Grating the Nutmeg: Recent Episodes
State Historian and Connecticut Explored
Grating the Nutmeg scratches beneath the surface of Connecticut's history with stories from Connecticut Explored, the state's most popular history magazine, and new content unique to this podcast. All are stories about the past well worth hearing in the present. A joint production of the State Historian and Connecticut Explored, our goal is to give you great history you look forward to listening to
In 2006, Preservation Connecticut, then the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, realized that historic barns across the state were being demolished or allowed to fall down. What could be done to save them? Where were they? How many are there? How can we get people across the state to be interested in barns? All of this was unknown. My guest, Todd Levine, was hired to help answer those critical questions. Todd is currently the Environmental Review officer and Connecticut Freedom Trail Coordinator at the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office of the Dept. of Economic and Community Development. He is an architectural historian and received his graduate degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
What did my guest discover about Connecticut's barns? Find more in this episode and by going to Preservation Connecticut's barns website at: preservationct.org/barnshttps://preservationct.org/barns
Hilltop Farm was built by Indian Motorcycle co-founder, George Hendee, starting in 1913, as a gentleman's retirement farm. Construction of Hendee's signature dairy barn was completed in 1914.
The Friends of the Farm at Hilltop (FOFAH), a nonprofit, own 11 acres where the "Big White Barn", outbuildings and house sit. The link to their website is here: fofah.org/
Our thanks to Preservation Connecticut for sponsoring this episode. preservationct.org/
Don't forget to subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine today - our summer issue is a double-issue celebrating our nation's 250th birthday! And set up your monthly donation to Grating the Nutmeg at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow Grating the Nutmeg on Facebook and Instagram.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Happy 250th birthday to our nation and 10th anniversary to Grating the Nutmeg! In celebration of our 10th anniversary, we are bringing you a remastered edition of an episode recorded in 2020 with Dr. Walter Woodward, Connecticut State Historian Emeritus.
Dr. Woodward takes a new look at the actions surrounding the Revolutionary War execution of State Hero Nathan Hale, and finds there are still some burning questions left to be answered about this hasty and irregular event. It's a story from Walt's book Creating Connecticut: Critical Moments That Shaped a Great State from Globe Pequot Press. As you'll soon hear, when looking for answers about the Rough Justice handed out to Nathan Hale by the British in New York in 1776, where there's smoke, there's fire...
Don't forget to subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine today-our summer issue is a double-issue celebrating our nation's 250th birthday! And to celebrate Grating the Nutmeg's 10th anniversary, set up your $10 a month donation to Grating the Nutmeg at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was originally produced by Walt Woodward in 2020. Don't forget to follow Grating the Nutmeg on Facebook and Instagram.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
What's the first thing you do when you want to take a trip? Look through Instagram to find things to do? Or Yelp for restaurants that serve local cuisine? Today travelers can follow social media influencers and websites that promise to give you an insider's look at places to stay or the best discounted hotel rates. But for Black travelers in the Jim Crow era through the 1960s, it wasn't easy to find places to eat or stay overnight. In this episode, we are going to talk about two national guides for Black travelers, both published beginning in the 1930s, and places that were included from New London, Connecticut.
Our guests, Nicole Thomas and Tom Schuch, are part of the team that produced the New London Black Heritage Trail, designated as one of 20 Connecticut History Gamechangers by Connecticut Explored magazine in 2022.
Nicole Thomas was born and raised in New London. She is the Assistant Site Administrator at the Hempstead Houses Museum for Connecticut Landmarks and is instrumental in the interpretation of the life of Adm Jackson who was enslaved at the Hempstead Houses. You can hear that story on Grating the Nutmeg episode #175 Sleeping with the Ancestors with author Joe McGill.
Tom Schuch is a New London native and a graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He has a special interest in forgotten local history. This interest led to the discovery of several of the New London Green Book sites, as well as other sites that are now part of the New London Black Heritage Trail. Tom was featured on Grating the Nutmeg episode #149 New London and the Middle Passage.
Be sure to go to the Connecticut Landmarks website to plan your visit to the Hempstead Houses.
Learn about the mid-20th century Green Book guides that Black Americans used to find welcoming lodging and other services whether traveling for work or pleasure on Preservation Connecticut's website Architecture of the Green book in Connecticut:
https://preservationct.org/architecture-of-the-green-book-in-connecticut
And find Tom Schuch's blog All Schuch Up on Substack.com
To see the Green books, visit https://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/03/24/schomburg-treasures-green-book
To listen to Nicole and Tom's other Grating the Nutmeg episodes. Visit:
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/175-sleeping-with-the-ancestors-in-connecticut
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/149-the-middle-passage-west-africa-to-connecticut
Grating the Nutmeg is partnering with Preservation Connecticut to bring you summer and fall episodes on saving historic barns, New London sites found in the historic Green Book guide for black travelers, Mid-Century Modern architecture, and sites that reveal the state's LGBTQ+ history. Connecticut's historic places matter! Visit Preservation Connecticut's website to learnmore and become a member at https://preservationct.org/
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow Grating the Nutmeg on Facebook and Instagram.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
In this episode, you'll be introduced to John Hooker, a Hartford lawyer, judge, and abolitionist as well as a reformer for women's rights. Hooker was the president of the anti-slavery committee in Hartford, published the Charter Oak anti-slavery newspaper with the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society of Hartford, and co-authored with his wife Isabella Beecher Hooker, the state bill in 1877 that gave married women more control of their property. Why isn't he better known?
Our guest for this episode is Erika Slocumb, Director of Interpretation & Visitor Experience at the Stowe Center for Literary Activism. Erika is a scholar of Black history. She received her BA in Social Justice Education, her MS in Labor Studies, and she expects her PhD in African American Studies in the fall of 2026—all from University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Be sure to go to the Stowe Center's website at stowecenter.org/blog/ to read Erika's new blog post about John Hooker. Plan to attend the Nook Farm Lawn Party and Fourth of July events-all the info is on the Stowe Center website.
Grating the Nutmeg is partnering with Preservation Connecticut to bring you summer and fall episodes on saving historic barns, Connecticut sites found in the historic Green Book guide for black travelers, Mid-Century Modern architecture, and sites that reveal the state's LGBTQ+ history. Connecticut's historic places matter!
Don't forget to subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine today-our summer issue is a double-issue celebrating our nation's 250th birthday! And set up your monthly donation to Grating the Nutmeg at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
In 1955, a group of disabled young adults living at New Britain Memorial Hospital signed a letter declaring their intention to seek out "adventuresome living for the physically handicapped." They formed a nonprofit called New Horizons and set out on a thirty-year journey to raise money and navigate legal barriers in order to realize their most cherished dream: a housing complex for the disabled, run by the disabled. In 2026, New Horizons Village in Farmington turns 40. In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum gives you a capsule history of the New Horizons movement and speaks with current residents and staff about what New Horizons means to them.
Many thanks to our participants: Patricia Robothom, Gary Strickland, Chuck Hutchins, Jen Carver, and Pam O'Neil. Special thanks to Stephanie Tetreault for her assistance in facilitating these interviews!
The story of New Horizons is featured in the Connecticut Museum's newest exhibition! The Museum is marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with a new exhibition. Rebellious reflects on moments throughout Connecticut history when its people came together, pushed back, and sparked change to pursue their own visions of life, liberty, and happiness in America. You'll see artifacts and learn stories stretching from the American Revolution to the modern civil rights revolution.
Don't forget to subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine today-our summer issue is full of fun ideas for daytrips and staycations! And set up your monthly donation to Grating the Nutmeg at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Famine Irish, lace-curtain Irish, shanty Irish: the Irish Diaspora has shaped Connecticut's European immigrant history from the 1840s. Traces of Irish history and culture in the state are not only found in archival and artifact collections but also through the historic buildings, neighborhoods, and cemeteries that stand across the state. Whether they were immigrants, expatriates, refugees, or indentured servants when they arrived from Ireland, 14 percent of Connecticut's current residents claim Irish ancestry.
In today's episode, we take you to a new exhibition, A Journey of Hope: The Irish American Immigrant Experience curated by Ireland's Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield now on exhibit at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum. The exhibit has about 30 art pieces on view ranging from a 1714 map of Ireland to contemporary paintings completed in 2019.
For anyone who's watching The Gilded Age television show, a trip to the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion will immerse you in French Second Empire grandeur of the type seen on the show. One of the things that makes the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion perfect for the Irish immigration exhibit is that the mansion had Irish women as domestic servants and tells their story, that of the "Bridget's" as they were known, in the mansion's second floor live-in servants' quarters. Our guest is John Foley, President of Ireland's Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield, a new non-profit dedicated to sharing the story of the Irish Diaspora, picking up where the now closed museum at Quinnipiac University left off after Covid. Foley will share the plans for a new museum building to house the collection.
Our thanks to the staff of the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum for the tour of the exhibit and the house. A Journey of Hope: The Irish American Immigrant Experience curated by Ireland's Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield will be up until Sept 6, 2026, so it's the perfect summer day trip! To find out more about the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum go to their website at lockwoodmathewsmansion.com/
I also want to thank my guest John Foley and encourage you to visit the website of Ireland's Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield at ighmf.org/
Don't forget to subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine today - our summer issue is full of fun ideas for daytrips and staycations! And set up your monthly donation to Grating the Nutmeg at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com. Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
If you are driving in Bristol, Connecticut-maybe you're going to Lake Compounce Amusement Park - and suddenly you spy a cluster of huge satellite dishes, you might wonder if space aliens had really landed. But what you've discovered is the home base of ESPN - originally entitled the Entertainment & Sports Programming Network - shortened to ESPN in 1985.
Every year tens of millions of fans watch ESPN but 47 years ago, a 24-hour sports television cable network was considered a wild and impossible idea. Our guests on this episode are the authors of the new audiobook SPORTS HEAVEN: The Birth of ESPN published by Hachette Audio on April 7, 2026.
Historian Mike Soltys was hired in the summer of 1980 as a college intern by ESPN's founder, Bill Rasmussen, and served 43 years in ESPN's corporate communications department, the last 20 as a vice president. He returned to ESPN in 2024 as a part-time Historian. Mike is serving as producer of a documentary Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN and co-author of the accompanying book.
Garrett Sutton is an attorney and best-selling author of business and entrepreneurial books.
He is co-author with Mike of Sports Heaven and is also the Executive Producer of the documentary film.
Don't forget to subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine today-our summer issue is full of fun ideas for daytrips and staycations! And set up your monthly donation to Grating the Nutmeg at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow host and executive producer on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
I've got a story about an artist that I've been obsessed with for years. In this episode, Patricia Hoerth Batchelder talks about her new biography of Evelyn Beatrice Longman, The Woman Who Sculpted Golden Boy, Thomas Edison, and Other Monuments. Poor, motherless at five, and uneducated after elementary school, Longman made the highly ambitious claim at nineteen that she could create monumental sculpture. The book tells the story of how she created beauty, moved into upper class society, and succeeded in a field of art that was overwhelmingly dominated by men.
Ms. Batchelder has worked for The Washington Star and written for The Tulsa Tribune before co-writing her father's memoir. She is married to Nathaniel Horton Batchelder III, the grandson of sculptor Evelyn Beatrice Longman Batchelder.
Look for Evelyn Beatrice Longman, The Woman Who Sculpted Golden Boy, Thomas Edison, and Other Monuments by Patricia Batchelder and published in 2025 on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore. It's also available at the publisher's website, Bloomsbury.com.
There are two places I'd encourage you to visit when the weather warms up. The first is the Spanish-American War Memorial in Hartford's Bushnell Park. It's on the south side on Elm Street-if you go at lunch time, there might be food trucks. The second is Chesterwood, sculptor Daniel Chester French's summer estate in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It's only a smidge over the Connecticut border in the Berkshires and is run as a museum property by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Here's the website: chesterwood.org/
Don't forget to subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine today-our summer issue is full of fun ideas for daytrips and staycations! Remember, you can help us celebrate our 10th anniversary and keep the podcast alive by pledging $10 dollars a month. It's easy to set up a monthly donation on our website at ctexplored.org/
Connecticut history matters - be part of it!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Last year, in Episode 217, listeners were introduced to Hannah Smith. Born in 1767, Hannah was the matriarch of the non-conformist Smith Family of Glastonbury. In the 2020s, her diaries inspired Leonard Raybon, a music professor at Tulane, to compose an original mini-musical based on her writings. You can view the debut performance of "Hannah and Her Daughters" here. This episode focuses on the next generation of the Smith family. Hannah Hickock married Zephaniah Smith of Glastonbury in 1786, and their marriage produced five daughters. Two of the daughters became nationally famous in the 1870s, around the time of the Bicentennial, for their stance in favor of women's suffrage. Natalie Belanger is joined by Diane Hoover, Education Director of the Glastonbury Historical Society, who told her about the Smith sisters' upbringing, their many talents, and how the two youngest became involved in the suffrage fight – in a protest that centered around their pet cows. You'll also hear about Julia Smith's achievements as a Biblical scholar, and how a romantic entanglement at the age of 87 provides a rather sad end to her remarkable life. Image: Portrait of Abby and Julia Smith, c. 1877, Library of Congress -------------------------------- Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
March is Women's History Month! Here's 5 Not to Be Missed Stories! 1. An American Woman Artist Abroad — Mary Rogers Williams 2. Votes (and Markers) for Women! 3. Phyllis Zlotnick, Disability Rights Activist 4. Miss Crandall's School for Black Women 5. Mary Hall and the Good Will Club
Grating the Nutmeg is 10 years old! In celebration of our 10th anniversary, we are bringing you a remastered and re-edited edition of an episode we recorded in 2016 at the New Haven Museum with Alfred Marder, Judge Andrew Roraback and his father Charles Roraback. This compelling first-person interview with Alfred Marder shares his experiences as a defendant in New Haven's Smith trial. Mr. Marder died in 2023 at the age of 101. He was defended by civil rights attorney Catherine Roraback, an inductee in the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame.
In 1954, 32-year-old Alfred Marder was arrested in New Haven along with several others under the Smith Act for allegedly working to overthrow the US government. After a lengthy trial, during which he was defended by the celebrated civil rights lawyer Catherine Roraback, he was acquitted. Hear Mr. Marder tell in his own words what he was fighting for and what it feels like when the full power of the state, federal, and local government is aimed at you.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Connecticut is a small state that has had a huge national impact. In this episode, we celebrate someone that we are proud to say was born in Connecticut and went on to be a pioneering historian in Black history. Dr. Lorenzo Johnston Greene received his BA in from Howard University in 1924, his MA from Columbia University in 1926 and his Ph.D. in 1942. He was born in Ansonia, Connecticut. We can learn more about his family from the 1900 federal census record. His father Willie was born in 1858 in Virginia before the end of slavery, and his mother was born in West Virginia in 1870. Both came to Connecticut and by the time Lorenzo was born in 1899, he had five older brothers and sisters. The census states that both of his parents can read and write and their children are in school. By the time of the 1920 census, Lorenz has two older brothers who work in a brass mill.
What made Lorenzo want to go to college and become a historian? When did he work with Dr. Carter Woodson, the "Father of Black History" and what were Greene's own lasting contributions to the study of Black history?
Our guest is Dr. Stacey Close, Associate Vice Provost and Vice President of Equity and Diversity at Eastern Connecticut State University. Dr. Close is a co-author of African American Connecticut Explored, published by Wesleyan University Press, and a noted authority on Hartford and the Great Migration. You can learn more about that in GTN episode: #181. Hartford and the Great Migration, 1914-1950.
One last thing about Dr. Greene. In the 1930 federal census, he is 31 years old and working for Dr. Woodson as a field representative and research assistant. Greene lists his job as "Historical Investigating Officer" - he had such a strong sense of his mission even as a young man during the depths of the Great Depression. Thank you to Dr. Close. And thank you for listening! We'll be back in two weeks with another episode of Grating the Nutmeg. History matters - be part of it.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials - Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
At first glance, alcohol and racial equality might seem unrelated—but for Black activists, the temperance movement was a powerful vehicle for social change. In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum chats with Mackenzie Tor about her research into Black temperance activism in 1830s and 1840s Connecticut. Mackenzie talks about how people like Maria Stewart, James Pennington, and the Beman family used temperance as a strategy for civic inclusion. Through their words and organizing efforts, from newspaper columns to church halls, abstaining from the bottle became a radical tool for political belonging in the hands of Connecticut's Black communities. She also discusses the flip side of this – how accusations of intemperance could be wielded to bring down successful Black men, like New Haven's William Lanson, when their business and civic ventures threatened the power of white elites. Mackenzie, a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Missouri, did research for this project at the Connecticut Museum as part of the New England Regional Fellowship Consortium. Learn more about the Consortium and the support it provides for scholars here: masshist.org/fellowships/nerfc To find out how William Lanson changed the face of New Haven, see this CT Explored article by Stacey Close: ctexplored.org/william-lanson-an-artisan-who-built-beyond-structures/ You can read more about Stewart, Pennington, and the Bemans here: ctexplored.org/site-lines-black-abolitionists-speak/ Finally, here's a link to watch Mackenzie Tor give a more detailed look at the research she did at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Waterman Research Center on this topic: youtube.com/watch?v=bYi9JAqouTE&t=2510s Caption image #1: The Colored American newspaper, 1841. Caption Image #2: The Tree of Temperance, Currier and Ives, 1872, Library of Congress. ---------------------------------------- Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
The GOATs! Our most streamed episodes EVER! Don't MISS these CT stories:
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- Connecticut and the Pandemic of 1918
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- The Delicious History of Pizza in New Haven
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- Rough Justice for Nathan Hale
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- Rooted in History: Connecticut's Trees
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- GOVERNOR JOHN DEMPSEY – SON OF CAHIR (Audio & VIDEO)
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- Anni and Josef Albers in Connecticut
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- The Unlikely Legend – and History – of the Charter Oak
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- Uncovering African American Women's Fight for Suffrage
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- Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter That Changed America
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- New London and the Middle Passage
What better way to spend the holidays than curled up next to the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate and your favorite Grating the Nutmeg episode! To celebrate, we're spreading history cheer for all to hear.
- G. Fox and Company Department Store and the Holidays
- Erector Sets, Trains and New Haven's Toymaker A.C. Gilbert
- Cabbage Patch Kids and West Hartford's Toymaker Coleco
2025 is almost GONE! Don't miss our TOP FIVE most streamed episodes of the year!
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- Hartford's Rural Cemetery: Cedar Hill
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- Saving Connecticut's Mid-Century Modern Homes
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- Leviathan: New Englanders and the History of Whaling
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- Book and Dagger: Yale Professors Become Successful WWII Spies
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- Amistad Retold: New Haven and the 1839 Amistad Revolt
See more: ctexplored.org/LISTEN
During this holiday season, it seems like the perfect time to bring you the story of one of the bestselling toys ever - Cabbage Patch Kids! Inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2023, Cabbage Patch Kids set every toy industry sales record for three years running from 1983-86, and has become one of the longest-running doll franchises in the United States. How did a Connecticut company produce the hottest toy of the 1980s - and then go broke?
The license to produce Cabbage Patch Kids has gone through a record 7 toy companies. This episode is on the Coleco years - the toymaker with their headquarters in West Hartford. Host Mary Donohue will share her experience buying the dolls and Natalie Belanger, Grating the Nutmeg producer from the Connecticut Museum of Culture & History, her own childhood experience playing with the Cabbage Patch Kids.
It's hard to believe after such a successful toy, but Coleco Industries were bankrupt by 1989. The Hartford Courant published numerous full-page stories about what had gone wrong. The Courant reported that "With its revenues dropping and its debt mounting, Coleco faced some critical decisions. Toy industry analysts said the company should have slowed its spending, cut expenses and waited for sales to improve. Instead, Coleco chose to borrow more and spend more, trying to develop a product to rival Cabbage Patch Kids. But the new toys it introduced-Rambo action figures, Furskins stuffed bears, a talking Cabbage Patch doll and Starcom space toys for boys sold only moderately well."
Find out more in this episode!
To subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, visit simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
To watch Connecticut's Hidden Gems on YouTube, visit ctpublic.org/watch/local-programming/connecticut-hidden-gems
We did it! Thanks to our listeners, Grating the Nutmeg is celebrating our 10th anniversary. With over 200,000 streams, over 200 episodes and heard in over 50 countries, Grating the Nutmeg brings CT's big stories to listeners around the world! We're planning our 2026 calendar now and need your support. Help us celebrate our 10th anniversary milestone by pledging $10 a month or making a $100 donation now on our website at ctexplored.org. History matters-be part of it!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
More than twenty thousand Hispanic Americans served in the Civil War. When Cuban-born Loreta Velázquez's husband would not allow her to join him on the battlefield, she assumed the role of First Lieutenant Harry T. Buford to be near him. Philip Bazaar, born in Chile, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courageous exploits during the assault of Fort Fisher. The spying efforts of Floridian Maria Dolores Sánchez and her two sisters led to a Union defeat at the Battle of Horse Landing.
Delving into the lives of these individuals, historian A.J. Schenkman, author of Hispanic Americans of the Civil War, published by the History Press in 2025, uncovers this often-overlooked aspect of Civil War history. Hispanic soldiers came from different countries. Mexico had declared its independence from Spain in 1821 and later abolished slavery in 1837. Some soldiers and sailors traced their families to Cuba and Puerto Rico, which were still part of Spain. Or from Spain itself or its other colonies.
In this episode, Schenkman uncovers a bombshell story about New Haven's Augusto Rodríguez, the first known Civil War soldier from Puerto Rico. When this story was published in the Summer 2025 issue of Connecticut Explored magazine, the phone started to ring off the hook. Television news channels and newspapers quickly picked up this remarkable story. Grating the Nutmeg has covered the courageous Puerto Rican men of the 65th regiment founded in 1899 when Puerto Rico became a United States territory in episode #184 but not someone this early in our military history.
A. J. Schenkman is a New York-based writer. He is a social studies teacher in Ulster County, New York, and a former municipal historian. Schenkman is also author of several books about local, regional, and national history. He currently writes for Litchfield and Dutchess Magazines, as well as the Shawangunk Journal.
To contact A.J. Schenkman, visit his website at https://www.ajschenkman.com/
To subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, visit https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
To watch Connecticut's Hidden Gems on YouTube, visit https://www.ctpublic.org/watch/local-programming/connecticut-hidden-gems
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
The Connecticut Yankee atomic power plant was one of the earliest commercial nuclear reactors in New England. Though it was dismantled at the turn of the 21st century, its legacy remains, both for the landscape of the Connecticut River Valley where it once stood, and for contemporary debates about energy today. This episode explores the plant's life and afterlife, the activists who opposed it, and the promises and perils of nuclear power in the 1960s and today, through the reminiscences of Paul Gionfriddo, a former state legislator and longtime president of People's Action for Clean Energy, a group that has advocated for conservation and renewable energy in Connecticut since the early 1970s.
This episode is presented by Dr. Amrys Williams and Jon Kozak. Williams is a historian of science, technology,and the environment who serves as the Executive Director of the Connecticut League of Museums. Her recent research projects have focused on anti-nuclear activism, radioecology, and the public interpretation of nuclear places. Kozak is a graduate student in Public History at Central Connecticut State University and the Communications Manager for the Connecticut League of Museums. His recent research has focused on energy landscapes and the Connecticut Yankee plant.
Their guest is Paul Gionfriddo is a former state representative and mayor of Middletown, a graduate of Wesleyan University, and a retired nonprofit professional. He has advocated for mental health and renewable energy, and served as President of People's Action for Clean Energy from 1975 until 1999.
For more information, visit these sites:
-Connecticut Yankee website: connyankee.com/
-People's Action for Clean Energy website: pacecleanenergy.org/
-1960s film of the construction of the Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant: youtube.com/watch?v=AiCYVMboju8
-The Atom and Eve, 1960s film promoting CT Yankee plant and atomic power in New England: footagefarm.com/reel-details/communications/telephone/1966---colour-atomic-energy-usa--atom-and-eve ; https://catalog.archives.gov/id/88095
-US Department of Energy Flickr Photo Stream, with many images of the Haddam Neck Plant before and during its operating lifetime: flickr.com/photos/departmentofenergy/10822396434/in/photostream/
-Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company, Haddam Neck Plant Records at the University of Connecticut Archives and Special Collections: archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/335
-Wesleyan Anti-Nuclear Protests Collection, Wesleyan University Archives and Special Collections: archives.wesleyan.edu/repositories/ua/resources/wesleyan_university_anti-nuclear_protests_collecti
-Connecticut Collections: ctcollections.org/
Production notes
-Projector sound effect: cine-projector SFX.wav by Rollo145 -- https://freesound.org/s/220348/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0
-Archival audio from:
-Gene Starbecker, The Atom and Eve (Bay State Film Production Inc., 1966).
-Construction of Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Plant, produced for Connecticut Yankee by Kevin Donovan Films, Glastonbury, CT, ca. 1968.
Photo Credit
Photo of CY when it was in operation from the Department of Energy.
Connecticut League of Museums: ctleague.org/
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Amyrs Williams and Jon Kozak. GTN podcast engineer is Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
The transgender community has struggled to receive recognition and equality. In this episode, we explore the history of the transgender community over the last 100 years with Dr. Susan Stryker and the life of Dr. Alan L. Hart, a transgender medical doctor working on the forefront of an urgent public health crisis, tuberculosis, in Connecticut. Hart, Director of Connecticut's Office of TB Rehabilitation, is credited with saving countless lives.
My guest is Dr. Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History, the Root of Today's Revolution, published in 2017. Transgender History, Third Edition: A Resource for Today's Struggle-and Tomorrow's will be published in Febuary, 2026. Dr. Susan Stryker holds a distinguished visiting appointment at Stanford's Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and is Professor Emerita of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies at the University of Arizona, where she directed the Institute for LGBT Studies for many years. She is the author or editor of numerous articles, books and anthologies. A collection of previously published short works, When Monsters Speak: A Susan Stryker Reader, was published by Duke University Press in 2024. She is also an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker for Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria. In the documentary, you'll meet Dr. Stryker and some of the transgender women and drag queens who fought police harassment at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco's Tenderloin in 1966 three years before the famous riot at Stonewall Inn bar in New York City. You'll find the documentary on Amazon Prime.
To contact Dr. Stryker, visit her website at www.susanstryker.net/about
For more information on Dr. Alan L. Hart, go to these resources:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trailblazing-transgender-doctor-saved-countless-lives/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12328259/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272831386_Manifesting_Manhood_Dr_Alan_Hart's_Transformation_and_the_Embodiment_of_Sex_in_Early_Twentieth-Century_Sexology
https://college.lclark.edu/live/news/43320-from-the-archives-dr-alan-hart
West Hartford Pride
West Hartford Pride supports, celebrates, and uplifts the LGBTQAI+ Community by providing resources, events, education, and social justice initiatives. Find out more about visiting their website at westhartfordpride.org
Preservatlon Connecticut LGBTQ+ Historic Sites Survey
Preservation Connecticut, in partnership with scholars and activists, has embarked on documenting Connecticut's LGBTQ+ sites. Interwoven through these places are stories of resilience, innovation, and the pursuit of equality that transcend the traditional boundaries of class, race, ethnicity, and religion. If you're interested in learning more or contributing to this survey project, please visit www.preservationct.org/lgbtq.
Grating the Nutmeg Three-part LGBTQ+ Series 2025
Connecticut Explored magazine and our podcast, Grating the Nutmeg, have featured many of the heritage trails that mark the important histories and sites of Connecticut's people. Preservation Connecticut has undertaken a survey of LGBTQ+ heritage sites across the state. Now, Grating the Nutmeg and Preservation Connecticut have teamed up to bring you a three-episode podcast series that pairs new research on LGBTQ+ identity and activism with accounts of the Connecticut places where history was made. The episodes include a thriving vegetarian cafe-bookstore run by lesbian feminists in a working-class former factory town, Episode 212, a transgender medical researcher working on an urgent public health issue in the center of Connecticut politics, Episode 219, and a gay, Jewish, best-selling children's book author in affluent Fairfield County, Episode 215.
Connecticut Humanites
The 2025 LGBTQ+ Three-part series received grant support from CT Humanities, connecting people to the humanities through grants, partnerships, and public programs. Visit our website to learn about our funding opportunities and capacity building grants.
https://cthumanities.org/
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now. secure.qgiv.com/for/gratingthenutmeg
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
We have amazing items for you in our second annual online #GTN benefit auction! The auction is the largest fundraiser of the year for our award-winning CT history podcast. New episodes are released every two weeks full of CT history makers and untold stories, and all episodes are free for all to listen to! SUPPORT GTN - BID HERE Bidding begins on September 25, 2025 at midnight. Bids close at 11:59 on October 18, 2025.
A button sounds like a very ordinary thing. But button production in Cheshire was part of Connecticut’s pioneering role in the precision manufacturing revolution of the nineteenth century. According to connecticuthistory.org, button production began with pewter buttons in the mid-eighteenth century but quickly turned to brass in the early nineteenth century. By 1860s, machines in the Scovill Brass factory in Waterbury produced 216,000 buttons per day. This type of industrial production volume for an everyday necessity such as buttons propelled investors and entrepreneurs to establish companies such as the Ball & Socket Manufacturing Company. But what were the benefits and costs of Cheshire’s industrial development during Connecticut’s Industrial Revolution?
Cheshire’s Ball & Socket factory has been transformed into a community arts center as we discovered in Grating the Nutmeg episode 167. New Lives for Old Factories. But its industrial past has not been forgotten-new research by noted historian Elizabeth Fox has been shared with the public in outdoor signage and a feature story in the Fall 2024 issue of Connecticut Explored. Fellow historian Agnes Wnuk has been researching the history of the factory and its effect on Cheshire. My guests Elizabeth Fox and Agnes Wnuk today will share what they’ve uncovered so far! Elizabeth “Betsy” Fox is a retired museum consultant. She lives in Cheshire and has been involved with Ball & Socket Arts as a volunteer for over ten years. She has also written some great articles for Connecticut Explored magazine. Historian Agnes Wnuk has been involved in preservation work at museums and libraries.
Ball & Socket Arts will present a public program on the oral history project and button production at 6:30pm on Nov. 13th, 2025 at the Cheshire Public Library. Get more information here: ballandsocket.org/events/2025/11/13/pushing-buttons-collecting-oral-histories-about-ball-socket-manufacturing
Did you know Waterbury, CT has been a hub of button-making for over 200 years? Buttons aren’t just functional; they’re miniature works of art! Opening October 12, Beau McCall: Buttons On! is the first-ever retrospective of the renowned textile artist known as “The Button Man,” showcasing his striking wearable and visual art created entirely with buttons. The exhibition is complemented by the Mattatuck Museum’s impressive Button Gallery, home to over 20,000 buttons, offering a unique blend of creativity and history through January 4. Get more information here: https://www.mattmuseum.org/exhibition/beau-mccall-buttons-on/
If you love Connecticut history, be sure to support Grating the Nutmeg by bidding on some fabulous one-of-a-kind experiences in our online benefit auction! History matters! Get more information here: www.ctexplored.org/2nd-grating-the-nutmeg-auction/
To listen to our episode on Ball & Socket Art’s transformation, stream free here:
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/167-new-lives-for-old-factories-cheshires-ball-socket-arts
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger tells us about how two journals kept by a Revolutionary War-era girl in the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History’s collection have inspired an original work of music.
Several years ago, Leonard Raybon (Associate Professor of Music at Tulane University) encountered two journals and other writings by Hannah Hadassah Hickok, held at the Connecticut Museum. Hannah was the matriarch of the non-conformist Smith Family of Glastonbury. Her daughters would go on to became nationally famous for protesting their lack of voting rights in the 1870s by refusing to pay their taxes — an act that resulted in the town of Glastonbury confiscating their property, including their beloved cows.
Inspired by the young Hannah's unique voice, Leonard composed an original mini-musical based on her writings. You'll hear Natalie and Leonard's conversation about what moved him to compose the piece and how it fits into his larger project of producing "Ameri-musicals" that use song to get us to think about the past.
Professor Raybon, the Connecticut Museum, and the Glastonbury Historical Society are partnering to present this work to the public in a one-time performance on November 8th, 2025 at 7:30 pm at First Church of Glastonbury at 2183 Main Street, Glastonbury. First Church was the Smith family’s congregation, so it’s a fitting place to host this unique musical experience! You can visit the CT Museum's website to learn more about the concert.
For more information on the Smith family, visit the CT Women's Hall of Fame, or read this excellent blog from the Library of Congress.
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Immigrants from Lithuania who made their way to New Britain, Connecticut at the beginning of the twentieth century found work in the city’s factories turning out tools and hardware. Their weekly routine included work, church and socializing at neighborhood saloons. But major upheavals in American society were happening at the time that affected their lives including the rise of organized labor, the temperance movement, anti-immigrant sentiment, and labor strikes.
In this episode, we have two new voices in public history, Central Connecticut State University students Jon Kozak and Nathaniel Smith. They produced the episode as a class project under Dr. Leah Glazier at Central Connecticut State University. This episode reminds us that some of the most interesting history can be found all around you in your own community.
A big thanks to Jon Kosak and Nathaniel Smith for their hard work in producing this episode. I also want to thank Dr. Glazier, professor of public history for her help.
Contact Jon Kosak at: j.kozak@my.ccsu.edu
Contact Dr. Leah Glazier at: glaserles@ccsu.edu
Jon and Nathaniel used a wide variety of local history materials including oral histories and the New Britain Herald newspaper.
Museum Collections:
The New Britain Public Library Local History Room, The New Britain Industrial Museum, Connecticut State Library, and the Elihu Burritt Library at Central Connecticut State University, specifically their special collections and archive of the New Britain Herald newspaper.
Oral Histories:
John Skritulsky, had been interviewed by the Federal Writers Project in 1938, by a writer in the FWP’s New Britain office by the name of Albert Kayeski. Being Lithuanian himself, Kayeski understood the importance of this ethnic community in telling the story of an industrialized New Britain. Several of his other profiles bear mention of taverns, be it Skritulsky’s or others as places to gather. Use of New Britain directories from the turn of the twentieth century reinforced the prevalence and importance of these institutions. It must be noted that for the clarity of our story, the character of Jonas, whose story was found in a FWP profile by Kayeski, History of a Lithuanian Immigrant, was originally listed with the name John, and was given no last name. We changed his name to Jonas, the Lithuanian translation of John, to avoid confusion with John Skritulsky in the narrative. No other names were altered from the original source material.
