Getting collections online

Hurray! We just received our official award letter from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, the granting arm of the National Archives. This $35,000 grant is going to fund the digitization of eleven manuscripts collections that have already been microfilmed. Microfilm is still the best option for preserving manuscript collections, but we all know how people HATE using microfilm. By digitizing the film we make the collections more available both here and on the web. The goal is to add the scanned collections to Connecticut History Online.

Sarah Bishop’s Cave

Sarah Bishop’s Cave. Photograph by Marie Kendall, ca. 1900. The Connecticut Historical Society, 2000.178.180

A photograph by Marie Kendall in the current exhibition at the Connecticut Historical Society depicts Sarah Bishop’s Cave, a hollow in the rocks overlooking a deep valley on West Mountain in Ridgefield, Connecticut.  Who was Sarah Bishop and what was she doing in this cave?  According to historian Samuel Goodrich, who remembered meeting Sarah in his youth, she was a female hermit, who took refuge in the cave during the American Revolution and spent the remainder of her life as a recluse on the mountain, surviving on roots and berries and the charity of the inhabitants of Ridgefield.  Goodrich recalled her as “a thin, ghostly old woman, bent and wrinkled.”  She died about 1810 or 1811.  In the late nineteenth century, the cave was something of a tourist attraction.  The lovely young woman shown peering into it in Kendall’s photograph was the photographer’s daughter.  Kendall was a professional photographer who sold her photographs to summer residents and tourists in her native Norfolk, who presumably would have been familiar with Sarah’s story.

Through a Different Lens: Three Connecticut Women Photographers will remain on view at the Connecticut Historical Society through March 29, 2014. An illustrated booklet is available for purchase.

What is this?

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,

What is this?

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,

The Revolution in Connecticut

I recently returned from a mini-vacation to visit some friends in Colonial Williamsburg (and brought back a cold, which leads to my apology at this late posting!).  Even after living in New England for almost six years, I still think of Virginia and Massachusetts when I think of the American Revolution.  Being a Midwestern girl, most of my education on the subject of the American Revolution revolved around these two states (when we weren’t talking about the French fur traders on the mighty Mississippi).  These were the places you learned of and the places you yearned to visit.  However, after being immersed in a crash-course of New England history upon my move, I’ve learned quite a bit about the part Connecticut played in our fight for independence.

A New and Correct Map of the United States of North America. 1784. Engraved and Printed by Abel Buell. 1950.553.0.

“A Memorial” in Wool: Phineas Meigs’ Hat

People frequently ask me what’s my favorite item in the CHS collection. Frankly, that’s a tough one, not only because there are so many great items but also because different objects tell different stories in different ways. So when asked this question recently (appropriately enough while I was watching our town’s Memorial Day parade) I thought of an object that truly resonates with me.

It’s a simple, green wool “round hat”, a broad-brimmed type worn by farmers, tradesmen and militiamen in the American colonies. Think of it as the baseball cap of the 18^th century and you’ll get the idea. Uncounted thousands of these hats were made and worn, yet only a handful of them survive. Surprised? Well, how many of your baseball caps will be around in a couple of hundred years?

Phineas Meigs’ round hat bears entry and exit holes from the musket ball that killed him instantly. 1850.10.0

Treasure Maps

Maps may lead us to buried treasure, but not all treasure is found below the ground. On Saturday, June 8, learn more about the map holdings of CHS at our Behind-the-Scenes tour. A map recently discovered in the Rudd and Holley Family Collection leads us to another kind of “buried treasure.” 

Clothing the Continental Army

Two receipts recently added to the collection indicate how towns in Connecticut supported the Revolutionary War effort. The town of Kent was able to gather 12 pairs of shoes and 14 pairs of stockings, valued at 9 pounds, six shillings. Abel Hines signed for the supplies February 1, 1779. In April 1779 Elijah Hubbard collected items from Middletown–62 pairs of shoes, 17 pairs of stockings, 36 shirts, 42 pairs of woolen breeches, 23 pairs of linen overalls, and ten blankets. Connecticut was known as the Provisions State for supplying food, cannon, and other goods, like this clothing, to the Continental Army.

These two receipts are not the only documentation we have of the state’s support of the war effort. Jeremiah Wadsworth’s papers are filled with letters and other documents representing his role as Commissary General, and within various town records there are similar receipts for supplies. You can get a sense of the vast number of primary documents we have relating to the Revolution by searching our online catalog at chs.kohalibrary.com. The two receipts here can be seen by requesting Ms 101630.

Rural Kent was able to provide shoes and stockings, but not even the same number of each! Ms 101630

Middletown helps with an extensive amount of clothing including shoes, breeches, and overalls, Ms 101630.

Touching History

Even after too many years to count being an archivist, I can still get a chill up my spine when I encounter certain documents. That happened this past month when I came across an admission of guilt by two men, Daniel Young and John Elderkin of Norwich, Connecticut. They admitted in June 1776 to the crime of selling Bohea tea for more than 3/4 of a dollar per pound, a price established by the Continental Congress. They acknowledged that their behavior was “Injurious to the Publick, and brings contempt upon the Congress and ought to be Detested by all who are well wishers to the American Cause.” By admitting their guilt, they were spared from “being held up to public view”. Sure, I have heard of the Boston Tea Party and the hated tea tax imposed by Great Britain, but this event, while perhaps less exciting than the Tea Party, happened right here in Connecticut. Decisions made by the Continental Congress had a direct impact on the lives of two men in Connecticut. Making all history local is what we always try to do here at CHS with documents just like this.

Statement of Guilt from the Norwich Town Papers.

“…the War…with Great Britain, is extensively unpopular;”

A little Friday fun…

The War of 1812 was not too popular with New Englanders!

Petition, Whiting family papers, 1754-1819, Ms 19073. Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, CT

“WHEREAS great pains have been taken to impress the public mind with the idea that the War in which we are engaged, with Great Britain, is extensively unpopular; and that it will not be supported by the People of New-England, the undersigned think proper to declare, that while they lament the necessity of a War, they are fixed in the determination to support it, till the attainment of an honorable peace.”

The petition is not dated. Above the printed text, “Windham, Connecticut” was hand written.

This piece, and the rest of the Whiting family papers, are available for research.