For this episode ofGrating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of theConnecticut Historical Societytalked to Joanie DiMartino,Connecticut state Coordinatorfor the National Votes for Women Trail. They discussed the origin of the marker program, and the criteria that went into choosing the Connecticut people and places honored with a marker. In addition, Joanie shares her thoughts on why the markers matter, and what the story of the suffrage movement can teach us about social justice movements today.To learn more, visit theNational Votes for Women Trail. The site contains an interactive map of trail sites throughout the United States. The National Votes for Women Trail marker program is made possible through theWilliam G. Pomeroy Foundation. The Connecticut Historical Society has partnered with the Pomeroy foundation to feature Connecticutcultural heritage on roadside markers at sites across the state. Learn more Thanks to Joanie DiMartino for participating! This episode was produced by Natatlie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media, highwattagemedia.com Please join us again for the next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, released every two weeks. Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org
In the Summer 2022 issue of Connecticut Explored, author and historian Steve Thornton of the Shoeleather History Project brings us the story of the internationally-renown activist, actor, and singer Paul Robeson and his wife Eslanda, an anthropologist, author and activist in her own right. The Robeson’s home from 1941 to 1953 in Enfield, Connecticut is on the Connecticut Freedom Trail as well as the National Register of Historic Places. The Hartford Courant reported on April 1, of 1941 that, “The stucco house is situated on two and a half acres of land. The property includes a recreational building which houses a bowling alley and an outdoor swimming pool… A purchase price of about $10,000 was indicated by the attached revenue stamp.” The next day the Courant reported, “Paul Robeson will move into his new home here, “The Beeches” on May 1… The luxurious house is in a state of disrepair but Mrs. Robeson has arranged with local workers to renovate the house and grounds…Built ...
Painting by Everett Raymond Kinstler, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery Join Walt Woodward on a visit to the Katharine Hepburn Museum at "the Kate" in Old Saybrook. His interview with Executive Director Brett Eliott and Director of Community Relations Robin Andreoli about this gem of a museum for America's most Oscar-winning actor (and long-time Saybrook resident) should convince you to put both the Katharine Hepburn Museum and "the Kate" on your must-see-this-summer list. It's a must hear podcast about a must see museum.
In this episode,CTExploredpublisher Elizabeth Normen talks with Connecticut River Museum curator Amy Trout about the museum’s summer exhibitionSpeed: Hydroplane Racing on the Connecticut River, 1900 – 1940.Trout tells us what a hydroplane is and why racing them became popular in the midst of the Great Depression. As opposed to yachting, she explains, hydroplane racing was an everyman’s sport that people flocked to the riverfront to watch. She talks boat design, which outboard engines were popular, and who the stand-out racers of the 20s and 30s—a number of whom were young women—were.Speedis on view through October 9, 2022. Read more! Pleasure Boating on the Connecticut River, Summer 2018 https://www.ctexplored.org/cover-story-pleasure-boating-on-the-connecticut-river/ Full Steam Ahead: Steamboat Travel in Connecticut, Spring 2009 https://www.ctexplored.org/full-steam-ahead-steamboat-travel-in-connecticut/
In 1822, the Hartford Retreat for the Insane was chartered as one of the first mental health centers in the United States, and the first hospital of any kind in CT. In 2022, the CHS is exploring of the story of mental health in our state. Recently, the CHS invited Dr. Harold I (Hank) Schwartz to talk about the history of the Hartford Retreat, renamed the Institute of Living in the 20th century. His presentation took us through the state of mental health care in the early 1800s, the reasons for the founding of the Retreat, and its place in the development of modern psychiatry. Dr. Schwartz, is the Psychiatrist-in-Chief Emeritus at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital and formerly served as Vice President, Behavioral Health at Hartford Healthcare. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. His talk is presented here for you with minimal edits. To learn more about ...
