G. Fox Oral History Project

One of my favorite parts of the G. Fox collection is the Oral History Project that is currently being completed by oral historians Bruce Stave and Sondra Astor Stave, pictured here. They have been interviewing former employees of G. Fox & Co. as well as some of the descendants of Beatrice Fox Auerbach. The final transcriptions of these interviews will be available with the collection.

I’ve had the opportunity to read through the transcriptions that have already been completed and they are just fascinating. It really makes me wish I had been alive during the heyday of Fox’s.

CHS recently held a tea to thank the former employees for participating in the oral history project. Everyone had a great time. Below is a group picture of the former G. Fox employees with two of Beatrice Fox Auerbach’s granddaughters, Brooksie and Rena Koopman.

Pictured from left to right are: Brooksie Koopman, Carl Candels, Ann Uccello, Eunice Kelly, Paul Mullen, Roslyn Blawie, Carmelo Brutto, A. Michael Aiello, Jay Lichtenbaum, and Rena Koopman.

Larrabee Fund

When I was in graduate school the first time, I developed a course to study social movements of the 19th century, including abolitionism, womens’ rights, etc. There were a lot of women’s groups formed to help more unfortunate women. But today, I finished cataloging the treasurer’s records for a charitable fund created by a MAN. Charles Larrabee, in his will, established a fund to care for the “lame, deformed or maimed females” of Hartford. His property reportedly was worth several thousand dollars. His 1847 will bequeathed all of his real and personal estate to the Mayor, Aldermen and Selectmen of the town of Hartford, that the annual income may be appropriated for the relief and benefit for the needy. What his motivation was remains a mystery. I am sure the women whose names are listed in our recently acquired account book (1865-1973) were most appreciative, no matter what his motive.

Leena Cravzow Lippman

Leena Cravzow (1913-2006), the daughter of Russian Jews, was an accomplished pianist in Hartford. She attended Julliard School of Music and also took lessons from the noted pianist R. Augustus Lawson. Lawson, who was African American and Indian, was born in Kentucky but moved with his family to Hartford. He studied at Fisk University and later taught at the Hartford School for Music.

Through a lot of hard work on my part, and not a little angst all around, we recently purchased a small collection of Leena’s letters dated 1935-1992. There are four letters written to her by Lawson, which is what attracted us to the collection in the first place. However, reading letters written by Leena’s friend Thelma Altschuler Wachsteter is worth the time and effort. She has a wonderful turn of phrase and is not afraid to tackle any subject, even menstruation. Most of her advice is about men, love and marriage. Leena was a bit of a late bloomer–she was not married until about 1957 when she was past the “old maid” age of 30.

Later letters to Leena and her husband Sam Lippman are written by someone named Ed who also writes an entertaining letter from retirement in Florida. His companion is his dog, and Ed writes about the dog as if he were a person.

G. Fox & Co. Collection Highlights

In January, I began processing a collection of G. Fox & Co. materials, including both company records and family papers. It’s a rather large collection so once a week for the next several weeks, I’m going to be highlighting a different part. I’d like to begin this week, though, with a brief overview of the company and the Fox family, for those of you who may not know about this important part of Hartford’s and Connecticut’s history.

Frank Smith correspondence

How would you feel if your younger son went off to war? Annie Smith of New London, was nearly beside herself when son Frank joined the Quartermaster Corp in 1918. Her letters to him, part of the many letters sent to popular Frank, are filled with comments about how much she misses him, how she cries when she reads his letters, how she cries when she writes back to him, and how much she fears he will go “across”. Frank worked in the laundry at Forts Mead and Meigs and with the reclamation department in Ohio. His chances of going oversees were limited.

While Annie’s sentiments about her son are intriguing, so are some of the tidbits she included in her letters. She tells him one time that she had to cut the cake she made him to fit in the box.  She is also struck that there are girls working down at the machine shop! “They have to wear overall and shirts.” The flu epidemic was in full swing while Frank was in the service (yet another worry for Annie!) and she mentions that there are a lot of sick people in New London and that a lot are dying. It seems New London was quarantined for awhile during the outbreak.

As a slice of life in New London in the early 20th century, this collection is a gem.

Edward Steele diaries

It is so exciting to find diaries that actually give details about daily life.  Four volumes we recently received do just that.  The writer, Edward Steele, was a day laborer who lived in Wethersfield.  His spelling indicates he was not too well-educated, but he noted when he and his wife Maggie went to the theater and the play they saw, and he often read when he stayed home.  More to the point, though, is the fact that he put a lot of information in a very small space.  Each entry started with a description of the weather throughout the day.  He kept a detailed record of the work he did on the road–the number of loads of stone carted to which street, the streets he scraped, and the amount of dirt he hauled and spread–along with the number of hours.  But it gets better.  In 1896 he and Maggie moved into a new house.  Edward’s entries include such details as putting the Ship Essex into a frame, tacking down the oil cloth in the hall, hanging curtains, putting up shelves, laying down carpet.  He even mentions one day chopping cabbage and making pickle.

These volumes, dated 1896-1899, document the life and work of a real “everyman”,  something we don’t often see in the world of archives.

Ancestry now available to patrons

In an effort to better help our patrons find the information they need, visitors to the CHS library now have access to the genealogy database Ancestry from our public computers.  Ancestry.com provides access to federal census records, military records, the social security death index, state indexes and censuses, immigration data, and a host of other sources.  When I get a new manuscript collection, I often start with a search in Ancestry to put the individuals into context by finding birth and death dates, occupation, etc.  So, Ancestry is useful for anyone doing research, not just genealogists.  Please come by and try out this new online resource.

Hartford surprises

In our stacks are numerous black boxes that, like the ones in airplanes, can yield amazing information.  One such box was labeled “Hartford deeds, land and probate records” with everything filed in chronological order.  A volunteer spent several days going through the files and identified some very interesting documents.  One of these is an estate inventory of Samuel Bulter in 1712.  Among his personal effects were two coats, a pair of britches, a waistcoat, a pair of gloves and two silk neck cloths.  Household items included a trundle bedstead with bolster and pillows, tongs and trammels for the fireplace, a gun, a sword, six spoons, a warming pan, skeins of yarn, a loom, a spinning wheel and a reel. In the barn were two forks, a break, two cows, a yearling, a two year olf, two horses and sheaves of flax.  Now I am curious to find out more about Mr. Butler.

Also in this box of deeds, land records and probate, were four apprenticeship agreements.  Richard Dix, an idle person, was apprenticed for four years to Joseph Bigelow in 1717.  No specific skill was mentioned in the document.  At the age of seven, Elizabeth Colkin apprenticed herself (with her parents’ approval) until the age of 18, again to Joseph Bigelow and his wife Sarah. In 1780,Lemuel Wells was apprenticed to James Tiley to learn the art of goldsmithing.  Finally, an undated document contracts for Nathaniel Seymour to teach John Rowel the art, mystery and trade of a potter.  Each apprenticeship agreement tells a different story, not only about the person taking on the apprentice, but the apprentice him or herself.