January/July Page 1

...Preserving the Past, Informing the Future

Not so Bold Vision by State Librarian Kendall Wiggin In June I had the privilege of attending “Bold Vision + Collective Capacity > Transforming Communities,” an ALA Pre-Conference sponsored by the Bill & Kendall F. Wiggin, Melinda Gates Foundation and the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies. The State Librarian objectives were to re-envision public libraries’ community information services; In this Issue identify promising practices that will drive community transformation; and develop plans to use our collective capacity to achieve favorable outcomes at all Not so Bold Vision by levels. Kendall Wiggin, Pages 1-2 Key drivers for this discussion were the redefining of communities through the Connecticut Archives development of new partnerships; the abundance of information and scarcity of Month-October 2012 by Mark Jones, Page 2 attention; mobile and interactive information services; and the yearning for place and community in a world of global virtual connections. Edith Stoehr, the First Female Game Warden in We did not emerge from the several days of great conversation with a bold new Connecticut vision. Instead it became clear to me that we, the library community, need to by Mark Jones, Pages 3-5 make the mission of today’s library known to the community. There are any The LSTA 2008-2012 Five- number of innovative things going on in libraries around our state and our nation Year Evaluation... that address the needs of the citizens they serve. This has been the great strength by Douglas C. Lord, Page 6 and contribution that libraries have made since the social library evolved into the Connecticut Arms the public library in the late 19th century. Since the early beginnings of the public Union by Dean E. Nelson, Pages 7-11 library movement in this country, libraries have changed and transformed along with the ever diversifying socioeconomic structure of the nation. The Somers Church Fire and the Connecticut State The Gates conference galvanized two things for me – the need for policy makers Library by Carol Ganz, to understand the role libraries play, and should play, as our towns and cities Pages 12-14 transform and secondly the need for library leaders and staff to have the skills A Teaching American needed to meet the rapidly evolving information needs of their communities. History Project in Connecticut by Paul Baran, At a time when policy makers believe the role of the library is diminished because Pages 15–17 of a perception that everything is online and that all books are ebooks, we have to The Origins of Flag Day, better educate them about the important role that libraries play in this world of e- by Allen Ramsey, everything. We know libraries are still vital to those seeking to improve their Pages 18-19 lives, succeed at school and work, find a job, start a business, access government Sharon Brettschneider information, or just enjoy a good read. Libraries are about making sure every Retires as Director of child is ready to read. Libraries support continuous education. Libraries promote Library Development by Kendall Wiggin, Page 20 all literacies, especially digital literacy. Libraries play an important role in civic engagement. Some libraries already excel as community conveners, but more

need to take on this role.

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The State Library’s Division of Library Development (DLD) has recently completed their strategic plan and the State Library has completed and submitted the 5 Year Plan for LSTA. Both of these plans recognize that much of what the State Library does is not “bold” but rather supportive of library service statewide. DLD’s vision is that all people in Connecticut will be welcomed by vital and exciting libraries that will be centers of community life and lifelong learning. Both plans recognize the need to provide librarians and trustees with the information and skills to effectively advocate for community support to meet the needs of their communities in a time of rapid transformation. To that end in the years ahead the Division of Library Development will focus advocacy efforts on helping libraries demonstrate value to community and state policy makers. The Division will also focus continuing education efforts on technology skill, civic engagement, and developments in the information ecosystem. ♦ Kendall Wiggin, State Librarian 7/17/12

Connecticut Archives Month, October 2012 by State Archivist Mark Jones

In his article, State Librarian Ken Wiggin offers a societies, libraries and proactive approach for librarians. He recommends museums around the state that the entire profession think about the future during October, and we shall impact of technology and its potential and publicly post an announcement about enumerate the benefits of a library in such a world. the Archives Month poster Institutions with archival holdings are also challenged funded by a grant from the by the lack of understanding about the value of National Historical Records archives to the everyday person and to research fund And Publication Commission allocators. Ken’s article is a “right on!” to us archivists. and available from the State In the face of mounting difficulties, shrinking budgets Library. We shall have sent and devaluation of cultural programs in this country copies of posters to public and academic libraries, during the Great Recession, what can archivists do? historical societies, and museums. Is this enough? October is American Archives Month which is Is Archives Month enough? No, but there will be sponsored by the Society of American Archivists and more opportunities for us to make the case that the Council of State Archivists. The purpose of the archives matter. There is; however, strength in celebration is to exhort the public through posters, numbers. As Ken suggests, librarians need to make special workshops and media initiatives asserting that the case that libraries matter more in a world of archives are necessary for government to continue its rapid transformation and growing community operation in case of disasters, that archives enable needs. So do Archives! Archivists and librarians families to strengthen their bonds to each other, and should join together to help “demonstrate value to that archives are one of many cultural institutions in the community and state policy makers”. our democracy that help citizens and officials to find For more information on American Archives Month, out where we were, where we are, and where we go to http://www2.archivists.org/initiatives/ might be going. american-archives-month. As in previous celebrations, we shall post on the For more information about activities around the Connecticut State Library web site a copy of the state and the Connecticut Archives Month poster, Proclamation signed by the Governor designating contact State Archivist Mark Jones at October as Connecticut Archives Month. We shall also [email protected]. ♦ keep a public log of special activities of local historical Connecticut State Library The CONNector Vol. 14, No. 1/3 January/July Page 3

A Connecticut Wildlife Pioneer and the WPA by State Archivist Mark Jones

[Several years ago, I wrote the following article for this newsletter. Subsequently I discovered a connection between Edith Stoehr and the WPA.]