Most people in the tri-state area have driven the Merritt Parkway with its extraordinary bridges and landscaped vistas. But can a roadway built in the 1930s during the Great Depression survive today in the 21st century without losing its charm? In celebration of Historic Preservation Month, we will learn how the Merritt Parkway, the state’s most heavily visited National Register historic district, was saved from modernization and restored to its original design. In this episode, Asst. Publisher Mary Donohue learns more about the history and preservation of the parkway from her guests Christopher Wigren deputy director of Preservation Connecticut and author of Connecticut Architecture: Stories of 100 Places. He co-wrote the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Merritt Parkway and serves on the Department of Transportation's Merritt Parkway Advisory Committee.And her second guest, Wes Haynes, the Executive Director of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy, a non-profit o...
For over 2000 years, the American chestnut was the tallest, largest, and most omnipresent tree in all Connecticut. It’s a tree for which a hundred hills, countless streets, and at least one Connecticut town were named, a tree whose nuts we sing about on the holidays, and a tree which helped frame our houses, shape our furniture, fence and feed our livestock, make tracks for our trains, and hold our utility lines. In this episode, Jack Swatt, President of the Connecticut chapter of the American chestnut Foundation, talks with state historian Walt Woodward about the long history and importance of the American chestnut tree, the devastation brought by the historic chestnut blight, and the amazing efforts by scientists today to restore this functionally extinct species to its former place in Connecticut’s woodlands. Appreciation to Daniel Birch for "Trees in the Wind," episode intro music licensed by Creatrive Commons
In this episode, architectural historian Mary Donohue and podcast engineer Patrick O’Sullivan explore the Hartford work of early twentieth century architect Donn Barber especially his magnificent Connecticut State Library building and two of the city’s early skyscrapers. Her guest, retired Connecticut State Librarian Ken Wiggin, explains how Barber got the plum commission to design the Connecticut State Library. Donn Barber, born in 1871, a New York City architect, could be called the “Father of Hartford Skyscrapers.” He designed Hartford’s first skyscraper, the Hartford National Bank in 1911, and another, the Travelers Tower in 1919, that reigned as the tallest in New England for decades. The first—the Hartford National Bank Building—was demolished in 1990, while the other—Travelers Tower—is still an icon of the Hartford skyline, one whose owner restored it in 2013. Barber and these two buildings not only dramatically changed Hartford’s skyline, they also played a role in...
Spurred by Abraham Lincoln’s campaign stop in Hartford in March 1860, the Wide Awake movement spread from Connecticut throughout the North like wildfire. In this episode ofGrating the Nutmeg,the Connecticut Historical Society’s Natalie Belanger takes a look at this pivotal youth movement of the Civil War era. Listen to find out how this home-grown political movement and their signature torchlit parades helped to redefine American democracy on the eve of the Civil War. This topic was inspired by “Albert’s Odd Jobs,” an exhibition on view at the CT Historical Society through April 16, 2022. It covers the life of Glastonbury’s Albert Walker, a farmer, skilled artisan, amateur magician, and, of course, a Wide Awake. You can take a virtual 3D tour of “Albert’s Odd Jobs” on the museum’s website,chs.org. Special thanks to guestJon Grinspan, the Curator of Political History at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Grinspan studies the deep history of American dem...
March is Women’s History Month and in this episode publisher Elizabeth Normen talks with author Eve Kahn about her 2019 book, ForeverSeeing New Beauties: The Forgotten Impressionist Mary Rogers Wiliams,1857 - 1907 (Wesleyan University Press, 2019).It’s a rare insider view of the challenges women artists faced in the late 19th century. Kahn drew from a collection of Williams’s gossipy letters home in which she describes her desperation to escape her teaching job at Smith College to paint and travel abroad. Hear how Williams talked her way into artist James McNeil Whistler’s London home, and about drawing from a cadaver at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Find out more about the book at https://www.evekahn.comand read her story in the Winter 2021-2022 issue of CTExplored athttps://www.ctexplored.org/mary-rogers-williams-we-shall-want-to-do-a-lot-of-rambling/.