Manuscript reference:
Portrait of Occupations, Investments, and Businesses of Lithuanian Immigrants in New Britain Connecticut by the Reverend William Wolkovich-Valkavicius from 1979, Local History Room, New Britain Public Library.
Song Credit: This version, by the musical group Ugniavijas, recorded in 2014 is a centuries-old Lithuanian folk song whose title roughly translates to “Sweet Beer of the Oats. The original lyrics with an English translation can be found here. It is a song that remains important to the people of Lithuania and is still sung today, often by schoolchildren.
Connecticut Landmarks Event
Join Connecticut Landmarks at East Haddam’s Palmer-Warner House for our second annual Summer Pipes & Cider! Sip barrel-aged cider and whiskey from Yankee Cider Company. Enjoy a bagpipe performance by the Portland & District Pipers, accompanied by a scenic trail walk. Plus, bring your friends for a round of pub trivia with prizes for the top two teams. Are you a fan of the TV series, Outlander? Come wearing your best Outlander attire and test your knowledge during trivia! Extend your experience with a tour of the Palmer-Warner House, which previous owner Frederic Palmer called Dunstaffnage as a nod to his Scottish heritage. Raise a glass, embrace the music, and celebrate the magic of Scotland! Event and tour tickets are available at ctlandmarks.org/pipesandcider. We hope to see you at 1 pm on Saturday, September 13 for Summer Pipes & Cider!
Support GTN!
We need your financial support now more than ever. Grating the Nutmeg talks to historians, researchers, and community members to bring you compelling stories about your state that you haven’t heard before. Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now. And don’t forget that our Second Annual Online Benefit Auction is coming up in September.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Artist and author Maurice Sendak was able to achieve significant and enduring success in art and children’s literature during his lifetime. But what secrets did he had to keep from his family, publishers, parents, librarians, and readers as a gay, Jewish man negotiating the field of children’s literature?
Sendak wrote and illustrated books that nurtured children and adults alike. Winner of the 1964 Caldecott Medal for Where the Wild Things Are, in 1970 Sendak became the first American illustrator to receive the international Hans Christian Anderson Award, given in recognition of his entire body of work. Sendak’s work has been the subject of several extensive retrospective art shows at prestigious museums across the country. Sendak lived in Ridgefield, Connecticut with his partner Dr. Eugene Glynn for over 50 years.
In this episode, my guest is Dr. Golan Moskowitz, author of Wild Visionary, Maurice Sendak in Queer Jewish Context, published by Stanford University Press in 2021. Dr. Moskowitz is an Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and a faculty member of the Grant Center for the American Jewish Experience at Tulane University. He serves as Book Review Editor for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and as director of the Jewish American and Holocaust Literature Symposium. Golan is currently working on a cultural history of Jewish American involvement in the art of drag.
To contact Dr. Mostowitz, please see below:
His faculty page: americanjewishexperience.org/gc-scholar/golan-moskowitz/
For speaking inquiries, please contact Tulane University's Jewish Studies Department: jewishstudies@tulane.edu
The Maurice Sendak Foundation: https://www.sendakfoundation.org/
Connecticut Landmarks LGBTQ+ Archives
The archival collections of East Haddam’s Palmer-Warner House include the diaries and letters of previous residents Frederic Palmer and his partner Howard Metzger. On view during the museum’s open hours through August 23,2025, “Letters of Unity” explores the evolution of LGBTQ+ communication over more than a century through the stories of Frederic, Howard, and other members of LGBTQ+ communities. From love letters to social media and personal diaries to protest flyers, this display showcases how love, resistance, and solidarity have been expressed through various mediums. Purchase tickets at ctlandmarks.org/properties/palmer-warner-house/
Preservatlon Connecticut LGBTQ+ Historic Sites Survey
Preservation Connecticut, in partnership with scholars and activists, has embarked on documenting Connecticut’s LGBTQ+ sites. Interwoven through these places are stories of resilience, innovation, and the pursuit of equality that transcend the traditional boundaries of class, race, ethnicity, and religion. If you're interested in learning more or contributing to this survey project, please visit www.preservationct.org/lgbtq.
Ridgefield Pride
Ridgefield Connecticut Pride fosters belonging, provides support, and celebrates the LGBTQ+ community in Ridgefield and beyond. Fostering a sense of belonging for LGBTQ+ individuals, their families, and friends and celebrating the richness and diversity of the community. Check out their website for more information at https://ridgefieldctpride.com
Grating the Nutmeg Three-part LGBTQ+ Series 2025
Connecticut Explored magazine and our podcast, Grating the Nutmeg, have featured many of the heritage trails that mark the important histories and sites of Connecticut’s people. Preservation Connecticut has undertaken a survey of LGBTQ+ heritage sites across the state. Now, Grating the Nutmeg and Preservation Connecticut have teamed up to bring you a three-episode podcast series that pairs new research on LGBTQ+ identity and activism with accounts of the Connecticut places where history was made. The episodes include a thriving vegetarian cafe-bookstore run by lesbian feminists in a working-class former factory town, a transgender medical researcher working on an urgent public health issue in the center of Connecticut politics, and a gay, Jewish, best-selling children’s book author in affluent Fairfield County. Our first LGBTQ+ episode, #212, available to listen to now, told the story of feminist and lesbian restaurants from across the country with Dr. Alex Ketchum. We visited Bloodroots, a lesbian-run vegan restaurant in Bridgeport that is celebrating 48 years in business.
Connecticut Humanites
The 2025 LGBTQ+ Three-part series received grant support from CT Humanities, connecting people to the humanities through grants, partnerships, and public programs. Visit our website to learn about our funding opportunities and capacity building grants.
https://cthumanities.org/
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now. And don’t forget that our Second Annual Online Auction is coming up in September.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Whaling was big business. Connecticut and her sister New England states built ships, forged cast iron tools, produced wooden storage casks and outfitted sailors. Stonington, Mystic, New London, and New Haven were part of New England’s predominance in successful whaling. We’re going to get into the nitty gritty of the trade in this episode and hear about some of the striking artifacts from Mystic Seaport’s whaling collection - tools, ship logs, harpoons, blubber hooks and scrimshaw - that are on view. They speak to the staggering risks and rewards of the whaling industry that lit America’s lamps and greased its machines for over a century. We’re also going to talk about the largest whaling artifact of all - the Charles W. Morgan, the last American whaling ship in existence. It was considered “ancient” in the 1920s but has been faithfully restored.
This summer we are featuring two episodes on whaling. To get the big picture on whaling, we talked to one of our favorite guests, Eric Jay Dolin, in episode 211, about his book Leviathan, the History of Whaling in America. And in today’s episode, we’ll visit Mystic Seaport Museum’s new exhibition “Monstrous: Whaling and Its Colossal Impact” with curator Mike Dyer. The exhibit explores the sheer scale-physical, economic, and human-of the nation’s whaling industry and its legacy. Dyer is the Curator of Maritime History and an Instructor in the Frank C. Munson Institute of American Maritime History at Mystic Seaport Museum. Visitors can tour the new exhibit and visit the Charles W. Morgan for an unforgettable immersive experience.
Warning: Listeners may find the content of this episode disturbing. Whaling was a brutal trade. We are describing the industry in its historic context.
Listen to the whaling episode with Eric J. Dolan at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/211-leviathan-new-englanders-and-the-history-of-whaling
Contact Michael P. Dyer at michaeldyer@mysticseaport.org
Find out more about the new exhibit here: mysticseaport.org/exhibit/monstrous/
Find out more about the Charles W. Morgan here: mysticseaport.org/explore/morgan/
Find out more about American whaling here: whalinghistory.org/
You’ll find the link to the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park here:
www.nps.gov/nebe/index.htm
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials - Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
The Redding Encampment, Connecticut’s first State Archaeological Preserve, is located in Putnam Memorial State Park. Understanding of the Revolutionary War has emphasized the battles, maneuvers, and war meetings; but far more time was expended during the long periods of winter encampment. The winter months were a brutal test of individual fortitude, unifying command, and local support. In the journal Joseph Plumb Martin kept at the time, he wrote, “We arrived at Redding about Christmas or a little before and prepared to build huts for our winter quarters. And now came on the time again between grass and hay, that is, the winter campaign of starving.” Compared to Valley Forge or Morristown, the archaeological evidence supports the poor conditions described by Martin. The site remains intact and is a relatively unknown archaeological gem, administered by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Our publisher Dr. Kathy Hermes chats with Ellery Leary, the official park historian of Putnam Memorial State Park and a member of the Friends & Neighbors of Putnam Memorial State Park in Redding, Connecticut. They studied history and art history, and they hold an MA in archaeology. They also served as a consultant on a National Park Service Battlefield Interpretation Grant obtained by Cris Radio to create an app with a downloadable audio tour for Putnam Park and a website that tells the stories of people of color at the Redding Encampment. We discuss the importance of Putnam Park as a historical site, the experiences of the soldiers and camp followers, and the efforts at historic preservation of the site.
Visit the websites, Dr. Kathy Hermes, et al, Forgotten Voices of the Revolutionary War: People of Color and the Redding Encampment, 1778-1779 at https://forgottenvoicesrevwar.org/ and Cris Radio, Forgotten Voices of the Revolutionary War, which offers audio recordings of narratives and documents. https://crisradio.org/voice/forgotten-voices-of-the-revolutionary-war/
For more about Abimelech Uncus, see:
www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/abimeleck-uncus
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Kathy Hermes and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com. Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Connecticut Explored and our podcast, Grating the Nutmeg, have featured many of the heritage trails that mark the important histories and sites of Connecticut’s people. Preservation Connecticut has undertaken a survey of LGBTQ+ heritage sites across the state. Now, Grating the Nutmeg and Preservation Connecticut have teamed up to bring you a three-episode podcast series that pairs new research on LGBTQ+ identity and activism with accounts of the Connecticut places where history was made. The episodes include a thriving vegetarian cafe-bookstore run by lesbian feminists in a working-class former factory town, a transgender medical researcher working on an urgent public health issue in the center of Connecticut politics, and a gay, Jewish, best-selling children’s book author in affluent Fairfield County.
In this episode, Dr. Alex Ketchum, author of Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses, published by Concordia University Press in 2022, reveals the history of women-owned restaurants in the 1970s and 1980s that had a feminist mission. In a first-ever overview of feminist cafe subculture, Ketchum’s book details the role eateries played in social justice movements, including women’s and LGBTQ+ liberation, and food justice. And we will highlight Bloodroot, the almost 50-year-old lesbian-feminist bookstore, collective, and vegetarian restaurant in Bridgeport.
Dr. Ketchum is Assistant Professor at McGill University's Institute for Gender, Sexuality, Feminist Studies, and the Director of the Just Feminist Tech and Scholarship Lab, co-editor of Queers at the Table: An Illustrated Guide to Queer Food (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022), and creator of The Feminist Restaurant Project: thefeministrestaurantproject.com
Follow Dr. Ketchum on her social media pages- bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/aketchum22.bsky.social @aketchum22.bsky.social
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.alexketchum/ @dr.alexketchum
To find out more information on Bloodroot Restaurant, check out these sources:
Restaurant Website
https://www.bloodroot.com/
Public Broadcasting Interview with the founders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtxLyIqYhxQ
Documentary Trailer “A Culinary Uprising: The Story of Bloodroot”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh2K7RAeBf4
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was supported by Preservation Connecticut, preserving the state’s heritage for 50 years and a Quick Grant from CT Humanities. CTH connects people to the humanities through grants, programs, and collaboration with other organizations. CTH is supported by state and federal matching funds, community foundations, and gifts from private sources.
Connecticut Landmarks LGBTQ+ Archives
The archival collections of East Haddam’s Palmer-Warner House include the diaries and letters of previous residents Frederic Palmer and his partner Howard Metzger. On view during the museum’s open hours through August 23,2025, “Letters of Unity” explores the evolution of LGBTQ+ communication over more than a century through the stories of Frederic, Howard, and other members of LGBTQ+ communities. From love letters to social media and personal diaries to protest flyers, this display showcases how love, resistance, and solidarity have been expressed through various mediums. Purchase tickets at https://ctlandmarks.org/properties/palmer-warner-house/
The Palmer-Warner House will host a thought-provoking free community panel discussion on queer independence on Saturday, July 12 from 1 pm-4 pm. This panel will offer the opportunity to connect with diverse voices from across generations as they reflect on past, present, and future LGBTQ+ resilience, self-determination, and community support. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and celebrate the strength of queer identities. Register at https://114536.blackbaudhosting.com/114536/Queer-Independence-Discussion-Panel
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials:
Facebook,Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
American whale oil lit the world. The Industrial Revolution couldn’t have happened without it. Connecticut was part of the whaling industry of the nineteenth century that sent thousands of American ships manned by tens of thousands of men to hunt whales across the world’s oceans. Stonington, Mystic, New London, and New Haven were part of New England’s predominance in successful whaling. In fact, New London, Connecticut is known today as the “Whaling City”.
My guest Eric Jay Dolan is the author of sixteen award-winning books on maritime history. In this episode, we will be talking about the history of American whaling taken from his work in Leviathan The History of Whaling in America published in 2007 byW.W. Norton Press. His latest book, is Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World. Dolin lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
Note: Listeners may find this episode disturbing. Whaling was a brutal trade - we are describing the industry in its historic context.
To find out more about the other books that Eric has written, go to his website: www.ericjaydolin.com/
His website also has information on upcoming events he’s doing and contact information. He is available for book talks and lectures both in person and remotely.
You’ll find the link to the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park here:
www.nps.gov/nebe/index.htm
Don’t forget that our August 1st episode will feature Mystic Seaport’s new whaling exhibit.
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
In this episode, host Mary Donohue visits the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, a place that includes stellar architecture, art by some of the most renowned artists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and an exhibition that tells the story of Waterbury’s rise as a manufacturing powerhouse. The Mattatuck Museum is an art and regional history museum on the Green in downtown Waterbury, that started out as a historical society in 1877.
Our guest is Rebecca Lo Presti, Assistant Curator. She served as the curator for “ The Art of Leisure” an exhibit that is up now until June 15, 2025. From pencil sketches of working-class families picnicking to paintings done by Americans on the European Grand Tour, the exhibit shows how artists depicted recreation, relaxation, and travel in their work. They also talk about what else you’ll see at museum when you visit including the artwork of American masters associated with Connecticut such as Anni Albers, Alexander Calder and Frederic Church. And, on the quirkier side, the museum is also home to a button gallery displaying 10,000 buttons -miniature works of art collected from around the globe.
A big thanks to Becca Lo Presti, Asst. Curator and Tanya Labeck, Marketing & Media Coordinator at the Mattatuck Museum. Visit the museum before June 15th to see the Art of Leisure, but remember that any time is a good time to go! You’ll always find something interesting, beautiful or inspiring on display. Find out more at their website at mattmuseum.org/
To learn more about Waterbury’s industrial history, go to the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org/
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the CT Museum of Culture and History tells the story of the Good Will Club, the forerunner of the youth club movement that got its start in Hartford. But the story of the club can't be separated from that of its founder, a woman who's an inductee of the CT Women's Hall of Fame for her barrier-breaking work in the legal field.
There are lots of ways to learn more about the history of the Good Will Club and about Mary Hall. Here’s a partial list of sources consulted for this episode:
Elizabeth Warren, “Mary Hall: Breaking the Legal Barrier,” CT Explored, Spring 2010
Kevin Flood, “The Boys and Girls Clubs of America Started Here,” CT Explored, Fall 2019
Mary Hall’s Entry in the CT Women’s Hall of Fame
Judge A. Susan Peck, “Upcoming Survey on the Status of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession,” CT Lawyer, September/October 2024
Some other sources you might like to check out: You can look at digitized issues of the Good Will Star, the newspaper published by the boys of the Good Will Club, held at the Connecticut State Library; see a timeline of the history of the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford; and visit the Connecticut Museum’s Waterman Research Center to see published histories of the Good Will/Boys and Girls Club as well as Mary Hall’s scrapbook.
This episode received support from the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, Hartford, Connecticut.
image: Mary Hall and Good Will Club Boys, Mary Hall Scrapbook, MS 78249 CMCH Collection.
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
Get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine, in print and digital editions now so you don’t miss the Summer issue!
Each issue offers a photo essay, feature-length stories you can sink your teeth into, and shorter stories you can breeze through—plus lots of beautiful, large historic images. We include oral histories, stunning museum objects, must-see destinations, and more. From Colonial history to pop-culture, you’ll find it all in this magazine.
Subscribe to get your copy today in your mailbox or your inbox at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger, Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/
Follow GTN on our socials - Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
We’re celebrating May, Historic Preservation Month, with an episode on the Modern houses of the 1950s and 1960s.
Could you live in a glass house? New Canaan, Connecticut’s Mid-Century Modern homes designed after the Second War are world famous. In addition to Philip Johnson’s Glass House, now a museum, New Canaan has homes designed by Marcel Breuer, Eliot Noyes, Frank Lloyd Wright and Edward Durell Stone. Each one is a part of architectural history and is a masterwork of the era’s most talented architects. But by the 1990s, people began to demolish these relatively small homes sited on large lots. People in New Canaan began to band together to save these artworks-”machines for living”. Towns across Connecticut have at least one or two good Mid-Century Modern homes worth saving and celebrating.
Host Mary Donohue discusses what a homeowners and community members can do to help save these modern homes. Her guests are Gwen North Reiss, historian and author of New Canaan Modern: A Preservation History published by the New Canaan Museum and Historical Society in 2024 and Mary Dunne, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer for the Dept of Economic and Community Development and homeowner of an architect-designed, Mid-Century Modern home.
For more information on New Canaan’s Modern houses, order your copy of Gwen North Reiss’s book New Canaan Modern: A Preservation History from the New Canaan Historical Society. It has really tremendous photography-a joy if you are a fan of this era!
To buy the book, contact the New Canaan Historical Society at info@nchistory.org
To learn more about Modernism in New Canaan, go to: https://nchistory.org/modern-new-canaan/
To visit the Glass House, go to: https://theglasshouse.org/
You can find the link to the New Canaan Modern House Survey on the website of the Glass House Museum here: https://theglasshouse.org/learn/modern-homes-survey/
To read more about Mary Dunne’s mid-century modern home and furniture designer Jens Risom, go to:
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-answer-is-risom/
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-modern-style-in-manchester/
photo: Michael Biondo
Visit Connecticut’s four state museums operated by the State Historic Preservation Office including the Eric Sloane Museum in Kent, with the artist’s studio; the Henry Whitfield House in Guilford, the state’s oldest house built in 1639, , Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine in East Granby, the Nation’s first chartered copper mine and state prison; and the Prudence Crandall Museum in Canterbury, the first school for young black women.
Learn more here: https://portal.ct.gov/decd/services/historic-preservation/state-museums
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
Get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine, in print and digital editions now so you don’t miss the Summer issue!
Each issue offers a photo essay, feature-length stories you can sink your teeth into, and shorter stories you can breeze through—plus lots of beautiful, large historic images. We include oral histories, stunning museum objects, must-see destinations, and more. From Colonial history to pop-culture, you’ll find it all in this magazine.
Subscribe to get your copy today in your mailbox or your inbox at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
In her new book, Book and Dagger, How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of the World, Dr. Elyse Graham tells the story of academics, like Yale literature professor Joseph Curtis, who hunted down German spies and turned them into double agents, and Sherman Kent, a Yale history professor who rose to become the head of analysis for all of Europe and Africa.
At the start of World War II, the United States found itself in desperate need of an intelligence agency. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to today’s CIA, was quickly formed—and in an effort to fill its ranks with experts, the OSS turned to academia for recruits. Suddenly, literature professors, librarians, and historians were training to perform undercover operations and investigative work-and these surprising spies would go on to profoundly shape both the course of the war and the future CIA with their efforts.
This episode’s guest is Dr. Elyse Graham, professor in the English Department at Stony Brook University and the author of four books. Dr.Graham is available for book talks-find the link to her website here:
https://www.elyse-graham.com/
Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now.
Get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine, in print and digital editions now so you don’t miss the Summer issue!
https://www.ctexplored.org/
Each issue offers a photo essay, feature-length stories you can sink your teeth into, and shorter stories you can breeze through—plus lots of beautiful, large historic images. We include oral histories, stunning museum objects, must-see destinations, and more. From Colonial history to pop-culture, you’ll find it all in this magazine
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Last year in episode 186, we talked about Grove Street Cemetery’s pioneering role as the first planned cemetery in the country. The design of Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven in the 1790s used several of the features that became standard, like family plots and established walkways.
Today, we’re going to move the clock forward and discuss the rural cemetery movement of the 19th century with Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford as a signature example.
Established in 1864, Cedar Hill Cemetery encompasses 270 acres of landscaped woodlands, waterways, and memorial grounds. The urban oasis serves as a sanctuary for Connecticut history, impressive funerary art, and natural beauty. In this episode, Host Mary Donohue interviews Beverly Lucas, Director of the Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation. The Foundation is the non-profit that raises money for the restoration of the monuments and also hosts many events and guided tours. Be sure to follow the Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation on Facebook and Instagram to find out about upcoming programs.
Wesleyan Press book offer!
Grating the Nutmeg has an exciting offer from Wesleyan University Press. Order the beautiful coffee table book Joseph Weidenmann, pioneer landscape architect by Rudi Favretti from their website and use the code Q301 to receive a 30% discount!
https://www.weslpress.org/9780819568472/jacob-weidenmann/
Want to find out more about Connecticut’s historic cemeteries? Listen to these Grating the Nutmeg episodes:
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/186-new-havens-pioneering-grove-street-cemetery
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/135-zinc-gravestones-bridgeports-monumental-bronze-company
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/154-numbers-to-names-restoring-humanity-to-ct-valley-hospital-cemetery
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/78-uncovering-african-and-native-american-lives-in-17th-18th-century-hartford
We count on our sponsors, advertisers and most importantly our listeners for their support. Help us continue to tell the important stories from Connecticut’s history by donating a fixed dollar amount monthly. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/gratingthenutmeg/
We appreciate donations in any amount!
Connecticut Explored magazine is a place where readers encounter the fascinating, and often untold, stories of our state’s people, places, and events.
Subscriptions include print + digital access. Subscribe to get your copy today in your mailbox or your inbox at https://www.ctexplored.org/
If you are looking for fun and interesting things to do around the state, our magazine and bi-monthly enewsletter will fill you in! Subscribe and sign up for our enewsletter at our website at https://www.ctexplored.org/
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Coffee is more than a hot drink or a boost of caffeine. For Connecticans, it’s hundreds of years of history. It has fueled new ideas, social reform, and workers’ rights. It is comfort in wartime and connections across cultures. It is universal, yet distinctly local. In this episode, the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Natalie Belanger chats with her colleague, Karen Li Miller, about the Museum's new exhibition exploring these connections, Coffee — A Connecticut Story. Make sure to visit the Museum's web site to see upcoming programs!
https://www.connecticutmuseum.org/exhibition/coffee-exhibition/
Thanks to the Connecticut Museum of Culture & History for their financial sponsorship of Grating the Nutmeg, helping us bring you a new episode every two weeks.
We count on our sponsors, advertisers and most importantly our listeners for their support. Help us continue to tell the important stories from Connecticut’s history by donating a fixed dollar amount monthly. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website: ctexplored.org - Click the "Donate" button at the top and look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. We need and appreciate donations in any amount!
Connecticut Explored magazine is a place where readers encounter the fascinating, and often untold, stories of our state’s people, places, and events.
Subscriptions include print + digital access. Subscribe to get your copy today in your mailbox or your inbox at ctexplored.org
If you are looking for fun and interesting things to do around the state, our magazine and bi-monthly enewsletter will fill you in! Subscribe and sign up for our enewsletter at our website at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials -Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
Carousels are marvels of brightly painted animals, mechanical excellence, music and lights. Located in a historic mill building in Bristol, the Carousel Museum houses well over 100 antique wooden carousel animals including white rabbits, pigs, lions and even an alligator. The museum has a full-size carousel inside the building complete with beautifully painted horses and Wurlitzer music - and you can take a merry-go-round ride during any season of the year. Plus, you can take a peek into their restoration workshop. Our guest for this episode is Morgan Fippinger, Executive Director.
Plan your visit to the Carousel Museum at www.thecarouselmuseum.org
The museum can also be rented for birthdays, weddings, and other events-find out more on their website.
Be sure to let us know on our social media pages which enchanting carousel animal is your favorite!
Search for carousels to visit across the country here: www.collectorsweekly.com/hall-of-fame/view/national-carousel-association
Get ready for #CivicLearningWeek! From March 10th through the 14th, students, educators, policymakers, and private and public sector leaders will come together to energize the movement for civic education as a nationwide priority. Prepare with Grating the Nutmeg and Connecticut Explored by reading and listening to civics-focused stories including How Connecticut Got Zoning; Radical Connecticut Labor Strikes; Disability Rights Activist Phyllis Zlotnick; and Miss Crandall’s School for Black Women! Learn more at ctexplored.org and civiclearningweek.org
Links for the these stories and podcast episodes:
https://www.ctexplored.org/disrupters-in-small-packages/
https://www.ctexplored.org/misscrandallsschool/
https://www.ctexplored.org/radical-connecticut-labor-strikes/
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-labor-movement-in-connecticut/
https://www.ctexplored.org/phyllis-zlotnick-disability-rights-activist/
https://www.ctexplored.org/phyllis-zlotnick/
https://www.ctexplored.org/how-connecticut-got-zoning-cte-game-changer-series/
https://www.ctexplored.org/game-changer-the-rise-of-exclusionary-zoning-in-connecticut/
This episode is sponsored by Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history and the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History.
We have a serious funding gap for 2025. You can help us continue to tell the important stories from Connecticut’s history by donating a fixed dollar amount monthly. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. We need and appreciate your support!
Subscribe to get your copy of our beautiful magazine Connecticut Explored delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
If you are looking for fun and interesting things to do around the state, our magazine and bi-monthly enewsletter will fill you in! Subscribe and sign up for our enewsletter at our website at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow host Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
The New Haven Museum staff and their community partners have reinterpreted the Amistad story in an exhibition that takes a new angle on the familiar story of the Amistad.
The 1839 Amistad Revolt was led by 53 West African captives who were being trafficked from Havana’s slave markets on the schooner La Amistad after being kidnapped from their homeland. For nearly 19 months in New Haven, the Amistad captives worked closely with anti-slavery activists who formed the Amistad Committee and connected with networks of engaged citizens to organize and fundraise for their legal defense.
The New Haven Museum exhibition, “Amistad: Retold,” centers the people who led the 1839 revolt and their collective actions to determine their own lives. It also focuses on New Haven as the site of their incarceration and abolitionist organizing.
My guests for this episode are award-winning historian, writer, and filmmaker Dr. Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh, and Joanna Steinberg, the New Haven Museum’s Director of Learning and Engagement. Dr. Rediker will present, “Rethinking the Amistad Story” at the New Haven Museum on Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 6 p.m. This is a rare local opportunity to meet the historian whose work transformed the understanding of the Amistad revolt and was central to the recent re-interpretation of the New Haven Museum exhibit, “Amistad: Retold."
Don’t forget to register for Dr. Rediker’s upcoming lecture on April 3rd at the New Haven Museum-the link with further information is here: https://www.newhavenmuseum.org/50304-2/
Be sure to visit Dr. Rediker’s website at www.marcusrediker.com/ for information on his 2012 book The Amistad Rebellion, An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Rebellion published by Penguin Press.
To watch his award-winning film about visiting Sierra Leonne, Ghosts of Amistad, go to the website www.ghostsofamistad.com
We have a serious funding gap for 2025. You can help us continue to tell the important stories from Connecticut’s history by donating a fixed dollar amount monthly. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/gratingthenutmeg/
We need and appreciate your support!
Subscribe to get your copy of our beautiful magazine Connecticut Explored delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
If you are looking for fun and interesting things to do around the state, our magazine and bi-monthly enewsletter will fill you in! Subscribe and sign up for our free enewsletter at our website at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow host Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
After a campaign initiated by schoolchildren, Prudence Crandall was designated the Connecticut State Heroine by the Connecticut General Assembly on Oct. 1, 1995. You may not know Connecticut has a state heroine, or you might have some inkling that Crandall was maybe a spinster Quaker schoolmarm, who had an unsuccessful school in the hinterlands of eastern Connecticut. Founded in 1833, the Crandall Academy educated more than two dozen Black women during its eighteen-month existence. In this episode we’ll hear how a trio of like-minded women helped to get the academy off the ground, and the tremendous impact the school had in its short existence.
Many of the Black women who attended the Canterbury Female Academy went on to be teachers, activists, and leaders in the Black community. Likewise, the important white and Black Abolitionists drawn to the struggle in Canterbury made lasting contributions across the decades leading to emancipation.
The story of the Canterbury Female Academy is replete with courtroom dramas and vigilante attacks, bravery in the face of opposition, and the noble work of pursuing education despite constant insult and threat. It is a story of inter-racial cooperation and women’s actions that we as Americans need to know, now more than ever. The initiative for the Academy came from women, Black and white, and its continuity was nurtured by support from the students’ families and a growing white female Abolitionist movement.
Mary Donohue talks to Dr. Jennifer Rycenga about her new book Schooling the Nation, The Success of the Canterbury Academy for Black Women, published in 2025 by the University of Illinois Press. Dr. Jennifer Rycenga is a professor emerita of comparative religious studies and humanities at San Jose State University.
Dr. Rycenga is available for book talks and lectures, both remotely and in-person. Her contact email is jennife.rycenga@sjsu.edu
Her author page on Amazon is here: https://us.amazon.com/stores/Jennifer-Rycenga/author/B06XJRSDV7?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true
Her book can be ordered from the University of Illinois Press here:
https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p088377
Interested in visiting the Prudence Crandall Museum where today’s story took place? Plan you visit here:
https://portal.ct.gov/ecd-prudencecrandallmuseum
We have a serious funding gap for 2025. You can help us continue to tell the important stories from Connecticut’s history by donating a fixed dollar amount monthly. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website.
We need and appreciate your support! Here’s our donation link: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/gratingthenutmeg/
Subscribe to get your copy of our beautiful magazine Connecticut Explored delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
If you are looking for fun and interesting things to do around the state, our magazine and bi-monthly enewsletter will fill you in! Subscribe and sign up for our enewsletter at our website at https://www.ctexplored.org/
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow host Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
In this episode, Host Mary Donohue talks to Griffin Dunne, actor, producer and director and now New York Times best-selling author about his family memoir The Friday Afternoon Club. His Hartford to Hollywood family includes generations of writers, movie producers, journalists, and actors including his father Dominick Dunne, uncle John Gregory Dunne, and aunt Joan Didion.
This prominent family dynasty has part of its roots in Irish-American Connecticut, coming from Ireland to Derby and Hartford. Irish Catholics, unwelcome in Protestant Connecticut from the jump in the 1820s, nevertheless made Connecticut home. In this episode, Dunne shares stories about family figures such as Hartford’s Dominick Burns, a self-made man who immigrated from Ireland at age 11 and became a business owner and bank president. And Dr. Edwin Dunne, a Harvard-trained surgeon, who was the grandson of an Irish immigrant and the son of a machinist at the Farrell Foundry and Machine Company in Ansonia. And we don’t forget the Hollywood part of the story either with Dunne’s vivid memories of his father’s life as a movie producer and crime journalist!
Our thanks again to Griffin Dunne for joining us for this episode. His book is available at your favorite bookstore or on Amazon.
The new Hartford Public Library Park Street at the Lyric Branch is located at 603 Park Street. The building that housed the Park Street Trust Company where Dominick Burns served as co-founder and president is located at 617 Park Street, on the southwest corner of Park and Broad Streets.
The grave monument company that is mentioned is Beij, Williams and Zito-still in business. John Zito, Jr. was a sculptor as well as a partner in the cemetery monument company.
Their website is here:
https://fineartstone.com/companyhistory/
If you want to learn more about Connecticut’s Irish-American history and landmarks, go to the website of the Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society here:
http://www.ctirishhistory.org/website/publish/about/index.php?About-Us-2
To celebrate reaching 200 episodes, we’re asking listeners to donate $20 a month or $200 annually to help us continue to bring you new episodes every two weeks. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/gratingthenutmeg/
We appreciate your support in any amount!
Subscribe to get your copy of our beautiful magazine Connecticut Explored delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
Our current issue is on food-find out where to get the best ice cream sundaes in West Hartford.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram , Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow host Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
ENCORE: Our Top 10 Most Streamed GTN Episodes! Have you explored all these amazing Connecticut stories? #1. https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/93-connecticut-and-the-pandemic-of-1918 #2. https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/77-the-delicious-history-of-pizza-in-new-haven #3 https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/121-rooted-in-history-connecticuts-trees #3 https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/96-rough-justice-for-nathan-hale #4 https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/18a-audio-only-governor-john-dempsey-son-of-cahir-audio #5 https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/70-anni-and-josef-albers-in-connecticut #6 https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/129-revolver-sam-colt-and-the-six-shooter-that-changed-america #7 https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/147-the-hindenburg-flies-over-connecticut #8 https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/97-uncovering-african-american-womens-fight-for-suffrage #9 https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/131-when-contraception-was-a-crime-griswold-v-ct #10 https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/148-rediscovering-the-battle-of-ridgefield
We did it!! This is our 200th episode of Grating the Nutmeg! Thanks to our listeners, we have travelled across the state during every time period to bring you vivid, fascinating stories from our state’s history. Become a podcast subscriber to get notified every time there’s a new episode!
During this holiday season, it seemed like the perfect time to bring you the story of Connecticut’s biggest toymaker!
Of all the toys that are enshrined in the National Toy of Fame, two stand out as having solid Connecticut connections, the Cabbage Patch doll and the Erector Set. In this episode, we’re going to find out how A.C. Gilbert, a Yale educated doctor, became a millionaire with an idea he got while riding the Metro North train from New Haven to New York City. His construction toy, the Erector Set, sold in the millions and helped to educate generations of scientists and engineers. He came up with dozens of best-selling toys that were all manufactured at his factory in New Haven, Connecticut. We’ll also interview Walter Zawalich, Gilbert Trains Curator, at the Eli Whitney Museum about their holiday Gilbert train show. Co-host Patrick O’Sullivan will share his information on 1965’s James Bond slot car toy that helped to push the company into closing.
Much of today’s information comes from the book The Man Who Changed How Boys and Toys Were Made, The Life and Times of A.C. Gilbert, the Man Who Saved Christmas by Bruce Watson and the website of the Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden, Connecticut. The Whitney Museum collects and studies the products and legacy of A.C. Gilbert and his company.
