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The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History (CMCH), formerly the Connecticut Historical Society, is a private, non-profit organization that serves as the official state historical society of Connecticut. Established in Hartford in 1825, the CMCH is one of the oldest historical societies in the US.[1]

The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History is a non-profit museum, library, archive and education center that is open to the public. It houses a research center containing 270,000 artifacts and graphics and over 100,000 books and pamphlets.[2] It holds one of the largest costume and textile collections in New England.[3] It was known as the Connecticut Historical Society from its founding until 2023.[4]

History

In 1825, a petition signed by citizens of Connecticut including Thomas Robbins, John Trumbull, Thomas Day, and William W. Ellsworth, was presented to the Connecticut General Assembly, calling for the establishment of a society to preserve historical materials.[5] The General Assembly gave its consent, and the Connecticut Historical Society was established to collect objects important to the history of the Connecticut, and the United States more generally.[6] The first elected officers were Trumbull, Day, Robbins, Thomas Church Brownell and Walter Mitchell.[6]

With the rise in prominence of Hartford in the 1820s, the society's committee decided to house its first meetings in the city.[7] Yet despite a flurry of activity, the society became inactive after 1825 and it was not until 1839 when new interest regained.[8] The first official quarters for the CMCH were over a store at 124 Main Street in Hartford.[9]

The society's new ideals and direction were spearheaded by educationalist Henry Barnard, who recommended that the society enroll members from around the state, encouraged a history and genealogy magazine and retrieved speakers for lectures who could address groups throughout Connecticut.[10]

As its collections expanded, the historical society moved into a room in the newly built Wadsworth Athenaeum in 1843.[11] By 1844, the collections had grown to include 250 bound volumes of newspapers, 6,000 pamphlets, and various collections of manuscripts, coins, portraits and furniture.[12] New officers were elected including David D. Field.[13] The CMCH appointed Thomas Robbins as its first librarian because of his extensive book collection and antiquarian expertise.[14]

Under Robbins's tenure, the new quarters were open six days a week and interpretive tours of objects were given.[15] Some early objects in the collection were a chest of William Brewster, a tavern sign of General Israel Putnam and a bloodstained vest worn by Colonel William Ledyard at the Battle of Groton Heights.[15] After the death of Robbins in 1856, Connecticut historians James Hammond Trumbull and Charles J. Hoadly contributed to the society's work through various published research and lectures.[16] The first woman elected in the organization was Ellen D. Larned in 1870.[17]

In 1893, the society hired Albert Carlos Bates as a full-time librarian and it was under his tenure that membership doubled, the annual income increased five-fold and the collection grew.[18] To accommodate the expanding collection, the CMCH bought a house on Elizabeth Street, which had previously belonged to the inventor Curtis Veeder, in the West End of Hartford.[19] The building was altered between the 1950s and 1970s, to accommodate book stacks, exhibition galleries, an auditorium and a reading room.[20]

In the early 2000s, the CMCH hired Bruce Mau[21] and Frank Gehry to design a new museum near Trinity College, but lack of funds prevented the project from happening.[22] From 2003 to 2007, CMCH operated the Old State House and created a permanent exhibit "History Is All Around Us".[23][24]

Exhibits

Permanent exhibits include "Making Connecticut", about the history of Connecticut,[1] and "Inn & Tavern Signs".[25] There are also galleries for temporary exhibitions. Recent exhibit topics include the American School for the Deaf, women and needlework,[26] the Kellogg brothers lithography firm, women's basketball,[27] the Amistad,[28] a history of cleanliness,[29] the Civil War[30] and Eliphalet Chapin, an 18th-century furniture maker.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Catlin, Roger (May 22, 2011). "'Making Connecticut' Explores State's History". The Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  2. ^ Condon, Tom (12 July 2001). "Our History Needs a Home". The Hartford Courant. ProQuest 256534612.
  3. ^ Eiseman, Alberta (29 October 2000). "Exploring History's Closet: They Were What They Wore". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  4. ^ Walsh, Michael (2023-06-22). "Connecticut Historical Society rebrands: 'We don't want to be a hidden gem'". CT Insider. Retrieved 2024-01-03.
  5. ^ Bickford, Christopher P. (1975). The Connecticut Historical Society, 1975 : a brief illustrated history. Hartford: Connecticut Historical Society. pp. 7–85.
  6. ^ a b Bickford 1975, p. 7.
  7. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 12.
  8. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 19,23.
  9. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 27.
  10. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 25.
  11. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 33.
  12. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 32.
  13. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 26.
  14. ^ Wilkie Jr., Everett C. "Rev. Thomas Robbins, Connecticut Historical Society". utexas.edu. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  15. ^ a b Bickford 1975, p. 37.
  16. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 50.
  17. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 54.
  18. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 69.
  19. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 71.
  20. ^ Bickford 1975, p. 85.
  21. ^ "Society To Mix Sparkle and Scholarship". The Record Journal. 28 April 2002. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  22. ^ Puleo, Tom (9 June 2003). "Museum Project Fades Away; Historical Society Rethinking Future". Hartford Courant. ProQuest 256679978.
  23. ^ Condon, Tom (17 Sep 2006). "Hartford's New Time Machine". Hartford Courant. ProQuest 256933086.
  24. ^ Bloom, Larry (18 March 2007). "In Saving A Heritage, The Past Calls". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  25. ^ Liebenson, Bess (21 January 2001). "For Tavern Signs, A Fitting Tribute". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  26. ^ Catlin, Roger (8 October 2010). "Two Exhibitions Highlight Historic Connecticut Needlework". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  27. ^ Valin, Jeff (2 April 2009). "She Shoots ... She Scores!". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  28. ^ Eiseman, Alberta (22 March 1998). "The Amistad, in Multimedia Rendering". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  29. ^ Cohen, Jeffrey B. (28 February 2005). "Big East Tourney a Tryout for City". Hartford Courant.
  30. ^ Libenson, Bess (9 September 2001). "Civil War Unfolds Item by Item". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  31. ^ Stevenson, R.W. (31 July 2005). "Cultural History Found in a Cabinet". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 July 2011.

External links

41°46′23″N 72°42′19″W / 41.77293°N 72.70525°W / 41.77293; -72.70525

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Historical_Society