“Gosh, what’s the world coming to, anyhow?” Edith A. Stoehr and the Women’s Fishing and Reserves in Connecticut

On January 24, 1934, the Hartford Courant carried a story about the first woman game warden in the , Connecticut’s own Edith A. Stoehr. She was the only woman, the story noted, to be attending the Twentieth Annual Game Conference in New York. The Connecticut Board of Fisheries and Game had chosen her in the spring of 1933 after she won a fly-casting contest on the Branford River in North Branford. Now at the conference, Warden Stoehr said that she loved her job because “it’s getting paid for something you love to do.” She had the police powers of arrest and carried a gun. So far, she had hauled off two men to local courts for violations. Stoehr stated that “it shocked some of them to have me come trudging up in my hunting clothes-boots, riding breeches, and hunting jacket, and ask for their license. Some of them said ‘gosh, what’s the world coming to anyhow?’ but they all very courteously displayed their [hunting] certificates.” Indeed, what in the world was happening to the male bastions of hunting and fishing in Connecticut? The State Board of Fisheries and Game oversaw the enforcement of fish and game laws. In 1932 the Commission voted to approve a motion to lease five miles of the Branford River only for women, making it, as the Courant declared, “an exclusively feminine trout stream.” Rules Edith Stoehr was a “crack” shot. She taught women how allowed only fly-casting. A Board annual report to hunt on the women’s reserve in noted that ”this is believed to be in line Farmington, Connecticut. with modern tendencies, and the constantly increasing interest of women in all forms of sport. In 1940, seven years after the program’s beginning, the Board reported that . . . “Connecticut has always had a large number of women who were interested in fishing and a small group Continued on next page Connecticut State Library The CONNector Vol. 14, No. 1/3 January/July Page 4

Miss Edith A. Stoehr, first woman Warden uniformed and assigned to regular duties, checking the catch on 1937 Wardens school. Former Governor the first state-leased stream reserved for women. Templeton addressing wardens. Edith is in Branford River, Connecticut 1932. the background in a white hat.

interested in hunting, and in recent years the number of real [female] enthusiasts has increased tremendously. Many of these women have acquired fine hunting dogs, guns, fishing tackle and other accessories necessary to enjoy these sports on a par with men.” In fact, officials “soon realized” that “many of these women possessed skill equal to that of men, and from this thought was born the ambitious program” of setting aside not only the trout stream in Branford but also a hunting reserve in Farmington. It was the age of Babe Didrikson and Amelia Earhart. Like them, Edith Stoehr demonstrated that she could mingle with men and do what they did. A photograph of a 1938 Warden’s School, for instance, shows her seated in the audience among her fellow male wardens wearing an attractive hat that shaded her eyes. She did not marry, defying society’s norms that women could find only true happiness in marriage and could lead lives of fulfillment only as mothers. Instead, Edith found satisfaction on her own terms in a job usually reserved for men. Who was Edith Stoehr? She was born and grew up in Hartford. She did not graduate from high school but learned about the outdoors from her father, Henry W. Stoehr. Writing to an inquirer in 1946, she stated that she had been “fond of hunting and fishing since a very small child went with my father whenever he would allow me to tag Continued on next page Connecticut State Library The CONNector Vol. 14, No. 1/3 January/July Page 5

The only two snapshots Edith had of herself in uniform. One is with her two favorite dogs and the other with her father, Henry Stoehr, and an unidentified angler.

along with him.” Both ran a kennel in South Wethersfield on Mills Street, raising setters and pointers. She was devoted to her calling, writing that her “work is also a hobby, because I love everything about the work, the out- of-doors, dogs-fishing and hunting.” Edith became a celebrity. Radio stations, newspapers and magazines interviewed her and praised this remarkable woman. In spite of this, there was opposition within the Agency to her appointment. It took Fisheries and Game ten years to make her job as Deputy Warden a permanent position so that she could collect a pension for the period 1933-1943 and subsequent years. Her life was cut short. She died at Hartford Hospital on March 6, 1946. The New York Times carried a photograph with her obituary. At her funeral, fellow game wardens were her pall bearers in a show of respect . After the above article, I discovered that the WPA’s Federal Art Project honored her in one of its paintings. In 2008 working on the CSL WPA Inventory, I came across a black and white print of a painting of her by Harry Townsend. I substantiated this with two photographs of her: one, seated holding a shotgun and the other, posing while standing in a stream giving out a ticket to a hapless female angler. In the painting one of her dogs lay at her feet. Was it her favorite? I wonder what Edith thought of the painting. Did Townsend give it to her? Unfortunately most of the FAP paintings were lost as the federal program closed down in 1942. Still, we have the photograph of the [Game Warden Edith Stoehr] work and know that she was painted along with local Artist: Harry Townsend officials and judges, all men, by the WPA. ♦ Connecticut Federal Art Project, WPA Note: all photos came from RG079:003 Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Board of Fisheries and Game. Connecticut State Library The CONNector Vol. 14, No. 1/3 January/July Page 6

The LSTA 2008-2012 Five-Year Evaluation and Road Map for the 2013-2017 LSTA Plan by Douglas C. Lord, LSTA Coordinator