Find out more here: https://www.eliwhitney.org/museum/-gilbert-project/-man/a-c-gilbert-scientific-toymaker-essays-arts-and-sciences-october
The information on the Eli Whitney Train Show is here: https://www.eliwhitney.org/exhibitions/train-display-2024-25
Other museums with train shows:
Connecticut River Museum
https://ctrivermuseum.org/events/steve-cryans-31st-annual-train-show/
Wilton Historical Society
https://wiltonhistorical.org/events/great-train-holiday-show/
To get information about how to visit Erector Square, the A.C.Gilbert Factory complex now adaptively reused as artist studios, go to their website at https://erectorsquarestudios.com/
To celebrate reaching 200 episodes, we’re asking listeners to donate $20 a month or $200 annually to help us continue to bring you new episodes every two weeks. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. We appreciate your support!
Subscribe to get your copy of our beautiful magazine Connecticut Explored delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
Our current issue is on food-find out where to get the best ice cream sundaes in West Hartford.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram , Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow host Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
TOP 5 DOWNLOADED EPISODES FOR 2024 Don’t miss these episodes! #1. https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/180-colonial-connecticut-sugar-slavery-and-connections-to-the-west-indies #2.https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/179-connecticuts-benedict-arnold-americas-most-hated-man #3.https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/181-hartford-and-the-great-migration-1914-1950 #4. https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/182-rebels-at-sea-privateering-in-the-american-revolution #5.https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/183-margaret-rudkin-of-pepperidge-farm
In the mid-20th century, Hartford's G. Fox and Co. was one of the most successful family-owned department stores in the United States. Today, many Connecticans have fond memories of visiting G. Fox at the holiday season -- marvelling at the Christmas Village atop the marquee and meeting Santa in Toyland. In this episode, Natalie Belanger and Jen Busa of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History talk about the history of the store, owner Beatrice Fox Auerbach's commitment to customer service, and the holiday traditions that so many customers still remember.
You'll hear snippets from oral histories conducted in the 2000s by the Stave Group for the Connecticut Museum. Transcripts and audio files of these oral histories are available at the CT Digital Archive, a collaborative member organization that supports digital preservation and access for all Connecticut's people. The voices you heard today were those of Ann Uccello, Bruce Blawie, Ruth Blawie, Betty Jane Ladd, Bruce Stave, and Fanny Raptopolous.
Want to try making the Date Nut Bread that Jen and Natalie made for this episode? Here's the recipe, as published in the Hartford Courant February 26, 2009.
G. FOX & CO.’S DATE NUT BREAD RECIPE
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
1 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs, well beaten
2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla
Grease a 9-by-5-inch pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Place dates and sugar in a large mixing bowl. In a saucepan, combine the water and shortening and simmer until shortening is melted. Pour over dates and sugar, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cool slightly.
Stir mix ingredients with a wooden spoon, not an electric mixer. Add eggs, beating well. Combine dry ingredients. Stir into date mixture until well blended. Batter may be slightly lumpy. Add walnuts and vanilla.
Turn batter into greased loaf pan and bake one hour until center of loaf springs back when touched. Cool thoroughly before removing from pan.
Image credit: G. Fox 1969 holiday catalogue, CMCH collection 2020.57.25
Hear more about how G. Fox intergrated their workforce on Grating the Nutmeg episode 73 Dept Stores, G. Fox and the Black Freedom Movement. Listen here:
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/73-dept-stores-gfox-and-the-black-freedom-movement
To celebrate reaching 200 episodes, we’re asking listeners to donate $20 a month or $200 annually to help us continue to bring you new episodes every two weeks. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. We appreciate your support!
Subscribe to get your copy of our beautiful magazine Connecticut Explored delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
Our current issue is on food-find out our recommendation for the best ice cream sundaes in West Hartford!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram , Threads, and BlueSky.
Follow host Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram: @WeHaSidewalkHistorian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!
We all know a little about New England and Connecticut’s European maritime history. Dutch traders came to North America to trade for beaver pelts and English colonists came to start new communities such as Hartford. But a new exhibition at the Mystic Seaport Museum doesn’t rehash this history - it looks to reveal African and Indigenous perspectives on water and the sea.
Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea is an exhibition that surveys the interplay
of maritime histories through Indigenous, African, and African American worldviews.
On view until Spring 2026, the exhibition examines twelve millennia of Black
and Indigenous history through objects and loaned belongings from Indigenous and African
communities dating back 2,500 years, coalescing in a selection of 22 contemporary artworks.
For more on the exhibition, go here:
https://mysticseaport.org/press-release/a-new-major-exhibition-at-mystic-seaport-museum-entwined-freedom-sovereignty-and-the-sea/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAlsy5BhDeARIsABRc6ZsdXrwnuOdXNuyzChssJb7G7QDvtp-1ou95r4jkzwwmo2qLD7Q_1P4aAi39EALw_wcB
Entwined is the first exhibition by my guest Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes, Senior Curator of
Social Histories at Mystic Seaport Museum. She earned her PhD in Anthropology with a focus in Archeology at the University of Connecticut.
Our second guest is Dr. Kathy Hermes, publisher of Connecticut Explored magazine and Project Historian of the award-winning project Uncovering Their History: African, African American and Native American Burials in Hartford’s Ancient Burying Ground.
This is the third and final episode in our 2024 series on Connecticut’s maritime history. Don’t miss listening to Episode 182. Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution with best-selling author Eric Jay Dolan and Episode 180. Colonial Connecticut: Sugar, Slavery, and Connections to the West Indies with Dr. Mathew Warshaurer and Dr. Kathy Hermes. Here’s the links to these episodes:
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/182-rebels-at-sea-privateering-in-the-american-revolution
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/180-colonial-connecticut-sugar-slavery-and-connections-to-the-west-indies
Here’s the link to the Seaman’s Protection Certificates-list on the Mystic Seaport website:
https://research.mysticseaport.org/databases/protection/
Help us make up our loss of state funding and celebrate our 200 episodes by donating $20 a month or $200 annually to help us continue to bring you new episodes every two weeks. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. We appreciate your support!
Here's the link to our online benefit auction-valid until Nov. 20, 2024.
https://secure.qgiv.com/event/gtn2024/
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. We’ve got issues coming up on food, celebrations and the environment with places you’ll want to read about and visit. https:/simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages.
Follow host Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
Early voting has already started in the 2024 presidential election and I just couldn’t resist the suggestion by my guests to explore what Samuel Clemens alias Mark Twain, Hartford’s greatest Gilded Age humorist, had to say about the United States presidents. Was Twain the John Stewart or John Oliver of his day? Known for his sharp wit and scathing satire, what presidents met with his approval? Corruption, national identity, the power of big business, and America’s global role were just as contested then as they are now. His funny, insightful observations about the presidents of his day apply readily to the modern presidency.
Guests on this episode are Twain experts Mallory Howard, Assistant Curator at The Mark Twain House & Museum and Dr. Jason Scappaticci, historian and Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Connecticut State Community College Capital in Hartford.
Looking for a fun and informative event for your library, book club, or historical society?
The Mark Twain House & Museum can bring you distinctive, entertaining, and interactive presentations on Mark Twain’s life, work, interests, and era. You can book a presentation on the subject of this episode at the Mark Twain House website here: https://marktwainhouse.org/outreach/
We’re almost there! This is our 197th episode. Thanks to our listeners, Grating the Nutmeg is going to hit 200 episodes soon! We love bringing you a new episode every two weeks. In celebration of our 200th episode and to help fund Grating the Nutmeg in 2025, we are holding our first ever Grating the Nutmeg Benefit Online Auction. The auction bidding opens on November 1st. You can bid on art, special one-of -a- kind experiences like a private tour of the Connecticut State Capitol including the Hall of Flags, theater tickets, museum admissions, hands-on genealogy assistance, behind the scenes tours at fascinating places, and restaurant gift cards. You’ll be able to bid on a delish lunch at one of Hartford’s best restaurants with our publisher Dr. Kathy Hermes and the Connecticut State Historian Dr. Andy Horowitz. All the bidding information is on our website and links to the auction bidding are on our social media pages. Go to the auction here: https://secure.qgiv.com/event/gtn2024/
It’s easy to bid on your phone or laptop. The holidays are coming up-you may find that perfect gift in our auction items for that hard to buy for person!
Toast the start of conservation work with the team working to stabilize the 18th-century wallpaper adorning the Phelps-Hatheway House. Enjoy exclusive access to the expertise of conservators who will explain and demonstrate their work caring for the papers.
To reserve your spot for the Nov. 3, 2024 event, go to https://ctlandmarks.org/wallpaper/
To celebrate our 200 episodes, we’re asking listeners to donate $20 a month or $200 annually to help us continue to bring you new episodes every two weeks. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. We appreciate your support!
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. We’ve got issues coming up on food, celebrations and the environment with places you’ll want to read about and visit.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages.
Follow host Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
Have you got your Halloween costume ready? Been on any graveyard tours this month? Well, this story for you! I’d never thought of body snatching as having anything to do with Connecticut but as this episode proves, the disappearance of a young women’s body lead to a New Haven riot. I’ll get the details from Richard Ross author of the new book American Body Snatchers, Merchandising the Dead in 19th Century New England and Washington, DC.
Dick Ross is a retired college librarian and professor emeritius from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Order his new book American Body Snatchers, Merchandising the Dead in New England and Washington, D.C. from Amazon here: American Body Snatchers: Merchandising the Dead in 19th Century New England and Washington, D.C.
Order his book on the Connecticut witch trials here:
Before Salem: Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley, 1647-1663
You can hear more about that topic in GTN #39, parts 1-3, here:
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/39-witch-hunting-in-connecticut-part-1-the-european-prelude
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/39-witch-hunting-in-connecticut-part-2-the-connecticut-trials-0
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/39-witch-hunting-in-connecticut-part-3-interview-with-richard-ross-before-salem
Toast the start of conservation work with the team working to stabilize the 18th-century Réveillon wallpaper adorning the Phelps-Hatheway House. Enjoy exclusive access to the expertise of conservators from Studio TKM Associates, who will explain and demonstrate their work caring for the papers. Attendees of this intimate gathering are invited to learn about the house and its residents while imagining the turbulence of the 1790s as two nations attempted to assert their independence—and their identities.
To reserve your spot for the Nov. 3, 2024 event, go to https://ctlandmarks.org/wallpaper/
Proceeds from this event benefit the wallpaper conservation project at the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden. Learn more here.
We’re almost there! This is our 196th episode. Thanks to our listeners, Grating the Nutmeg is going to hit 200 episodes soon! We love bringing you a new episode every two weeks. In celebration of our 200th episode and to help fund Grating the Nutmeg in 2025, we are holding our first ever Grating the Nutmeg Benefit Online Auction in November. We’ll have special, one of a kind experiences, tickets, museum admissions, behind the scenes tours, and restaurant gift cards. All the information will be on our website in November and links to the auction will be on our social media pages. If you have something to donate, email Kathy Hermes at publisher@ctexplored.org
To celebrate our 200 episodes, we’re asking listeners to donate $20 a month or $200 annually to help us continue to bring you new episodes every two weeks. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. We appreciate it!
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. We’ve got issues coming up on food, celebrations and the environment with places you’ll want to read about and visit.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
Most people know something about Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Clemens. After all, he wrote his most famous books while living in Hartford, Connecticut. His 25-room house on Farmington Avenue cost over $40,000 in 1874 dollars. Raised as a child in Missouri, he became world famous for his wit and humor both in print and on stage. But what if the man who served as Twain’s butler for 17 years had a story that was just as powerful and gripping as Twain’s? In today’s episode we are going to meet that man, George Griffin.
Twain scholar and collector Kevin MacDonnell's biographical sketch George Griffin: Meeting Mark Twain's Butler which provides the most comprehensive look into Griffin’s life to date, and brings us face to face with the man who is said to have inspired Jim in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. George Griffin came to wash the windows in Mark Twain’s new house in 1874 and stayed for seventeen years, taking on the position of butler, the highest-ranking employee in the household.
A photograph of Griffin was discovered recently. It is the only known picture of the man who was also a prominent leader in Hartford’s Black community, serving as deacon of Hartford’s Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
The guests in this episode are Dr. Camesha Scruggs, professor of history at Central Connecticut State University and Twain scholar Kevin MacDonnell.
Dr. Scruggs received her PhD in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her current manuscript project is a further examination of how interventions from social, civic, government, secondary and higher education institutions impact the occupation of domestic service during the New Deal Era. She may be contacted at cscruggs@ccsu.edu
Kevin MacDonnell earned his MLS at the University of Texas and serves on the editorial board of the Mark Twain Journal. He has contributed articles to the Mark Twain Encyclopedia (1993), co-edited Mark Twain and Youth, and has reviewed over fifty books for the Mark Twain Forum. His collection of more than 11,000 Mark Twain items--first editions, letters, photographs, archives, manuscripts, and artifacts--is the largest in private hands and is frequently shared with other scholars and museums. He gives frequent lectures on Twain and may be reached at info@macdonnellrarebooks.com
Copies of The Mark Twain Journal featuring Kevin MacDonnell’s biographical sketch George Griffin: Meeting Mark Twain’s Butler Face-to-Face may be purchased from the Mark Twain House Museum Store for $12.00. The link to the journal in the museum shop is here: https://marktwainhousestore.org/products/mark-twain-journal-volume-62-number-1
You can also take a special tour of the Twain House.
The George Griffin Living History Tour invites visitors to step back in time to the year 1885. The premise of the tour is that the Clemens family are looking to hire a new cook, and Mr. Griffin has been tasked with conducting the first round of interviews—after all, as the head of the domestic staff, he knows exactly the kind of temperament and skills needed to keep the house running. He leads visitors through each restored room of the house, and gives them his own experience of not only the domestic labor done in that space, but also the emotional labor that he must navigate daily as a formerly enslaved black man working in the house of a wealthy white family. And who is “G. G., Chief of Ordnance?” Find out for yourself when you take a Living History tour with George Griffin.
Can you spare $10 a month to help support Grating the Nutmeg? It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg link.
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. We’ve got issues coming up on food, celebrations and the environment with places you’ll want to read about and visit.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages.
You can find host and executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram: @WeHaSidewalkHistorian. Join us in two weeks for the next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
In this episode, you'll hear about the remarkable life and legacy of the man that Lin-Manuel Miranda called "America's favorite fighting Frenchman," the Marquis de Lafayette. This month marks the 200th anniversary of Lafayette's visit to Connecticut, part of his so-called "Farewell Tour" of America in 1824. Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History spoke with Julien Icher of the Lafayette Trail about the Marquis' role in the American Revolution, and how his farewell tour 50 years later helped Americans to reflect on how far they'd come.
Check out The Lafayette Trail's YouTube series "Follow the Frenchmen” here:
https://www.youtube.com/@thelafayettetrailinc.1207/videos?app=desktop
The website for the Lafayette Trail is here:
https://www.thelafayettetrail.org/
And the Connecticut Lafayette Trail website is here:
https://lafayettecttrail.org/
To celebrate our 200 episodes, we’re asking listeners to donate $20 a month or $200 annually to help us continue bring you new episodes every two weeks. It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
Thank you!
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
We’ve got issues coming up on food, celebrations and the environment with places you’ll want to read about and visit.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages.
This is Mary Donohue for Grating the Nutmeg. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
Author Steve Thornton asks “Who really makes history”?
In his new book, Radical Connecticut: People’s History in the Constitution State, co-authored by Andy Piascik, guest Steve Thornton tells the stories of everyday people and well-known figures whose work has often been obscured, denigrated, or dismissed. There are narratives of movements, strikes, popular organizations and people in Connecticut who changed the state and the country for the better.
Unlike a traditional history that focuses on the actions of politicians, generals, business moguls and other elites, Radical Connecticut is about workers, the poor, people of color, women, artists and others who engaged in the never-ending struggle for justice and freedom. In this episode, we’ll hear more about unions and labor strikes in Connecticut history including Thornton’s participation in the Colt Firearms strike of the 1980’s.
Historian, activist, and union organizer, Thornton was designated a Connecticut History Gamechanger by Connecticut Explored magazine in 2022 for his bottom-up approach to Connecticut history. He authors the website The Shoeleather History Project which documents and explores progressive organizing from Hartford’s grassroots. You can also hear more from Steve in our Grating the Nutmeg episode # 145. Activists Paul and Eslanda Robeson in Connecticut
The link to Steve’s Shoeleather History Project website and to purchase his new book is here: https://shoeleatherhistoryproject.com/
Read Dr. Cecelia Bucki’s feature article on labor history here: https://www.ctexplored.org/the-labor-movement-in-connecticut/
Can you spare $10 a month to help support Grating the Nutmeg? It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at the link below. Thank you!
https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. We’ve got issues coming up on food, celebrations and the environment with places you’ll want to read about and visit.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages.
This is Mary Donohue for Grating the Nutmeg. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram at WeHa Sidewalk Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
Have you ever discovered that one of your favorite places is being renovated? Like your grandmother’s kitchen, your favorite restaurant, or even a museum, and you worry that the charm or the appeal of the place might be gone after the renovation? Podcast editor Patrick O’Sullivan and Producer Mary Donohue went to just such a place, the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale in New Haven. We had both been to the museum many times before the pandemic. But, the newly-reopened Peabody Museum is not just better, it’s fantastic!
The massive dinosaur and prehistoric fossil collections in the Burke Hall of Dinosaurs are what every schoolchild remembers from a fieldtrip. The renovation has created new space for exhibiting more of its cultural, anthropological, and other scientific collections, including never-before displayed artifacts and contemporary art. For example, one intriguing new area was the History of Science and Technology gallery that included Yale’s first microscope — purchased in 1734. Just this summer, the Hall of the Pacific has opened with artwork, photographs and artifacts that celebrate the cultures of Pacific Islander communities.
With a $160 million dollar bequest, they’ve increased the size of the museum from 30,000 to 44,000 square feet, added 5 classrooms, new galleries and a study gallery for faculty and students to use. The space is bright, inviting and provides visitors a place to sit down or bring lunch. Maybe the two things that will have the biggest impact in the future is that the museum is now completely free to visit. They have also worked hard to correct old, outdated information as well as to interpret the artifacts in a way that acknowledges their history more fully and authentically.
The guest for this episode is David Skelly, Director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History and Yale Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Our thanks to David Skelly and Steven Scarpa, Associate Director of the museum’s Marketing & Communications Department for making arrangements for the podcast recording as well as a fabulous tour.
Don’t forget that the museum admission is now free! You can reserve timed entrance passes on the museum’s website to help you plan your visit. https://peabody.yale.edu/visit
And once you’re in New Haven, don’t forget that the Grove Street Cemetery from Grating the Nutmeg episode # 186 is just blocks away - or check out the New Haven Museum’s new Amistad gallery!
Can you spare $10 a month to help support the new voices, research, and books we feature on Grating the Nutmeg? It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. Thank you!
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. We’ve got issues coming up on food, celebrations and the environment with places you’ll want to read about and visit.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Hartford Circus Fire. In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History tells the story of the deadliest man-made disaster in Connecticut history.
On July 6, 1944, the Big Top of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus caught fire during a matinee performance. Within ten minutes the tent was burned away, taking the lives of 168 people with it. Hundreds of people were injured, and thousands of survivors would remember that day for the rest of their lives. For generations, people have been drawn to the story of the fire, and to the mystery surrounding the identify of the unclaimed child victim who came to be known as "Little Miss 1565."
Please note that this story includes graphic content and may not be suitable for all listeners.
If you'd like to learn more about the disaster, there are many sources available. Here's a partial list. You can also visit the site of the disaster, which is marked with a memorial, on Barbour Street in Hartford, behind the site of the former Fred D. Wish School. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g33804-d3324207-Reviews-Hartford_Circus_Fire_Memorial-Hartford_Connecticut.html
Stewart O'Nan, The Circus Fire: A True Story of an American Tragedy, 2000
Don Massey and Rick Davey, A Matter of Degree: The Hartford Circus Fire and the Mystery of Little Miss 1565, 2001
Don Massey, ed., Circus Fire Memories: Survivor Recollections of July 6, 1944, 2006
Michael Skidgell, The Hartford Circus Fire: Tragedy Under the Big Top, 2014
You can read some survivor accounts in this Fall 2006 CT Explored article.
A wide collection of primary sources are collected by Michael Skidgell on the website https://www.circusfire1944.com/
You can also read more here:
https://connecticuthistory.org/the-hartford-circus-fire/
Image credit: Connecticut Museum of Culture and History
Grating the Nutmeg brings you top-flight historians, compelling first-person stories, and new voices in Connecticut history. Your donation will ensure that Executive Producers Mary Donohue and Natalie Belanger can bring you a fresh episode at no cost every two weeks! GTN works with museums around the state to spotlight places that you’ll want to visit, books published by Connecticut authors, new exhibit openings, and more.
Can you spare $10 a month to help support the new voices, research, and books on Grating the Nutmeg? It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. Thank you!
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go and lots of day trip ideas!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages to get behind the scenes photos and links to the latest episodes.
July 1990 marked the passing of a landmark piece of federal legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act, known as the ADA. To recognize this event and to celebrate Disability Pride Month, we are uncovering the legacy of disability rights leader, Phyllis Zlotnick (1942-2011). Zlotnick was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at birth. Beginning in the 1970's, Phyllis recognized she was being “shut out” of society, a phrase she used in her writings and public testimonies at the Connecticut State Capitol. She dedicated her life to claiming the right to participate in public life. Executive Producer Mary Donohue spoke to author Arianna Basche about the challenges Zlotnick faced in her early life, her influence on Connecticut's accessibility policies, and her involvement in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Basche is the Ad Manager for Connecticut Explored magazine and is a historian and museum educator. Her feature story on Zlotnick will be published in the Fall, 2024 issue of Connecticut Explored magazine.
Warning for listeners - this episode contains some words that are not used now to describe members of the disabled community such as handicapped. These are taken from historic sources such as period newspaper stories or written first-hand accounts.
Zlotnick’s papers are held in the Special Collections Archive at the University of Connecticut. For more information, go to: https://archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/1016
https://blogs.lib.uconn.edu/archives/2017/02/24/vulnerability-empowering-advocacy-the-phyllis-zlotnick-papers/
Photo credit: Phyllis Zlotnick papers, Special Collections Archives, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut.
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored today to receive the fall issue with Zlotnick’s story- get your subscription delivered in print to your mailbox or digitally to your inbox. Subscribe at: ctexplored.org
Historic preservationist Frederic Palmer named his East Haddam house and the 50 acres it occupies “Dunstaffnage,” after a castle with the same name in Scotland. The prefix "dun" means "fort" in Gaelic, which perfectly captures the sense of protected sanctuary Frederic created for his LGBTQ friends, neighbors, and family to gather and live unhindered by societal norms. On July 13th, Connecticut Landmarks is excited to celebrate Scottish culture with the first ever Mid-Summer Pipes & Cider event on the grounds of Frederic Palmer's Dunstaffnage. Sip cider and connect with Scotland during a trail walk around the beautiful Palmer-Warner grounds led by Coreyanne Armstrong and Portland & District Pipers. Enjoy local cider tastings from Yankee Cider Co. including a signature “Dunstaffnage” bourbon that will transport you to the Scottish Moors through hints of Highland peat smoke. Bring your friends to test your knowledge in a round of Celtic-themed pub trivia, with prizes for first- and second-place teams. The bourbon is aging, and the pipers are practicing! For tickets, please visit ctlandmarks.org/midsummer.
Grating the Nutmeg brings you top-flight historians, compelling first-person stories, and new voices in Connecticut history. Your donation will ensure that Executive Producers Mary Donohue and Natalie Belanger can bring you a fresh episode at no cost every two weeks! Donate here:https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages.
This is Mary Donohue for Grating the Nutmeg. Follow me on my Facebook and Instagram pages @WeHaSidewalkHistorian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg.
We love a Sherlock Holmes "who done it" whether it's Basil Rathbone from the 1940s, Benedict Cumberbacth from the 2000s, or Millie Bobby Brown as Sherlock's sister Enola Holmes from the 2020s. But it was a Hartford-born actor who gave Sherlock Holmes his signature look - his curved pipe, deerstalker cap and magnifying glass.
William Gillette was born into a wealthy Hartford family in 1853 but became a millionaire in his own right as an actor and a playwright. He was the first actor to be universally acclaimed for portraying Sherlock Holmes, having staged the first authorized play in 1899. His retirement home, Gillette's Castle, cost millions to construct and is a combination escape room, medieval stone ruin and Steampunk fantasy.
Our guest is Paul Schiller. Paul spent almost a decade working at Gillette Castle. In addition to providing engaging and informative tours to castle visitors, he served as an archivist, researcher and educator for the park. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, Paul created a series of video tours of the castle, available on the Friends of Gillette Castle Youtube channel.
Can you spare $10 a month to help support the new voices, research, and books featured on Grating the Nutmeg? It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. Thank you!
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go and lots of day trip ideas!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages.
Follow Connecticut historian Mary Donohue on her Facebook and Instagram pages @WeHaSidewalkHistorian
Celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month with Grating the Nutmeg!
June 1st marks the start of LGBTQ+ Pride Month. To celebrate, we’ve gathered a sampling of episodes that share the incredible stories of Connecticut’s LGBTQ+ history. Click on the links below, and then press play on the next page for your next good story. Once you’re done listening, be sure to click the last link to discover Connecticut Explored articles uncovering even more LGBTQ+ history in our state!
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Uncovering Connecticut’s LGBTQ History: Lives of the state’s LGBTQ+ citizens have moved from being hidden and solitary to claiming visible, powerful, valuable, and contributing places in society. In this episode, Mary Donohue interviews historian William J. Mann about when and how the LGBTQ+ movement started in Connecticut, what legislative goals and strategies drove the movement, and what the current goals are for the LGBTQ+ movement. Mann also wrote Connecticut Explored’s “A Brief History of Connecticut’s Gay Media,” available here.
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Philip Johnson’s Glass House: The Glass House, internationally famous for its design, is also a landmark in the history of historic preservation and the LGBTQ+ community. Tune in to hear the story of its owner and designer, Philip Johnson, and his Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. You’ll hear from Glass House educator Gwen North Reiss, who also wrote Connecticut Explored’s “Philip Johnson’s 50-Year Experiment in Architecture and Landscape.” You can read her article here.
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Revealing Queer Lives: Connecticut’s LGBTQ History: In our most recent episode, we celebrate the start of LGBTQ+ Pride Month by highlighting efforts to bring LGBTQ+ history to light. Author, professor, and historian William J. Mann returns with public history researcher, writer, and consultant Dr. Susan Ferentinos to talk about what historians have found in Connecticut’s colonial records and some surprising connections to famous individuals and landmarks. Stay tuned until the end of the episode where we will share three recommendations for places to visit in CT to celebrate LGBTQ+ history.
Connecticut’s LGBTQ History: Loved what you listened to? Want to discover more about our state’s LGBTQ+ history? Click the link to explore Connecticut Explored articles relating to LGBTQ+ topics. You’ll find William J. Mann and Gwen North Reiss’ articles as well as other fascinating stories including East Haddam’s Palmer-Warner House, Bridgeport’s feminist bookstore and restaurant, Bloodroot, and early advocate for Connecticut’s gay community, Canon Clinton Jones.
June is PRIDE month and we’re celebrating by bringing you an episode about efforts to bring LGBTQ+ history to light. As one guest, historian William Mann writes, “Throughout its history, Connecticut’s LGBTQ population has moved from leading hidden, solitary lives to claiming visible, powerful, valuable, and contributing places in society.” In this episode, we talk about what historians have found in Connecticut’s Colonial records, some surprising connections to famous individuals and landmarks and at the end of the episode, there’s a recommendation for three places to visit to celebrate LGBTQ+ history.
In order to prepare for this episode, two digital resources created by our guests were used. Both of these are available on the web and the links are below.
The first is the Historic Timeline of Connecticut’s LGBTQ Community online exhibition directed by William Mann for the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. Mann is an author and historian whose books include Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn, named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times; The Wars of the Roosevelts: The Ruthless Rise of America’s Greatest Political Family; Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood; and Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood. He is an Assistant Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University, where he teaches LGBTQ History.
See the timeline here: https://www.connecticutmuseum.org/lgbtqtimeline/
Mann is available for lectures and book talks. He can be reached at williammannauthor@gmail.com
The second digital resource is a recorded lecture, Intemperate Habits: LGBTQ History from a Connecticut Perspective, a talk by Dr. Susan Ferentinos . She is an advisor to an inspiring new project, the Ridgefield LGBTQ Oral History Project. The Ridgefield Oral History project is a partnership between the Ridgefield Historical Society and Ridgefield Pride that will train high school students to conduct oral interviews with members of Ridgefield’s gay community. Ferentinos is a public history researcher, writer, and consultant helping cultural organizations share untold stories about women and LGBTQ people. She is advising the Ridgefield LGBTQ Oral History Project and has recently worked with the Palmer-Warner House in East Haddam, Connecticut, and the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park, New York. She is the author of the award-winning book Interpreting LGBT History at Museums and Historic Sites and has contributed her expertise to the National Park Service initiative “Telling All Americans’ Stories.” Ferentinos is available for lectures and book talks. Contact her at https://susanferentinos.com/
Watch her lecture here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1111325966517828
Here are three fantastic places to visit that celebrate LGBTQ+ lives-links for each of these is below:
1) James Merrill House
CT Open House Day @ the James Merrill House
Jun 08, 2024, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM EDT
Stonington, 107 Water St, Stonington, CT 06378, USA
The James Merrill House is a writer's home and a home for writers. As part of CT Open House Day, we will open the doors of the JMH to the public for an opportunity to tour the charming, color-drenched home of one of America's greatest poets at 107 Water Street in the picturesque Stonington Borough.
https://www.jamesmerrillhouse.org/
2) Philip Johnson’s Glass House-New Canaan, open now for the summer tour season, order your tickets on line at:
https://theglasshouse.org/visit/hours/
3) Bloodroot Restaurant
https://www.bloodroot.com/
Bloodroot, a vegan, feminist, activist restaurant, owned by lesbians Selma Miriam and Noel Furie in Bridgeport, Connecticut, has thrived for 42 years. See their website for information on reservations for dinner or lunch.
Can you spare $10 a month to help support the new voices, research, and books featured on Grating the Nutmeg? It’s easy to set up a monthly donation on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg link. Thank you!
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go and lots of day trip ideas!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages.
Follow Connecticut historian Mary Donohue on her Facebook and Instagram pages @WeHaSidewalkHistorian
Did you know that comic books were invented in Connecticut? Well, sort of. There are lots of precedents for printing texts with images. But the origin of mass market comic book printing is 1930s Waterbury, where Eastern Color printing began by re-publishing comic strips from newspapers in magazine form. Eventually they partnered with Dell publishing to print the first original content American comic books. But today’s episode takes us a ways down Route 8 from Waterbury to Derby. From the 1940s to 1991, Derby was the home of Charlton Comics, unique for being a one-stop shop that included writers, artists, publishing, and distribution under one roof. The story of Charlton is colorful in more than one way. In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum talks to Jon B. Cooke, author of The Charlton Companion. Learn about the seedy origins of the company, its often lackadaisical approach to quality control, and why there was nothing else like it in American comics. Learn more about the Nutmeg state’s connection to the comic industry by visiting the Connecticut Museum’s exhibition, Connecticut’s Bookshelf now on display at the museum in Hartford. Jon B. Cooke’s book, The Charlton Companion, is available in digital form online at twomorrows.com
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go and lots of day trip ideas!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Help us produce the podcast by donating to non-profit Connecticut Explored at https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
Photo Credit: My Secret Life, Charlton Publications, Vol. 1, No. 25, Sept. 1958. Connecticut Museum Collection.
It’s Spring in Connecticut and this episode is part of our celebration of May as Historic Preservation Month. Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven is the first planned cemetery in the country. The design of Grove Street Cemetery in the 1790s pioneered several of the features that became standard like family plots and an established walkway grid. It is also one of the most beautiful places in Connecticut and is designated as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. It is on the Connecticut Freedom Trail.
Executive Producer Mary Donohue’s guests are Michael Morand and Channing Harris. Michael Morand is Director of Community Engagement for Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. He was just appointed the official City Historian of New Haven and currently chairs the Friends of the Grove Street Cemetery.
Channing Harris is a landscape architect. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the New Haven Preservation Trust and on the Board of the Friends of Grove Street Cemetery. At the cemetery he's been involved with replanting the next generation of trees, enhancing the front border garden, and assisted with the certification of the cemetery as an Arboretum.
Make a day of it in New Haven with a visit to Grove Street Cemetery and perhaps the New Haven Museum or the newly-reopened Peabody Museum. The Cemetery gates are open every day from 9-4. For the times and dates of the 2024 guided tours, go to the Facebook page of the Friends of Grove Street Cemetery. For more information on joining the Friends or volunteering, go to their website at https://www.grovestreetcemetery.org/become-member
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go and lots of day trip ideas!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Mary Donohue is an award-winning author, historian and preservationist. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net and follow her Facebook and Instagram pages at WeHa Sidewalk Historian.
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Help us produce the podcast by donating to non-profit Connecticut Explored at https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
image:
Henry Austin Papers (MS 1034). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.
In this episode, we uncover a Connecticut World War II story that features airplanes without engines. Sound crazy? You’ll learn how these engineless gliders helped beat the Nazis. Executive Producer Mary Donohue will also talk to the author of a new book that details the role that over 45 Connecticut companies played in producing the ammunition, weapons and machines that the United States needed as part of the massive war effort during World War II.
Her guests today are Connecticut author Sharon Cohen and Melissa Josefiak, Executive Director of the Essex Historical Society.
Cohen has authored several books. Her new book Connecticut Industries Unite for WWII Victory was published in 2023 and placed second in the 2024 New England Book Festival.
Its available from High Point Publishing:
www.highpointpub.com . Sharon Cohen is available for book talks and signings. Contact her at cohencomm1@earthlink.net
The Essex Historical Society has new publications on the three Essex villages-Ivoryton, Centerbrook and Essex, where much of today’s story takes place.
For information on the publications and programs of the Essex Historical Society, go to their website at https://www.essexhistory.org/ and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go and lots of day trip ideas!
image: Courtesy of Essex Historical Society
You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website here: https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
Executive producer Mary Donohue is an award-winning author, historic preservationist and architectural historian. She can be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
In this episode, we celebrate and commemorate National Borinqueneers Day coming up on April 13th. It recognizes the bravery, service, and sacrifice of the 65th Infantry Regiment, a United States Army unit that consisted mostly of soldiers from Puerto Rico and the only segregated Latino unit in the United States Army.
