures you never miss out on the latest stories! A great option for a slice of history: one to two full stories from our current issue, places to visit, plus the latest Grating the Nutmeg episode dropped directly into your email inbox. (If you subscribe to the magazine, you do not need the premium e-newsletter.)
Out and About: Arts, Culture and Tourism Advocacy Day
Connecticut Explored shared a table with our community partner, the Connecticut League of Museums, to show legislators and the governor what a vibrant non-profit arts, culture, and tourism sector we have in Connecticut. State Rep. Nick Menapace, who serves East Lyme, Montville, and Salem, and Governor Ned Lamont were just two of the interested people who stopped by the table to chat. The governor was especially interested in our upcoming conference about the revolutionary war to be held at Eastern Connecticut State University on Sept. 20, 2025.
The Life and Legacy of Emma Dowd
If you google Emma Dowd, you’ll find a list of children's books and a short obituary in The New York Times from December 22, 1938. Not much else is written about Dowd’s fascinating life story. The Connecticut native was born in Meriden and later buried in the same city. Persevering through challenges such as poor eyesight, illness, and a learning disability, Dowd touched countless young readers through her relatable stories, despite having no formal education. Many of Dowd’s stories involved children that dealt with various ailments, mirroring her own life experiences. Do you have a favorite childhood book that has resonated with you?
Subscribe to read the full story.
The Latest From Grating the Nutmeg
Saving Connecticut’s Mid-Century Modern Homes
We’re celebrating May, Historic Preservation Month, with an episode on the Modern houses of the 1950s and 1960s.
Could you live in a glass house? New Canaan, Connecticut’s Mid-Century Modern homes designed after the Second War are world famous. In addition to Philip Johnson’s Glass House, now a museum, New Canaan has homes designed by Marcel Breuer, Eliot Noyes, Frank Lloyd Wright and Edward Durell Stone. Each one is a part of architectural history and is a masterwork of the era’s most talented architects. But by the 1990s, people began to demolish these relatively small homes sited on large lots. People in New Canaan began to band together to save these artworks-”machines for living”. Towns across Connecticut have at least one or two good Mid-Century Modern homes worth saving and celebrating.
Listen: Saving Connecticut’s Mid-Century Modern Homes
Thanks to the Connecticut Museum of Culture & History and Preservation Connecticut for their financial sponsorship of Grating the Nutmeg, helping us bring you a new episode every two weeks.
Programs and Exhibitions to Enjoy This Month
Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum
Following the completion of the Master Mechanical Plan by David Scott Parker Architects, the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum will reopen its building to the public on June 4, 2025, at 12 p.m. The Mansion will feature restored spaces and artifacts that will re-envision the visitor experience, while bringing an iconic, 19th -century National Historic Landmark into the 21st century with new systems and technology.
295 West Ave, Norwalk. lockwoodmathewsmansion.com; 203-838-9799
Connecticut River Museum
Mark your calendars for River Ballads, artwork by Barbara Hocker, on view March 18–May 18, 2025. Combining digital photographs and mixed water-based media, this show is inspired by the tidal reach of the Connecticut River. And don’t miss seeing eagles during our Winter Wildlife Eagle Cruises aboard RiverQuest.
67 Main Street, Essex. Ctrivermuseum.org; 860-767-8269
Connecticut’s Old State House
That’s the funny thing about birthdays, they’re kind of an annual thing! Join us in celebrating Connecticut’s Old State House’s 229th birthday on Saturday, May 17th from 12-4 pm, rain or shine.
Connecticut’s Old State House will be open from 12-4 pm with FREE admission. Enjoy a guided or self-guided tour, a Spring Market featuring Connecticut-made vendors and crafters, and birthday cake made by our Election Cake Bake-Off 2024 winner Brown Butter Bakery in Glastonbury. Enjoy live music on our front lawn and more. Bonus: Come meet CT Explored staff in person, at our table!
Bring a friend, a date, or the entire family! To RSVP, click here. CTOSHbirthday2025.
800 Main St, Hartford. CTOldStateHouse.org; 860-522-6766
Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center
Our popular virtual series, Taproom Tastings, is back for its fifth season! Join cohosts KTM&HC Chief Curator Catherine Prescott and Hendrick I. Lott House Executive Director Mary Tsaltas-Ottomanelli each month for a lively discussion of historical trends in food, drink, and culture. Registration is free! Themes include Asian American Foodways, Food in Propaganda and Politics, Wine, and more. Register at keelertavernmuseum.org/events.
152 Main Street, Ridgefield. Keelertavernmuseum.org; 203-438-5485
Editor’s Picks:
Suzanne Mittica, “Hartford’s Motion Picture Palaces” Connecticut Explored, Spring 2003.
Jennifer LaRue, “Children’s Books: Once Upon a Time in Connecticut” Connecticut Explored, Fall 2014.
Barbara Donahue, “Connecticut Children’s Medical Center: Once the Home for “Incurables” Connecticut Explored, Feb/Mar/Apr 2004.
Nancy O. Albert, Tomas J. Nenortas, and Karen O’Maxfield, “Hartford Then and Now” Connecticut Explored, Winter 2005-2006.