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Winter 25-26: Stories and Storytellers. Scholar, Activist, Trailblazer: The Enduring Legacy of Dr. Lorenzo Greene. Learn about the stories inside a Connecticut museum's American Revolution papers.
Letting the Records Speak: The Stories Inside the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History’s American Revolution Papers
The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History has been working on a meticulous, three-year project started in 2023 to catalog records, digitize collections, and provide public access to Revolutionary-era manuscripts.
Hietala writes, “The goal is simple and powerful: increase access to these documents and explore the stories found in everyday papers—letters, muster rolls, and legal documents—so that the people represented can be heard.
Connecticut’s Revolutionary-era actors included far more than the wealthy men, military officers, and political leaders we know best. Black men and women participated in the events of the Revolution and appear across the Museum’s records. In the Third Regiment, Connecticut Line collection (1777–1784), for example, Prince Pitkin appears in eight records for Capt. John Barnard’s company between November 1777 and August 1779. In the Prince Simbo, Prince Pitkin, and Cash Africa papers (1780–1782), two documents from 1780 concern Pitkin’s estate.”
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The Latest From Grating the Nutmeg
Scholar, Activist, Trailblazer: The Enduring Legacy of Dr. Lorenzo Greene
Connecticut is a small state that has had a huge national impact. In this episode, we celebrate someone that we are proud to say was born in Connecticut and went on to be a pioneering historian in Black history.
Our guest is Dr. Stacey Close, Associate Vice Provost and Vice President of Equity and Diversity at Eastern Connecticut State University. Dr. Close is a co-author of African American Connecticut Explored, published by Wesleyan University Press, and a noted authority on Hartford and the Great Migration. You can learn more about that in GTN episode: #181. Hartford and the Great Migration, 1914-1950.
Listen: Scholar, Activist, Trailblazer: The Enduring Legacy of Dr. Lorenzo Greene
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Out and About: A wonderful afternoon and a special book on our reading list.
Our publisher, Kathy Hermes, is one of the commissioners appointed to the African American and Black History and Culture Commission for The City of Hartford. On February 8, at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, the commissioners were introduced at a meeting of the Institute for Cross-Cultural Awareness and Transformative Education. It was a wonderful afternoon! Congratulations to T.J. Clark II, who was honored. We also enjoyed remarks by Dr. Edward Joyner, historian, and Dr. Stacey Close, professor, of Eastern Connecticut State University.
We are very excited to read genealogist and president of the Alex Breanne Corporation, John Mills’ new book The Narrative of Primus: A Lineage Woven into American History.
The Narrative of Primus uncovers the remarkable, nearly forgotten story of a ten-year-old boy taken from his mother’s bedside in West Africa and forced aboard a slave ship bound for America. That boy, Primus, survived the Middle Passage, endured decades of enslavement in colonial Connecticut, raised a family, and through faith, resilience, and grace, laid a foundation that would ripple across generations.
Drawing on rarely cited historical sources including an embedded first-person narrative hidden since 1824 in the writings of Lydia Sigourney, John Mills reveals Primus as more than a footnote to slavery or a name in a ledger. He restores him as a father, a church member, a scholar of scripture, a community figure, and a man whose voice still echoes across three centuries.
Preorder your copy here.
Programs and Exhibitions to Enjoy This Season:
Brickwrecks: Sunken Ships in LEGO® Bricks
Mystic Seaport Museum announces the North American debut of Brickwrecks: Sunken Ships in LEGO® Bricks, a bold and immersive exhibition opening March 28, 2026. Blending world‑class LEGO® artistry with maritime archaeology, hands‑on interactives, and compelling human stories, Brickwrecks invites visitors of all ages and backgrounds to explore the drama, ingenuity, and mystery of shipwrecks from across the globe. Developed by the Australian National Maritime Museum in partnership with the Western Australian Museum and Ryan “The Brickman” McNaught—one of only fourteen LEGO® Certified Professionals worldwide—Brickwrecks: Sunken Ships in LEGO® Bricks transforms iconic shipwrecks into stunning LEGO® models that captivate first‑time museumgoers, lifelong learners, families, and adult LEGO® enthusiasts alike. Learn more at https://mysticseaport.org/
Three New Exhibitions
The Florence Griswold Museum presents three exhibitions on view through January 4. From Art Colony to Connecticut Collection celebrates Connecticut’s rich art history through pieces from the Museum’s collection, including idyllic mid-nineteenth century rural scenes, Impressionist landscapes, and thought-provoking contemporary works.