But the honor and fidelity of the men of the 65th came into question in 1952 during the Korean War when 91 regiment members were arrested and tried for desertion and disobeying orders. How could this happen to such a distinguished and decorated unit of the Army?
Executive Producer Mary Donohue’s guest for this episode is accomplished Connecticut author of young adult literature, Talia Aikens-Nunez. In her book, Men of the 65th, The Borinqueneers of the Korean War, she guides us through the history of the 65th from its beginning in 1899.
This book is a great read for a young adult reader or anyone that has a member of their family that served in the regiment. There is a beautiful monument to the Borinqueneers in New Britain at the intersection of Beaver and Farmington Streets-well worth a visit. And we have an article that was published in Connecticut Exploredmagazine on the monument that is free to read on our website-link below.
Read more about the Borinqueneers Memorial here: https://www.ctexplored.org/site-lines-monument-to-connecticuts-borinqueneers/
Talia Aikens-Nunez is available for book talks and signings. She can be reached on her website at https://www.kidslitbytalia.com/
Can you use your power of giving to make a $250 dollar donation? We would love to send you our brand-new Grating the Nutmeg t-shirt as a thank you! Donor and t-shirt recipient Jack Soos writes “I love how this podcast uncovers amazing stories and historical insights right in our backyard! Thank you so much and keep up the good work!”
You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website here:
https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg Executive producer Mary Donohue is an award-winning author, historic preservationist and architectural historian. She may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org. You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go!
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
One of the most recognizable food brands in the world got started in a kitchen in Fairfield, Connecticut. In this episode, Natalie Belanger chats with historian Cathryn J. Prince about Margaret Rudkin, the woman who founded Pepperidge Farm.
Read Prince's full-length article about Rudkin on the Connecticut Explored website here: https://www.ctexplored.org/pepperidge-farm-healthful-bread-builds-a-business/
Natalie Belanger is the Adult Programs Manager at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. You can see the Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook in their current exhibition, Connecticut's Bookshelf, open now through September 8, 2024.
Can you use your power of giving to make a $250 dollar donation? We would love to send you our brand-new Grating the Nutmeg t-shirt as a thank you! Donor and t-shirt recipient Jack Soos writes “I love how this podcast uncovers amazing stories and historical insights right in our backyard! Thank you so much and keep up the good work!”
You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Photo credit: Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook cover, CMCH collection 641.5 R916m
March 1st marks the start of Women’s History Month. To celebrate, we’ve gathered a sampling of five episodes that share the incredible stories of Connecticut women throughout history. Click on the links below, and then press play on the next page for your next good story. We hope you enjoy these episodes and are inspired by the great women of Connecticut history!
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Yale Needs Women: In 1969, women were permitted entry to undergraduate study at Yale for the first time. However, they did not enjoy the same experience as their male peers. Isolated, singled out as oddities and sexual objects, and barred from many of the school’s privileges, the young women nonetheless changed Yale in ways it never anticipated. Tune in to this episode featuring historian and Yale alumna Anne Gardiner Perkins, author of Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant and New Haven leader Constance Royster, one of Yale’s first women undergrads.
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“Another Name for Happiness:” The Life of Ann Plato: In this episode, Antoinette Brim-Bell, Professor of English at Capital Community College, talks about Ann Plato, one of the first Black women to publish a book in the United States. Ann Plato is part of Capital Community College’s NEH-funded Hartford Heritage Project which highlights the history of the Talcott Street Church, the first Black congregation in Hartford and where Plato was a teacher. Ann Plato’s book, Essay: Including Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose and Poetry, has been digitized by the New York Public Library and is available to read online.
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An American Woman Artist Abroad – Mary Rogers Williams: Author Eve Kahn’s book, Forever Seeing New Beauties: The Forgotten Impressionist Mary Rogers Williams, 1857 – 1907, offers a rare insider view of the challenges women artists faced in the late 19th century. Kahn drew from a collection of Williams’ letters home describing her desperation to escape her teaching job at Smith College to paint and travel abroad. Hear how Williams talked her way into artist James McNeill Whistler’s London home, and about drawing from a cadaver at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
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A Visit to the Katharine Hepburn Museum at “The Kate” in Old Saybrook: This episode features an interview with Executive Director Brett Elliott 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). The Katharine Hepburn Museum and "The Kate" are must-see Connecticut destinations!
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Theodate Pope Survives the Sinking of the Lusitania You’ve probably heard of the Titanic, but have you ever heard of the Lusitania? This British transatlantic luxury liner was hit by a German submarine torpedo and sank within an hour. One of the surviving passengers was Theodate Pope, the architect and owner of what is now the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington. Why did she sail on a British ship when Britain was at war? How was Spiritualism linked to this story? How was an oar instrumental to Pope’s survival? Tune in to this episode to hear Pope’s first-hand accounts of the sinking and its after-effects.
Are they pirates, profiteers or legitimately authorized extensions of George Washington’s almost non-existent American Navy? We’ll find out with guest historian Eric Jay Dolin, author of Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American RevolutIon.
Dolin will underscore an element missing from most maritime histories of the American Revolution: a ragtag fleet of private vessels — from 20-foot whaleboats to 40-cannon men-of-war helped win the war, including some 200 from Connecticut. Armed with cannons, guns, muskets, and pikes, thousands of privateers tormented the British on the Atlantic and in bays and harbors on both sides of the ocean.
Eric Jay Dolin is the author of sixteen books, including Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, a topic we look forward to exploring in an upcoming episode of Grating the Nutmeg. Rebels at Sea was awarded the Morison Book Award for Naval Literature, conferred by the Naval Order of the United States, and was a finalist for the New England Society Book Award. His forthcoming book, to be published in May, 2024, is Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World. Dolin lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with his family.
Thanks to my guest Eric Jay Dolin. To find out more about his work, go to www.ericjaydolin.com.
Today’s episode is the second in our 2024 series on Connecticut’s maritime history-I hope you’ve had the chance to listen to episode #180 on Colonial Connecticut and the West Indies. If you love these seafaring tales, you’ll find dozens of stories to read on our website at ctexplored.org under the Topics button here: https://www.ctexplored.org/travel-transportation/
Eric Jay Dolan’s presentation at the New Haven Museum is now available on their YouTube channel was part of New Haven250, an ongoing series of programming developed to complement America250. Culminating with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the series will highlight inclusive, local, and lesser-known stories, connecting past and present. Follow their Facebook page to find out more about upcoming programs.
Watch the taped presentation by author Eric Jay Dolan on the New Haven Museum’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpELt9K7u2TcAx6JHlsD62w/videos
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
- Hartford and the Great Migration, 1914-1950
In the February 4, 2024 issue of the New York Times, journalist Adam Mahoney describes the Great Migration as a time when millions of Black people left the South to escape segregation, servitude and lynching and went North in search of jobs and stable housing. In this episode, host Mary Donohue will discuss Hartford and the Great Migration with Dr. Stacey Close. Connecticut Explored’s book African American Connecticut Exploredpublished by Wesleyan University Press has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Dr. Close served as one of the principal authors for this groundbreaking volume of essays that illuminate the long arc of Black history in Connecticut.
A native of Georgia, Dr. Close has worked in higher education for more than 25 years. A professor of African American history at Eastern Connecticut State University, Close received his Ph.D and M.A. from Ohio State University and his B.A. from Albany State College, a Historically Black College in Georgia. He is currently working on a book project entitled “Black Hartford Freedom Struggle, 1915-1970.”
Thanks to my guest Dr. Stacey Close. Read his article published in Connecticut Explored here:
https://www.ctexplored.org/southern-blacks-transform-connecticut/
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox-subscribe at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
Was your family part of the Great Migration? Be sure to listen to GTN episode 127 to find out how to put your family’s history together for future generations with Black family historians Jill Marie Snyder and Hartford’s Orice Jenkins.
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/127-telling-your-family-story-with-jill-marie-snyder-and-orice-jenkins
Can you use your power of giving to make a $250 dollar donation? We would love to send you our brand-new Grating the Nutmeg t-shirt as a thank you! Donor and t-shirt recipient Jack Soos writes “I love how this podcast uncovers amazing stories and historical insights right in our backyard! Thank you so much and keep up the good work!”
You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org. Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
Image: Shiloh Baptist Church women's group, 336 Albany Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut Museum of Culture and History.
Although Connecticut sometimes seems like such a small, isolated place on the map, it was connected to the far-flung, complex, cosmopolitan British empire even in the 17th century. This year on Grating the Nutmeg, we’re going to explore Connecticut’s maritime history with episodes on Colonial Connecticut’s trade with the British colonies of the Caribbean, privateering during the American Revolution and the whaling ships sent around the globe in the nineteenth century. Connecticut’s maritime entrepreneurs made fortunes by sending ships to sea and employed sailors, shipbuilders, traders, drovers, provisioners, and more.
In this episode, we talk about sugar. Sugar production in the tropical climate of the British islands of the West Indies made men tremendous fortunes. But to cultivate and process sugar cane into sugar required vast amounts of labor. As my guest Dr. Matt Warshaurer wrote in the Summer 2023 issue of Connecticut Explored “The fields and mills of the Caribbean were worked by African peoples stolen from their homes, placed in shackles and delivered to British colonies in North American and the Caribbean.” Connecticut’s ships delivered food and building materials to the islands and returned with sugar, rum and molasses. These were then traded for finished goods from England-furniture, china, glass, textiles. We’ll hear today about how the trade route known as the “Triangle Trade” moved people, products, and goods across the Atlantic Ocean, helping to make British plantation owners as well as some Colonial Connecticut families rich.
My guests today are Dr. Matt Warshauer, professor of history at Central Connecticut State University. The author of five books and countless articles and reviews, Warshauer has written extensively on Andrew Jackson, slavery and the Civil War. Dr. Warshauer serves on the editorial board for Connecticut Exploredmagazine and in the Summer 2023 issue authored the feature story “Connecticut’s Sweet Tooth: The Sugar Trade and Slavery in the West Indies”.
To read this story, please go to https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticuts-sweet-tooth-the-sugar-trade-and-slavery-in-the-west-indies/
Dr. Katherine Hermes, the publisher of Connecticut Explored, has published extensive research on the Atlantic world and Colonial Connecticut. She is the director and historian for the award-winning public history project “Uncovering their History: African, African-American, and Native-American Burials in Hartford’s Ancient Burying Ground, 1640-1815”. She recently completed two new projects for the Ancient Burying Ground Association including one telling the stories of people with connections to the West Indies and one on women-Black, White and Indigenous-who rest in the Burying Ground.
To read more about these projects, please go to:
https://www.africannativeburialsct.org/
https://ancientburyingground.com/projects/telling-new-stories/
https://www.ctexplored.org/unburying-hartfords-native-and-african-family-histories/
And to listen to earlier podcasts, please go to:
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/149-the-middle-passage-west-africa-to-connecticut
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/78-uncovering-african-and-native-american-lives-in-17th-18th-century-hartford
We have brand new Facebook and Instagram pages under Grating the Nutmeg - please follow us and you’ll get behind the scenes photos, sneak peeks of new content, and info on how to purchase our new merchandise!
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Make a $250 dollar donation and we’ll send you our brand new Grating the Nutmeg teeshirt.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
This is Mary Donohue. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
- Connecticut’s Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Hated Man
This is our first new episode for 2024 and we’ve got some big news! Thanks to you-our listeners-we had 30,106 downloads in 2023! That’s our best year ever! We have brand new Facebook and Instagram pages under Grating the Nutmeg-please follow us and you’ll get behind the scenes photos, sneak peeks of new content, and info on how to purchase our new merchandise!
In today’s episode, we discuss one of the most well-known sons of Connecticut and one that is one of the most perplexing! My guest is Jack Kelly, historian and author of the new book God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s Most Hated Man. Kelly believes a reevaluation of Arnold’s career with his string of heroic achievements as well as his betrayal of the American patriot cause is needed. In Connecticut, Benedict pivots from being a greatly admired hero of the Battle of Ridgefield on the American side to being the commander of the British troops that burned New London and massacred American militia men at Fort Griswold. How could this happen?
Jack Kelly is an award-winning historian and novelist. His books about Revolution and early America include Band of Giants and Valcour. Kirkus Reviews described his latest book, God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America’s most Hated Man as “a dazzling addition to the history of the American Revolution.”
Jack has received the DAR History Medal. He is a New York Foundation for the Arts fellow in Nonfiction Literature and has appeared on NPR, C-Span and the History Channel. He lives and works in New York’s Hudson Valley.
To find out more, go to his website: https://JackKellyBooks.com
and newsletter: https://jackkellyattalkingtoamerica.substack.com
To find out more about Benedict Arnold, check out these Connecticut Explored stories-
https://www.ctexplored.org/benedict-arnold-and-the-battle-of-ridgefield/
https://www.ctexplored.org/benedict-arnold-turns-and-burns-new-london/
From New Haven’s world-renowned pizza, to Connecticut’s connection to the Bauhaus, and uncovering the suffrage work of African American women in Connecticut, listen to all ten of Grating the Nutmeg's most streamed episodes now! We’ve been podcasting for nine years - that’s nearly 200 episodes of sharing Connecticut’s big stories. To celebrate, tune in to our top-streamed episodes of all time and then explore the rest! All you need to do is visit ctexplored.org/listen, click "Listen Here," and look for our post of the top 10 most streamed episodes for your next good story (or 10!). Enjoy!
Please use your Power of Giving to help us continue to offer the podcast at no charge to our listeners-students, teachers, and CT history fans around the country. Could you make a $5 or $10 dollar monthly donation? To make your monthly or one-time donation go to ctexplored.org and look for the Grating the Nutmeg link under the donation tab!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
Top 10 Most Streamed GTN Episodes of All Time
Grating the Nutmeg enters its ninth year in 2024. Wow! We have covered many different topics over the course of our nearly 200 episodes–from Connecticut’s trees, to witches, to our more recent CTE Game Changers Series–and we are excited for what’s in store for 2024. Thank you to everyone who has made our podcast possible!
We shared the top five episodes from 2023, now we want to celebrate the top ten most listened-to GTN episodes of all time. Enjoy our top downloaded episodes and then explore the rest! Just click on the links below, and then press play on the next page for your next good story.
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Connecticut and the Pandemic of 1918 It’s hard to believe that the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic hit its peak nearly four years ago. In this episode, we discuss the influenza pandemic of 1918, which like COVID-19, stopped life-as-we-knew it in its tracks. What are the similarities and differences between the two pandemics? Where did the 1918 influenza come from? How did its impact change Connecticut and its people?
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The Delicious History of Pizza in New Haven Perhaps one of the greatest debates of the Northeast – which state makes the best pizza? To many, New Haven, Connecticut holds the spot as the best pizza destination. How did this city gain its world-class pizza reputation, and why “apizza?” What is the trinity of pizza places in New Haven?
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Rough Justice for Nathan Hale Hale the hero or Hale the liar? This episode provides a new twist on a story we thought we knew in full using a previously unknown account of Hale’s arrest by Consider Tiffany. Is there any legitimacy in Tiffany’s or William Hull’s accounts? How do historians account for lapses and contradictions in the historical record? Why were the British so fired up to execute Connecticut's state hero?
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Gov. John Dempsey-Son of Cahir How did John Dempsey’s mother inspire him to take risks for those in need? How did his father inspire his belief that those with power have the responsibility to help those who do not? How did a streetlight change John’s life? Tune into this episode to learn more about one of the most popular, and effective, Connecticut governors, and how his traits and programs were informed by experiences he had as a boy in Cahir, Ireland.
124 Lydia Sigourney, Benedict Arnold, & The Battle of Bunker Hill What do Lydia Sigourney, Benedict Arnold, and the Revolutionary War battle of Bunker Hill have in common? Listen to this reading of Sigourney’s book, Sketch of Connecticut Forty Years Since, to see the past through a double historical lens. Discover life in early-American Norwich as well as insights into the ways in which Norwich remembers Benedict Arnold and the Battle of Bunker Hill. This is a great episode to listen to as we prepare for the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026.
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The Unlikely Legend – and History – of the Charter Oak The legend of the Charter Oak has deep roots in our state. But why has Connecticut been so heavily invested in a legend about a tree, a piece of paper, a meany-head monarch, and a crafty, independent group of subjects? Listen to this episode where we provide historical details of the Charter Oak and discuss to what degree the history matches up to the legend.
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Anni and Josef Albers in Connecticut This episode celebrates the 100th anniversary of the most influential design school of the twentieth century, the Bauhaus, and Connecticut’s connection to it – Modern artists Anni and Josef Albers. What was the Bauhaus? What is the significance of its name and architectural history? How did Anni and Josef meet? Discover how the Albers escaped Germany and why they came to Connecticut, as well as what happened to the Bauhaus. Plus, learn more about the Albers’ Connecticut home and one of Josef’s painting series.
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Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six-Shooter That Changed America You’ve probably seen the iconic, blue-domed Colt Armory off of I-91 on your drive to Hartford. You also may have heard of Colt Park or the Colt addition to the Wadsworth Athenuem. So, who was Sam Colt? Tune into this episode to learn more about Colt’s youth, family tragedies and mysteries, and his early businesses and failures. Find out whether there’s any truth to the inspiration behind his revolver design, and why “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” is a fitting saying for Colt.
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Uncovering African American Women’s Fight for Suffrage 2020 marked the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment. For a long time, women of color were excluded from the history of women’s suffrage. In this episode, Brittney Yancy and Karen Li Miller discuss the project they developed to uncover the suffrage work of women of color in CT. Learn how it came together, their research methods, and the significance of the project and its name. Discover the important suffrage and activism work of women such as Mary Townsend Seymour, Sarah Lee Brown Fleming, and Mary A. Johnson that bring a complexity to the history of suffrage.
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New London and the Middle Passage (CTE Game Changer Series) One of the sites on New London’s Black Heritage Trail is the Amistad pier, which marks the 1761 arrival of The Speedwell, carrying 74 enslaved persons. Although the ship’s records don’t show where the Africans aboard ended up, the probate record of Normand Morison shows 21 enslaved West Africans were placed on his farm in Bolton. In this episode, Kathy Hermes, Lonnie Braxton, and Tom Schuch discuss why this was a momentous event and what other stories it helps to tell. They also discuss the Black Heritage Trail and its significance, and the impact of the slave trade on Connecticut and its trading networks. Plus, learn why Morison and Benedict Arnold are important to this story and the story of New London.
What better way to spend the holidays than curled up next to the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate and your favorite Grating the Nutmeg episode! To celebrate, we’re spreading history cheer for all to hear. Just click on the episode links below, press play on the next page, and enjoy our holiday episodes of Grating the Nutmeg past.
Soup and Stories. What do the Shroud of Turin and a world renowned nuclear physicist, a beer-drinking donkey, a walking catfish, Farmall tractors, the Blizzard of 1888, spooky houses, polaroid cameras, snorkels, and the songs from the Wizard of Oz have to do with the little towns of Lebanon and Columbia? Listen and hear as we celebrate one of the best things about the holiday season: storytelling!
A Connecticut Christmas from Twain & Stowe. Enjoy music performed by the New England Ensemble while listening to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s story which beautifully illustrates the moment in Connecticut history when the popularity of Christmas intertwined with political upheaval. Then, place yourself in the shoes of celebrities such as Grace King and Bret Harte as you tour the restored Mahogany Suite at the Mark Twain House. Picture yourself spending wintery nights in the library and waking up to Canace Wheeler’s shimmering wallpaper while you learn about Olivia Clemens’ Christmas generosity.
Three Centuries of Christmas at the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum. Oyster soup or plum pudding, anyone? Charles Lyle shares how three eras between the 18th and 20th centuries decorated their homes, set their tables, and incorporated food during the holidays. Tune in to learn how to receive guests for your own historical holiday celebrations. Plus, hear about the creation of Santa Claus and why the Isaac Stevens House’s Christmas tree is decorated with fruits and topped with a pineapple.
Connecticut Christmas Stories & Song. Why was Raymond’s grandparent’s Victorian Christmas party such a famous festival and key childhood memory? How does a moralistic, classist tale that questions religion and involves family issues provide insight into human emotion and feelings of peace on Earth? How does Santa Claus prepare for his Christmas visits? Find out in this episode, plus venture down Walt Woodward’s memory lane to his days as a country music songwriter in Nashville.
“John Norton’s Vagabond,” A Victorian Christmas Story. Step back in time and find yourself in the wintery woods of the Adirondacks with rustic woodsman John Norton and his dogs, Rover and Sport, as they plan a Christmas dinner for all, even vagabonds. In trapper terms, vagabonds were people who stole other men’s traps and poached their furs. Listen to Norton’s plan unfold in this story by Rev. William Henry Harrison, the father of the American Outdoor movement.
Did you ever think the universe was trying to tell you something? I just finished reading Anderson Cooper’s book on the Vanderbilt family. In it, he describes family patriarch Commodore Vanderbilt’s interest in Spiritualism and clairvoyance. Cooper writes “Evidence suggests that the Commodore had begun attending seances as early as 1864, but given the mainstreaming of Spiritualist practices in the 1860s and ‘70s, this was not as unusual as it may sound. The period immediately after the Civil War had seen a dramatic rise in the Spiritualism movement and other alternative modes of healing and perception, driven largely by the staggering loss of life experienced during the Civil War.” We explored heiress Theodate Pope Riddle’s obsession with Spiritualism in Grating the Nutmeg episode #109 but what did Hartford’s most famous resident of the Gilded Age, Mark Twain, think about it? And what about the ghosts seen in the Twain House? Whether you believe in the afterlife, don’t believe in it at all, or just want to come to your own conclusions, this is an episode for you!
Guests today are Mallory Howard, Assistant Curator at The Mark Twain House & Museum and Dr. Jason Scappaticci, historian and Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Connecticut State Community College Capital in Hartford.
And if you need more ghostly insight after listening to this episode, the Mark Twain House is sponsoring a book talk on Dec. 14, 2023 at 7:30pm with television’s Ghost Hunters Adam Berry and Steve Gonsalves in conversation discussing their debut books. Tickets are available on the museum’s website at marktwainhouse.org
If you want more Spiritualism and ghost stories, check out Grating the Nutmeg Episode 109. Communicating with the Spirits: Theodate Pope Riddle. Listen here: https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/109-communicating-with-the-spirits-theodate-pope-riddle
You can purchase author Steve Courtney’s book “We Shall Have Them With Us Always” The Ghosts of the Mark Twain House at the Mark Twain House Museum gift shop.
Dr. Jason Scappaticci can be reached at jason.scappaticci@gmail.com
image: Samuel Clemens experimenting in Nicola Tesla’s lab in 1894. Courtesy of The Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford, Connecticut.
Grating the Nutmeg is the podcast of Connecticut history and 2023 winner of an Award of Merit for excellence from the Connecticut League of History Organizations. Brought to you by Connecticut Explored, Connecticut’s premiere history magazine. Subscribe now at ctexplored.org
It’s almost the end of 2023. Please use your Power of Giving to help us continue to offer the podcast at no charge to our listeners-students, teachers, and CT history fans around the country. Podcast episodes were downloaded over 29,000 times this year! Could you make a $5 or $10 dollar monthly donation? To make your monthly or one-time donation go https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
Thank you so much for your support!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger sits down with acclaimed crime writer M. William Phelps to get to the bottom of a notorious early 20th century Connecticut murder story. In the 1910s, Amy Archer Gilligan operated an innovative business in Windsor: a convalescent home for the ill and elderly. Her benevolent facade, however, hid a deadly purpose: a business plan that depended on constant inmate turnover, aided by arsenic poisoning. You'll hear all about how the case was broken by a neighbor who happened to write for the Hartford Courant, in a story involving midnight graveyard autopsies, poisoned lemonade, a shady doctor, and the birth of the Connecticut State Police. And oh yeah, the story got turned into a blockbuster Broadway comedy and a 1944 movie starring Cary Grant.
If you want more historical true crime content, check out the latest exhibition at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. Called "Connecticut's Bookshelf," the exhibit covers 300 years of reading, writing, and publishing in our state. A "true crime" section in the exhibit features stories that document Connecticut's centuries-old fascination with criminal mayhem. Go to connecticutmuseum.org for details.
Thanks to our guest! M. William Phelps is the author of 45 books; exec-producer, writer and host of the #1 true-crime podcast franchise Paper Ghosts; a frequent television consultant and contributor, and more.
Contact Natalie Belanger at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, Hartford, Connecticut.
Grating the Nutmeg brings you top-flight historians, compelling first-person stories, and new voices in Connecticut history. Your donation will ensure that Executive Producers Mary Donohue and Natalie Belanger can bring you a fresh episode at no cost every two weeks! GTN works with museums around the state to spotlight places that you’ll want to visit, books published by Connecticut authors, new exhibit openings, and more.
Use your Power of Giving to help us continue to offer the podcast at no charge to our listeners-students, teachers, and citizens around the country. In 2023 podcast episodes were downloaded over 28,000 times! Make your monthly or one-time donation at https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
Witchcraft accusations began in Connecticut in May, 1647, with the trial and execution of Alice Young of Windsor, 45 years before the better-known witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Connecticut had witchcraft accusation outbreaks in the early 1660s in Hartford and again in Fairfield in 1692, with criminal trials ending in 1697. In colonial Connecticut, dozens of women, and some men associated with them, were accused of witchcraft. The colony hanged eleven people.
In May, 2023, Connecticut’s General Assembly moved to clear the names of all those accused of witchcraft in the state and issue an apology. State lawmakers, descendants of the accused, and local historians organized to present testimony and pass a resolution declaring the accused innocent. House Joint Resolution 34, "Resolution Concerning Certain Witchcraft Convictions In Colonial Connecticut," passed 376 years after the state put Alice Young to death.
Today, Dr. Kathy Hermes talks with Beth Caruso about the history of witchcraft and the exoneration project, and with Sarah Morin about newly discovered evidence that accusations of witchcraft continued well into the 1700s in Connecticut.
Beth Caruso is a Windsor author who writes historical novels, including her novel One of Windsor about Alice Young, and has published original research about the Connecticut witch trials. She and Katherine Hermes are the authors of “Between God and Satan: Thomas Thornton, Witch-Hunting, and Religious Mission in the English Atlantic World, 1647–1693.” Connecticut History Review 61, no. 2 (2022): 42-82.
Sarah J. Morin is a project archivist at the Connecticut State Library. She has processed institutional and manuscript collections at the Connecticut State Library, the University of Connecticut, and two historical societies in Massachusetts
Kathy Hermes is the publisher of Connecticut Explored and professor emerita in history at Central Connecticut State University.
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. Did you know that you can make a monthly donation to Grating the Nutmeg by setting it up once on our website? You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated. Thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Kathy Hermes and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
Podcast host and historic preservationist Mary Donohue started following a project on Facebook four or five years ago. It was based on a very simple idea-sleeping overnight in historic buildings-but it was also genius. The project was the Slave Dwelling Project. Joseph McGill,Jr., a Black historic preservationist and Civil War reenactor based in South Carolina, had begun this groundbreaking project to sleep overnight in the countless and very underappreciated former slave dwellings that still stand across the country. What has this to do with Connecticut? McGill not only sleeps at residences across the South but the North and West too. In Connecticut, he has slept at buildings owned by the Greenwich Historical Society and in New London at the Hempstead Houses owned by Connecticut Landmarks. At each stop, events and campfires are held to explore with the public the way the history of the enslaved has been told.
When Donohue discovered that Joe had a new book coming out in the summer of 2023, she immediately pre-ordered it and read it the week she received it. Sleeping with the Ancestors How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery authored by Joseph McGill, Jr. and journalist Herb Frazier was published by Hachette Books.
In this episode, Donohue interviews author Joe McGill, Jr. and Nicole Thomas. Thomas was born and raised in New London. She gained in interest in local history 20 years ago after her
mother purchased a historic home.
Nicole works for Connecticut Landmarks as the Assistant Site Administrator at the Hempsted Houses Museum and is also a researcher for New London’s Black Heritage Trail. The New London Black Heritage Trail was honored as a History Gamechanger Project by Connecticut Explored in 2022.
Thanks to our guests author and historic preservationist Joe McGill, Jr. and historian and site manager Nicole Thomas.
To find out more about the Slave Dwelling Project, go to their website at slavedwellingproject.org and follow Joe on Facebook on the Slave Dwelling Project page. His book is available on Amazon.
To find out more about upcoming events at the Hempsted Houses go to ctlandmarks.org and follow them on Facebook at The Hempsted Houses. I highly recommend booking a tour with Nicole to experience the place where this history happened.
To read more about enslaved man Adam Jackson at the Hempsted Houses, click here: https://www.ctexplored.org/adam-jacksons-story-revealed/
For more information on the Greenwich Historical Society’s recreation of an enslaved person’s sleeping area, visited by McGill in 2012, read more here:
https://www.ctexplored.org/slave-quarters-in-bush-holley-house/
And for more articles that explore the long arc of Black history in Connecticut, find out more here:
https://www.ctexplored.org/african-american-history-in-connecticut-2/
https://www.ctexplored.org/slavery-in-connecticut/
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
From the rural backwater of Hartland, Connecticut in 1773, Asher Benjamin would rise to become one of the most important figures of early American architecture. In addition to training as a skilled finish carpenter, he published the first architectural guidebooks-how-to books by an American-born author. These went through many editions and left a lasting record of how Federal-period craftsman could build the many stunning churches and homes from the earliest years of our country. He may have even held the first architectural school in America-more about that in this episode.
In this episode, architectural historian Mary Donohue interviews guests William Ranauro, author of Asher Benjamin, American Architect, Author, Artist, published by Outskirts Press in 2021 and Lynn Mervosh, Site Administrator for the Phelps-Hatheway House and Garden in Suffield, Connecticut. Mr. Ranauro is one of the speakers for the upcoming Asher Benjamin Symposium.
Today’s episode is inspired by an upcoming symposium sponsored by Connecticut Landmarks to celebrate the work and legacy of Asher Benjamin, one of the most influential members of the first generation of American architects. Take in a full day of learning and gorgeous Fall foliage at the site of his first formal architectural commission, the Phelps-Hatheway House & Garden in Suffield, Connecticut. The symposium is on October 7th, 2023-to find out more and to register go to ctlandmarks.org
Thank to guests William Ranauro and Lynn Merosh. To find out more about upcoming events at the Phelps-Hatheway House and Garden, go to ctlandmarks.org. And don’t forget to register today for the upcoming Asher Benjamin Symposium at ctlandmarks.org. William Ranauro’s book Asher Benjamin American Architect, Author, Artist is available on Amazon.com
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. Did you know that you can make a monthly donation to Grating the Nutmeg by setting it up once on our website? You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
This fall the Connecticut Museum is hosting the Smithsonian traveling exhibition ¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues / Enlos barrios y lasgrandes ligas.It explores the historic role that baseball has played as a social and cultural force within Latino communities across the world, and how Latinos in particular have influenced and changed the game.
You can’t find a better local story about baseball, family, and community than that of the Springer family of New Britain. In this episode, Natalie Belanger chats with George Springer, Jr. George is a very proud dad. His daughters Nicole and Lena played collegiate softball, and both went on to play for the Puerto Rican National team. His son, George Springer III, plays right field for the Toronto Blue Jays. In 2017, when he played for the Houston Astros, he was an MLB All-Star and named World Series MVP.
But if George Jr. Is a proud dad, he’s equally a proud son. You’ll hear him tell the story of how his dad, George Springer Senior, migrated to Connecticut from Panama in the 1950s and blazed a trail as an educator, overcoming racial prejudice that denied him access to some jobs, all while instilling a love of sports in his son. George tells us about the ways that sports, particularly baseball, helped to foster community in the ethnically diverse towns like Bristol and New Britain where he and his dad raised their families.
You can learn more about the Springer family and the Pleibol exhibition at connecticutmuseum.org. The exhibition is open through November 5, 2023.
image: 1976 Forestville Little League World Series team, George Springer Jr. pictured, courtesy of the Bristol Sports Hall of Fame.
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
In any gift shop in New England, you’ll probably find lighthouses pictured on tea towels and tee shirts and in snow globes. Lighthouses are fondly thought of as community landmarks and icons.
Connecticut has fourteen active lighthouses, two of which are maintained as private aids to navigation; six are standing but inactive. Some are located on dry land but a significant number are located in the waters of the Long Island Sound. Some are now private homes, but many can be enjoyed by the public including several that are periodically opened to the public by some of the state’s history museums. As early as the 1880’s, the federal government encouraged lighthouse keepers to open the lighthouses to visitors and tourists.
The National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000 provides an opportunity for the preservation of federally-owned historic light stations. The NHLPA program is a partnership among the United States Coast Guard; National Park Service, Dept. of the Interior; the General Services Administration and new stewards such as the New London Maritime Society and the Norwalk Seaport Association.
In this episode, Executive Producer Mary Donohue interviews guests Susan Tamulevich, Executive Director of the New London Maritime Society since 2008, during which time the NLMS became the steward of three area lighthouses, and Jordan Jackson, a Grating the Nutmeg listener and lighthouse fan who shares her first-hand account of visiting the Sheffield Island Lighthouse in Norwalk Harbor administered by the Norwalk Seaport Association.
There are many ways to visit Connecticut’s lighthouses. In the summer, the New London Maritime Society takes visitors by boat to see both the interior and exterior of its two lighthouses located in the Long Island Sound. The Norwalk Seaport Association also schedules summer boat trips out to Sheffield Island. The Cross Sound Ferry from New London has a cruise that includes sailing by eight lighthouses available until October 9th. Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven is open until November 1st-a perfect place for a close look at an early lighthouse, a walk on the beach or a sandwich.
For more information, visit these websites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lighthouses_in_Connecticut
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lighthouses_on_the_National_Register_of_Historic_Places_in_Connecticut
https://www.nlmaritimesociety.org/
https://www.seaport.org/
https://www.ctexplored.org/stoningtons-first-family-of-lighthouse-keepers/
https://www.ctexplored.org/two-if-by-sea-new-londons-harbor-light-stoningtons-old-lighthouse-museum/
New London photos courtesy of New London Maritime Society and Sheffield Island Lighthouse photos courtesy of Jordan Jackson.
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at www.ctexplored.org/ Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
It’s the summer of Barbie. Barbiecore, an homage to the stylish doll, is everywhere in fashion and home furnishings. It’s time to think pink!
So this episode is on Connecticut’s own Victorian Barbie Dream House - Roseland Cottage in Woodstock. How many shades of pink has Roseland Cottage been? We’ll find out! Executive Producer Mary Donohue talks to Laurie Masciandaro, site manager of Roseland Cottage museum owned by Historic New England.
