Have we had enough posts yet about Katharine Hepburn and her pants? I’ll let you decide, and to be precise for you Hepburn fans, they’re slacks, not pants. SLACKS. Hepburn was a fashion icon, and her embrace of slacks in a world of feminine Hollywood starlets upended the fashion status quo and encouraged women everywhere to wear whatever the heck they wanted. Continue reading
Our newest exhibit, Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen, showcases over 40 costumes form Hepburn’s illustrious film and stage career. “What is this?” posts will highlight an object from the exhibit and explore its background every other week. What is this object? What is the story behind it?
Our exhibit, Making Connecticut, showcases over 500 objects, images, and documents from the CHS collection. “What is this?” posts will highlight an object from the exhibit and explore its importance in Connecticut history every other week. What is this object? What is the story behind it? To find out more, Continue reading
I just finished a project over at Goodwin College in East Hartford: installing 4 large historic photographs of the Connecticut River in the school’s new library. Goodwin’s campus is located along the Connecticut River, and the Hoffman Family Library offers impressive views with its floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooking the riverfront.
Goodwin approached us with the idea of filling some of the library’s empty (dry)wall space with historic images that show how the river was used in the late 1800s and early 1900s, providing a link between today’s campus and the area’s past. Searching through our graphics collection, I found about a dozen images and worked with folks at Goodwin to narrow the images down to four.
It’s always gratifying to work with other organizations, helping them make use of the CHS’s collections to connect Connecticut’s history with the work and activities of today. Check out the images below to see the final installation and more info about the photographs.
Ben Gammell is the Coordinator of Interpretive Projects at the Connecticut Historical Society
The Connecticut Historical Society is housed in a unique building. The building is a mansion erected in 1928 by inventor Curtis Veeder. Veeder lived in the house with his family until they sold it to CHS in 1950. The building went over a few renovations and additions, including converting the upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms into exhibition galleries. Though we use our gallery spaces to their fullest, we like to have fun and display objects that are not associated with an exhibit in spare areas of the building.
We use this nook for large, one-of-a-kind objects that are new acquisitions or recently conserved. It’s a great space to showcase and object for people coming down the hall or out of the Research Center. Currently this space houses a velocipede, an early form of the bicycle. Previously, the space was used to show maps and a glass armonica.
This niche was probably used by the Veeder family for a bust or vase of flowers. We like to utilize it by putting up a bust from the collection and dressing it with apparel from our store.
The Nawrot History Nook is a relatively new space for us that highlights topics created by our Collections staff. The case houses objects, manuscripts, and photographs that are separate in theme from the larger exhibitions upstairs in our galleries. These mini-exhibits helps provide another way of revealing the numerous stories and collections in our building. Some information about previous mini exhibits can be found here and here.
We try to recycle as many materials as we can when we build our exhibitions. See our green initiaives in this blog post. However, some materials simply cannot be used again like these cut out characters used in previous exhibits. One is a life-sized portrait of the late 7’ 2” Margo Dydek, which was used in She Shoots…She Scores! The History of Women’s Basketball in Connecticut. The students in our education programs use these stairs, so we hope it’s a nice surprise for them to be greeted by one of the tallest woman basketball players ever.
Hanging in the stairwell in the Veeder house is a tin chandelier not original to the house. It is a handcrafted, three-tiered tin chandelier holds which holds 24 candles, and when the delicate crimped spirals were new and bright, they would have reflected in the candlelight. There aren’t many areas throughout the building where we could show this—so this location is our best opportunity.
We try to have fun and use the nooks throughout our building to creatively showcase our collection. If you come visit, be on the look out!
Mike Messina is the Interpretive Projects Associate at the Connecticut Historical Society.
Our exhibit, Making Connecticut, showcases over 500 objects, images, and documents from the CHS collection. “What is this?” posts will highlight an object from the exhibit and explore its importance in Connecticut history every other week. What is this object? What is the story behind it?
Lately when I walk through our current exhibit, Through a Different Lens: Three Connecticut Women Photographers, the smart little iPad mounted on the gallery wall has been staring back at me with three heart-rending words: “No Internet Connection.”
Is that a cry for help?
“I need you!”
Or an accusation?
“I have no connection and it’s all your fault! Museum visitors hate me! I promise them touch-screen interaction and delightful videos, and they feel nothing but annoyance and resentment. Why don’t you love me?”
First, let me explain the purpose of the iPad in the exhibit. Then I’ll get into deflecting the blame for its failure onto someone else. Continue reading
Our exhibit, Making Connecticut, showcases over 500 objects, images, and documents from the CHS collection. “What is this?” posts will highlight an object from the exhibit and explore its importance in Connecticut history every other week. What is this object? What is the story behind it? Continue reading
As I sit in my office writing this post, I look out my window that faces Elizabeth Street, and see a very cold and dreary scene. Not to mention the icicles, some taller than I am, hanging from the roof! Continue reading
Our exhibit, Making Connecticut, showcases over 500 objects, images, and documents from the CHS collection. “What is this?” posts will highlight an object from the exhibit and explore its importance in Connecticut history every other week. What is this object? What is the story behind it? Continue reading
inside the CHS 