While traditional exhibitions use text labels to communicate information, Inside Out: Contexts for American Art experiments with the varied ways people learn. Visitors use their five senses to understand the art on display. Engaging on a more personal, experiential level brings art to life.
For artists including Fidelia Bridges, Charles Ebert, Frank Vincent DuMond, Breta Longacre, Willard Metcalf, and Theodore Robinson, fall presented the opportunity to contemplate nature in transition. Visitors to Fall Into Impressionism not only enjoy seasonally inspired artwork, but can also explore the Museum’s gardens, grounds, and trails where artists flocked to paint autumn’s colorful glory.
Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme Street, Old Lyme. Florencegriswoldmuseum.org; 860-434-5542
Celebrating Lebanon’s Immigrant Families
English settlers began arriving in Lebanon, Connecticut in the late 1690s. For more than 200 years descendants of these families farmed the land. By the 1860s, however, Lebanon’s population began to change. Younger residents sought new opportunities in other parts of the country. By 1924 only 216 of the 373 families in town identified themselves as “American.” Seventy-four families identified themselves as Jewish, forty-five were Polish, nineteen were German and nineteen had a variety of eastern European backgrounds. Many knew little about farming but took over the farmland that the original “English” families had left behind. These immigrants attended night school, resurrected the old farms and preserved the town’s rural agricultural nature. Today the town has 6,000 acres of permanently preserved agricultural land.
Explore these stories at the Lebanon Historical Society Museum, Wednesday - Saturday 12 PM to 4 PM. Winter is a great time to visit and celebrate Lebanon’s immigrant families.
Lebanon Historical Society, 856 Trumbull Highway, Lebanon. historyoflebanon.org; 860-642-6579
A Timeless Setting Where Stories Live On
Nestled within the serene grounds of this picturesque cemetery established in 1850, the beautifully restored brownstone Russell Chapel, built in 1867, now opens its doors for private rentals. Located adjacent to Wesleyan University, this architectural gem offers a dignified and intimate space for funerals, weddings, memorials, and special gatherings. For 175 years, it has stood as a quiet witness to moments that have shaped lives.
By choosing our chapel, you’re not just renting a space; you’re becoming a part of the living history of our community. Your event helps us continue the preservation of this remarkable historic cemetery, ensuring its beauty endures for future generations. Planning a heartfelt farewell, joyful union, new chapter or meaningful event? The Russell Chapel offers a unique setting with connection to something enduring. Make history!
Indian Hill Cemetery, 383 Washington St, Middletown. Indian-hill.org; 860-346-0452
Arriving from France to Slater Museum, Nympheus Lumaninsis: The Waterlilies of Light
This January, you’re invited to experience Nympheus Lumaninsis: The Waterlilies of Light by artist Laurence Saunois, a traveling exhibition coming exclusively to Slater Memorial Museum! This series of ten one-of-a-kind works stands as a tribute and enduring love letter to renowned artist Claude Monet. For 43 years, Monet lived in Giverny, France and his series of waterlilies paintings became an iconic theme of his career as an artist. Channeling that passion, award-winning artist Laurence Saunois, of Figeac, France has created a series of paintings which offers the viewers the opportunity to experience nature’s inspiration, through contemporary French Impressionism. These works create a visual sensation of being drenched by color illuminated by the sun, brought to life by the interplay of shadows and light. Slater Museum is proud to host this iconic exhibition which will be on view from January 15 – April 15, 2026.
Slater Memorial Museum, 108 Crescent Street, Norwich. Slatermuseum.org; 860-887-2506
Editor’s Picks:
Stacey Close, “Scholar, Activist, Trailblazer: The Enduring Legacy of Dr. Lorenzo Greene” Connecticut Explored, Summer 2025.
Sarah J. Morin, “Uncovering the Hidden Lives of New Haven” Connecticut Explored, Fall 2023.
“Letters from the American Revolution” Connecticut Explored, 2003 Nov/Dec/Jan 2004.