CTExplored/Inbox

Nov 01, 2024

Welcome to your free bi-weekly newsletter from Connecticut Explored with the latest stories, the newest Grating the Nutmeg podcast, programs and exhibitions from our partners to see/watch this month, and more!

GRATING THE NUTMEG BENEFIT ONLINE AUCTION

We love telling the stories of Connecticut's past. Our Grating the Nutmeg podcast is free to all listeners, and to keep it free we need to raise money to support GTN. This online auction is made possible by our organizational partners, our community's businesses, and generous individuals. We have over 40 listings with tours, tickets, pottery and art, food, books, car repair, and more! REGISTER HERE.

All purchases help keep Grating the Nutmeg accessible to all!

Phyllis Zlotnick being carried up the stairs of the state capitol on the way to testify before the Connecticut General Assembly Transportation Committee. “Wheelchair-Bound Woman Fights for Recognition of Handicapped,” The Hartford Courant, Jan 25, 1977. image: Archives and Special Collections, University of Connecticut Library

Phyllis Zlotnick, a woman diagnosed with muscular dystrophy when she was born in 1942, became one of the biggest advocates of rights and access for disabled peoples in Connecticut. Arianna Basche writes of Phyllis’s determination, that she “dedicated her life to claiming the right to participate in public life, starting with the legal fight over making sidewalks accessible to people using wheelchairs”. Phyllis worked as a receptionist for five years with the support of her dad, who gave her rides to and from work. After a stroke left her dad unable to drive, she had to quit her job. This changed her thoughts, and she quickly started to make waves in the movement for rights of people with disabilities. She was one of the biggest advocates for curb cuts, and through a barrier-turned-opportunity, she managed to not only make a bill for curb cuts pass, but she was also able to get an amendment passed to enforce the law two years later. She led an incredible and full life filled with a plethora of achievements. Read more about her in Basche’s article about Phyllis’s life and legacy.

Read the entire story with your Connecticut Explored subscription.

Subscribe to Connecticut Explored

The Latest From Grating the Nutmeg

Connecticut Body Snatchers: Merchandising the Dead in the 19th Century

Have you got your Halloween costume ready? Been on any graveyard tours this month? Well, this story for you! I’d never thought of body snatching as having anything to do with Connecticut but as this episode proves, the disappearance of a young woman's body led to a New Haven riot. I’ll get the details from Richard Ross, author of the new book American Body Snatchers, Merchandising the Dead in 19^th Century New England and Washington, DC.

We’re almost there! This is our 196th episode. Thanks to our listeners, Grating the Nutmeg is going to hit 200 episodes soon! We love bringing you a new episode every two weeks. In celebration of our 200th episode and to help fund Grating the Nutmeg in 2025, we are holding our first ever Grating the Nutmeg Benefit Online Auction in November. We’ll have special, one of a kind experiences, tickets, museum admissions, behind the scenes tours, and restaurant gift cards. All the information will be on our website in November and links to the auction will be on our social media pages.

Listen: 196. Connecticut Body Snatchers: Merchandising the Dead in the 19th Century

Programs and Exhibitions to Enjoy This Month

Making Music Together: The Ishams’ Parlor Music

November 10, 2024 | 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Isham-Terry House

Enjoy an afternoon’s vocal and instrumental performance by Andrew Wilcox (piano) and Mae Czuba (vocals) to hear the late-19th and early-20th century songs that would have filled the Ishams’ parlor, drawing upon the sheet music in the Isham-Terry collection and representing the lives and interests of the household’s amateur musicians. The performers will play music from the collection, and sheet music will be on display during the event. The event costs $10 for members and $15 for adults.

For more information and to register, click here.

SPECIAL EXHIBITION CLOSING EVENT: Mystical Murmurs

November 3, 2024 | 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM | Florence Griswold Museum

Meet “Beastie”: The Magical Beast featured in Mystical Murmurs: An Enchanted Environment by Adrien Broom. Free with museum admission. Beastie, the magical beast featured in photography by Adrien Broom, will be wandering the Museum’s campus and galleries to bid farewell to our Mystical Murmurs exhibition. Meet Beastie and pose for photographs! Get one last look at the gallery of colossal mushrooms and tantalizing photography by Old Lyme-born artist Adrien Broom.

Find more information here

Textile Production In Early America

November 7, 2024 | 6:30PM -7:30PM | Noah Webster House

Textile production was an important component of the early American economy, and continues to be a career and hobby for many individuals today. This talk will focus on the techniques and tools that weavers like Noah Webster’s father would have used to produce cloth for their communities. This includes a review of common natural fiber sources, basic fabric structures, and design considerations. Participants will have the chance to see examples of antique fiber processing equipment and learn about how they have been used for the past 300+ years. Tickets for members are $5 and general admission for adults is $10.

Find more information and purchase tickets here