The U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services priorities and concerns. iCONN and Ccar are by large (IMLS) provides Library Services and Technology Act margins the services about which respondents were (LSTA) funding to states through a population-based most concerned, with continuing education, summer formula; Connecticut receives approximately reading, and the two Library Service Centers rating $2 million per year. To participate, states conform to frequent mention. federal policies and guidelines and create five-year The Evaluation did contain a few recommendations plans which direct funds into the specific areas the which include implementing incremental outcome- law intends to affect. based evaluation measurement into the four projects IMLS requires a formal evaluation of these plans. The that account for most LSTA expenditure: LBPH, Ccar, State Library awarded the contract for evaluation of iCONN, and the collections and programs of the two the most recent (2008-2012) plan to longtime Service Centers. The evaluation also recommended consultant firm Himmel & Wilson (H&W) from developing a method for data reporting akin to a Wisconsin. ‘dashboard’ model and designing and implementing new evaluation protocols to capture longer term Using data provided by the State Library, H&W measures of skill, knowledge, and behavior changes submitted Connecticut’s 95-page evaluation to IMLS resulting from programming. on time and on budget; Connecticut met or exceeded all nine of its major goals and was praised for using a Fortunately, the evaluation provided all the input that wiki site as an electronic commons to gather the Division needed in order to construct the Five- programmatic data in one place. Year Plan for the 2013-2017 period. This plan was submitted to IMLS in June, 2012, with the library The evaluation provided a contextual overview of the community and ACLPD providing much guidance LSTA program and also served as an environmental and input. picture of Connecticut’s libraries. The bulk of the report (60 pages) -- and by far its most valuable part -- One significant change coming to Connecticut’s LSTA was the rich comment and feedback provided by program has to do with programmatic subgrants, members of the library community through focus which are awarded to public and other libraries and groups, telephone interviews, and a Web survey. which return much useful outcome-based evaluation data. However, because subgrants, like snowflakes, Feedback was gathered from groups comprised of are unique, the Division is implementing directed continuing education users, subgrant recipients, grants so that the larger impact of LSTA subgrants in public library directors and other special guests from the states libraries may be woven together more the library community, patrons of the Library for the convincingly. Uniform outcome indicator data begins Blind and Physically Handicapped (LBPH), members in July of 2012. of the Advisory Council for Library Planning and Development (ACLPD) and of the Connecticut Digital Like the last plan, the 2013-2017 LSTA Plan will Library Advisory Board (CDLAB). A wide-net online account for the traditional LSTA pillars: access, survey also provided feedback representative of the partnership, resource sharing, literacy and lifelong whole state. learning, and telecommunication/infrastructure and will include new IMLS initiatives on workforce Though unwieldy to discuss as a whole, the development, 21st-century skills, and digital literacy evaluation provided few surprises and also cemented skills. ♦ and validated the Library Development Division’s

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Connecticut Arms the Union by Dean Nelson, Administrator, Museum of Connecticut History

A year into the Civil War, the U.S. War Department’s Commission on Ordnance and Ordnance Stores reported to Congress on the state of the nation’s confused armament contracts involving tens of millions of federal dollars. The goal was to impose order on the frenzied rush to arm the Union caused by “the unexampled demand for arms consequent upon the sudden breaking out of the present gigantic rebellion….” In the report, General James W. Ripley, Chief of Ordnance, estimated 500,000 new Model Springfield .58- (“the best infantry arm in the world”) would be needed in the next twelve months; he also assessed how many and revolvers would be needed. Connecticut’s armories were ready to respond.

By the mid nineteenth century, Connecticut manufacturers had mastered the complexities of innovation, capital, labor, and raw materials for machine-based precision mass production of intricate metal parts and, with a collective and deeply rooted production heritage going back a half century, were ideally poised to make arms for the Union. By the war’s end, Connecticut makers had supplied some 43 percent of the grand total of all rifle muskets, breech loading rifles and , and revolvers bought by the War Department, along with staggering quantities of small arms and .

Rifles and Carbines

Of twenty-three private Northern contractors rising to the challenge and pursuit of profit in Model 1861 manufacture, eight Connecticut entrepreneurs and established gun- makers together delivered an extraordinary 37 percent of the war’s-end rifle contract total: more than 155,000 regulation guns plus 75,000 Colt Special Model 1861 rifle muskets to supplement the National Armory output at Springfield.

Connecticut’s major rifle makers included Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company of Hartford. As the war broke in the spring of 1861, Colt was coincidentally well into design and development of its newest military shoulder arm, its first muzzle-loader (loaded at the muzzle end of the barrel). It was generally similar to the government Model 1861s, but not cross-interchangeable in lock, stock, or barrel. The War Department waived its requirement of parts compatibility and contracted for these non-conforming guns in part because

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General Ripley, in the Commission report, endorsed Colt as “probably further advanced in their preparations than any of the other companies…we are more likely to get good home manufactured arms from them…. in less time than elsewhere…”

The Ordnance Commission report cited two other Connecticut private armories, Whitney Arms Company in New Haven and Savage Revolving Firearms Company in Middletown, as well-established. But other Connecticut firms without gun making experience moved into rifle production, too. For these newcomers, musket production posed an industrial challenge. Before the war, Parker Snow & Company of Meriden made kitchen utensils and sewing machines; the Connecticut Arms Company of Norfolk forged wagon axles; William Muir, a New York City dry goods merchant, established his new gun making company in Windsor Locks; and the triumvirate of J. D. Mowery, Norwich Arms, and Eagleville Manufacturing Company, all of Norwich, were principally textile manufacturers. The Model 1861 rifle musket and its close cousin the Colt 1861 Special Model were the finest infantry shoulder arms issued to rank and file and the most common Union infantry arm of the war. Muzzle loading, single-shot, and sighted to 500 yards, they fired a one-ounce lead conical-shape hollow base bullet propelled by 65 grains (a weight avoirdupois) of black powder with average velocity of an astonishing 1,000 feet per second. The 58/100-inch (.58 caliber) bore was rifled with three slow spiral grooves that imparted to the bullet an axial spin that stabilized and ensured a true, speedy flight. Resolute infantrymen could load and fire one aimed shot about every thirty seconds, and average shooters could routinely hit a five-foot-square target at 100 yards. Bullet strikes to the head, chest, and stomach were generally death blows. Gearing up to produce such arms required extensive retooling. The machinery inventory of any armory making most of their own major parts would count steam engines, boilers, and piping to run an arrayed sequence of reamers, lathes, milling machines, grinding machines, planers, drill presses, polishing frames, screw machines, drop presses, trip hammers, belting, shafting, heat treating furnaces, and more. Mark Twain, a special correspondent for the San Francisco newspaper Alta California, in 1868 described Colt’s complex Continued on next page Connecticut State Library The CONNector Vol. 14, No. 1/3 January/July Page 9