Laurie holds a Masters Degree in American History from the University of Connecticut and is a frequent speaker on Connecticut’s historic gardens. Read more in this Connecticut Explored article written by Laurie at https://www.ctexplored.org/sample-article-a-presidential-july-4th/
To find out more about upcoming events at Roseland Cottage go to roselandcottage.org
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
Connecticut Senator George P. McLean’s crowning achievement was overseeing passage of one of the country’s first and most important wildlife conservation laws, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The MBTA, which is still in effect today, has saved billions of birds from senseless killing and likely prevented the extinction of entire bird species.
In this episode, Executive Producer Mary Donohue interviews Will McLean Greeley. He grew up with a deep interest in American history, politics, and birds. After retiring from a 35-year career in government and corporate market research, he began a four-year research and writing journey to learn more about George P. McLean and his legacy. A Connecticut Yankee Goes to Washington, Senator George P. McLean, Birdman of the Senate, published by the Rochester Institute of Technology Press in 2023, is his first book. The new book puts McLean’s victory for birds in the context of his distinguished forty-five-year career marked by many acts of reform during a time of widespread corruption and political instability. McLean rose from obscurity as a Connecticut farm boy to serve as Governor of Connecticut and as a senator from Connecticut in Congress where he advised five US presidents and helped lead change and shape events as a US senator from 1911 to 1929.
Senator George P. McLean established the McLean Game Refuge in 1932 as a life sanctuary to preserve over 3,000 acres of meadows and forests he feared would be lost to development and resource exploitation. Today the wildlands have grown to over 4,400 acres, and protect hundreds of animal species. For more information, go to https://mcleancare.org/game-refuge/
To contact the author or to schedule a book talk, please go to:
https://willgreeley.com
To purchase your copy of A Connecticut Yankee Goes to Washington, Senator George P. McLean, Birdman of the Senate, please go to the independent bookstores shown below:
- RJ Julia (all locations)
- Breakwater Books, Guilford, CT
- Books on the Common, Ridgefield, CT
- Byrd's Books, Bethel, CT
To order online go to the RIT Press website: https://press.rit.edu/search-results-grid/?keyword=Mclean or Amazon.com
Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history is the winner of a 2023 Award of Merit for excellence from the Connecticut League of History Organizations. We count on your support to be able to bring you fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg every two weeks. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link. We appreciate your donations in any amount -thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
This episode was recorded on July 5th, 2023 just two days after the 160th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg-the turning point of the American Civil War. With more than 50,000 estimated casualties, the three-day engagement was the bloodiest single battle of the conflict. It’s been said that there are over 5,000 books written about the three-day battle-what more can be uncovered? GTN Executive producer Mary Donohue interviews Bridgeport historian Carolyn Ivanoff, author of We Fought at Gettysburg, Firsthand Accounts by the Survivors of the 17th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, published in 2023 by Gettysburg Publishing. We Fought at Gettysburg follows the 17th Regiment through the Gettysburg Campaign and beyond in June and July of 1863. The book contains first-hand accounts of men who lived through the trauma of combat and survived to write about it. They describe what they saw, thought and felt on the battlefield.
For more information or go contact author Carolyn Ivanoff, please go to:
Educator, Author, Independent Historian
P.O. Box 3294
Gettysburg, PA 17325
(203) 735-8739
https://sites.google.com/site/carolynivanoff/
Ivanoff offers book talks and programs in person and virtually. Programs include:
1) We Fought at Gettysburg--Stories of the Care Givers, Wounded and Honored Dead
2) We Fought at Gettysburg-- Comrades in Combat
To order your copy of We Fought at Gettysburg, please go to gettysburgpublishing.com or Amazon.com
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history at: ctexplored.org/shop
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum of History and Culture chats with some members of Connecticut’s Cape Verdean community to learn about the culture’s deep roots in the state. Roberta Vincent has been a passionate advocate for the Cape Verdean community in her home town of Norwich, Connecticut for decades. Educator Koren Paul grew up in Stratford and is President of the Cape Verdean Women’s Club of Bridgeport. Both women describe the origins of the community in New England and to talk about their personal experiences maintaining their cultural heritage. The conversation also includes Lynne Williamson, the mutual friend who introduced Belenger to Roberta and Koren. Williamson is the former director of the Connecticut Cultural Heritage and Arts Program, the state’s official folk and traditional arts initiative. CCHAP merged with the Connecticut Museum in 2015.
Learn more here:
Cape Verdeans in Norwich
Africans in Search of the American Dream: Cape Verdean Whalers and Sealers
Cape Verdean Women’s Social Club of Bridgeport
Connecticut Cape Verdean Community History Project
Cape Verdean Materials at the Connecticut Museum of History and Culture
The Connecticut Digital Archive
And to hear more examples of Cape Verdean music in CT, you can listen to some repicar de tambor recorded at the Festa de Sao Joao at the Cape Verdean Club of Waterbury in 2010, and an audio notebook produced by NPR with CCHAP in 2009.
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine at ctexplored.org
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
What’s being done to save the state’s industrial history? In today’s episode, Producer Mary Donohue talks to Renee Tribert, Preservation Services Coordinator for adaptive reuse and redevelopment for industrial buildings at Preservation Connecticut. Podcast audio engineer Patrick O’Sullivan and Donohue share some of their favorite places to go around the state where you can see old mills and factories that are being used for fun new uses and we hear from Ilona Somogyi, co-founder of Ball & Socket Arts in Cheshire, Connecticut about an old mill with a Cinderella story that will open this summer.
Connecticut was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in the United States. Small brooks and rivers were dammed to create waterpower that turned machinery and the state’s textile, precision manufacturing and metal casting industries were born. Thousands of products were produced and the state attracted investors, inventors and immigrants to work in the factories. But as industry moved out in the last half of the 20th century, these cathedrals of industry become vacant and abandoned across the state.
For more information about organizations and museums mentioned in this episode, go to:
Preservation Connecticut https://preservationct.org/
Mills https://preservationct.org/mills
Ball & Socket Arts https://ballandsocket.org/
493 W. Main Street, Cheshire, CT 06410
The Carousel Museum https://www.thecarouselmuseum.org/
95 Riverside Avenue, Bristol, CT 06010
The Archive https://linktr.ee/archivebridgeport
118 Congress Street, Bridgeport, CT 06604
Mongers Market https://www.mongers-market.com/
1155 Railroad Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06605
Two Roads Brewery https://tworoadsbrewing.com/
1700 Stratford Avenue, Stratford, CT 06615
Real Art Ways https://www.realartways.org/
56 Arbor Street, Hartford, CT 06106
Parkville Market https://parkvillemarket.com/
1400 Park Street, Hartford, CT 06106
Photo Credit: Ball & Socket Arts Cheshire, CT
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Donohue may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
It’s almost summertime and kids everywhere are already dreaming about their summer vacation. In 1964, Jimmy O’Sullivan of Cheshire, Connecticut had his heart set on a family outing from Connecticut to the see the World’s Fair in New York City’s Flushing Meadows Park with its futuristic, space-themed exhibits and “Peace Through Understanding” overarching theme. A short drive down Connecticut’s Merritt Parkway and over to Flushing Meadow Park put the O’Sullivan family squarely into the heart of the fair. O’Sullivan still has a photograph of himself at 9 years old in front of the fairs’ Unisphere, a 12-story-high stainless steel globe. The 1964-65 New York World’s Fair attracted approximately 50 million visitors including many from Connecticut during its two April-to-October seasons.
The guest for this episode is Dr. Jason Scappaticci, historian and Associate Dean of Student Affairs at Capital Community College in Hartford. Not only does Dr. Scappaticci have a keen interest in all things World’s Fair but he is an avid collector of souvenirs and mementos from the fair.
Many Connecticut companies had exhibits at the fair. Standouts include the Travelers Insurance Company’s building on the “Pool of Industry”. The building was designed to resemble the company’s trademark red umbrella. General Electric’s pavilion stood across from the Travelers. It included a Disney designed attraction called “Progressland”.
For more information on Connecticut’s connections to the fair, read Dr. Scappaticci’s article here: https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticut-at-the-new-york-worlds-fair/
Check out the Travelers exhibit “The Triumph of Man” recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeSS3SILD9Q
Saint Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Church, includes both interior and exterior design features from the 1964 Vatican Pavilion purchased and included in his design by church architect William F. Herman, Jr. of Mystic. To visit, go to 69 Groton Long Point, Groton, Connecticut.
https://www.stmarysgroton.org/
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top of the home page and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link. Your donation is vital to our ability to bring you well-researched episodes that bring out new facets of Connecticut history. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Traveler’s Insurance Pavilion postcard image courtesy of the Connecticut Historical Society.
In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society takes you back to the greatest rock concert that never happened.
In 1970, a planned 3-day rock concert at Powder Ridge in Middlefield was cancelled after an injunction by the town. But tens of thousands of young people showed up anyway and proceeded to have one hell of a party. Belanger speaks with filmmaker Gorman Bechard, who's working on a documentary about Powder Ridge. Gorman peels back the many layers of this story, including a shady promoter, the town's grudge against a property owner, and the one famous musician who braved the police to show up and perform -- with an amp hooked up to a Mister Softee truck.
Click here to watch a trailer for the film and support its completion!
Thanks to Gorman Bechard and What Were We Thinking Films. If you haven't seen their 2019 film about New Haven pizza -- sorry, that's 'apizza' -- check out "Pizza A Love Story."
Want to know more about Connecticut’s rock and roll venues? Listen to our podcast episode on the legendary Toad’s Place Nightclub in New Haven here: https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/156-the-legendary-toads-place-nightclub-in-new-haven
Connecticut Explored, the nonprofit organization that publishes Connecticut Explored magazine, announced its “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History,” series highlighting 20 “Game Changers” whose work is advancing the study, interpretation, and dissemination of Connecticut history. The initiative, funded by Connecticut Humanities and sponsored by Trinity College, is the centerpiece of Connecticut Explored’s year-long celebration of its 20th anniversary. Subscribe to our magazine at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
available in print and digital versions!
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you! This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
“Lifestyle site Thrillist set out to find the most beautiful building in each state and Philip Johnson's New Canaan Glass House got the nod for Connecticut,” reported CT Insider. The Glass House, internationally famous for its design is also a landmark in the history of historic preservation and the history of the LGBTQ community. To celebrate May as historic preservation month and June as LGBTQ Pride month, here’s the story of its owner and designer Philip Johnson and his Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.
https://www.ctinsider.com/living/article/Glass-House-named-most-beautiful-building-in-6777524.php
Our guest for today’s episode is Gwen North Reiss, who has conducted many interviews for the Glass House oral history project and worked for several years as an Educator, conducting tours of the 49-acre National Trust for Historic Preservation site. Her article for CT Explored—Philip Johnson's 50-year Experiment in Architecture and Landscape—was published in the winter of 2020. She has written many articles on modern architecture in New Canaan especially during the early 2000s when New Canaan’s experimental modern houses were being demolished.
Read her story here: https://www.ctexplored.org/philip-johnsons-50-year-experiment-in-architecture-and-landscape/
Read more about Philip Johnson here: https://www.ctexplored.org/philip-johnson-in-his-own-words/
To learn more about the Glass House and to book a tour, go to theglasshouse.org
Photo Credit: Michael Biondo
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/
Donohue may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
You may have heard the phrase “it’s not zoned for that” as in “Can I build a factory next to my house?” or “Can I put a trailer park in my north forty?” But we may not understand the difference between the town’s master plan, land use requirements and zoning regulations. So let’s break that down. The State of Connecticut mandates that every ten years each community adopt its master plan as a blueprint for aspirations for growth, preservation, and sustainability. The master plan details in broad terms how land can be used-land use-for housing, retail, transportation, education and recreation. It also identifies environmentally sensitive areas like wetlands that should not be built on as well as historically significant areas like historic districts whose architectural character should be safeguarded. But it’s the town’s zoning regulations that pinpoint exacting what can be constructed and where.
But zoning also has a dark side. What is “exclusionary zoning”?
In this episode, Dr. Jack Dougherty, Professor and Director of the Educational Studies Program at Trinity College, is going to uncover the story of how Connecticut passed legislation that allowed zoning in the 1920’s and how West Hartford became the first town to adopt zoning regulations. He and his students use tools from digital history, data visualization, and web writing to explore the relationship between cities, suburbs, and schools in metropolitan Hartford, Connecticut. Read more about this in his feature article in the Spring 2023 issue of Connecticut Explored magazine https://www.ctexplored.org/game-changer-the-rise-of-exclusionary-zoning-in-connecticut/
And read his feature article about redlining in this Connecticut Explored article here https://www.ctexplored.org/the-federal-government-and-redlining-in-connecticut/
Listen to his Grating the Nutmeg episode on redlining here https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/43-the-challenge-of-fair-housing-in-cts-suburbs
Dougherty is a Connecticut Explored 20 x 20 Innovation in Connecticut History Honoree for his work in On The Line: How Schooling, Housing, and Civil Rights Shaped Hartford and its Suburbs a digital-first, open-access book-in-progress. It is available online at https://ontheline.trincoll.edu/
The book combines historical narrative, interactive maps, and video interviews to tell the story of schooling and housing boundaries that shaped American metropolitan life during the past century, along with the civil rights struggles of families and activists to cross over, redraw, or erase these powerful lines.
Connecticut Explored, the nonprofit organization that publishes Connecticut Explored magazine, announced its “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History,” series highlighting 20 “Game Changers” whose work is advancing the study, interpretation, and dissemination of Connecticut history. The initiative, funded by Connecticut Humanities and sponsored by Trinity College, is the centerpiece of Connecticut Explored’s year-long celebration of its 20th anniversary. Subscribe at ctexplored.org
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com
Donohue may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
Connecticut and Puerto Rico have strong ties. The guest for this episode is Pablo Delano, a visual artist, photographer, and educator recognized for his use of Connecticut and Puerto Rican history in his work, including his 2020 book of photography Hartford Seen published by Wesleyan University Press, a Connecticut Book Award 2021 “Spirit of Connecticut” finalist. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, he is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Fine Arts at Trinity College in Hartford. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions in museums and galleries in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Over the course of 20 years Delano amassed a substantial archive of artifacts related to a century of Puerto Rican history. Using this material, including three-dimensional objects, newspaper clippings, and photographs, he created The Museum of the Old Colony, a dynamic, site-specific art installation that examines the complex and fraught history of U.S. colonialism, paternalism, and exploitation in Puerto Rico. The title is a play on words, referencing both the island’s political status and Old Colony, a popular local soft drink. The work is also deeply personal, a means for Delano to better understand and come to terms with the troubling history of Puerto Rico. Pablo was chosen by Connecticut Explored as a Connecticut History Game Changer Honoree in celebration of the magazine’s 20th anniversary in 2022-23. Professor Delano has been featured on Grating the Nutmeg in episode 123 discussing his book of photographs Hartford Seen and in episode 152 Hartford and Puerto Rico: A Conversation between Delano and Puerto Rican historian Elena Rosario. He has an article in the Spring 2023 issue of Connecticut Explored - read here: www.ctexplored.org/game-changer-topsy-in-the-tropics/
While we might not be able to travel to see the exhibition in person, the University of Virginia Press has published a beautiful full-color catalog that includes a collection of very insightful essays edited by Laura Katzman as well as photos of the exhibition. It’s available for purchase on Amazon-The Museum of the Old Colony, An Art Installation by Pablo Delano, 2023.
For more about Delano’s work, go to his website at http://museumoftheoldcolony.org/about/curatorial/
To see his photo essay on Hartford’s Puerto Rican streetscapes- https://www.ctexplored.org/visually-breathtaking-hartford-explored/
Listen to his Grating the Nutmeg episodes here:
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/152-hartford-and-puerto-rico-a-conversation-with-elena-rosario-and-pablo-delano-cte-game-changer-series
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/123-connecticut-seen-the-photography-of-pablo-delano-and-jack-delano
Connecticut Explored, the nonprofit organization that publishes Connecticut Explored magazine, announced its “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History,” series highlighting 20 “Game Changers” whose work is advancing the study, interpretation, and dissemination of Connecticut history. The initiative, funded by Connecticut Humanities and sponsored by Trinity College, is the centerpiece of Connecticut Explored’s year-long celebration of its 20th anniversary. Subscribe at ctexplored.org
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/
Donohue may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
In this episode of GTN, Natalie Belanger and Elena Peters of the Connecticut Historical Society take a look at the beginnings of our national obsession with soft drinks. Here in Connecticut, people have been drinking carbonated drinks for a long time, maybe longer than you’d expect. Today, the soda industry is dominated by just a couple of corporations, but a hundred years ago, Connecticut was home to an astonishing number of soda bottlers. Listen to their conversation to learn about the origins of the soda craze, its relation to Prohibition, and the stories of the oldest surviving Connecticut bottlers. You’ll also hear about some really weird flavor combinations you could once order at Connecticut’s soda fountains, such as the Hot Beef Egg, which is exactly what it sounds like. This episode is best enjoyed with the soda of your choice!
Image captions:
Soda jerk at Monroe Pharmacy, New Britain. CHS collection, 2003.110.1.39
William’s Root Beer Extract Trade Card. CHS collection, 1998.125.6
(for menu) New Haven Morning Journal and Courier, Oct. 29, 1907
(for root beer recipe) Williams and Carleton Company Record Book, 1897-1905, CHS collection MS 94142
Read more about Connecticut’s soda companies here:
https://hosmersoda.com/
https://www.foxonpark.com/
http://averysoda.com/
Want to have a soda at one of Connecticut’s vintage food shacks? Read more here:
https://www.ctexplored.org/shack-attack/
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com
Belanger may be reached at may be reached at Natalie_Belanger@chs.org
As a preservationist, I have always believed that if you knew about the history of a place, it would make you care more about it. And if you uncovered the history, you’d feel inspired by the stories of the people who came before you. This episode reveals the importance of “citizen historians” - people who are dedicated to saving a historic place’s story as well as preserving the site for future generations.
Masses of Eastern European Jews began immigrating to the United States in the 1880s. Between 1881 and 1924, more than two and a half million Jews arrived in America. Many settled in large cities such as New York. But some were aided in becoming farmers and land- owners by the philanthropy of the Baron de Hirsch, a wealthy German Jew who amassed a fortune in building railroads. Funded by de Hirsch, the American Jewish Agricultural Society helped Jews to buy farmland, provided money for synagogues, published a Yiddish farm magazine and had Jewish farm agents. In Connecticut, an early Jewish farm community was established in Chesterfield in the town of Montville northwest of New London. In this episode, we hear more about how this early Jewish community’s history was saved by a group of descendants and how the site of the group’s first synagogue and creamery was preserved as an archeological site.
Author and historian Mary Donohue interviews Nancy Savin, the 2022 winner of Preservation Connecticut’s Harlan H. Griswold Award presented by Preservation Connecticut and the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office. Harlan Griswold once said, “To me, preservation is more about my grandchildren than about my grandparents.” Her award citation reads “Through her selfless preservation efforts, both small and large, Nancy Savin is helping to build a better future for our children and grandchildren.”
A college graduate in voice and music history, Nancy spent 17 years at Connecticut Public as award-wining producer/host of arts and culture programming. But she is also the great-great granddaughter of Hirsch Kaplan, an Eastern European immigrant who arrived in New York City in 1887. So how did he end up in tiny Chesterfield as a Jewish farmer? And what was the New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanuel Society? We’ll find in this episode.
Visit the website of the New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanual Society here: https://www.newenglandhebrewfarmers.org/
Read more about the New England Hebrew Farmers in Nancy’s article in Connecticut Explored’s Winter 2022 issue here: https://www.ctexplored.org/the-new-england-hebrew-farmers-of-the-emanuel-society/
And Jewish farmers here- https://www.ctexplored.org/hebrew-tillers-of-the-soil/
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-connecticut-catskills/
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-new-england-hebrew-farmers-of-the-emanuel-society/
Listen to our Grating the Nutmeg podcast on Jewish farmers here: https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/94-connecticuts-jewish-farmers
You can buy the book A Life of the Land: Connecticut’s Jewish Farmers by Mary M. Donohue and Briann G. Greenfield from the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford here: https://jhsgh.org/product/a-life-of-the-land-connecticuts-jewish-farmers/
Order Micki Savin’s book, I Remember Chesterfield on Amazon in hardcover, softcover or Kindle versions.
Read the minutes book of the NEHFES at the Yiddish Book Center here: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/yiddish-books/spb-nybc217886/leberstein-miriam-the-minutes-and-ledger-book-1892-1933-of-the-new-england-hebrew
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom. Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated-we thank you!
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com. Donohue may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
Why did the State of Connecticut feel entitled to part of Ohio? Where was Connecticut’s Western Reserve and how was it settled? The Litchfield Historical Society is opening a new exhibition on Connecticut’s Western Reserve on April 22, 2023 entitled “Come to a Land of Milk and Honey”.
Here’s what they say about the exhibit:
“The story of the Western Reserve can be told through any number of historical lenses, but it is primarily a story of people: the people who felt compelled to leave Connecticut and New England for a new life in the west, and the people who chose to stay behind; the Native peoples who were forced from their lands by the arrival of migrants; the enslaved men, women, and children who were brought to the Reserve against their will, and the Black migrants who chose to make their homes in Ohio despite continued discrimination.”
In this episode, author and historian Mary Donohue interviews Alex Dubois and Linda Hocking from the Litchfield Historical Society about what they’ve found out about the peoples of the Western Reserve.
Alex Dubois is the Curator of Collections. At the Society, Alex oversees the development and care of the institution’s collection of material culture and art, and serves as project lead for the Society’s exhibitions.
Linda Hocking has served as the Curator of Library & Archives since 2002 where she oversees all aspects of acquisitions, description, and access to the Society’s library and archives.
Read more from Connecticut Explored here:
https://www.ctexplored.org/west-of-eden-ohio-land-speculation-benefits-connecticut-public-schools/
https://www.ctexplored.org/whats-connecticuts-role-in-westward-expansion-2/
Visit the Litchfield Historical Society website for more information on the exhibition and programs:
https://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. We’ve just launched our Facebook and Instagram pages-look for the Grating the Nutmeg Podcast. Please follow us on social media to get the scoop on new episodes, behind the scenes photos and information on upcoming programs.
Our new Connecticut Explored Spring 2023 issue is almost out! Don’t forget to subscribe to get yours at ctexplored.org
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media at www.highwattagemedia.com/
Donohue may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
The book Dead Wake, The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by New York Times best-selling author Erik Larson is a gripping account of the sinking of the British transatlantic luxury liner the Lusitania during World War 1. Theodate Pope, the architect and owner of what is now the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut, who was a passenger on the Lusitania. Why did she sail on a British ship when Britain was at war? The ship was hit by a German submarine torpedo and sank within an hour. Why wasn’t Pope in a lifeboat? Why did she jump from the ship into the water? And how did Pope survive and what were the after effects?
In this episode, author and historian Mary Donohue interviews Melanie Bourbeau, Senior Curator at the Hill-Stead Museum. Bourbeau shares Pope’s first-hand accounts of the sinking and its aftermath from Pope’s letters, telegrams, diaries, and newspaper accounts, many of which are in the museum’s archives.
After the war, it was revealed that the passenger ship was carrying 4 million rounds of machine-gun ammunition and other war time battlefront materials.
Was the ship a legitimate target during wartime? This is an argument that continues today. It certainly encouraged the United States to enter World War 1 though not immediately.
Read more about Theodate Pope Riddle in Bourbeau’s article published in Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/communicating-with-the-spirits/
And listen to the accompanying Grating the Nutmeg podcast at
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/109-communicating-with-the-spirits-theodate-pope-riddle
Visit Hill-Stead Museum: www.hillstead.org
And read more about her family and home, now the Hill-Stead Museum from Connecticut Explored at:
https://www.ctexplored.org/alfred-atmore-popes-art-collection-at-hill-stead-museum/
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-modernism-of-hill-steads-theodate-pope/
https://www.ctexplored.org/hill-stead-a-colonial-revival-performance/
https://www.ctexplored.org/site-lines-golf-at-hill-stead/
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. We’ve just launched our Facebook and Instagram pages-please follow us on social media to get the scoop on new episodes, behind the scenes photos and information on upcoming programs.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue. She may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
Engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Please join us in two weeks for a new episode on Grating the Nutmeg.
Journeys 旅途: Boys of the Chinese Educational Mission is on view at the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) through July 2023. This exhibition honors the 150th anniversary of the Chinese Educational Mission (CEM), a cultural and educational exchange program from 1872 – 1881. Headquartered in Hartford, the CEM enabled 120 Chinese boys, most of whom were barely teenagers, to study in New England with the goal of modernizing China by educating its future leaders abroad. It is a story of hopes, dreams, sacrifice, and the life-changing experience of international exchange.
In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Museum Educator Natalie Belanger talks to Karen Li Miller and Henry Qu about their work on Journeys. The CEM collection at the CHS was a well-known resource, but contained Chinese-language materials that had never been translated....until Henry Qu, himself an international student, made an unexpected stop at CHS on his way from New Jersey to Massachusetts. Three years later, Henry's detour resulted in a fresh telling of the Mission's story, using the boys' newly-translated first-person accounts of their experience in Connecticut. What was it like to be uprooted as a teenager to live in a place that your language didn't even have a word for? What did these teens in the 1870s have in common with teenagers today? And what motivated Henry Qu to make that serendipitous stop at CHS? Listen to find out!
The ExhibitionJourneys: Boys of the Chinese Educational Mission will be on view at the Connecticut Historical Society through July, or you can take a 3D tour online at chs.org. Keep an eye on upcoming programming related to this topic at the CHS in spring of 2023!
Read more about the CEM in Connecticut Explored magazine here:
https://www.ctexplored.org/chinese-exchange-students-in-1880s-connecticut/
https://www.ctexplored.org/wong-kai-kah-comes-of-age-in-connecticut/
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. We’ve just launched our Facebook and Instagram pages-please follow us on social media to get the scoop on new episodes, behind the scenes photos and information on upcoming programs. https://www.facebook.com/GratingTheNutmegPod
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger, Museum Educator at the Connecticut Historical Society and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Please join us in two weeks for a new episode on Grating the Nutmeg.
Wall-to-wall posters, sticky floors, a small stage and the stale-beer smell give Toad’s Place its enduring character as a live-music shrine. Authenticity can’t be faked. Opened as a restaurant in 1975, Toad’s has welcomed hundreds of musical acts from the pioneers of the Blues like B.B. King, to today’s megastars Drake and Cardi B. But what does it take to run a nightclub? And have it be successful for almost half a century?
Author and historian Mary Donohue interviews Randall Beach, co-author with Toad’s Place owner Brian Phelps, of the new book The Legendary Toad’s Place, Stories from New Haven’s Famed Music Venue, published in 2021 by Globe Pequot Press. Beach was the rock music critic for the New Haven Register from 1978 to 1984, covering many shows at Toad’s Place. He later wrote about rock music for the New Haven Advocate, the Hartford Courant, and Billboard magazine. He currently writes a column for Connecticut magazine.
Read more about Toad’s Place in the photo essay published in Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/what-these-walls-have-heard-a-photo-essay-on-new-havens-legendary-toads-place/
Fresh episodes of Grating the Nutmeg are brought to you every two weeks with support from our listeners. We’ve just launched our Facebook and Instagram pages-please follow us on social media to get the scoop on new episodes, behind the scenes photos and information on upcoming programs: https://www.facebook.com/GratingTheNutmegPod
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by award-winning author and historian Mary Donohue. She may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
Engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Connecticut Explored magazine is celebrating its 20th anniversary and our Grating the Nutmeg podcast it’s 7th anniversary. Neither of these milestones could have been reached without your support! Please make a gift to our new Fund for Excellence in Publishing at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/friends-of-connecticut-explored/
We need to ask our listeners for your help! This podcast is part of our “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History” series, and we’d like your feedback. Take our 5-minute survey and get a free copy of Connecticut Explored magazine. You’ll find the survey link in the Shownotes for this episode below. Thank you!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HARTEA12
When was the color line broken in the Hartford Fire Department? And how did a high school dropout and a Vietnam vet both become distinguished firefighters in the Hartford Fire Department? Hear their inspiring first-hand stories of growing up in Hartford’s African American community in the North End in and dive into the detective work done to uncover the story of William Henry Jacklyn, Hartford’s first Black firefighter.
Our 2022 Winter issue of Connecticut Explored magazine celebrates citizen historians who come to their subjects because of a deep need to understand or uncover some person or event or answer a question they could not brush aside. Many become public advocates for their historical findings and projects. Both of the guests in this episode, Chief Charles Teale, Sr. and Captain Steven Harris were honored as Connecticut History Game Changers by Connecticut Explored magazine and both are passionate avocational historians.
Chief Teale served as a member of the Hartford Fire Dept. from 1982-2010, retiring as chief. Always interested in Hartford’s history even as a teenager, Chief Teale researched and documented the many outstanding accomplishments of the Hartford Fire Dept to the fire service profession throughout its 221-year history. This included uncovering the William Henry Jacklyn story.
Captain Steven Harris began his career as a fire fighter in 1970, retiring in 1997 as a captain in the department and was voted Firefighter of the Year in Connecticut. In 2021, the Hartford Public Library partnered with Captain Harris to create a mural honoring Jacklyn on the Phoenix Society building at 729 Windsor St. in Hartford. The mural was painted by artists Lindaluz Carrillo and Kayla Farrell with an intergenerational group of community members.
The Phoenix Society is a black fraternal organization of firefighters the was formed in 1965 in Hartford. John B. Stewart, Jr, Hartford’s first African American fire chief, was the first president. The Society works to help its members toward promotional goals and to foster a closer relationship with the community. Learn more about the Phoenix Society at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Society_(firefighters)
Read more about our 20 for 20 Connecticut History Game Changers here:
https://www.ctexplored.org/special-section-20-for-20-innovation-in-connecticut-history/
And read more about Hartford history from Chief Teale here;
https://www.ctexplored.org/shoebox-archives-my-summers-at-camp-courant/
https://www.ctexplored.org/i-called-him-mr-hurley/
Join Connecticut Explored’s 20th anniversary celebration by subscribing at ctexplored.org
New subscribers can get 6 issues for the price of 4 with our Holiday sale before 12/31/2022.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
Connecticut Explored magazine is celebrating its 20th anniversary and our Grating the Nutmeg podcast it’s 7thanniversary. Neither of these milestones could have been reached without your support! Please make a gift to our new Fund for Excellence in Publishing at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/friends-of-connecticut-explored/
For over a century, almost 1700 people buried in the cemetery at the Connecticut Valley Hospital were identified with gravestones bearing only a number instead of a name. In the 1990s, names of the deceased were restored to the site. In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society (https://chs.org/) is taking a look at a digital history project that will help expand our understanding of the lives of the people buried in that cemetery and of mental health care in Connecticut's past. Kaitlyn Oberndorfer, CREC history teacher and graduate student, has undertaken a project that will link genealogical and demographic information to the names in the cemetery, restoring some of the residents' lost humanity.
Look for Kaitlyn's finished project to go live online sometime in 2023. For a detailed history of the Connecticut Valley Hospital Cemetery, you can read the application that placed the site on the National Register of Historic Places.
You can click here to learn about the “Uncovering Their History” project that inspired “Numbers to Names”
Read more here:
https://www.ctexplored.org/unburying-hartfords-native-and-african-family-histories/
And listen to our podcast episode here:
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/78-uncovering-african-and-native-american-lives-in-17th-18th-century-hartford
For more about the treatment of Civil War soldiers at the Connecticut Valley Hospital, read more here:https://www.ctexplored.org/civil-war-soldiers-heart/
And for more about the treatment of mental illness in Connecticut, read more here: https://www.ctexplored.org/treating-the-mind-in-times-past/
Join Connecticut Explored’s 20th anniversary celebration by subscribing at ctexplored.org
New subscribers can get 6 issues for the price of 4 with our Holiday sale before 12/31/2022.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger, Adult Programs Manager at the Connecticut Historical Society and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
How did 15 Connecticut high school students find themselves in French World War 1 trenches and what were they doing there? Find out in today’s episode!
This podcast is part of our “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History” series, and we’d like your feedback. Take our 5-minute survey and get a free copy of Connecticut Explored magazine. You’ll find the survey link below. Thank you!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CTWW1
My guests for this episode are Christine Pittsley, Special Projects Director for the Connecticut State Library and Katy Hitson, a Connecticut student who participated in the trench restoration in France when she was in high school. Pittsley has directed several award-winning World War 1 programs, including the Digging Into History trench restoration project and the Remembering World War One Digitization program, and has been recognized as a leader in the nation's WW1 commemorative efforts.
When the United States entered Europe’s Great War, World War 1, in 1917, Connecticut manufacturers provided the military with munitions, clothing, and other goods. In addition to the men and women who worked on the home front, roughly 63,000 state residents served in the US or Allied forces. For those at the front lines in France, life was rough. As the war stalled at the battlefront, men dug huge earthen defensive trenches that became their battlefield homes. They experienced gas attacks, heard nonstop artillery barrages and watched the daily aerial battles. Connecticut men also sheltered in limestone caves thirty feet below the ground level and encompassing over 100 acres with rooms and tunnels.
For more information about the CT State Library’s project, go to https://ctinworldwar1.org/
To read more about Connecticut in WW1, go to these Connecticut Explored issues and stories:
https://www.ctexplored.org/spring-2017/
https://www.ctexplored.org/parallel-lives-segregated-connecticut-in-world-war-i/
https://www.ctexplored.org/world-war-i-the-cave-dwellers-life/
Join Connecticut Explored’s 20th anniversary celebration by subscribing at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media. www.highwattagemedia.com/
Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
In this episode, recorded at the Park Street Library@the Lyric on Sept. 21, 2022 to a full house, two of our Connecticut History Game Changer Honorees discuss their work. The conversation was hosted by Jasmin Agosto, Community Outreach Coordinator for the Hartford History Center at the Hartford Public Library.
Before we go to our new episode, I need to ask our listeners for your help! We need your thoughts and ideas about the podcasts that highlight our 20 Connecticut History Game Changers in the field of Connecticut history. This 5-minute survey will help us plan episodes that you want to hear! As a thank you, we will send you a free, introductory copy of our print magazine or if you are already a subscriber, we will add a free issue to your existing subscription. I hope you will share your thoughts on the podcast by going to the Shownotes for this episode and clicking the link here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DELROS to take the survey. Thank you!
