CTExplored/Inbox
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!
Buy one subscription, get one FREE.
Immerse yourself in the rich history of our state while sharing the joy of historical insights with a friend. Read the magazine, discuss the fascinating stories, and then go explore the sites together.
Limited time offer – subscribe now to ignite a conversation!
New Haven History from the Sidewalk
The Ethnic Heritage Center (EHC) in New Haven comprises five ethnic historical societies—Jewish, African American, Italian, Ukrainian, and Irish—that have worked together for more than 20 years to save irreplaceable archival and oral history collections. Its latest project, Walk New Haven Cultural Heritage Tour, takes students, residents, historians, and the general public into the neighborhoods to see the layered history of change and the stories of iconic buildings such as the Black jazz club The Monterey.
EXPLORE!
The following Walk New Haven guided our books, along with interactive maps and site information, are available for purchase at walknewhaven.org:
Downtown and Downtown North
Grand Avenue (State Street to East Street, 1830-1970)
Lower Dixwell
Wooster Square
Read the story in full at ctexplored.org to learn about these storied neighborhoods.
Our Game Changer stories can be accessed for free! We hope you will consider supporting Connecticut Explored by subscribing to the magazine, or to our paid Substack.
Coming to New Haven and Enslaved Voices: Inclusive Education Programs at the New Haven Museum
Former Director of Education and Engagement Khalil Quotap led the development of two new engaging educational programs at the New Haven Museum.
Enslaved Voices in New Haven History covers the period when Connecticut was changing from colony to state. According to the NHM website, “For over one hundred years, slavery was legal in New Haven. Through primary sources and a gallery tour, students will examine the lives of the people who were enslaved in New Haven before the Civil War. This program also provides students the opportunity to better understand the role New Haven played in the slave industry, and consider questions about complicity.”
In Coming to New Haven, students explore curated “memory boxes” filled with objects to learn about the journey different ethnic groups made when they came to New Haven. Each box contains objects that children may have packed to make the trip, including letters, cards, and travel documents, to help our students discover the story of each child’s trip.
Quotap writes:
[C]reating these two [programs] has been some of the best work I have been a part of in my 17 years of teaching. It is my hope that these programs grow and expand past my time at the museum and that they focus the spotlight on the forgotten voices from our community’s history.
At the end of the day the real reward is allowing students to see themselves represented in our community’s history and in their study of history, knowing that they are as much a part of New Haven’s history as the Puritans.
Read the entire story with your Connecticut Explored subscription. (Subscribe at CTExplored.org/Subscribe.) Or, subscribe to CTExplored/Inbox PREMIUM to read full texts of stories online only, just $30/year.
Land Grab CT: Student Voices
In 1880 brothers Charles and Augustus Storrs donated land and money to start an agricultural school in Mansfield, Connecticut. A year later, Governor Hobart Bigelow signed legislation to accept the building of the former Mansfield Orphanage, a few barns, 170 acres of land, and $6,000, establishing Storrs Agricultural School. After a series of expansions, the school would go on to become the University of Connecticut. Today UConn has an endowment valued at $602 million, a 4,400-acre main campus, and satellite campuses in Avery Point, Stamford, Hartford, and Waterbury.
But what is the story of this land and its people before 1880?
Land Grab CT aims to tell this story.
Land Grab CT details UConn’s acquisition and control of the land it currently resides on and—unknown to many of us—the parcels of land outside Connecticut from which it also benefits, a vestige of its land-grant university status. The project aims to inform viewers about UConn’s resulting participation in the construction of colonial systems of higher education. As the project’s website explains,
“In 1862, the United States government passed ‘an Act donating public lands to the several states and territories which may provide Colleges for the benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts,’ known as the Morrill Act. These public lands were established by the systematic and often violent dispossession of Indigenous people by the United States government. Land Grab CT invites us to interrogate our assumptions about these systems and their impact on Native communities.”
Read the story in full at ctexplored.org to learn more.
Our Game Changer stories can be accessed for free! We hope you will consider supporting Connecticut Explored by subscribing to the magazine, or to our paid Substack.
Sponsored Post
The Latest From Grating the Nutmeg
Philip Johnson’s Glass House
“Lifestyle site Thrillist set out to find the most beautiful building in each state and Philip Johnson's New Canaan Glass House got the nod for Connecticut,” reported CT Insider. The Glass House, internationally famous for its design, is also a landmark in the history of historic preservation and the history of the LGBTQ community. To celebrate May as historic preservation month and June as LGBTQ Pride month, here’s the story of its owner and designer Philip Johnson and his Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.
Listen: Philip Johnson’s Glass House
Programs and Exhibitions to Enjoy This Month
Civil War POWs
Date: May 20, 2023 | 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
More than 200 Civil War soldiers, some of whom endured horrific conditions as prisoners of war, are buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery. Evelyn Bollert leads visitors on a tour of the final resting places of prisoners of the Civil War and tells their stories of bravery, resilience, and heartbreak. Admission to the program is $10.00 and free for Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation members.
Advance reservations are recommended and may be made online at www.cedarhillfoundation.org.
Lecture on Witchcraft at Elihu Burritt Library
Join the Friends of the Burritt Library on May 17th at 6:30 PM in Burritt Library at Central Connecticut State University for a fascinating presentation given by Dr. Leo Lgwe, Director of the Advocacy for Alleged Witches. In this presentation, Dr. Igwe will use several cases to illustrate the range of witch persecution and why this phenomenon persists in contemporary Africa.
RSVP to Renata Vickrey at VickreyR@ccsu.edu.
Garden Stroll in Southport
Join Pequot Library for their Southport Garden Stroll (June 1 - 2). Featuring several of Southport’s finest private gardens, this self-guided walking tour starts at the heart of Southport Village at the library. Pick up your tour map/program, browse local vendors and farms on the Great Lawn, then wind your way through a floral adventure in an idyllic seaside New England neighborhood!
Learn more about the stroll and companion programs
Editor’s Picks
Want to explore the topics featured in this edition of the e-Newsletter? Check out these stories and podcasts from the archives.
“Connecticut’s Contested 17th Century Landscape,” Connecticut Explored, Summer 2019.
“Destination: The Ethnic Heritage Center,” Connecticut Explored, Fall 2013.
“New Haven’s Pizza Ingenuity,” Connecticut Explored, Summer 2017.
Join us—Two Options, Your Choice!
To Your Mailbox
The quarterly magazine in print. During our Spring Sale, buy one subscription and get another for FREE!
To Your Inbox
Just enough, not too much. The entire issue bit by bit every two weeks to your inbox or the Substack app: full text of one or two stories from the latest issue, the latest Grating the Nutmeg and more! Want to read the whole issue at your convenience? Your premium subscription gives you online access to the entire issue!
CTExplored/Inbox Premium To receive new posts and get access to the online magazine, consider becoming a paid subscriber. $30 per year.