operation (albeit the factory’s post-war, 1864-fire rebuild): “…on every floor is a dense wilderness of strange iron machines… a tangled forest of rods, bars, pulleys, wheels, and all the imaginable and unimaginable forms of mechanism. …machines that shave [parts] down neatly to a proper size, as deftly as one would shave a candle in a lathe…” Some companies sidestepped the challenge: Connecticut Arms Company and William Muir & Company, for instance, opted to assemble arms with parts made by sub-contractors and therefore required little more than workbenches and simple hand tools to adapt to its new line of production. The interchangeability of each and every component part, regardless of maker, was a War Department requirement. To that end, the Union’s 1862 Ordnance Manual listed 77 distinct “verifying gauges” for the 50 parts of a rifle musket and specified that “Each component part is first inspected by itself and afterwards the arm in a finished state.” At the discretion of the government inspector, completed arms were priced according to quality of fit and finish in four classes. The government paid a high of $20 for a first-class Model 1861 rifle musket and $16 for one deemed fourth class. Whitney posited in ordnance hearings that his profit per gun might be around $3, or 15 percent.

The Company of Hartford was well respected by the government before the war for its reliable single-shot percussion .52-caliber breech loading (loaded at the rear of the barrel) carbines (a lighter rifle with a shorter barrel) and rifles. General Ripley implored of Sharps late in 1861: “…. I desire that you will continue to supply this department with Sharp’s carbines, to the utmost capacity of your factory, until further orders.” Sharps’s carbines were by far the most common Union arms of the war. Their rifles, most set up for angular , armed the famed Berdan’s with limited quantities issued to ten Connecticut , especially flank companies and for arming picked marksmen. With $2,400,100 in War Department sales, Sharps ranked fifth in the nation of the thirteen military contractors that surpassed $1 million in government sales.

Connecticut inventors secured seventy patents for arms and munitions between 1840 and 1865. The introduction of Manchester, Connecticut inventor Christopher M. Spencer’s 1860 ingenious patent and into U.S. service benefited substantially from his contacts with Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles of Glastonbury. Welles got Spencer an initial contract for 800, though at the time “the only things they lacked were a factory, machinery, and a workforce.” Securing financial backing in Boston, Spencer scrambled to establish his armory in the Chickering Piano factory there, and through political connections even arranged a presidential test fire with on the White House grounds. The Spencer made use of coil springs for butt-stock feeding of newly perfected rim-fire metallic cartridges, which held a lead bullet, explosive powder charge, and detonating primer all fixed in a copper casing. A soldier observed, “The 37th [Massachusetts Volunteers] have now the , which can be discharged

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eight times with but two or three seconds intermission, and then eight more charges can be put in the magazine of the gun more quickly than you can put one charge in the Springfield Rifle…. Having this rifle carries this disadvantage:… any delicate and difficult job to be done…is almost sure to bring into requisition our regt…” The Spencer carbine was the second most common Union cavalry shoulder arm. The army purchased 11,471 rifles with angular bayonets. Spencer Arms Company finished the war with the eighth highest contract total, at $2,078,427.

Inventor Benjamin Tyler Henry worked tirelessly for Oliver Winchester’s New Haven Arms Company to get his 1860 patented .44-caliber repeating rifle (nicknamed a “Henry”) into mass production. It, like the Spencer, employed a coil spring to feed rim-fire bullets into the loading mechanism. Lacking the range and stopping power of other military shoulder arms, the Henry failed to attract much interest from the U.S. government until the last year of the war when it purchased only 1,200, which represented about ten percent of total production. In the Ordnance Commission report, General Ripley balked at the rifles’ “…lack of practical trials…as military weapons…” their weight and need for special ammunition and “…very high prices asked…” Soldiers liked it, though. A soldier of the 1st District of Columbia Cavalry wrote: “We have got our rifles and they are a nice pretty piece…we can fire fifteen rounds without loading…The rebs say that we can load up on Sunday and fire all week… the rebs hate them sixteen shooters worse than they do the verry [sic] devil himself.”

The models 1862 and 1864 carbines of Benjamin Joslyn’s Firearms Company in Stonington were single-shot using .56- caliber rim-fire metallic cartridges. West Point trials documented the firing of forty shots in five minutes. Connecticut manufacturers of breech loaders and repeaters (perhaps a bit generously including Christopher Spencer’s Boston operation) can be credited with 47 percent of those arms genres totals.