What can we learn about Hartford’s Puerto Rican community today through art and history?
Photographer and Trinity College Fine Arts professor Pablo Delano and emerging scholar and public historian PhD candidate Elena Rosario explore their work in the context of Hartford's Puerto Rican history and the broader United States-Puerto Rico relationship.
Thank you to our guests Pablo Delano, Elena Rosario and Jasmin Agosto.
For more about Pablo Delano’s work, go to his website at http://museumoftheoldcolony.org/about/curatorial/
And for more about the Hartford History Center at the Hartford Public Library, visit
https://hplct.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/history/
Connecticut Explored, the nonprofit organization that publishes Connecticut Explored magazine, announced its “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History,” series highlighting 20 “Game Changers” whose work is advancing the study, interpretation, and dissemination of Connecticut history. The initiative, funded by Connecticut Humanities and sponsored by Trinity College, is the centerpiece of Connecticut Explored’s year-long celebration of its 20th anniversary. Subscribe at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/
The episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media www.highwattagemedia.com/
Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
To mark Connecticut Explored’s 20th anniversary, we launched an initiative to find 20 people and projects that are taking us into the future of the study of Connecticut history. We received over 120 nominations from the public and then chose 20 that are Connecticut history game changers. This our third podcast where we interview one of our CT History Game Changer Honorees-talking to the people making change happen.
Today’s episode is about Game Changer Honoree the Mary & Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community. The Center is restoring and preserving the historic Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses in Bridgeport’s Little Liberia community, built about 1822 and some of the oldest houses built by African Americans in Connecticut. Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher Emeritus, interviews guests Maisa Tisdale, President and CEO of the Center and Dr. Sarah Sportman, CT State Archeologist at the University of Connecticut.
To learn more about the Freeman Center, visit their website at https://freemancenterbpt.org/
And to learn more about the Office of the Connecticut State Archeologist, visit the website at https://osa.uconn.edu/
Connecticut Explored is celebrating its 20th anniversary with “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History,” a series of articles, podcasts, and public programs that highlight 20 "Game Changers" in the field of Connecticut history. The insights and ideas we gather through this five-minute survey will help individuals and organizations who are committed to keeping Connecticut history vibrant and relevant. Thank you for your time!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OCT1FREEMAN
Order your copy of the Gamechanger issue of Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/fall-2022-the-future-of-connecticut-history/
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue for Connecticut Explored and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
Please join us again for the next episode of Grating the Nutmeg.
Photo credit: Mary & Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community, Bridgeport, CT.
To mark Connecticut Explored’s 20th anniversary, we launched an initiative to find 20 people and projects that are taking us into the future of the study of Connecticut history. We received over 120 nominations from the public and then chose 20 that are Connecticut history game changers. This our third podcast where we interview one of our CT History Game Changer Honorees-talking to the people making change happen.
Today’s episode is about Game Changer Honoree the Mary & Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community. The Center is restoring and preserving the historic Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses in Bridgeport’s Little Liberia community, built about 1822 and some of the oldest houses built by African Americans in Connecticut. Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher Emeritus, interviews guests Maisa Tisdale, President and CEO of the Center and Dr. Sarah Sportman, CT State Archeologist at the University of Connecticut.
To learn more about the Freeman Center, visit their website at https://freemancenterbpt.org/
And to learn more about the Office of the Connecticut State Archeologist, visit the website at https://osa.uconn.edu/
Connecticut Explored is celebrating its 20th anniversary with “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History,” a series of articles, podcasts, and public programs that highlight 20 "Game Changers" in the field of Connecticut history. The insights and ideas we gather through this five-minute survey will help individuals and organizations who are committed to keeping Connecticut history vibrant and relevant. Thank you for your time!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/OCT1FREEMAN
Order your copy of the Gamechanger issue of Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/fall-2022-the-future-of-connecticut-history/
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue for Connecticut Explored and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
Please join us again for the next episode of Grating the Nutmeg.
Photo credit: Mary & Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community, Bridgeport, CT.
The Connecticut Historical Society's current special exhibition explores how society has sought and continues to seek care for the mind and mental health. Common Struggle, Individual Experience: An Exhibition About Mental Health(Presented by Hartford HealthCare Institute of Living) uses letters, photographs, and other artifacts to highlight the experiences of Connecticans from the past. Oral history interviews, recorded in 2020 and 2021, share the perspectives of people today. In this episode, Natalie Belanger speaks with her CHS colleagues who worked in crafting this timely exhibition. Ben Gammell is the CHS's Director of Exhibitions, and Karen Li Miller is Research Historian. Together, they talk about the challenges of speaking for historical people who can't speak for themselves, and how honored they felt to be entrusted with the stories of current Connecticans living with mental health challenges. Common Struggle, Individual Experience has been honored as one of CT Explored's 20 “Game Changers” whose work is advancing the study, interpretation, and dissemination of Connecticut history. It has also received the AASLH Leadership in History 2022 Award. The exhibition is on view at the Connecticut Historical Society until October 16, 2022. You can take a virtual tour here! Connecticut Explored is celebrating its 20th anniversary with “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History,” a series of articles, podcasts, and public programs that highlight 20 "Game Changers" in the field of Connecticut history. The insights and ideas we gather through this five-minute survey will help individuals and organizations who are committed to keeping Connecticut history vibrant and relevant. Thank you for your time! https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CHS915 This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media www.highwattagemedia.com/
The Speedwell arrived in New London on July 17, 1761, after a journey of several months from Western Africa to the Americas. The boat departed with 95 enslaved persons. Only 74 survived the journey.
The captain of the Speedwell, Timothy Miller, sailed up the Connecticut River to Middletown after a few days in New London. Although the ship’s records don’t show where the Africans aboard the Speedwell ended up, the probate record of Normand Morison, a Hartford physician who owned 7/16th of the Speedwell, shows 21 enslaved West Africans were placed on his farm in Bolton, CT. Morison died in 1761 and the fate of the people on the Bolton farm is not yet known.
In this episode, Kathy Hermes, Lonnie Braxton, and Tom Schuch discuss Morison and the Speedwell, the Black Heritage Trail and its significance, and the impact of the slave trade on Connecticut and its trading networks.
Connecticut Explored is celebrating its 20th anniversary with “20 for 20: Innovation in Connecticut History,” a series of articles, podcasts, and public programs that highlight 20 "Game Changers" in the field of Connecticut history. The insights and ideas we gather through this five-minute survey will help individuals and organizations who are committed to keeping Connecticut history vibrant and relevant. Thank you for your time! Visit: www.surveymonkey.com/r/PODCAST1
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Dr. Kathy Hermes and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media www.highwattagemedia.com/
Photo credit: Tom Schuch
The discovery of four 18th century male skeletons thought to be possible soldiers in the April 27, 1777 Battle of Ridgefield, prompted the most in-depth research into that crucial Revolutionary War conflict ever undertaken. In this presentation to the town sponsored by the Ridgefield Historical Society earlier this year, state historian Walt Woodward, historian Keith Jones, state archaeologist emeritus Nick Bellantoni, state archaeologist Sarah Sportman, archeologist Kevin McBride, and Historian David Naumec report on their discoveries to date.
The discovery of four 18th century male skeletons thought to be possible soldiers in the April 27, 1777 Battle of Ridgefield, prompted the most in-depth research into that crucial Revolutionary War conflict ever undertaken. In this presentation to the town sponsored by the Ridgefield Historical Society earlier this year, state historian Walt Woodward, historian Keith Jones, state archaeologist emeritus Nick Bellantoni, state archaeologist Sarah Sportman, archeologist Kevin McBride, and Historian David Naumec report on their discoveries to date.
The airship Hindenburg passed over Connecticut 21 times during its 17-month service between 1936-37. In the 1930s, air travel across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America was in its infancy. The vast airships of the German Zeppelin Company, zeppelins or dirigibles, took an early lead, competing not with airplanes but luxury ocean liners. In this episode, Asst. Publisher Mary Donohue, talks to historian Alexander Rose, author of Empires of the Sky, Zeppelins, Airplanes, and Two Men’s Epic Duel to Rule the World (Random House, 2020). And you’ll hear from Bridgeport historian Carolyn Ivanoff, author of the article “The Hindenburg Flies over Bridgeport” in the Summer 2022 issue of Connecticut Explored. Find out more about why the Nazi swastika is visible in many of the photos taken over Connecticut.
Thank you to our guests Alexander Rose and Carolyn Ivanoff. Rose has a new book coming out in December, 2022-The Lion and the Fox-and listeners can subscribe to his weekly Substack newsletter “Secret Worlds” which explores historical espionage (and occasionally aviation) at https://alexanderrose.substack.com/
Find out more about his other books at http://www.alexrose.com/about
The episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media www.highwattagemedia.com/
Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
Photo credit: Hindenburg over The Travelers Tower, Hartford, 1936 - Jeffrey Hollis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MinmbjRta3w
The video, taken in October of 1936, shows the Hindenburg sailing over Hartford, Connecticut, seven months before its destruction.
For this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society talked to Joanie DiMartino, Connecticut state Coordinator for 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 the National 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 the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. The Connecticut Historical Society has partnered with the Pomeroy foundation to feature Connecticut cultural 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 in 1903, the living room is richly paneled with a marble mantle… The grounds are shaded by many old trees, including several beeches on the broad lawns in front of the house.”
What attracted the Robeson’s to Enfield? Why did the FBI keep them under surveillance in Connecticut? And how did a Robeson concert at Hartford’s Weaver High School in 1952 become a huge local controversy?
Let’s hear from Steve Thornton about the Robesons activism and life while living in Connecticut.
Read more in the Summer 2022 issue of Connecticut Explored “The Robesons Move to Enfield” by Steve Thornton. Get your copy at ctexplored.org And to learn more about Hartford history from the grassroots, visit The Shoeleather History Project at shoeleatherhistoryproject.com
To learn more about a Connecticut citizen was arrested and tried for being a Communist, listen to his first-hand account from Alfred Marder in Episode 7 of Grating the Nutmeg at https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/gtn7e-extended-version-a-communists-arrest-in-1950s-new-haven
And read more at https://www.ctexplored.org/al-marder-a-life-of-conviction/
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan of High Wattage Media, highwattagemedia.com
Song: Shenandoah, Paul Robeson
(Copland, A.: Fanfare for the Common Man / Tilzer, A. Von: Take)
Donohue may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
Please join us again for the next episode of Grating the Nutmeg!
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, CTExplored publisher Elizabeth Normen talks with Connecticut River Museum curator Amy Trout about the museum’s summer exhibition Speed: 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. Speed is 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 the Connecticut Historical Society’s exhibition Common Struggle, Individual Experience: An Exhibition About Mental Health, go to chs.org.You can view a 3D, virtual tour of the exhibition here. Image: "Hartford Retreat for the Insane," postcard, CHS collection 1984.13.109 Produced by Natalie Belanger. Mixed by Patrick O'Sullivan. See more: "The Institute of Living," Feb/Mar/Apr 2004, CT Explored.
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 organization committed to the preservation, revitalization and stewardship of the Parkway.
Thanks to Chris for being our guest. You can order his book here: https://www.amazon.com/Connecticut-Architecture-Stories-Places-Garnet/dp/0819578134/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1072LVNSI3O9I&keywords=wigren&qid=1651172449&s=books&sprefix=%2Cstripbooks%2C58&sr=1-1
And thanks to Wes for being our guest. Find out more about the Merritt Parkway Conservancy here: https://www.merrittparkway.org/
For more Connecticut Explored stories about the Merritt Parkway,
https://www.ctexplored.org/soapbox-preserving-the-meritt-parkway/
https://www.ctexplored.org/national-historic-preservation-act-40-and-fabulous/
https://www.ctexplored.org/meet-preservation-connecticut/
Photos used with permission from the Merritt Parkway Conservancy.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan, High Wattage Media, LLC at highwattagemedia.com
Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years She may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net.
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 advancing the city’s burgeoning white-collar banking and insurance industries in the early 20th century.
By 1906, architect Donn Barber had received his first commission from the Travelers Insurance Company to design the first section of the Travelers building on Main Street. But was the magnificent Connecticut State Library and Supreme Court Building in 1910 that cemented his reputation in Hartford for designing grand show stopping buildings.
Barber’s Hartford work included several landmark buildings. He designed the Connecticut State Library in 1910, the unrealized Charter Oak Bank Building in 1914, the Travelers Tower in three stages between 1906 and 1919; the Hartford Times Building in 1920, and the Travelers Insurance Co. building at Grove and Prospect streets in 1921.
Washington, D.C.-born Donn Barber received the best architectural training available and worked in some of New York City’s toniest architectural design firms. He was educated at Yale and Columbia universities and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. The Ecole fostered a generation of American architects who designed in what became known in architecture and city-planning circles as the Beaux Arts style. This Classically-based style reshaped American taste, and its cities, at the beginning of the 20th century. Barber worked for Carrere & Hastings, Cass Gilbert (architect of Waterbury City Hall and New Haven’s Union Station and former owner/resident of Ridgefield’s Keeler Tavern Museum), and Lord & Howlett before opening his own office in 1900.
Learn more about his Hartford work here:
https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticut-state-library-george-godard-gets-his-building/
https://www.ctexplored.org/saving-face-the-hartford-times-building/
and in the Spring 2022 issue of Connecticut Explored.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan, High Wattage Media, LLC.
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/
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 of Grating 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 guest Jon Grinspan, the Curator of Political History at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Grinspan studies the deep history of American democracy, especially the wild partisan campaigns of the 1800s. He frequently contributes to the New York Times, and his work has been featured in The New Yorker, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. His most recent book is The Age of Acrimony: How American Fought to Fix Their Democracy 1865-1915.
Learn more about Connecticut and the Civil War here:
https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticut-in-the-civil-war-2/
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/shop/
Image credit: Wide Awake Flag, 1889. This flag was reportedly carried by the Wide Awakes during an excursion to Washington, D.C. for the Presidential inauguration parade of Benjamin Harrison on 4 March 1889. CHS Collection, 1950.530.0
March is Women’s History Month and in this episode publisher Elizabeth Normen talks with author Eve Kahn about her 2019 book, Forever Seeing 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.com and read her story in the Winter 2021-2022 issue of CTExplored at https://www.ctexplored.org/mary-rogers-williams-we-shall-want-to-do-a-lot-of-rambling/.
Forty years ago, a freshman legislator in the Connecticut General Assembly wrote and engineered passage of one of the most important pieces of consumer protection legislation in history – The Lemon Law (actually two laws passed in 1982 and 1984) that required automobile manufacturers to repair defective vehicles in a timely manner, replace the vehicle with a new one, or refund the customer's purchase price. Today Lemon Laws are in place in every state of the union and countries around the world. John J Woodcock, father of the Lemon Law, tells the story of the Lemon Law's creation, passage, and the years long battle with car manufacturers to preserve its integrity. Produced by Walter Woodward.
As we all ease into 2022, we want to thank our listeners for supporting Grating the Nutmeg! We’ve just had our 6th birthday and hit over 100,000 downloads! We couldn’t have done it without you. Be sure to let us know if there are topics you think we should investigate.
If you could manufacture something out of stone or metal and make a buck, chances are it was produced in Connecticut. Asst. Publisher Mary Donohue explores the history of an unusual and unique--in the truest sense of the word--Connecticut company that made grave markers out of zinc. Affectionately known as “Zinkies” by cemetery buffs, these bluish-grey metal gravestones were made in Bridgeport and shipped across the country. The company’s slogan was “As enduring as the pyramids” but was that true or just boosterism? We’ll find out with author and Bridgeport historian Carolyn Ivanoff whose feature article on the Monumental Bronze Company comes out in Connecticut Explored’s upcoming Spring 2022 issue.
Her book, "We Fought at Gettysburg," scheduled for publication in late spring 2022, features first-hand accounts by the survivors of the 17th Connecticut Infantry and their experiences on the greatest battlefield of the American Civil War.
Thanks to Carolyn Ivanoff for being our guest. You can find her Bridgeport history blog at https://bportlibrary.org/hc/business-and-commerce/monuments-everlasting-bridgeports-monumental-bronze-company/#more-14000
Don’t forget to get your copy of Connecticut Explored’s Spring 2022 issue to read more about the “Zinkies.” And to see dozens of Zinkies from across the country, follow the “gardenofwhitebronze” on Instagram. The digitized catalog at the Smithsonian Institution can be seen here https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/whitebronzemonu00monu
Episode photo shows the Beech Family monument, Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport. The front panel shows the iconic harvested wheat and scythe bas-relief. The “golden sheaf” on the front panel symbolized that the deceased had had a long and abundant life. Photo by Carolyn Ivanoff.
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
Did you know that you can get our new e-newsletter, CTExplored/Inbox by signing up at our website ctexplored.org? You’ll receive your bi-weekly newsletter from Connecticut Explored with the latest stories, the newest Grating the Nutmeg podcast, programs and exhibitions from around the state to see or watch this month and more!
In this episode, Connecticut Historical Society’s Natalie Belanger, frequent contributor to Grating the Nutmeg, talks with Antoinette Brim-Bell, Professor of English at Capital Community College, about Ann Plato, one of the first Black women to publish a book in the United States. Ann Plato is part of Capitol Community College’s NEH-funded Hartford Heritage Project which highlights the history of the Talcott Street Church, the first Black congregation in Hartford and where Plato was a teacher.
Many thanks to Antoinette Brim-Bell! If you want to learn more about the Hartford Heritage Project, visit their website. Ann Plato’s book, Essay: Including Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose and Poetry, has been digitized by the New York Public Library and is available to read online.
Want to know more about Connecticut’s landmarks, museums, art, and history? Subscribe to Connecticut Explored-in your mailbox or inbox- https://www.ctexplored.org/
And for a daily dose of history, visit Today in Connecticut History produced by Connecticut State Historian Walt Woodward at https://todayincthistory.com/
This episode was produced by Natalie Belangerand engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Please join us again for the next episode of Grating the Nutmeg!
Is there a sucker born every minute? I don’t have the answer to that but it is attributed to one of Connecticut’s most famous residents, circus showman P. T. Barnum. Did he really say it-no one knows for sure but we do know that he made and lost several fortunes, helped to create the American circus, exhibited a phony mermaid cobbled together from a monkey and a fish and that he loved Bridgeport!
Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, finds out more about the Barnum’s over the top life and his lasting mark on Bridgeport, Connecticut with her guest Bruce Hawley, author of “P. T. Barnum Builds a City” in the Winter 2021 issue of Connecticut Explored. Mr. Hawley is a board member the Barnum Museum Foundation, the Circus Historical Society, and the Circus Fans Association of America. He is a distant cousin of P.T. Barnum.
The Barnum Museum, originally called The Barnum Institute of Science and History, was just designated a National Historic Landmark by the US Dept of the Interior. Plan your visit at https://barnum-museum.org/
Here’s more about Barnum in these Connecticut Explored stories and Grating the Nutmeg episodes-enjoy!
https://www.ctexplored.org/building-art-of-clay/
https://www.ctexplored.org/tom-thumb-and-the-age-of-celebrity/
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/gtn-30-p-t-barnum-and-the-art-of-money-getting
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/gtn60-special-cptv-audio-documentary-barnums-connecticut-0
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/30-part-2-the-1st-ten-rules-for-making-money-by-p-t-barnum-0
https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/30-part-3-p-t-barnums-the-art-of-money-getting
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg received support from the State Historic Preservation Office of the Dept of Economic and Community Development with funds from the Community Investment Act of the State of Connecticut.
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/
Thanks to you, last year Grating the Nutmeg passed it's 100,000th download. We're proud to be a fixture of so many Connectican's playlists, and proud to be among the top 20% of all podcasts made in terms of listenership.
To celebrate, we thought we'd have a New Year's flashback, and link back to our five all time most listened to podcasts. Just click on the link below, then click play on the next page, and enjoy!
Number One: Connecticut and the Pandemic of 1918. As Covid began rocking our world in 2020, we looked back at how the Influenza Epidemic of 1918 rocked Connecticut a century ago. Interesting to listen to a year later, because it too seems historical
Number Two: Governor John Dempsey, Son of Chair. Connecticut's only foreign born governor since the colonial period, Governor John Dempsey owed much of his immense popularity, and his progressive public policies, to boyhood lessons learned in his birth town of Chair, County Tipperary, Ireland.
Number Three: The Delicious History of Pizza in New Haven You haven't really tasted "abeetz" until you know it's history. Yum.
Number Four: Rough Justice for Nathan Hale Why were the British so fired up to execute Connecticut's state hero? A new twist on a story we thought we knew in full.
Number Five: The Unlikely Legend – and History – of the Charter Oak . Connecitcut's most iconic legend is not only terribly important from a history standpoint - it's wrong.
TRUTH IN PACKAGING It's actually a bit hard to tell for sure whether these are the all time top 5 episodes of Grating the Nutmeg. The statistics for our first 30 or so episodes aren't full included, and one or more of the certainly would have been contenders. But the are certainly, in the statistics farther since November of 2017, the top 5 podcasts. Hope you enjoy the, and if you do, please share with others.
In the spirit of the season, we’re pleased to present a Victorian era Christmas story, written by the celebrated 19th century author from Guilford, Reverend William Henry Harrison Murray. Better known as “Adirondack” Murray, because his books almost single-handedly transformed that region from a New York wilderness to one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations, Murray was one of the first mass audience authors to promote recreational camping as a leisure time activity, and coined the term “vacation.” He is recognized as a father of the American Outdoor movement. His belief that the north woods were health giving and spiritually beneficial, and that the rustic nobility of Adirondack woodsmen was produced by their wilderness life, drew Americans by the millions to the woods, and to his books and tales. In “John Norton’s Vagabond,” fro Murray’s 1897 book “Holiday Tales: Christmas in the Adirondacks,” we meet one of those noble rustic woodsmen, the trapper John Norton, who decides, in counsel with his dogs Rover and Sport, to hold a Christmas dinner, to which he will invite even vagabonds. It might be helpful to know that in John Norton’s trapper’s world the word vagabond meant more than just a person who wanders about–it meant a person who stole other men’s traps and poached their furs, in short, the worst of the worst. So with that as background, get a cup of cocoa, grab an easy chair, and have a listen to Rev, William Henry Harrison “Adirondack Murray’s” Christmas story, “John Norton’s Vagabond.
Special thanks to the Free Music Archive, Creative Commons, and these amazingly talented artists for the use of this wonderful music:
Borrtex, “Christmas Memory,” “Christmas Tree,”
Poddington Bear, “Angels We Have Heard on High”
Rue Royale, “Snow on Snow”
Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society is joined by historian Barbara Sicherman, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emerita at Trinity College, to discuss the landmark reproductive rights case, Griswold v. Connecticut. Professor Sicherman talks about the origins of the lawsuit, what it meant for women in our state, and its long-term influence on civil rights rulings.
If you want to learn more, you can read Barbara Sicherman’s article, "Connecticut Women Fight for Reproductive Rights", in the Fall 2017 issue of Connecticut Explored, or see her pieces about Estelle Griswold and Catharine Roraback in the Summer 2011 article, "Women Who Changed the World."
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/
Recently, Connecticut State Historian Walt Woodward announced he will be retiring next July 1st. To find out what "historical" retirement is like, Woodward sat down with Nick Bellantoni, who retired as state archaeologist in 2014, and is now Connecticut's state archaeologist emeritus. The resulting conversation was a fascinating discussion of archaeological sites in Connecticut, Nick's successor state archaeologists, and Nick's own career of amazing discoveries.
What more do we need to know about Sam Colt? In Hartford we have the iconic blue-domed Colt Armory, Colt Park, the Colt addition to the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Church of the Good Shepard and Colt’s home Armsmear. But it turns out that we may not have known much about Colt’s life before he became fabulously wealthy—he traveled with a novelty act, womanized, drank, smuggled guns to Russia, bribed politicians, and blew up ships in New York Harbor with electricity.
Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, digs into some of these stories with Jim Rasenberger, author of Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six-shooter that Changed America.
He is the author of three other books—The Brilliant Disaster; America, 1908; and High Steel—and has contributed to the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Smithsonian, and other publications. A native of Washington, DC, he lives in New York City. Find out more at https://www.jimrasenberger.com/
Coltsville, Sam’s industrial village including the Colt Armory, workers housing, and his estate, have been listed as a National Historic Landmark and authorized as a National Historical Park under the guidance of the National Park Service. For more history and self-guided tours, go to their website at nps.gov/colt.
Find out more about Sam Colt in these Connecticut Explored stories:
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-suspicious-colt-armory-fire/
https://www.ctexplored.org/sam-colt-mines-the-arizona-territory-2/
https://www.ctexplored.org/making-a-success-of-coltsville/
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg received support from the State Historic Preservation Office of the Dept of Economic and Community Development with funds from the Community Investment Act of the State of Connecticut.
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/
A Connecticut Historian Makes History: Recovering Phyllis Wheatley’s Lost Years
UCONN legal historian Cornelia Hughes Dayton was searching through Massachusetts Court cases from the 1700s, working on a project involving mental disabilities in early America, when she came upon a find that was itself history-making: a cache of court cases that illuminate the formerly “missing years” in the life of America’s first published African American author and the mother of the African-American literary tradition Phyllis Wheatley Peters. Dayton discusses her discovery of the court cases and their many revelations, as recounted in her just published and prize-winning article Lost Years Recovered: John Peters and Phillis Wheatley Peters in Middleton,” New England Quarterly 94 (September 2021): 309-351.
Watch for the release of primary source documents from the "Middleton dossier" on the the Wheatley Peters Project website (forthcoming). Track its progress at the Twitter account #Wheatley_Peters.
Are you your family’s historian? The one that listens to all the elders' stories or digs into that big box of old family photographs? Ever wonder how many of your dad’s stories are really true? Or if you have a big family secret that hasn’t been revealed for generations? If so, this episode is for you! In celebration of National Archives Month, we’re talking to two accomplished family historians.
Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the state’s history magazine, interviews author Jill Marie Snyder. Snyder has a B.A. in Urban Studies from the University of Connecticut and an M.A. in Communication from Fairfield University. Retired from a corporate career in the insurance industry, she's completed Boston University’s Principles of Genealogy course. Her book Dear Mary, Dear Luther, based on letters written between her parents, won the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society Award for Nonfiction Romance/history in 2020. Jill will be teaching a workshop on “Telling Your Family Story, Putting it all together” on Oct 20, 2021 for the Ancient Burying Ground Association and Hartford Public Library. Register for the workshop on the Ancient Burying Ground Association’s Facebook page under events.
Our second guest is well-known Hartford Jazz musician and recording artist Orice Jenkins. He studied music at the Hartt School and has released four solo albums including the fantastic Centennial Cole: the Music of Nate King Cole in 2019. He teaches in his hometown of Hartford and tours nationally with the Afro-Semitic Experience. His website features his family history blog Chesta’s Children: a Collection of Stories, People, History, Records and Research.
Find out more about our guests at their websites, https://www.jillmariesnyder.com/
https://oricejenkins.com/
Order Snyder’s book at https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Mary-Luther-Courtship-Letters-ebook/dp/B0793Q7LTM/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Jill+marie+snyder&qid=1633030224&sr=8-1
For more about family histories, read the stories in Connecticut Explored’s Family History issue here https://www.ctexplored.org/fall-2019-family-history-separating-fact-from-fiction/
For more on Connecticut’s African American history, visit our Topics page at https://www.ctexplored.org/african-american-history-in-connecticut-2/
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Donohue as documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/
History has often been described as the present having a conversation with the past. Meet Kevin Johnson, who makes those conversations both real and personal: as a Technical Assistant in the History and Genealogy unit of the Connecticut State Library in Hartford; as William Webb, a Civil War volunteer in the 29th Connecticut Colored Volunteer infiantry; and as Jordan Freeman, the African American who died a heroes death at the Revolutionary War Massacre at Fort Griswold. It's 250 years of history, all through one person: "The Three Lives of Kevin Johnson."
In this episode, join Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, for a discussion with Dr. Helen Sheumaker about Victorian jewelry and wreaths made from human hair. Dr. Sheumaker is the author of Love Entwined: The Curious History of Human Hair Work. She teaches history and American Studies at Miami University of Ohio.
Find out more about this now unfashionable way to remember your loved ones!
Read Dr. Sheumaker’s feature story in the Fall 2021 issue of Connecticut Explored-order your copy at ctexplored.org
And see more about her book here: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Entwined-Curious-History-Hairwork/dp/0812240146/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Love+Entwined&qid=1630356702&sr=8-2
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Donohue has documented Connecticut’s built environment and popular culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
And our thanks to the Lane Public Library in Oxford, Ohio for providing Dr. Sheumaker with a recording space.
Want to know more about Connecticut’s landmarks, museums, art, and history? Subscribe to Connecticut Explored-in your mailbox or inbox. And for a daily dose of history, visit Today in Connecticut History produced by the Connecticut State Historian at TodayinCThistory.com
What do the nineteenth century author Lydia Sigourney, the 18th century hero-turned-traitor Benedict Arnold, and the Revolutionary War battle of Bunker Hill have in common? They all come together in the story you are about to hear from Sigourney’s 1824 book SKETCH OF CONNECTICUT FORTY YEARS SINCE. Sigourney’s book, written early in her career, is a rare historical treat: a tale by a future-famous writer, written in 1824, reminiscing about life forty years earlier in 1784. The past remembering the past, in this episode of Grating the Nutmeg.
In this episode, join Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, for a discussion with Pablo Delano, visual artist, photographer and professor of fine arts at Trinity College - and the artist behind the new book Hartford Seen, published in 2020 by Wesleyan University Press. His work is featured in the photo essay “Visually Breathtaking Hartford Explored” in the Summer 2021 issue of Connecticut Explored magazine. Professor Delano’s father, Jack Delano, was a renown American New Deal-era photographer for the Farm Security Administration who photographed Connecticut in 1940.
To see more of Pablo Delano’s work, visit www.pablodelano.com and look for his new book Hartford Seen wherever you get your books or order here https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/hartford-seen-delano/
For more information on “The Museum of the Old Colony” exhibition, see the exhibit website and exhibition information below:
Official website: www.museumoftheoldcolony.org
Web page from the last iteration of the project at Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture:
https://cadvc.umbc.edu/pablo-delano-the-museum-of-the-old-colony/
Web page from Photoville Festival
https://photoville.nyc/the-museum-of-the-old-colony/
Exhibition catalog from CADVC
https://cadvc.umbc.edu/files/2020/02/Museum-of-The-Old-Colony-2.pdf
Exhibition catalog from Hampshire College
https://sites.hampshire.edu/gallery/files/2018/10/MoOC_catalogue_spreads.pdf
To see more of Jack Delano’s work as a photographer for the Federal Security Administration, go to the Library of Congress website at LOC.gov
Jack Delano Photographs, Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/photos/?fa=subject:color%7Ccontributor:delano,+jack
Jack Delano Papers, 1927-1995, Library of Congress
https://www.loc.gov/item/mm98084274/
To read more about Jack Delano’s photographs taken of Connecticut’s Jewish farmers, get the book A Life of the Land: Connecticut’s Jewish Farmers available from the Greater Hartford Jewish Historical Society on their website at https://jhsgh.org/
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Contact Donohue at marydonohue@comcast.net
Want to know more about Connecticut’s landmarks, museums, art, and history? Subscribe to Connecticut Explored-in your mailbox or inbox. And for a daily dose of history, visit Today in Connecticut History produced by the Connecticut State Historian at TodayinCThistory.com
In this special summer episode we visit Frank and Lisa Catalano, who in their 18th-century home garden in Lebanon, are using some very inventive approaches to bring back an old Connecticut tradition – self-sufficient food production. It's a history show for garden geeks . . . or maybe a garden show for history geeks.
In this episode, Dr. Leah Glaser and students from her 2021 Public History class at Central Connecticut State University present stories about the state’s witness trees — a project that evolved out of a semester-long class on local and community history. Trees are central characters in the state’s history, myths and legends. They witnessed the changing environmental, political, social, economic, and cultural landscape for decades and even centuries. What’s a witness tree, you ask? Find out in this episode of Grating the Nutmeg.
Find Dr. Glaser’s article about witness and memorial trees in the Spring 2021 issue of Connecticut Explored online at www.ctexplored.org/trees-as-memorials-and-witnesses-to-history/
Dr. Leah Glaser is a professor at Central Connecticut State University and Coordinator of the Public History Program. Her 2021 class researched tree stories and each student presented one story on the podcast. Contact her at glaserles@ccsu.edu
- Andy King-The Mashantucket Pequots and the rhododendron
- David Prochorena-Pinchot Oak, Simsbury
- Helena Torres Diaz-The Witch Tree and the Hartford Witch Trials, Hartford
- Despina Merriman-Nathan Hale Pear Tree, Coventry
- Gregory Franklin-Puritans to Patriots (Ye Olde Oak), Easton
- Cameron Clarke-John Brown’s Tree, Torrington
- Grayson Belisle- Teddy Roosevelt and the McKinley Tree, Farmington
- Emma Koss-Land Stewardship and the Dewey Oak, Granby
- Valerie Chase-WWII Patriotism and Arbor Day, Windham
- Benjamin Johnson-The Old Oak Tree and the Coltsville labor strike, Hartford
- Kaitlyn Oberndorfer- Blue Cedars and the Rural Cemetery Movement, Hartford
- Patricia Wallace– The Cypress Tree Mystery at an Olmsted Park, New Haven
- Garrett Saranich-The Chestnut Oak, Shipbuilding on the Connecticut shoreline, Clinton
- Ben Haberman- The Black Cherry Tree oversees Seaport to Coastal Gateway, Madison
- Tom Ieronimo- Of Hickory and Baseball, Hartford
For more information on Hartford’s historic trees, go to the Hartford Preservation Alliance website at https://hartfordpreservation.org/ccsu-tree-history/
Find the Connecticut Notable Tree Project at http://oak.conncoll.edu:8080/notabletrees/
Read More!
Connecticut Explored ctexplored.org
https://www.ctexplored.org/site-lines-connecticut-state-parks-at-100/
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Want to know more about Connecticut’s landmarks, museums, art and history? Subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine — in print to your mailbox or digitally to your e-mail inbox. Visit ctexplored.org to subscribe. And for a daily dose of history, visit Today in Connecticut History produced by the Office of the State Historian at TodayinCThistory.com.
This episode was produced by Leah Glaser and Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Please join us again for the next episode of Grating the Nutmeg!
