Pesky research questions

Example of Revolutionary War uniforms, from the Library of Congress.

Don’t get me wrong, I love trying to help researchers find the “right” answer. But why do I always find the answer days or even weeks after the question was asked? Several weeks ago now, I had a woman here doing background research for a novel she is writing. Among other things, she asked me what men would have worn in the army during the Revolution. Fortunately I was able to find breeches of the period in our collection using E-Museum to provide part of the answer (without just blurting out what I surmised based on years of soaking up history and costumes. I am an archivist, remember, not a curator?).

New ways to explore our collections

Things have been busy for the CHS staff this month, so blogging has been light. However, I wanted to make sure you are aware of two great new tools available through our website.

Diane, our Collections Manager, worked long and hard to bring us eMuseum. Over 8000 of our museum objects may be viewed on the site.

Here in Manuscripts, we are pleased to announce the return of our finding aids to the web. New and improved, these guides to the manuscript collections are available in both HTML and PDF formats.

Looking for graphics? Don’t forget to check out our offerings on Connecticut History Online.

All of our collections are available for further study here in our Research Center.

We will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, but otherwise, come visit!