Revolvers

Connecticut’s claim to have produced 47 percent of all the domestically made percussion military revolvers used by Union forces is no stretch. The Ordnance

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Department in September 1861 requested of Colt’s: “Deliver weekly, until further orders, as many of your pistols, holsters, new pattern, as you can make.” Those Model 1860 Army .44-caliber percussion revolvers, priced initially at $25 each (reduced to $14.50 in the spring of 1862 to be competitively priced with rival Illion, New York, Remington Army revolvers), saw regular deliveries in lots of 1,000 or more per week through November 1864 until the pistol works burned in February 1864, ending revolver production for the remainder of the war. Colt sold more revolvers to the Ordnance Department than any other maker. Colt’s revolvers orders combined with its Special Model rifle musket orders totaled $4,687,031, the second-greatest Union armament contracts total for the war. Like Colt, three other Connecticut military shoulder arms makers had contracts for revolvers. Savage Repeating Arms Company, Whitney Arms Company, and Joslyn Firearms Company each produced distinctive patented percussion handguns with both military purchases and commercial open market sales. The Lincoln administration and Union commands in the field were able to vigorously pursue their respective political and strategic goals backed by a supreme confidence that there were armaments and munitions aplenty to press the war. Northern industrial might, with Connecticut manufacturers well in the forefront, ensured eventual military triumph on the battlefield. The end of armed hostilities and consequent surplusing of hundreds of thousands of soon-to-be-obsolete military guns predictably saw many of Connecticut’s wartime contractors withdraw from the armaments business. Collins went back to agricultural implements. Parker expanded its line of kitchen hardwares and began post-war manufacture of fine commercial shotguns. Spencer, in Boston, and Joslyn sold off their production machinery. Colt, Whitney, Sharps, and Henry (becoming in 1866 the Winchester Repeating Arms Company) adapted quickly to the new era of self-contained metallic cartridges and dominated the American firearms industry long after the war. ♦

Note: “Connecticut Arms the Union” first appeared in Connecticut Explored, Vol. 9, No. 2, Spring, 2011, and is here shortened (omitting Connecticut-made small arms and artillery ammunition and Collins edged weapons) for space constraints. Connecticut Explored has graciously permitted this version of the original essay.

Third Thursday’s at the State Library

The third year of State Library and Museum of Connecticut History’s Third Thursday BrownBag Lunchtime speaker series kicks off on September 20th. This series, which features a variety of speakers on various aspects of Connecticut history, is held on the third Thursday of the month September through December and January through June from Noon until 1pm in Memorial Hall, Connecticut State Library, 231 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. All programs are free and open to the public and attendees should feel free to bring their lunch. The series is sponsored in part by the Connecticut Heritage Foundation. Email [email protected] if you would like receive mailings about this and other Library programs. ♦

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The Somers Church Fire and the Connecticut State Library by Carol Ganz, History and Genealogy

When Somers Congregational Church went up in flames after dark on last New Year’s Day, televised images left little room to imagine that any part of the structure survived. History and Genealogy staff immediately checked records at the Connecticut State Library to see if it had historical volumes for this church, because it appeared any at the church would have burned.

The Connecticut State Library houses records from over 500 hundred churches in the State Archives, the result of a project begun in the

Pencil construction drawing with some dimensions. Layout plan of the sanctuary, showing pews.

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1920s to encourage churches to place records here for safekeeping and to make them available for research. During the next two decades churches of all denominations were invited to bring in their original records and the library made photostatic copies of the major volumes. If congregations were willing to permanently deposit their records, they were given handsomely bound copies in return. Some churches preferred to bring in records for copying but took back the originals, so the collection includes many original manuscript volumes but also many in copy form. Of course, some churches preferred not to participate at all. The Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames provided volunteer time to talk to church authorities and, in some cases, to transport the precious volumes to Hartford. Florence Crofut, Chairman of the Society’s Manuscripts Committee, was especially active in making this project a success.

At her suggestion, Reverend Charles L. Ives of Somers Congregational Church brought in three volumes for copying in October 1941 and two more the next April, with the understanding that the church would retain the originals. The Archives held copies of the five volumes for forty years until the church reconsidered and traded their original volumes for the copies in 1982, ensuring the safety of the historic manuscripts.

In addition to official registers containing the “vital records” of a congregation (baptisms, marriages, membership, burials) and recorded minutes of meetings, sometimes other manuscripts came with the deposits, such as for Sunday School classes, the church treasurer or a women’s group. In many cases there were also some “papers,” loose items that record the life of a church such as correspondence, receipts, or drawings of pew arrangements. Materials also arrived from other sources, such as a dealer in antique books and records, who customarily did business with the State Library.

On checking State Archives holdings, staff discovered that, in addition to the five volumes of manuscript records, there were papers that were probably not in duplicate at the church. Incredibly, these were described as “Somers Congregational Church - meetinghouse plans, contracts, reports and correspondence, 1841-1842,” records from the building of the historic structure that had just been destroyed! The State Library had purchased these from Gilbert Whitlock in 1958.

Staff excitedly contacted the church and soon Somers Church Historian Ailene Henry and her husband Roland visited the Connecticut State Library to take a look at these documents. While the records do not provide the type of detailed drawings that would be expected today, there were floor plans with dimensions marked and an agreement with the builder with some of the specifications. The church hopes to rebuild as closely to the original appearance as possible, with some hidden concessions to modern materials, conveniences and regulations. While the 1842 plans are not sufficient to thoroughly inform that project, they Somers Congregational Church Historian make a nice reference to consider - and a Ailene Henry and her husband Roland wonderful historical artifact of the now-lost examine the documents.

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meetinghouse. Library staff was able to provide digital images for the congregation’s future use, happy to be able to do some small thing to help after the tragic loss of their beautiful and historic building.