State Historian Walt Woodward talks with award-winning author and materials scientists Ainissa Ramirez about her award-winning and highly acclaimed book The Alcehmy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another. On virtually every national Top Science Book of the Year List for 2020, The Alchemy of Us is a wonderfully readable, lively, smart and witty account of the development of eight inventions that have not only transformed the way we live, but have transformed us, too. Not surprisingly, half of those inventions have important Connecticut connections.
Ramirez and Woodward discuss the roles Samuel F Morse, Edwin Land, Ansonia’s William Wallace and New Haven’s George Coy played in creating inventions that have helped the world Convey, See, Capture and Think in new and different ways. It’s a fascinating and surprising story fest with one of the science world's best story tellers.
Lives of the state’s LGBTQ citizens have moved from being hidden and solitary to claiming visible, powerful, valuable, and contributing places in society. In this episode, Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, interviews CCSU Assistant Professor of History William J. Mann about when and how the LGBTQ movement started in Connecticut, what legislative goals and strategies drove the movement, and what the current goals are for the LGBTQ movement. Mann discusses the impact of AIDS and the ways that the LGBTQ community supported its members. He describes how his students helped to research and uncover the people and events highlighted in the online exhibition, “Historic Timeline of Connecticut’s LGBTQ Community.” Mann wrote CT Explored’s “A Brief History of Connecticut’s Gay Media,” available at www.ctexplored.org/a-brief-history-of-connecticut-gay-media/.
Mann teaches LGBTQ history, film history, and the history of AIDS. He is the director of CCSU's LGBTQ Center. From 1989-1995, he was the editor and later publisher of Metroline, the state’s LGBTQ newsmagazine, and coordinator of Your Turf, the first LGBTQ youth group in the state. In 1989, along with Terri Reid, William founded the long-running queer film festival known today as Out Film CT. He is author of 12 books, many on American film history.
Find the LGBTQ Timeline at https://chs.org/lgbtq/. It is a partnership between Central Connecticut State University and the Connecticut Historical Society, and is based on the work of Richard Nelson, CCSU 403 students in 2019, and will continue to grow.
Read more!
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LGBTQ Icons
Ann Stanback- https://www.ctexplored.org/women-who-changed-the-world/
https://www.ctexplored.org/an-early-advocate-for-connecticuts-gay-community/
https://www.ctexplored.org/site-lines-a-love-story-at-the-palmer-warner-house/
https://www.ctexplored.org/philip-johnsons-50-year-experiment-in-architecture-and-landscape/
https://www.ctexplored.org/stonington-poet-james-merrills-house/
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history and mixed by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Mary Donohue has documented Connecticut’s architecture, built environment and popular culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
In this episode, Josh Shanley – firefighter, paramedic, and Emergency Management Director for Northampton, Massachusetts, talks about the Great Connecticut RIver Flood of 1936, its devastating effects, long-term consequences, and the message it has for a world in climate change. Based on his new book, Connecticut River Valley Flood of 1936 from the History Press.
Connecticut Historical Society's Natalie Belanger talks with labor historian Steve Thornton of The Shoeleather History Project about Black baseball in Connecticut. Thornton is the author of Connecticut Explored's "African American Greats in Connecticut Baseball," Summer 2018.
Read or Watch More!To learn more about the Negro Leagues, check out this recent talk at the CT Historical Society by Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.
"African American Greats in Connecticut Baseball," Summer 2018
Shoeleather History Project at https://shoeleatherhistoryproject.com/
Follow the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League here.
This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Photo Credit: Johnny "Schoolboy" Taylor and Savitt Gems business manager Bernie Ellovich, 1930s-40s. Connecticut Historical Society 1990.51.988
No one knows more about transportation in Connecticut than historian, civil engineer, and highway and transportation planner Richard DeLuca. In this recent virtual lecture for Cheshire Public Library, promoting his new, second volume on Connecticut transportation history Paved Roads and Public Money (Wesleyan University Press), DeLuca underscores the inseparable relationships among population, technology, and the environment.
Visitors have been enchanted by the thousands of soft and fragrant rose petals in Elizabeth Park’s Rose Garden since it opened in 1904. Climbing roses intertwined in overhead garlands, hybrid tea roses and heritage roses in every color symbolize romance, friendship, and passion.
Elizabeth Park on the Hartford-West Hartford border is home to the country’s oldest public rose garden. Visitors by the thousands come to stroll in the rose garden and sit in the vine-covered gazebo. Generations of prom goers as well as wedding parties have had their photos taken there.
But how did Elizabeth Park become the public park it is today? Find out how Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture, a contested will and a beloved wife are all part of the story.
Mary Donohue interviews Elizabeth Park’s Rosarian Stephen Scanniello about all things roses.
Read more!
Sign up for our free newsletter ctexplored.substack.com
https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticuts-historic-rose-gardens/
https://www.ctexplored.org/off-the-streets-into-the-parks/
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Donohue has documented Connecticut’s architecture, built environment and popular culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
Visit www.elizabethparkct.org
Sometimes tombs become crime scenes. State Archaeologist Emeritus Nick Bellantoni talks with Walt Woodward about two such cases in which he was called in to do forensic archaeology, and the process of doing historic detective work in pursuit of justice. He also provides the latest developments concerning the discovery of revolutionary war skeletons in a basement in Ridgefield in December 2019.
In 1969, women were allowed entry to undergraduate study at Yale for the first time. Their experience was not the same as their male peers enjoyed. Isolated from one another, singled out as oddities and sexual objects, and barred from many of the school’s privileges, the young women nonetheless met the challenge of being first and changed Yale in ways it had never anticipated.
Mary Donohue interviews historian and Yale alumna Anne Gardiner Perkins, author of Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant and New Haven leader Constance Royster, one of Yale’s first women undergrads. Anne Gardiner Perkins is an award-winning historian and higher education expert, and the author of Yale Needs Women, which won the 2020 Connecticut Book Award. Ms. Royster holds a J.D. from Rutgers University Law School – Newark, and a B.A. cum laude from Yale University.
Read more!“UConn Law: The Trailblazing Bessye Bennett,” Spring 2014
“Yale’s Grace Murray Hopper College,” Fall 2017
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut historyand engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Ms. Donohue has documented Connecticut’s architecture, built environment and popular culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net
What secrets about the past can an ancient tomb reveal? The answers, as State Archaeologist emeritus Nick Bellantoni explains, are many, surprising, and incredibly interesting.
In this conversation about Nick's new book, And So the Tomb Remained: Exploring Archaeology and Forensic Science in Connecticut's Historical Family Mausolea, State Historian Walt Woodward and Bellantoni, who in his 30 plus years as state archaeologist entered more tombs that any other archeologist, talk about Nick's experiences doing restoration, recovery work, and crimonal investigations in the tombs of some of Connecticut's oldest and most powerful families.
Fifty years ago, Ericka Huggins and Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers were on trial for their lives in New Haven. In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society takes a look back at the New Haven Black Panther trials, using some of the many primary sources available.
To learn more about the New Haven Black Panther Trials:
To see Robert Templeton’s courtroom sketches of the Black Panther Trials, go here.
The trial transcripts are available digitally through Yale Law School’s Lillian Goldman Law Library.
The online exhibit, “Bulldog and Panther: The 1970 May Day Rally and Yale,” at Yale University Library, covers the events leading up to the May Rally, and its aftermath.
The recording of Alex Rackely’s interrogation can be heard via Youtube through this link to the New Haven Independent’s reporting of its discovery. Editor Paul Bass co-wrote, with Douglas W. Rae, Murder in the Model City: The Black Panthers, Yale, and the Redemption of a Killer.
Yohuru Williams’s essay, “The New Haven Black Panther Trials,” appears in African American Connecticut Explored, published through a collaboration between Connecticut Explored and the Amistad Center for Art & Culture. Williams is also the author of Black Politics, White Power: Civil Rights, Black Power, and the Black Panthers in New Haven. And in these two Connecticut Explored articles online below:
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-hartford-chapter-of-the-black-panthers-an-interview-with-butch-lewis/
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-new-haven-black-panther-trials/
You can learn more about this topic by tuning in to a virtual talk by Dr. Yohuru Williams, historian and founder of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, on February 24, 2021. "No Haven: Civil Rights, Black Power and Black Panthers in New Haven," hosted by the Connecticut Historical Society, will be streamed live on Crowdcast and available after for re-watch. Click here to register.
Natalie Belanger is the Adult Programs Manager at the Connecticut Historical Society. You can contact her at natalie_belanger@chs.org.
Produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Photo Credit: Black Panther Community News Service, CHS Collection, 2018.22.2
This lecture was presented by Dr. Leon Chameides for the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, Voices of Hope, and The Emanuel Synagogue. Learn more about Polish-Jewish history and how our guest Dr. Leon Chameides survived the Nazi occupation of Poland as a Jewish child. Despite the fact that many American Jews trace their family to Poland, there are many misconceptions about Polish history and the history of Polish-Jewish relations. Dr. Leon Chameides was born in Poland in 1935 and spent the war years hidden in a Ukrainian Greek-Catholic monastery. He went to England in 1946 and came to the United States in 1949. He was Director of Pediatrics at Hartford Hospital for 10 years.
To read more about Dr. Chameide’s life and family, look for his book Strangers in Many Lands, available on Amazon books. For more information about Hartford’s Jewish history, go to the website of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford at https://jhsgh.org/ and for more about Connecticut’s connection to the Holocaust, go to the website of Voices of Hope at http://ctvoicesofhope.org/
For more about Connecticut’s military history, go to https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticut-at-war/ and to read Dr. Chameides story in the Fall issue of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, go to https://www.ctexplored.org/a-jewish-childs-experience-of-war/
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Mary M. Donohue is the Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored. She has documented Connecticut’s architecture, built environment and popular culture for over 30 years. Contact her at https://www.granthousect.com/
In 1938 pioneering female architect and founder of the Hill-Stead Museum, Theodate Pope Riddle of Farmington enjoyed an excursion through Europe. While in London she participated in three sittings with trance mediums, continuing an avocational interest in spiritualism that lasted 34 years. Hear more about Riddle’s efforts to scientifically prove the ability to communicate with the deceased in this episode hosted by Mary Donohue, Asst Publisher of Connecticut Explored and Melanie Bourbeau, Curator and Director of Interpretation and Programs at the Hill-Stead Museum.
If you’d like to learn more about the Theodate Pope Riddle and Spiritualism, visit the museum’s website at https://www.hillstead.org/ and read Bourbeau’s article in the Winter 2020-21 issue of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut History.
Theodate Pope Riddle was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame-read more here: https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/theodate-pope-riddle
For more on Spiritualism in Connecticut, go to the website of Connecticut Explored for these articles at:
https://www.ctexplored.org/isabella-beecher-hooker-and-the-spirit-of-reform/
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-pine-grove-spiritualist-camp/
Mary M. Donohue is the Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored. She has documented Connecticut’s architecture, built environment and popular culture for over 30 years.
This episode was produced by Mary M. Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Want a daily dose of Connecticut history? Subscribe to TODAYINCTHISTORY.com and follow Connecticut Explored on Facebook and Instagram.
Mohegan Medicine Woman, Tribal Historian, and award-winning playwright and screenwriter Meissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel does a virtual sit-down with state historian Walt Woodward to talk about the radio drama Up and Down the River she and her equally accomplished daughter Madeline Sayet recently wrote, produced, and directed for Hartford's Heartbeat Ensemble.
The five short plays provide a unique and important window into key moments in Mohegan history and culture. Zobel provides both a writer's and a people's perspective on the stories, and tells how everyone can - for a limited time - hear the radio drama for free on the Heartbeat Ensemble website
In this episode, Mary Donohue talks to Curator Amy Kurtz Lansing about one of the most beautiful places to visit in Connecticut - the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme. Did Old Lyme become the home to an art colony because of the good food at Miss Florence’s boardinghouse or because of the soft, lovely light on the salt marshes along the Lieutenant River? The episode uncovers the roots of the Old Lyme Art Colony and also new exhibitions up now including Celebrating 20 Years of the Hartford Steam Boiler Collection, an exhibit that marks the arrival of 190 works of art in 2001, a gift that transformed the Griswold Museum, and a second exhibition, the Centennial of the Lyme Art Association Gallery , the museum’s neighbor, that partially recreates their 1921 inaugural exhibition in their shingle style building designed by society architect Charles A. Platt, designer of the Freer Art Gallery in Washington, DC and the Lyman Allyn Museum in New London, Connecticut. Florence Griswold was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002.
https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/florence-griswold
For more information and photos go to the website of Connecticut Explored at:
https://www.ctexplored.org/the-spirit-of-miss-florence-restored/
https://www.ctexplored.org/painting-with-needle-thread/
https://www.ctexplored.org/only-waiting-to-be-painted-the-inspirational-landscape-of-old-lyme/
To learn more about the Florence Griswold Museum and the current exhibitions, go to https://florencegriswoldmuseum.org/
Mary M. Donohue is the Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history. She has documented Connecticut’s architecture, built environment and pop culture for over 30 years.
This episode was produced by Mary M. Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
You can help us continue to produce Grating the Nutmeg. Please make a gift to Friends of Connecticut Explored and use coupon code Gratingthenutmeg to have your gift support the podcast. All gifts with this coupon code will be shared with the Office of the State Historian to support its outreach efforts. Go to ctexplored.org to make your donation.
In the summer of 1991, reporter and environmentalist Steve Grant traveled the entire 410 miles of the Connecticut River from its source near the Canadian border in New Hampshire to the Long Island Sound by self-addled canoe. Throughout the 33 day journey, Grant reported on his voyage in stories for the Hartford Courant. His every-other-day tales made Grant a celebrity and his journey a legend. Twenty-nine years after that life-changing trip,State Historian Walt Woodward met Grant on the banks of the Connecticut River in Hartford, to talk about the journey, the man, and the river in another time.
It's a fascinating two-part interview that covers everything from early 90's internet technology, to environmental restoration, to moose-induced traffic jams in the Great North Woods.
"The Connecticut River: First National Blueway Runs Through Connecticut," Spring 2014
"Connecticut River Legends," Spring 2019
"Pleasure Boating on the Connecticut River," Summer 2018
Read all of our stories about Connecticut's landscape and environment on our TOPICS page.
In part two oof Steve Grant's Legendary 1991 Source-to-Sea journey on the Connecticut River, we'll talk about Some of the Connecticut RIver's endangered species, the issues that affected the river's health then and now, the celebrations at the end of the voyage, and what the journey means to Grant some thirty years one.
"The Connecticut River: First National Blueway Runs Through Connecticut," Spring 2014
"Connecticut River Legends," Spring 2019
"Pleasure Boating on the Connecticut River," Summer 2018
Read all of our stories about Connecticut's landscape and environment on our TOPICS page.
To read Steve's work and see more of his nature photography visit thestevegrantebsite.com
The song 'Great River" by Walt Woodward, was peformed by Walt and The Band of Steady Habits –– Rachel Smith, Teagan Smith, Jeremy Teitelbaum, Duke York, & Walt Woodward
In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society takes a look at the iconic Rosie the Riveter character. To get the scoop on what it was like to be a real-life "Rosie" in CT during WWII, she speaks to Gretchen Caulfield, President of the American Rosie the Riveter Association. (https://rosietheriveter.net/)
Get our Commemorative 75th Anniversary of World War II Fall 2020 issue-full of CT WWII stories-by subscribing to Connecticut Explored at our Special Podcast Sale Price! Get 6 issues for the price of 4 or 10 issues for the price of 8! Teacher rates excluded. Use the code NUTMEG on our website at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/
And see photos of Connecticut’s own Working Women in WWII at this link:
https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticuts-own-rosie-the-riveter/
This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
(Image - Brookfield Registrars, chistinascucina.com)
With elections leaving so many people with a bitter taste in their mouths, we're celebrating one of Connecticut's oldest – and for centuries best known – traditions; the Connecticut Election cake. In this conversation with Allie Kyff of the Connecticut Democracy Center at Connecticut's Old State House,state Historian Walt Woodward discusses the fascinating history of this delicious tradition.
BAKE YOUR WAY TO GLORY! Join in a statewide election cake decorating contest held by Connecticut's Old State House.
Celebrate a 200-year old Connecticut Election Day tradition by entering our Election Day Cake Virtual Contest. Inspire everyone to vote by baking a cake, decorating it, and entering to win!
Bake your cake using the original Election Day Cake recipe or follow a recipe of your own choosing! Since our judges won't be able to taste your delicious creations, we are going to judge on decoration alone. Make a cake that you would love to eat on election day-- one that looks as good as it tastes, celebrates elections, and inspires voting!
Watch our Facebook Live interview with State Historian Dr. Walt Woodward from September 23rd, Hartford's Election Day Cake: A Yummy Civic Tradition, to learn more about this great tradition.
Make sure that your are following Connecticut's Old State House on Facebook, Instagram (@CTOldStateHouse) and Twitter (@CTOldStateHouse) or opt into our email list for October updates and the winning announcement on Monday, November 2, 20202!
Rules:
1. Bake a cake and decorate it in a way that celebrates voting and inspires people to vote on November 3rd.
2. The cake MUST be non-partisan.
3. Cakes that promote an issue, party, or person will be disqualified.
4. Submit no more than three pictures of your cake. One photo must be of the entire cake either from above or at an angle.
5. Send your submission to ctdemocracycenter@gmail.com by 5pm on Monday, October 26, 2020.
6. Only one submission per person is permitted.
7. This contest is open to all ages.
Winners and prizes will be announced on Monday, November 2, 2020.
Please note that this is a virtual event. There is no in-person component.
Owned by the same family for its first 200 years then purchased by star architect Cass Gilbert in 1907 for his summer home, the Keeler Tavern was there when the American Revolution’s Battle of Ridgefield happened and it has a cannonball embedded in the façade to prove it. New York City architect Cass Gilbert, designer of early skyscrapers like the Woolworth Building in New York City, kept all of the home’s Colonial charm and added to it! Cass Gilbert had a big impact on Connecticut’s architecture in Hartford, Waterbury, Waterford and New Haven.
But there’s more to the Keeler Tavern than a pretty place! New research is enhancing the museum’s ability to tell women’s and African American history in programming for adults and children. The pandemic pushed many museums to reach out to their audience using new technologies. Hear more about how the Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center’s dynamic staff is telling their story and finding new audiences in 2020 with architectural historian Mary Donohue.
Thank our guests Hildi Grob, Executive Director, Catherine Prescott, Chief Curator, and Melissa Houston, Educational Director from the Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center. See more at https://keelertavernmuseum.org/
Find a photo album for this episode at https://www.ctexplored.org/
Read more online at ctexplored.org in the article https://www.ctexplored.org/benedict-arnold-and-the-battle-of-ridgefield/
And read about architect Cass Gilbert in our online articles including https://www.ctexplored.org/glamour-and-purpose-in-new-havens-union-station/
https://www.ctexplored.org/longer-lasting-than-brass-waterburys-city-hall-restored/
https://www.ctexplored.org/seaside/
Our mid-reel sponsor is the Wilton Historical Society at http://wiltonhistorical.org/
Mentioned in the episode: Historical Interpreter-Cheyney McKnight at NotYourMommasHistory http://www.notyourmommashistory.com/
Playwrights: Joanne Hudson, Redding, CT and Royal Shiree, Lynchburg, VA
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Music by Hyde.
In this podcast from the memoir of Ellsworth S Grant, one of the state's great historians, Walt Woodward tells us about the invention of the world's best fastening device. It's a story that begins with Archimedes, and that came to fruition because of silk worms, Cornelius Vanderbilt, an entrepreneur named Dimoch, and an Irish inventor who gave this unique tool its name. It's a story for anyone who ever put together a piece of Ikea furniture - the story of the recessed hexagonal screw and the Allen wrench
Sophie Tucker was one of the 20th century's most successful and highest paid performers. A singer and humorist, she transitioned successfully through vaudeville, recordings, Broadway, radio, movies, nightclubs and finally television. Born into a Jewish family that immigrated from Eastern Europe, her parents ran a kosher restaurant in Hartford’s Front Street district. Many of the threads that run through her life resonant with women now including body positivity, female agency, an artist’s control of their own work and career as well as a rags to riches immigrant success story. This episode includes snippets from three of her most famous songs-“One of These Days” by African American composer Sheldon Brooks; “I’m the Last of the Red Hot Mama’s” by Milton Agar and Jack Yellen, and “My Yiddishe Momme” by Jack Yellen. Tucker never forgot Hartford and contributed to numerous local charities. She left almost 400 scrapbooks documenting her full career to the New York Public Library. She was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame in 1999.
https://www.cwhf.org/inductees/sophie-tucker
For more information and photos go to the website of Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/sophie-tucker-last-of-the-red-hot-mamas/
Tor read more about her mother and the “Handkerchief Brigade” go to https://www.ctexplored.org/the-handkerchief-brigade/
Look for a new online exhibition in late Sept, 2020 on the website of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford at https://jhsgh.org/
Mary M. Donohue is the Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history. She has documented Connecticut’s architecture, built environment and pop culture for over 30 years.
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org
For our 100th episode, a revealing new look at Connecticut's oldest and most iconic legend - the Charter Oak. State historian Walt Woodward dug deep into this time-honored tale, and offers a new, true, and sometimes amusing look into the history behind this foundational legend.
In this episode of Grading the Nutmeg, Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, reveals Connecticut’s connection to Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, and the run up to his most contentious project, the Mount Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota.
Perhaps the largest outdoor sculpture in the country, Mount Rushmore has been controversial since it was proposed. Where it’s located, who it commemorates, and its sculptor are all part of the national conversation now. Built on Native American land, it features the faces of four American presidents--two of whom were slaveholders (Washington and Jefferson) and two of whom were involved in efforts to uproot Western Native American tribes (Lincoln and Roosevelt). And the sculptor behind the design, Connecticut resident Gutzon Borglum? He was someone who, according to the New York Times article “How Mount Rushmore became Mount Rushmore” published July 1, 2020, formed great bonds with leaders of the Ku Klux Klan and participated in their meetings to secure funding for the Stone Mountain project in Georgia. Borglum also espoused white supremacist and anti-Semitic ideas.
To read the full article, go to https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticuts-mount-rushmore-connection/
To read more about his career, go to http://www.tfaoi.com/newsm1/n1m582.htm
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on itunes, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Sound Cloud or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at https://www.ctexplored.org/
In "Two From World War II." state historian Walt Woodward presents two stories he wrote for this Fall's special "Remembering World War II" edition of Connecticut Explored Magazine. The first tells how Pratt & Whitney Aircraft prepared for the coming crisis. The second tells the story of Gordon H. Stirling, Connecticut's 1st World War II hero.
In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society talks to historians Brittney Yancy and Karen Li Miller about their ongoing project to uncover the suffrage work of women of color in Connecticut. African American women rallied for the woman’s suffrage cause, determined to ensure black women’s inclusion and electoral self-representation.
if you’d like to learn more about this topic, visit the CHS’s website at CHS.org/wocvotes. For a broader look at the woman’s suffrage movement in CT, you can see the exhibit “A Vote of Her Own: The Long Fight for Woman Suffrage” on view at the CHS in fall 2020. And don’t forget to order your copy of the Summer issue of CT Explored at ctexplored.org with the article “Uncovering African American Women’s Fight for Suffrage” by Karen Li Miller, available at ctexplored.org/shop
Read more about Mary Townsend Seymour at https://www.ctexplored.org/audacious-alliance-mary-townsend-seymour/
Thank you to our guests. This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Photo credit: Mary A. Johnson (center) with Elizabeth R. Morris (left) and Rosa J. Fisher (right) representing Hartford’s Colored Women’s Liberty Loan Committee, 1918. Photographer Edward M. Crocker, The Hartford Courant, State Archives, Connecticut State Library.
State historian Walt Woodward takes a new look at the actions surrounding the Revolutionary War execution of state hero Nathan Hale, and finds there are still some burning questions left to be answered about this hasty and irregular event. It’s a story from Walt's new book Creating Connecticut: Critical Moments That Shaped a Great State, just out from Globe Pequot Press. As you’ll soon hear, when looking for answers about the Rough Justice handed out to Nathan Hale by the British in New York in 1776, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
In this episode CT Explored publisher Elizabeth Normen draws inspiration from the haunting words of her great-great grandmother, the wife of a sea captain during the Great Age of Sail. Her ancestor was one of hundreds of women in the 19th century who made the difficult choice to leave all they knew and those they loved for the uncertainly of a life at sea. What were the joys and hardships for women who made that choice? Find out in this episode of Grating the Nutmeg.
Find more stories about brave women in our Summer 2020 issue commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage, available now at ctexplored.org, including important stories about Native American and African American women and the right to vote. And for more stories about Connecticut’s maritime history, see the Spring 2009 issue online at ctexplored.org. Please support us by subscribing at ctexplored.org.
This episode was produced by Elizabeth Normen and Patrick O’Sullivan. Thanks for Moira O’Sullivan for narrating portions of the story.
Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored and co-author of the book A Life of the Land: Connecticut’s Jewish Farmers explores the story of Connecticut’s Jewish farmers in the last century. Surprised that there were Jewish farmers? Many people are but scores of newly arrived Jewish immigrants were assisted in making their lives in poultry and dairy farming throughout the state. Some farms developed into resorts catering to vacationing urbanites seeking a bigotry free relaxing vacation in the countryside.
To read more about Connecticut’s Jewish farmers, go to the Connecticut Explored website to read “Hebrew Tillers of the Soil” from the Spring 2006 issue and “The Connecticut Catskills” in our Summer 2018-both articles are on online. To order Ms. Donohue’s book, A Life of the Land: Connecticut’s Jewish farmers, go to the website of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford at jhsgh.org/store/
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. It features the voices of Moira O’Sullivan and Patrick O’Sullivan. Music by New Town Klezmer.
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored, buy back issues and collections—including a make-your-own collection at a special price-- at ctexplored.org.
State historian Walt Woodward used his recent shelter-in-place time to create a podcast about the deadliest disease to ever hit Connecticut. The influenza pandemic of 1918, like C0VID-19, stopped life as people-knew-it in its tracks.
Emergency Hospital #16 New Haven[Library of Congress]
He asked the questions we’re asking about today’s pandemic to pandemic of a century ago.
Where did it come from? How did it spread? Who did it affect the most? How did the medical community respond to it? How did state and local governments respond? What social distancing measures were taken? And how did its impact change Connecticut and its people?
Walt found history, as always, to be an important reference point. We think you will, too. If you like what you hear, please share it with your friends.
Architectural historian Mary Donohue digs deep to uncover which local libraries in Connecticut were funded by robber baron, steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie at the beginning of the 20th century. Why did the City of New Haven turn down a generous gift of $300,000 from Carnegie in 1903 meant to build a large public library? How did communities apply for library construction grants from Carnegie and what were the requirements? What were the strings attached to accepting the money?
And, what has become of these well-built landmarks in Connecticut? Find out from guest Robert Kinney, Outreach Services Librarian at the Connecticut State Library and Pastor of Mount Hope Temple Church in New Haven what it takes to adaptively reuse an almost 100-year-old library building for a new purpose.
We wish to thank our guest Robert Kinney. Read more in online at ctexplored.org in the Fall 2015 article “Connecticut’s Carnegie Libraries”
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Twice a year, restoration carpenter Tom Linsky and his wife Sally Irons host a heart-cooked colonial feast in their historic 18th century Portland home, as a benefit for their favorite charities. For those events Chef Tom Linskey spends an entire week prepping, preparing, and cooking a totally hearth-cooked panoply of colonial dishes to serve for the benefits' guests. Last month (February 2020), State Historian Walt Woodward stopped in to see Tom throughout the week to learn about hearth-cooking and feasting in the colonial era. The result was a delicious and wonderfully informative encounter with hearth-cooking and colonial foodways.
You can view photos of the hearth cooking experience and some of the items in the Linskeey's colonial tavern room on the Connecticut State Historian's Facebook page.
- Bob Steele, the Voice of Connecticut Radio
For more than sixty years, Bob Steele was the voice of Southern New England, entertaining listeners of WTIC AM with his wit and humor. Connecticut author Paul Hensler has written the first-ever biography of Steele, chronicling his hardscrabble beginnings in the Midwest, his early career as a boxer, and his almost accidental hiring as an announcer at WTIC in the midst of the Great Depression. In this episode, recorded at the CT Historical Society with Natalie Belanger, Hensler provides a look into Steele's life and work.
Paul Hensler's book, Bob Steele on the Radio: The Life of Connecticut's Beloved Broadcaster, is published by McFarland. We wish to thank Natalie Belanger and author Paul Hensler. This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Be sure to join us for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg.
CT Explored publisher Elizabeth Normen sits down with Dr. Benjamin Foster and Connecticut State Representative Bobby Gibson to talk about their efforts to pass legislation requiring teaching African American history in Connecticut, their vision for the curriculum, and why it matters. “When kids started to say math is for whites,” Foster, a longtime educator says, “I knew we had to do something” to reconnect students with their rich history of contributions to this nation. We wish to thank Dr. Benjamin Foster and Representative Bobby Gibson and Carmen Arace Middle School for hosting us. This episode was produced by Elizabeth Normen and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
Anna Mae Duane has written an amazing new book about James McCune Smith and Henry Garnet, two African American boys who met as young students at the New York African Free School on Mulberry street.
Their intertwined, but very different lives of antebellum antislavery activism helped define the possibilities for blacks in American Society. State historian Walt Woodward interviews UCONN English professor Duane, who talks about Educated for Freedom,and the inspiring and informative example Smith and Garnet provided for their generation, and ours.
Episode recorded by Walt Woodward. Edited, mixed, and assembled by Matt Berky at Massive Productions
In the Winter 2019 issue of Connecticut Explored, Museum of Connecticut History curator Dave Corrigan tackles the obsolescence of everyday objects such as typewriters that were replaced by personal computers. With the advent of digital recording, CDs, and streaming music services, perhaps no industry has experienced more rapid change in the last 20 years than the music industry. But as historians, we know that some people value doing things in the traditional way.
In today’s episode, Assistant Publisher Mary Donohue and podcast engineer Patrick O’Sullivan visit Connecticut’s legendary Dirt Floor Recording and Production Studios to talk to musician and Dirt Floor producer Eric Lichter. Connecticut Public Radio’s John Dankosky calls Dirt Floor “the Music Sanctuary of Connecticut”. Hear more about how Lichter uses old fashioned, hands-on musical instruments and recording methods to produce some of Connecticut’s most popular new musicians.
We wish to thank our guests Eric Michael Lichter and musician Angela Luna. To learn more about Dirt Floor Recording and Production Studios, go to dirtfloorrecordingstudio.com and for more about Angela Luna, go to her Facebook page at Luna & the Lost Souls. Our thanks to Luna & the Lost Souls for the music in the episode.
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
In our first episode for 2020, state historian Walt Woodward interviews author and historian Tom Shachtman talks about his just released book, The Founding Fortunes: How America's Wealthy Paid for and Profited From America's Revolution. In this fascinating economic history covering the years from the Birth of the Republic to the end of the War of 1812, Shachtman asks an important question most historians don't consider: Who paid for the war for independence?
The answers come with some profound insights that still resonate in the present. Shachtman also helps us understand the national significance of a number of famous Revolutionary Connecticans, including Jeremiah Wadsworth, SIlas Deane, Eli Whitney, John Fitch, and Oliver Wolcott, Jr.
For your holiday enjoyment, State Historian Walt Woodward has gathered together three historic Connecticut Christmas stories, and a Christmas Song: Francis S. Parsons "The Christmas Party" (1923), Louise Chandler Moulton's "What Came to Olive Haygarth" (1867), Abby Allin's "Old Santa Claus (1850), and Walt Woodward's own "A Children's Christmas."
Happy Holidays From All the Grating the Nutmeg Team.
Maps tell stories. In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger and Ben Gammell of the CT Historical Society uncover the little-known story of 18th-century cartographer Bernard Romans. A new exhibit of his maps at the museum pieces together the life story of a bold, talented, and adventurous immigrant to Connecticut who put his considerable skills to work for the American cause and may have paid the ultimate price for it.
“War, Maps, Mystery: Dutch Mapmaker Bernard Romans and the American Revolution” is on view at the Connecticut Historical Society until May 2, 2020. To learn more, visit chs.org. For more great stories on maps, order Connecticut Explored’s back issue for Spring 2012 -entitled “Putting Connecticut on the Map”- at our website at ctexplored.org
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
For more than a generation, Kendall F. Wiggin has been one of the most influential champions of history issues and institutions in Connecticut. At the end of 2019, Ken is retiring after 21 years as Connecticut's State Librarian. In a revealing interview, State Historian Walter Woodward sat down with Ken for a wide-ranging discussion about his agency's complex role in preserving the state's past, the effect of the Internet on historical research and libraries, the role of Connecticut history in public education, his successes and regrets, some advice for his successor, and more.
How did Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemons use scrapbooks to fight unscrupulous publishers who reprinted his work
without paying him? Why did celebrities like Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony keep
scrapbooks? How did abolitionists, suffragettes, and African Americans use scrapbooks to tell their story? Before the
era of google and Instagram, how did American use scrapbooks to curate printed stories that contained information
they wanted to save for the future?
In this episode, our guest, Dr. Ellen Gruber Garvey explores how Americans from all walks of life created
scrapbooks to document, store, critique, and participate in a rapidly changing world of information overload. This
episode was recorded as a lecture at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. You’ll have to use your imagination a little to
picture some of the types of scrapbooks that Dr. Garvey refers to but you’ll be fascinated by impact scrapbooks had
on American history.
We wish to thank our guest Dr. Ellen Gruber Garvey, professor of English at the New Jersey City University and the
host for the lecture, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. Read more in Dr. Garvey’s book Writing with Scissors
American Scrapbooks from the Civil War to the Harlem Renaissance published by Oxford University Press.
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by
Patrick O’Sullivan.
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg, subscribe on iTunes, IHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Spotify or at
gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. Subscribe to Connecticut Explored and get the upcoming Winter issue with
stories about events or inventions that disrupted history. Subscribe, buy back issues and collections—at
ctexplored.org
Say the name Wilbur Cross and most Connecticans think of a parkway. Wilbur Cross the man, however, was a Connectican of extraordinary accomplishment. Born in 1862 in the factory village of Gurleyville, he became a world-class scholar, author, educational reformer, founding Dean of the Yale Graduate school, and, starting at age 68, a popular four-term governor who guided Connecticut through the worst years of the Great Depression.
In this episode, state historian Walt Woodward sits down at the New Haven Museum with poet and publisher David Wilk, whose City Point Press recently reissued Cross's 1943 autobiography Connecticut Yankee: An Autobiography of Wilbur L. Cross, to discuss Cross's remarkable nineteenth and twentieth century life.