Somehow the serendipitous discovery of plans for the landmark church building caught the imagination of the media and the story was recounted over and over on television and in newspapers. Even a sharp-eyed USA Today reader in Florida caught the reference and sent a clipping to a staff member. This story reminds everyone that the State Library contains important historical records that people, such as the members of Somers church, can use. In light of the publicity given this story, yet another church has donated its records to the State Archives. ♦

Receipt from Chauncey L. Root acknowledging payment for itemized work done. Dimensions of a House of Public Worship, as proposed by a Committee of the Congregational Society in Somers.

Notable Acquisition on The History of Connecticut Education

The State Library has recently acquired the following:

CHRISTOPHER COLLIER. Connecticut’s Public Schools: A History, 1650-2000. Orange, CT: Clearwater Press, 2009. Pp. Xxii, 873, illustrations, bibliography, index (ISBN 978-0-578-01661-0)

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A Teaching American History Project in Connecticut by Paul E. Baran, Assistant State Archivist

Assistant State Archivist Paul Baran speaks to Teaching American History workshop participants at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center on June 28, 2012.

This past June marked the completion of the organizations that have broad knowledge of Connecticut State Library’s involvement in a three- American history, such as libraries, museums, year Teaching American History (TAH) grant nonprofit historical or humanities organizations, and administered by EASTCONN. EASTCONN, higher education institutions.” headquartered in Hampton, is one of six Regional The EASTCONN grant, entitled “Themes of History: Educational Service Centers in Connecticut. It Expanding Perspectives on the American Story” provides a wide range of educational services to offered fall, winter, and spring workshops, a thirty-three towns and thirty-six boards of summer institute, public history events, and education in New London, Tolland, and Windham seminars designed to highlight a different broad Counties. theme each year. About forty-five middle school and TAH grants are awarded by the U.S. Department of high school teachers participated in all three years of Education to “enhance teachers’ understanding of the grant. Five students from the University of American history through intensive professional Connecticut’s Neag School of Education also took development, including study trips to historic sites part each year. EASTCONN partnered with the and mentoring with professional historians and Connecticut State Library and several other other experts. Projects are required to partner with institutions to offer the workshops. The other

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partner institutions were the American Antiquarian of resources and population toward the war effort. Society, the Choices Program of the Watson Institute Finally, Ben Gammel, for International Studies at Brown University, the Emily Dunnack, and Connecticut Historical Society, the Thomas J. Dodd Richard Malley of CHS “The Teaching Research Center at the University of Connecticut, had participants look at American History Historic New England, and Museums of Northeast the material culture of grant provided the Connecticut. World War II through State Library and the objects in the Society’s other institutional Each fall, representatives from each partner collection. At another partners with the institution and the EASTCONN TAH project staff workshop that year, opportunity to make held a full day planning meeting to discuss the yearly their rich historical History and Genealogy theme, and to suggest topics to be explored, materials collections known to Librarian Carol Ganz from their collections that could be the focus of an a group of educators.” showed the participants activity, and historians who are experts on related how genealogical resources topics to speak at the public history events. By the could be used for historical research, emphasizing end of the day a draft outline of a professional techniques on how to find and use data on development program for the year was produced. immigrants and immigrant groups. Details of workshop days were worked out in smaller follow-up meetings between EASTCONN TAH The theme for Year Two was Individual Opportunity project staff and partners taking part in a particular and Social Responsibility. During the planning workshop day. This approach fostered collegial meeting many of the ideas seemed to center on the planning among the partner institutions. The State ideal of getting ahead in America. To this end, Library participated in two different workshop days Museum Educator Patrick Smith presented his during each of the three years. A look at the activities “Connecticut Invents” workshop. However, it of these days, though a fraction of what was offered occurred to me that perhaps there should be a each year, still provides a sense of the program as a workshop day to address those for whom whole. opportunity either passed by or seemed out of reach and worked with the Mansfield Historical Society (a For Year One’s theme on Freedom, Security, and member of the Museums of Northeast Connecticut) Diversity, I teamed up with the Connecticut Historical to plan the day. For the first activity on poor relief Society to present a workshop day held at CHS, during the early Republic, I had participants focusing on the home front during the Civil War, examine documents drawn largely from town World War I, and World War II. First, Ben Gammel records for the years 1790-1830. During this period, of CHS presented an activity on Civil War draft responsibility for poor relief in Connecticut fell to quotas. For the World War I unit, I held a mock the individual towns. We discussed the various Council of Defense meeting. The Council of Defense strategies used by towns to provide for the elderly, was a state agency that coordinated war-related the infirm and incapable, transients, slaves and activities on the home front. Split into smaller groups, servants, and children. Ann Galonska of the participants examined documents from one of the Mansfield Historical Society led the participants Council’s departments: Americanization, Food through an examination of the Superintendent’s Supply, Fuel Conservation, Fundraising, Publicity, journal from and other documents related to the Transportation, and the Woman’s Division. Connecticut Soldiers’ Orphan Home that operated Then each group reported on their “department’s” from 1866 to 1875. Finally, participants looked at activities. We followed this with a discussion on the some of the “make work” projects of the Works concept of a “total war” or the complete mobilization Continued on next page Connecticut State Library The CONNector Vol. 14, No. 1/3 January/July Page 17

Progress Administration during the Great Connecticut General Assembly documents on Depression. Using the State Library’s digital detribalization, or the efforts of state government to collections of the WPA Architecture Survey and the legislate indigenous peoples out of existence in the WPA Art Inventory Project as examples, participants second half of the nineteenth century. J. Cedric searched the Internet for other digital collections of Woods, a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe of North WPA projects. Carolina and Director of the Institute of Native American Studies at the University of Massachusetts The Year Three theme of Sharing Power – Federalism Boston came in to speak to the group on the issue of and International Relations seemed tailor made for tribal recognition. In between were behind the resources in the State Library. For the first workshop scenes tours and time to explore the museum. of the year, Government Records Archivist Allen Ramsey and I used documents identified by State The Teaching American History grant provided the Archivist Mark Jones from the General Assembly State Library and the other institutional partners papers dealing with the sectional crisis leading up to with the opportunity to make their rich historical the Civil War. First, Allen led participants through collections known to a group of educators. The an examination of documents concerning Texas teachers came away not only with broader historical annexation, the Mexican-American War, the knowledge but an understanding of how they might Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act, the incorporate historical documents and artifacts into Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott decision. their lesson plans. A few of the teachers’ comments In a follow-up activity, I asked participants to about the program sums this up nicely. One wrote: compare resolutions adopted by both northern and “Participation in the grant has prompted southern states concerning the Peace Conference of me to consider for every unit: What 1861 in Washington to determine whether there was primary documents can I use?” any way the Civil War could have been prevented. These activities were a good juxtaposition with the A second teacher commented: “Words can’t express my gratitude to this “The Year Three theme of Sharing program in terms of influencing my Power – Federalism and International teaching. I started this program as a Relations seemed tailor made for beginning teacher and I have taken so resources in the State Library... ” much of these informative sessions about using primary sources…” mock Constitutional Convention presented earlier in On the program as a whole, one wrote, the day by Historic New England in which participants debated the ratification of the federal “This is an incredible program, I will miss constitution. it so much. It has truly made me the teacher I am.” In the second workshop of Year Three, the State Library planned a workshop day with a new In my last activity with the teachers I told them that institutional partner in the grant, the Mashantucket all the hours it took me to design workshop Pequot Museum and Research Center (MPMRC), on activities gave me a greater appreciation for what State-Tribal relations. The workshop was held at they do to create lesson plans. From hearing their Mashantucket. In the first activity, Laurie Pasteryak comments afterwards I know it was time well spent. of MPMRC guided the participants through close ♦ readings of visual representations of the Pequot War.

I presented an activity where participants looked at

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150th Anniversary of the Connecticut Flag Day and Constitution Day Resolution by Allen Ramsey, Government Records Archivist

June 17, 2012 was the 150th That being the case, on June Anniversary of the 10, 1861, Warner wrote an Connecticut General editorial titled “National Assembly’s passage of a Holidays” “…suggest[ing] resolution recommending another day, worthy to the observance of Flag Day become a national holiday. It on the fourteenth of June may be too late for its general and Constitution Day on observance this year, but we the seventeenth of hope that it will, in time, be September of each year as recognized wherever the holidays. June 14 was the American flag floats. We ii day in 1777 that the mean FLAG DAY.” Continental Congress The Hartford Courant voiced adopted the Stars and its support on June 14 and Stripes as the flag of the reported that Hartford and United States, and several Connecticut towns September 17 the day in embraced the idea. On June 1787 the United States 15 the Courant reported that Constitution was ratified. “American Flags were the The original 1862 order of the day all over the Connecticut General city yesterday…Nearly all Assembly resolution, which Jonathan Flynt Morris the leading dry-goods is available on the State merchants made handsome Library’s Flickr site at http:// and President Lincoln’s call for displays.” Three days later the flic.kr/s/aHsjzMN7zR, quashes 75,000 troops to defend the Courant reported that “the people the common misperception, as Union.i In a Flag Day address stated in U.S. House Resolution of Terryville celebrated Flag-day before the Connecticut Society of 662 passed in 2004, which states by having a speech…and a Sons of the American Revolution that Flag Day originated in collation in a large new barn, delivered June 15, 1891, Morris Ozaukee County, Wisconsin in appropriately decorated with the 1885. The founder, it claimed, told how he proposed “the stars and stripes.” was school teacher Bernard John propriety of celebrating the day Cigrand, who urged his by public demonstration” to This success was followed a year students to observe June 14 as Hartford Evening Press editor later on June 6, 1862, by a the “Flag’s Birthday.” Charles Dudley Warner, who resolution introduced by Senator In truth, the resolution was the “...at once fell in with the idea” Henry K. W. Welch that read, idea of Jonathan Flynt Morris of believing as Morris that, “…the “Resolved. That we recommend Hartford who proposed a flag and the constitution were to the people of this State to national Flag Day and both on trial, and it was the duty observe the 14th day of June and Constitution Day in June 1861 as of every loyal man to sustain the 17th day of September in each a direct result of the Civil War them.” Continued on next page Connecticut State Library The CONNector Vol. 14, No. 1/3 January/July Page 19