As a bonus, we include a reading by David Wilk of Wilbur Cross's 1936 Thanksgiving Proclamation, regarded then and now for its eloquent invitation to thankful reflection.
Our guest, Elisabeth Petry is a journalist. She knows how to uncover a clue, follow a lead, and tell a good story. Her mother was bestselling novelist Ann Petry, whose 1946 debut novel The Street became the first novel by an African American to sell more than a million copies. In this episode, Liz tells us more about her family tree—the James and Lane Families—four generations of strivers and achievers descended from self-emancipated slaves, who settled in New Haven, Hartford, and Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Four hundred family letters survive, many of which contained stories that were fodder for Ann Petry’s novels. Hear more about how Liz and two of her cousins are taking the family’s story to the screen. We join Steve Courtney at the Mark Twain House & Museum as he introduces the lecture from which this podcast was recorded.
We wish to thank our guest Elisabeth Petry and the host for the lecture, the Mark Twain House & Museum. Read more about Liz’s search for her family history in the Fall 2019 issue of Connecticut Explored where you’ll also find Martha Hall Kelly’s story about Caroline Ferriday. You can listen to our podcast with Kelly in episode 34 and to hear more about Barbara Beeching’s research on the black middle class in Hartford, listen to Episode 53 of Grating the Nutmeg. For more information on the James Family project and documentary go to https://www.jamesfamilyletters.com/
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher of Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg, subscribe on iTunes, IHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Spotify or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com
Please leave a review! We’d love to get your feedback!
Every Governor of our state makeshistory, but there have been very few who know their history as well as Connecticut’s current governor Edward M. "Ned" Lamont.”
In this very special episode, Mary Donohue and Walt Woodward, along with Connecticut Explored publisher Elizabeth Normen and producer Patrick O'Sullivan went to the state capitol to talk with Governor Lamont about a speech – and now audio essay he recorded for this podcast – titled “100 Years of Fake News and Real and Fake Wars.”
In an era when Americans are challenged to separate fact from fiction in a myriad of different media, the Governor’s message is a kind of cautionary tale for all of us. And, as you’ll see, it reflects some keen and insightful thinking from a governor who takes his history seriously.
Four hundred years ago, in August 1619, more than 20 kidnapped enslaved African people were sold to the Virginia colonists. Slavery was well established in the early Connecticut Colony, too. Traded, sold, given as gifts, and subjected to beatings as documents attest, the enslaved people of Hartford suffered no less than enslaved people anywhere. In today’s episode, Connecticut Explored’s Mary Donohue finds out about an innovative, model project that uses fine-grained scholarship to uncover the lives of almost 500 Africans, African Americans, and Native Americans buried between 1640 and 1815 in Hartford’s oldest historic site, the Ancient Burying Ground. She talks with Dr. Kathy Hermes, professor at Central Connecticut State University, about the project, sponsored by the Ancient Burying Ground Association and about the new website that makes all this research available with a click of a mouse.
For more information, visit the new website at www.africannativeburialsct.org. Join us on September 12, 2019 at 6 p.m. at the Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library, 500 Main Street, in downtown Hartford for a free lecture by Dr. Hermes “Uncovering Their History: African, African American and Native Americans Buried in Hartford’s Ancient Burying Ground, 1640-1815” that will launch the website. To learn more about how to research Hartford’s early black community, join Dr. Hermes for a workshop at the Hartford History Center, October 5, 2019, 11 a.m., also free to the public. And come view the exhibition at the Hartford History Center: Uncovering the Ancient Burying Ground, an exhibition featuring historic photos, maps, drawings, and postcards.
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, assistant publisher, Connecticut Explored, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Visual art by coramarshall.com.
To order a Fall 2019 issue of Connecticut Explored with a feature article by Dr. Hermes about this project, go to ctexplored.org.
Subscribe to Connecticut Explored and get the upcoming Winter issue with stories about events or inventions that disrupted history. Subscribe, buy back issues and collections—including a make-your-own collection at a special price—at ctexplored.org.
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on iTunes, IHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Spotify or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com
Food historian and author of Pizza in New HavenColin M. Caplin tells State Historian Walt Woodward and co-host Betsy Golden Kellem the fascinating story of the creation and rise to world-class celebrity of New Haven Pizza.
Join us at Modern Apizza in New Haven for a lunch-time food and information feast you won’t want to miss.
And at the end, you’ll hear about a special offer that might have you joining Walt Betsy and Colin for another podcast lunch and another slice of New Haven Pizza.
In this installment of GTN, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Historical Society takes a walk through the museum's archival collection of documents related to the Ku Klux Klan. You'll learn about the Klan's sudden rise, and rapid fall, in 1920s Connecticut, a dark time when Connecticut was torn by disagreements over immigration policy and the changing demographics of United States.
To learn more, you can join Natalie at the Connecticut Historical Society on September 14, 2019 for a gallery program related to this topic, or visit the CHS's Research Center anytime to view the Ku Klux Klan documents yourself.
This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on iTunes, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Spotify or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org Please leave a review on iTunes for Grating the Nutmeg-we’d appreciate it!
In this Gate-leg Table interview with state historian Walt Woodward, transportation historian Richard DeLuca takes us on an expert's tour of Connecticut's long history of charging people to get from here to there. From turnpikes to bicycle roads, the state highway system to the parkways and toll roads Connecticut got rid of in the 1980s, DeLuca provides the background you need to make good decisions about The Toll Question in Connecticut. DeLuca is the author of POST ROADS AND IRON HORSES and PAVED ROADS AND PUBLIC MONEY, forthcoming from Wesleyan University Press.
Two of Connecticut’s most influential women, Beatrice Fox Auerbach, the owner of G. Fox, the largest privately-owned department store in the United States at the time and U.S. Congresswoman Chase Going Woodhouse, the second woman to be elected to the US Congress from Connecticut, spent seven weeks travelling through 10 countries in the Middle East and Europe in 1949. Only four years after the end of WWII and one year after the founding of the new nation of Israel, Auerbach and Woodhouse were shown battlefields, refugee camps, and the ruins of German cities. Auerbach’s diary entries reveal what she saw and experienced-civil war in Greece, Arab refugee camps in Transjordan, the value of using Hebrew in Israel, and the fear of rising anti-Semitism and communism in Germany. In this episode, edited from a lecture given at the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, Dr. Tracey Wilson comments on Auerbach and Woodhouse’s contribution to the development of women in leadership roles in Connecticut and reads from Mrs. Auerbach’s travel diaries. Both women are in the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.
Dr. Wilson received her Ph. D in history from Brown University and serves as the West Hartford Town Historian. To listen to the full lecture or view the videotape, contact the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford. The Auerbach diaries are in the collection of the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, and the papers of Chase Going Woodhouse are in the collection of the Dodd Center, University of Connecticut at Storrs. To hear more about G. Fox Dept Store, listen to Episode 73 of Grating the Nutmeg, “Dept Stores, G. Fox and the Black Freedom Movement”.
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on itunes, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Spotify or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org
This summer the Connecticut Historical Society is hosting an exhibition called Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow. It’s a traveling show that originated at the New-York Historical Society. The exhibition explores the struggle for full citizenship and racial equality that unfolded after the Civil War. Even though northern states like Connecticut did not institute Jim Crow segregation by law, discrimination and segregation were the norm in many public spaces, including elegant department stores like New York City’s Macy’s, Bloomingdales, and Hartford’s G. Fox. In this episode, Dr. Traci Parker of the University of Massachusetts, with some editorial commentary from host Natalie Belanger talk about what department stores like G. Fox meant to consumers and retail workers alike, and how they become sites of struggle in the civil rights movement. Dr. Parker’s new book is Department Stores and the Black Freedom Movement: Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights from the 1930s to the 1980s published by the University of North Carolina Press. For more information about G. Fox Dept Store, contact the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford. This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on itunes, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay, SoundCloud or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org
In Part 2 of our Series Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of Dartmouth College and Its Roots in the town of Columbia. Mohegan Elder Beth Regan tells the story of Samson Occom. Occom, a Mohegan convert to Christianity, was educated by Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, became a teacher and minister, raised much of the money used to establish Dartmouth, and went on to found the utopian native Christian community of Brothertown, New York. Occom’s story as told by Mohegan elder Regan provides a different and importantperspective on Dartmouth’s founding, one that is not to be missed.
This episode is dedicated to Mohegan Nonner and elder Faith Damon Davison, with whom Regan was to give her talk. She was prevented by the onset of an illness that led to her passing a few weeks later. A wise and wonderful person, Nonner Faith Damon Davison will be missed by all of us who knew her, -
Recently, alumni of Dartmouth College, members of the Mohegan nation, the Columbia Historical Society and state and local officials gathered in the quiet corner town of Columbia to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of that Ivy League Institution.
Why Columbia? That is where the Great Awakening minister Eleazar Wheelock, inspired by the educational achievements of Mohegan student Samson Occom, founded Moor’s Indian Charity School, the training school for indigenous missionaries that led directly to Wheelock’s founding of Dartmouth in 1769.
In this episode, following Elder Beth Regan’s Mohegan-language conference invocation, state historian Walt Woodward describes Eleazar Wheelock’s life as a local minister and Great Awakening evangelist, his relationship with Samson Occom, and life at Moor’s Indian Charity School.
“Eleazar Wheelock, the Great Awakening, Samson Occom, and the Indian School - This episode of Grating the Nutmeg.”
Recently, alumni of Dartmouth College, members of the Mohegan nation, the Columbia Historical Society and state and local officials gathered in the quiet corner town of Columbia to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of that Ivy League Institution.
Why Columbia? That is where the Great Awakening minister Eleazar Wheelock, inspired by the educational achievements of Mohegan student Samson Occom, founded Moor’s Indian Charity School, the training school for indigenous missionaries that led directly to Wheelock’s founding of Dartmouth in 1769.
In this episode, following Elder Beth Regan’s Mohegan-language conference invocation, state historian Walt Woodward describes Eleazar Wheelock’s life as a local minister and Great Awakening evangelist, his relationship with Samson Occom, and life at Moor’s Indian Charity School.
“Eleazar Wheelock, the Great Awakening, Samson Occom, and the Indian School - This episode of Grating the Nutmeg.”
This episode celebrates the 100th anniversary of the most influential design school of the twentieth century, the Bauhaus, and Connecticut’s connection to it. Connecticut Explored’s Assistant Publisher Mary Donohue and conceptual artist, photographer and frequent Connecticut Explored contributor Bob Gregson talk about pioneering Modern artists Anni and Josef Albers, who escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s and made New Haven their home in 1950. It’s a remarkable story. Josef was associated with the Bauhaus longer than any other artist and Anni was the last surviving teacher from the Bauhaus. Both had independent careers as world famous, influential teachers and artists.
For more information about the Albers, read Bob’s feature story in the Winter 2018-2019 issue of Connecticut Explored at ctexplored.org and for more about the Albers, go to the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation’s website at albersfoundation.org. For more about our guest, go to BobGregson.com
This episode was hosted and produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org.
Through May 31, 2019, for just $20, Grating the Nutmeg listeners receive 6 issues for the price of 4 with coupon code GTNSpring19. That’s 2 free issues added to a one-year subscription with coupon code GTNSpring19 when you subscribe by May 31, 2019 at ctexplored.org/shop
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on iTunes, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Spotify or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com.
It’s not very often that a historian interviews a poet for a history podcast, but in this episode state historian Walt Woodward interviews award-winning poet, novelist, essayist, environmentalist, and former Deputy Commission of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection David K. Leff about his new verse novel, The Breach: Voices Haunting a New England Mill Town (Homebound Books, 2019). The Breach is a fascinating study of decline in a New England factory village caught in the throes of both an economic and an environmental crisis. And - plus, plus, plus - it’s a story told mostly by historical objects. Leff talks about his book, the reasons he lets objects tell the story, and reads some of the entries, too. Warning: Leff's readings contain a bit of profanity, one violent episode, and a hint of sex.
In this podcast cross-over episode, Johnna Kaplan, author of Connecticut Explored's spring 2019 story about Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut is joined by her Going/Steadypodcast co-host Kerri Provost. Listen as they dive into the history of Fort Trumbull, a Connecticut state park that’s seen a devastating Revolutionary War battle, witnessed Prohibition-era high-speed boat chases, and housed a top-secret military research facility. Today Fort Trumbull is one of New London’s must-visit attractions, part of the new Thames River Heritage Park.
Thanks to the co-hosts of Going/Steady, Kerri Provost of Real Hartford and Johnna Kaplan of The Size of Connecticut. Listen to Going/Steady podcast at goingsteadyct.com and on iTunes. For more information about the fort, visit ct.gov/deep and fortfriends.org. For more about the summer water taxi and historic attractions go to thamesriverheritagepark.org
This episode produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Soundcloud or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And to read Johnna's story, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history,at ctexplored.org.
Through May 31, 2019, for just $20, Grating the Nutmeg listeners receive 6 issues for the price of 4 with coupon code GTNSpring19. That’s 2 free issues added to a one-year subscription with coupon code GTNSpring19 when you subscribe by May 31, 2019 at ctexplored.org/shop
The story behind this episode started with the high-profile heist in 1991 of a stained-glass window from the nineteenth century mausoleum of a New London industrialist. The window was designed by world-famous artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. But the thieves hadn’t counted on a persistent detective. Tiffany, best known for his brilliant innovations in glass, had deep Connecticut roots. A new permanent exhibition about his work, including 100 fine- and decorative-arts objects, is now on view at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London. Join host Mary Donohue and curator Tanya Pohrt and museum director Sam Quigley to discover more about Tiffany’s career, his family ties to New London, and his life-long pursuit of beauty.
Read our story about Louis Comfort Tiffany in the Winter 2018-2019 issue online at ctexplored.org. For more information about the Lyman Allyn’s exhibition “Louis Comfort Tiffany in New London” and the Lyman Allyn Art Museum visit lymanallyn.org. To see a fantastic interior designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his firm Associated Artists, visit the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford.
This episode was hosted and produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan with music by Miles Elliot.
To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on itunes, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay,, Sound Cloud or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org. Through May 31, 2019, we’ve got a special offer for Grating the Nutmeg listeners. For just $20, you’ll receive 6 issues for the price of 4 with coupon code GTNSpring19. That’s 2 free issues added to a one-year subscription with coupon code GTNSpring19 when you subscribe by May 31, 2019.
Recently, US News and World Report ranked Connecticut 4th best among the 50 states in the quality of our healthcare. We have great research universities and teaching hospitals, and pharma, biotech, and medical engineering companies most states envy. That’s what makes this podcast so surprising. This is the story of how the little Litchfield County hill town of Sharon – with a population of 2700 people – has produced some of our state’s leading medical innovators. And it’s been doing so for centuries.
Join State Historian Walt Woodward on a visit to the Sharon Historical Society where co-curators Susan Shepard and Marge Smith tell us about the breakthroughs in innoculation, immunotherapy, and gender equity in the medical field pioneered by Sharon residents. It’s part of their exhibit “Sharon Cures: Centuries of Medicine in One Small Town”. It’s three stories in one, that will surprise, inform, and make you want to learn more about this town of medical marvels.
While you're listening, view an album of photos from the exhibit on the Connecticut State Historian's Facebook Page
After World War II, one Connecticut community made a conscious effort to reject racial segregation. The founders of Village Creek in Norwalk created a cooperative neighborhood which promised not to discriminate based on "race, color, creed or politics."
Over the next decades, the Villagers faced criticism from many quarters, but the community survived and thrives today. In this episode, Natalie Belanger and Melica Bloom of the Connecticut Historical Society take a look at the founding of Village Creek, and some of the challenges it faced over the decades.
If you'd like to learn more about the Village Creek Association, visit the Connecticut Historical Society's Research Center. And visit their special exhibition, "Patios, Pools and the Invention of the American Backyard," a travelling exhibition by the Smithsonian Institution, on view through February 23, 2019. Find out more at chs.org.
And for more great Connecticut stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history. The current issue is about our creative history and the upcoming spring issue explores in a surprising variety of stories how important water is to Connecticut’s story. Find out more at ctexplored.org.
We wish to thank Natalie Belanger, CHS Adult Programs Manager, and CHS Exhibit Developer Melica Bloom. This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and Patrick O’Sullivan. Music on this episode by Miles Elliot @miles_aheadmusic.
State Historian Walt Woodward asked five of Connecticut's leading voices for the history community, what their favorite winter history reads are this year. Briann Greenfield of the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, State Librarian Ken Wiggin, Sally Whipple of the Old State House, Jason Mancini of CTHumanities, and Christina Volpe of the Connecticut League of History Organizations, each shared the books that are providing them a fascinating escape from bleak midwinter, the 2019 edition.
This is the fifth in our series of talks presented by Connecticut’s Old State House commemorating the 300th anniversary of Connecticut’s first state constitution.
In this episode judges Henry Cohn and Jon Blue wrap up our discussion of the state’s first constitution in “Why the Constitution of 1818 Matters Today.”
This has been a great series pairing historians and legal scholars. In the first in the series, episode 45, state historian Walt Woodward provides the historian’s view of the broader cultural context that brought us to a state constitutional convention. In this episode, Judge Blue gives us the legal perspective. And in episode 55, Wesleyan University professor emeritus Richard Buel does a deep dive into the political history that led to the constitution.
Also in this episode, Judge Cohn gives a judge’s perspective on the constitution’s Declaration of Rights-- in particular what it has to say about our right to a jury trial, freedom of religion, and right to an education. For the historian’s perspective on religion and the constitution, listen to Professor Robert Imholt in episode 59. Finally, legal scholar Wesley Horton describes the constitutional debates in episode 56.
For the whole series, listen to episodes 45, 55, 56, 59, and 63. This episode was produced by Elizabeth Normen and Patrick O'Sullivan.
This episode is sponsored by Attorney Peter Bowman. Find out more at bowman.legal.
Charles Lyle, executive director of the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum in Wethersfield, whets your appetite for a visit to the Webb, Stevens, and Deane houses to see how the holidays were celebrated in three eras: c. 1770, c. 1830, and c. 1930. Find out how, in the 1800s, Clement C. Moore and Thomas Nast created Santa Claus, and the origin of the New Year's resolution--all in this episode of Grating the Nutmeg!
This episode is sponsored by attorney Peter Bowman, holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. Find out more at bowman.legal
For more great holiday listening, listen to episode 21 "A Connecticut Christmas Story by Harriet Beecher Stowe," and episode 11 to learn more about the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum. This episode was produced by Elizabeth Normen, and Patrick O’Sullivan.
Food historians Keith Staveley and Kathleen Fitzgerald join state historian Walt Woodward at his dinner table in Columbia for a talk about traditional New England holiday foods - authentic and not-so-authentic – and the stories behind them.
PLUS, Keith and Kathy brought along 9 truly historic and delicious New England food recipes, translated into modern cooking instructions kitchen-tested for authentic flavor.
Whether you want to wow your holiday dinner guests with some astonishing food facts, or cook up a dish or two they'll be talking about all year, this is your podcast.
Listen to the stories, then DOWNLOAD THE RECIPES AT Connecticut Explored
www.ctexplored.org/historic-holiday-recipes/
This episode is sponsored by attorney Peter Bowman, holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. Find out more at bowman.legal
Don't forget to listen to the special bonus add-on:a live reading Gov. Samuel Huntington's 1786 Thanksgiving meditation, recorded at the special Thanksgiving dinner at the Samuel Huntington homestead in Scotland, CT on November 10th (source of our historic dinner images)
THE P T BARNUM YOU NEVER KNEW
In this special Connecticut Public Television audio documentary, we tell the story almost no one knows about the other side of PT Barnum. Almost everyone is familiar with Barnum's extraordinary career as a showman, entrepreneur, and creator of The Greatest Show on Earth, but "Barnum's Connecticut", which host Walt Woodward wrote and produced as a companion to CPTV's broadcast of the American Experience documentary "The Circus" CPTV.org/thecircus shows a side of this world-changing impresario that will challenge anything you think about him right now. Featuring Kathy Maher of Bridgeport's Barnum Museum and Sally Whipple of Connecticut's Old State House in Hartford, this is an episode you don't want to miss.
And to hear the companion episode "Barnum's Circus" visit the Connecticut Public Television "The Circus" webpage
This episode, the fourth in our 6-part series commemorating the Constitution of 1818, explores one of the main accomplishments of the state’s first constitution: the separation of church and state. Professor Robert Imholt challenges that assertion, though, arguing that the process to disentangle religion from the state began much earlier. Still, find out how deep our Puritan roots were as the state finally convened to write a state constitution in this episode of Grating the Nutmeg.
This episode is sponsored by attorney Peter Bowman, holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. Find out more at bowman.legal
In the 1910s, a group of Connecticut reformers formed a society aimed at solving a growing crisis – the spread of venereal diseases. The United States’ entry into WWI provided this so-called “social hygienist” movement with an unprecedented opportunity to influence the sexual mores of Americans. In this episode produced by Connecticut Historical Society’s Natalie Belanger, Natalie tells us how that worked out for these well-intentioned reformers—especially one George P. Thayer, a crusader for clean living that saw a little more in France than he'd bargained for.
This episode is sponsored by Attorney Peter Bowman. Find out more at bowman.legal.
Read more about Connecticut in World War I at ctexplored.org in the Spring 2017 and Winter 2014/2015 issues.
Hartford native Gerry Peterson has played golf with President Barack Obama and was inducted into the Black Golf Hall of Fame in 2015. Golf has always been a huge part of his life from his start as a kid caddie during the Depression to playing as a young executive at Aetna Life and Casualty. But what did it take for Peterson, a black golfer, to become a member of the whites-only Keney Park Golf Club in 1963? Gerry Peterson will tell us and historian Jeffrey Mainville , author of this summer 2018 issue’s story “The Midway Golf Club” will reveal Hartford’s part in the national struggle to end racial discrimination at municipal golf courses in America.
This episode was produced by Mary Donohue, Asst. Publisher of Connecticut Explored and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan, PDO Films. Subscribe at ctexplored.org
For more stories of struggle and triumph by Connecticut’s African American community, order your copy of our book African American Connecticut Explored, now in paperback, on Amazon.
This episode was sponsored by attorney Peter Bowman, helping the seriously injured and holding distracted drivers accountable for their action. More at bowman.legal.
And Connecticut Humanities, co-publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history. Visit cthumanities.org
Attorney Wesley Horton, president of the Connecticut Supreme Court Historical Society, outlines the main issues of debate as state delegates finally gather to draft a state constitution. What happened inside the convention? How do we know? Find out in this episode of Grating the Nutmeg. This episode was recorded at Connecticut's Old State House and produced by Elizabeth Normen.
This episode is sponsored by attorney Peter Bowman, holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. Find out more at bowman.legal. And Connecticut Humanities, co-publisher of Connecticut Explored.
See Episode 45 for Constitution of 1818 Part I Trouble in the Land of Steady Habits
See Episode 55 for Constitution of 1818 Part 2 The Collapse of Federalist Dominance
Read More! Buy the special 200th Anniversary of the Constitution of 1818 Fall 2018 issue of Connecticut Explored at ctexplored.org.
Dr. Richard Buel Jr., Professor Emeritus, Wesleyan University, describes the political climate that led to the Constitution of 1818 and how we must look to what was happening in France, and the ongoing conflict between England and France to understand what was happening here.
This episode is sponsored by attorney Peter Bowman, holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. Find out more at bowman.legal. And Connecticut Humanities, co-publisher of Connecticut Explored.
Part 1 - Henry 'Opukaha'ia
Two young native men.
Henry Opukaha'ia, a native of Hawaii, who died in Cornwall, CT in 1818. Albert Afraid of Hawk, a Lakota Sioux native who died in Danbury in 1900.
Nick Bellantoni was the archaeologist tasked with helping return the remains of each of these men to their homes and families, more than a century after they had died.
Hear him tell their strangely connected and deeply moving stories in this special two part Grating the Nutmeg episode based on Bellantoni's new Wesleyan Press book The Long Journeys Home: The Repatriations of Henry 'Opukaha'ia and Albert Afraid of Hawk
This podcast is sponsored by attorney Peter Bowman, holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. Find out more at bowman.legal. And Connecticut Humanities, copublisher of Connecticut Explored.
PART TWO: ALBERT AFRAID OF HAWK
Two young men.
Henry Opukaha'ia, a native of Hawaii, who died in Cornwall, CT in 1818. Albert Afraid of Hawk, a Lakota Sioux native who died in Danbury in 1900.
Nick Bellantoni was the archaeologist tasked with helping return the remains of each of these men to their homes and families, more than a century after they had died.
Hear him tell their strangely connected and deeply moving stories in this special two part Grating the Nutmeg episode based on Bellantoni's new Wesleyan Press book The Long Journeys Home: The Repatriations of Henry 'Opukaha'ia and Albert Afraid of Hawk
In an unforgettable interview, historian Barbara Beeching describes the creation of a black middle class in Hartford – not in the twentieth century, but back in the 1800s. It's a tale full of insights and surprises – not the least of which is Beeching herself.
BONUS: For reasons that will become clear in the 1st five minutes, this episode may make you want to upgrade your Bucket List. WWW
This episode is sponsored by Attorney Peter Bowman—find out more at bowman.legal, and Connecticut Humanities, co-publisher of Connecticut Explored, visit cthumanities.org.
In this episode recorded at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Twain scholar and University of St. Joseph Professor of English Emerita Kerry Driscoll explores one of the last unexamined aspects of American author and humorist Mark Twain. Twain, a resident of Hartford from 1871 to 1891, wrote some of his most beloved works while living in Hartford and was generally known for championing the underdog. But Driscoll unflinchingly reveals here and in her book, Mark Twain Among the Indians and Other Indigenous Peoples, Twain’s blind spot when it came to America’s first peoples.
Want to win a copy of Mark Twain Among the Indians? Share the podcast on Facebook (facebook.com/CTExplored), Twitter (twitter.com/CTExplored), and Instagram (@ct_explored) and tag us to be entered in the drawing. Expires 7/15/18
This episode is sponsored by Attorney Peter Bowman—find out more at bowman.legal, and Connecticut Humanities, co-publisher of Connecticut Explored, visit cthumanities.org.
In 2010, Jamaicans became the largest foreign born population in Connecticut. At the same time, Jamaicans have the highest percentage of property ownership in Hartford County of any foreign born group. How did so many West Indians come to call Connecticut home?
University of Connecticut Associate Professor Fiona Vernal documents this 70 year transformation in her traveling exhibit "Home Away From Home: Greater Hartford's West Indian Diaspora," currently at the Hartford Public Library. HPL's Jasmin Agusto and I asked Fiona to share this fascinating story with Grating the Nutmeg listeners. Its a great story, told by a natural-born story-teller.
This episode presented by Attorney Peter Bowman, helping the seriously injured and holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. More at bowman.legal.
And Connecticut Humanities, co-publisher of Connecticut Explored magazine. The episode was produced by Walter Woodward.
What do you think of when you hear "New Haven?" Yale University? The New Haven Green? IKEA? How about the beach? Today we’re taking you on a trip to the beach in New Haven! Morris Cove on the east shore of New Haven Harbor is a world apart from the rest of the city. A sandy beach, an armed attack by the British, a vanished amusement park, and the summer home of the New Haven Museum all come to light in this episode of Grating the Nutmeg.
We’ll hear from Jason Bischoff-Wurstle, director of photo archives and Ed Surato, librarian for the New Haven Museum about why Morris Cove was called the “Newport of Connecticut.” Learn about one of the most interesting summer day trips in Connecticut, and plan to attend Morris Cove Day on June 9, 2018. Find out more about Morris Cove Day at morriscoveday.wordpress.com. For more information about the Pardee-Morris House, visit newhavenmuseum.org
This episode was hosted and produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.
This episode was sponsored by attorney Peter Bowman, helping the seriously injured and holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. More at bowman.legal.
And Connecticut Humanities, co-publisher of Connecticut Explored magazine. Visit cthumanities.org.
All the time Joel Kupperman was a soft spoken, distinguished philosophy professor at the University of Connecticut, he carried a secret he discussed with no one – not even his family. That secret? That he had once been America's greatest child radio and tv star .
Joel Kupperman was so popular he was written about by J D Salinger, Philip Roth, Nora Ephron, and the poet William Friedman. Now, as he slips into dementia , his son, the award-winning graphic novelist Michael Kupperman has created a graphic memoir about his father's hidden past. All the Answers uncovers Joel Kupperman's life as a Quiz Kid, and the cost being the most popular child celebrity in America inflicted, not just on Joel, but his whole family.
This is one of our best ever podcasts, and at the end, we'll tell you how to enter to win a free copy of the book.
This episode presented by Attorney Peter Bowman, helping the seriously injured and holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. More at bowman.legal.
And Connecticut Humanities, co-publisher of Connecticut Explored magazine.
A group of architects known as the Harvard Five made their mark on New Canaan, Connecticut—a suburban town within commuting distance of New York City. They designed and built there some of the most influential and significant examples of Mid-century Modern architecture in the country. Today you can visit Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, now a museum operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
But stellar Modern architecture can be found in other Connecticut towns, too, commissioned by sophisticated clients including homeowners, mayors, and factory owners. Long-time architecture fans Robert Gregson and Peter Swanson take listeners to Hartford, New Haven, and Litchfield to discover some of the state’s other Modernist landmarks.
Every wonder what that big concrete building in front of Ikea in New Haven was? Find out in this episode. If you thought all there was to Connecticut was Colonial homes, this will change your mind!
More Stories about Moderns in Connecticut!
See Connecticut Explored, Winter 2009-2010
https://www.ctexplored.org/back-issues-winter-20092010/
including Bob Gregson’s “Modernism in Connecticut”
https://www.ctexplored.org/modernism-in-connecticut/
“Philip Johnson in His Own Words”
https://www.ctexplored.org/philip-johnson-in-his-own-words/
“Discovering LaGardo Tackett” By Peter Swanson, Winter 2010-2011
https://www.ctexplored.org/discovering-lagardo-tackett/
Order your subscription at ctexplored.org
This episode presented by Attorney Peter Bowman, helping the seriously injured and holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. More at bowman.legal.
And Connecticut Humanities, co-publisher of Connecticut Explored magazine. Episode produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan. Visit ctexplored.org
- America's First Law School, Sarah Pierce's Academy, & The Way We Mourned
It was home to America’s first law school and to one of the first schools in which a woman could get a real education. Litchfield today is one of Connecticut’s prettiest towns. Join state historian Walt Woodward on a field trip to the Litchfield Historical Society, where Executive Director Cathy Fields talks about her amazing institution and it’s two brand new exhibits – one of the Sarah Pierce’s Litchfield Female Academy and another on expressions of sorrow and mourning in the early 1800s.
This episode was sponsored by attorney Peter Bowman, helping the seriously injured, and holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. More at bowman.legal.
Episode Notes. Episode 46
Staying on the Land: Five Generations of Connecticut Pioneers
Political unrest, religious dissension, women’s rights, and mental health-stories from today’s news? All this happens in Thy Children’s Children by historian Diana McCain. It’s the story of a real family, the Lyman’s of Middlefield, in the thick of CT and American history for more than a century. Hear how historian McCain wove decades of research into a compelling novel.
Music on this episode by Henrik Andersson. Hosted by Mary Donohue and produced by PDO Media.
Want to win a copy of the book? Share the podcast on Facebook (facebook.com/CTExplored), Twitter (twitter.com/CTExplored), and Instagram (@ct_explored) and tag us to be entered in the drawing. Exp. 5/1
Visit the author’s website at dianarossmccain.com. Presented by Attorney Peter Bowman, personal injury lawbowman.legal
Subscribe at ctexplored.org
On the 200th anniversary of the creation of the state Constitution of 1818, we remember one of Connecticut's least well known but most important events. Hear State Historian Walter Woodward's Old State House talk about the events that led to the Constitution of 1818, and all that document did and didn't do. Presented by Attorney Peter Bowman, helping the seriously injured and holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. More at bowman.legal
When co-host Brenda Miller suggested we do a podcast with the authors of a new book about America's first (1796) cookbook, I thought a culinary episode might be a nice change of pace.
What we found, though, is that Keith Staveley and Kathleen Fitzgerald have not only written an extraordinary history of Amelia Simmons's Hartford-published American Cookery, they've also written one of the best books about Connecticut history in a generation. This is an episode you don't want to miss.
Presented by Attorney Peter Bowman, helping the seriously injured and holding distracted drivers accountable for their actions. More at bowman.legal .
Americans moved out of the cities and into the suburbs in droves after World War II looking for single-family homes. In this episode, we talk with the experts about Connecticut’s history of steering certain people to certain neighborhoods through restrictive covenants, racial and religious discrimination, and federal housing policies—all of which helped determine where African American and Jewish homebuyers could purchase homes.
Using West Hartford as an example, learn what some common real estate terms really mean—“redlining,” steering, and exclusionary zoning—and how they affected West Hartford’s neighborhoods. Please note that this episode contains outdated language used in historical context.
Guests are West Hartford Town Historian Dr. Tracey Wilson and Trinity College's Dr. Jack Dougherty
View Dr. Dougherty’s accompanying presentation at http://bit.ly/2017-11-02 and also visit his online book On The Line: How Schooling, Housing, and Civil Rights Shaped Hartford and its Suburbs at OnTheLine.trincoll.edu.
Get all the historic preservation and architecture stories that matter to you! Get all five historic preservation back issues in a Collection at a special value price! Great reading on a snowy day or on a sunny beach. See all the theme collections at ctexplored.org. You can even put together your own collection by choosing the back issues you want to read!
It's a brand new year, and what better way to start 2018 than with a Treasure Hunt.
Join Brenda Miller, Executive Director of the History Center at Hartford Public Library and State Historian Walt Woodward as they explore the treasures of the Watkinson Library at Trinity College with curator Rick Ring.
Archaeologists working at Wethersfield's Webb-Dean-Stevens Museum recently found something completely unexpected - signs of a 17th century palisade adjacent to the historic house where General Washington met with French Count Rochambeau to plan the campaign that won the American Revolution. Along with the soil stain that showed there was a defensive wall, they also found artifacts dating to the time of the 1637 Pequot War, which Connecticut declared after a Wangunk-Pequot attack on Wethersfield that left 9 people dead. Is this fort - as archeologist Ross Harper posits - possibly Connecticut's Jamestown?
Join Wethersfield residents at the Webb-Deane Stevens museum as the archaeologists provide a surface-to-paydirt - 20th to 17th century - description of what they've found so far.