year as holidays – the first to be the spring, designate by official requesting that June 14 be known as Flag Day and the latter proclamation the fourteenth day observed as Flag Day across the as Constitution Day.” The Senate of June as Flag Day…” Governor United States. On August 3, passed the resolution on June 12 Henry Roberts issued the first 1949, President Harry Truman and the House of Representatives Connecticut Flag Day signed an Act of Congress on June 17, 1862. A similar proclamation on May 26, 1906 designating June 14 of every resolution was introduced at the and the practice has been year as National Flag Day. suggestion of Morris in the U.S. continued by governors to the I would like to acknowledge and Congress by Representative present. thank Craig Harmon, Director of Dwight Loomis of Connecticut on On the national level, President the Lincoln Highway National June 11, 1862, but was tabled on Woodrow Wilson issued the first Museum and Archives, who after June 12. Presidential Flag Day years of research into the origins of Governor Luzon B. Morris on June Proclamation on May 30, 1916, Flag Day, put all the pieces together 14, 1893 signed into law “An and discovered the long lost Act concerning Flags for 1862 original handwritten School Districts” which Loomis resolution [H Res required selectmen to 84], located at the National provide each schoolhouse in Archives, which he brought to their town with United States the attention of the Connecticut State Library flags. The second section of and shared with me along the act required “Suitable with his ongoing efforts exercises, having references nationally to set the record to the adoption of the straight and honor Jonathan national flag, shall be had on Morris as the originator and the fourteenth day of June in Warner, Welch, and Loomis each year…” The General as facilitators of what we Assembly four years later celebrate today as Flag Day passed an act imposing a fine iii and Constitution Day . of ten dollars on selectmen Anyone who wants to that failed to provide flags or consult sources used by apparatus to school districts Allen Ramsey should as required by the 1893 act. contact him at The statute was then [email protected]. ♦ amended in 1905 by House Bill 634, which added the requirement that “The Portrait of Judge Dwight Loomis by artist governor shall, annually, in Gustave Adolph Hoffman, 1934.

iJonathan Flynt Morris in his speech before the Connecticut Society of Sons of the American Revolutionary War, at the Lebanon War Office, on Flag Day, 1891, talks about writing to Congressman Dwight Loomis in early June “asking him to introduce in Congress a resolution for the observance of “Flag Day” as a national holiday, to embrace “Constitution Day” also.” However, as of this writing, there is no direct evidence that Morris wrote asking State Senator Henry K. W. Welch to introduce a resolution in the Connecticut General Assembly for Flag Day and Constitution Day even though both the federal and state resolutions are identical in wording. iiCharles Dudley Warner, “National Holidays,” Hartford Evening Press, June 10, 1861. iiiFor Craig Harmon’s extensive research see: http://lincoln-highway-museum.org/FD-1862/FD-1862-Intro.html

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Sharon Brettschneider Retires as Director of Library Development by Kendall Wiggin, State Librarian

On January 31, 2012, universal remote access to iCONN’s Sharon Brettschneider retired after licensed resources. The Public Library twenty two years of service to the Construction Grant Program has Connecticut library community, the last awarded millions of dollars and helped sixteen of those years as the Director of communities throughout the state build Library Development at the Connecticut new and expanded libraries thanks to the State Library. efforts of Mary Louise Jensen and keen oversight by Sharon. A much needed Sharon gained the respect of librarians, update of the public library statutes was trustees, and friends of libraries throughout spearheaded by Sharon. A variety of Gates Connecticut and beyond. During her career she was Foundation grant programs bringing new recognized numerous technology resources to Connecticut libraries, times by her colleagues, “But above all else including Equal Access Libraries, Project Compass, receiving the she was beloved by and Spanish Language Outreach were a result of Connecticut Library her staff and Sharon’s efforts. Her efforts and participation in always acknowledged Association Special library development extended beyond Connecticut, and appreciated Achievement Award in and gained her the respect of her colleagues in State them and made the 1987 for her work co- work more fun.” Library Agencies throughout the Northeast. chairing the Legislative Committee; the The annual federal Library Services and Association of Connecticut Library Board’s Award Technology Act state grant which brings several of Appreciation in 2003 for work as the State million dollars to the state each year was Library’s liaison to ACLB; and being named the meticulously administered by Sharon through good Connecticut Library Association’s Outstanding times and bad. She was held in high regard by the Librarian in 2004. Her efforts as the Director of staff and officials at the Institute of Museum and Library Development led to many improvements Library Services, the federal office that awards and innovations in statewide library services. LSTA grants. Sharon initiated a cost study report for But above all else she was beloved by her staff and Connecticard which helped lead to an expansion of always acknowledged and appreciated them and and more funding for the program. She oversaw made the work more fun through her good humor. the establishment of the Connecticut Library Sharon was also held in high regard by her Network and its successful transformation into colleagues throughout the State Library and by the iCONN, Connecticut’s research engine. She helped State Library Board. initiate the State Library’s participation in the WebJunction program providing valuable Web The State Library has received approval to refill the services and continuing education opportunities for position of Director of Library Development, and Connecticut library staff. Sharon was the prime recruitment is underway. ♦ mover behind the development of a statewide library barcode that eliminated the need for patrons to have multiple library cards and made possible

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STATE LIBRARY BOARD John N. Barry, Chair Robert D. Harris, Jr., Vice Chair Honorable Michael R. Sheldon Honorable Robert E. Beach, Jr. Linda Anderson Daphne Anderson Deeds Eileen DeMayo Allen Hoffman Joy Hostage Scott Hughes Mollie Keller Stefan Pryor

CONNECTICUT STATE LIBRARY CONNector EDITORIAL BOARD

State Librarian Kendall F. Wiggin State Archivist Dr. Mark H. Jones, Editor

Carol Ganz, History & Genealogy Unit Dave Corrigan, Museum Curator

Stephen Slovasky, Reviewer

Ursula Hunt & Carol Trinchitella, Graphics

Christine Pittsley, Photo Imaging

The Connecticut State Library has entered into a licensing relationship with EBSCO Publishing. The full text of The CONNector will be available in LISTA (Library Information Science & Technology Abstracts) Full Text, one of the EBSCOhost® databases. Anyone interested may use the open access version of LISTA (index only). It is available free of charge, courtesy of EBSCO, at http://www.libraryresearch.com.

Connecticut State Library The CONNector Vol. 14, No. 1/3