Co nnecticut Explored

Connecticut history, one good story after another. VOLUME 16/NUMBER 1/WINTER 2017-2018 $6.25 IN THIS ISSUE: Love, Hate & Rivalry 2 Benedict Arnold by Nathaniel Philbrick 2 Valentines from Litchfield 2 Innovating in 2 Weddings Through the Ages 2 Municipal Rose Gardens to Love

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14 pg 10 Letters, etc. “First Comes Love, pg 13 From the State Historian: Then Comes Marriage” From Afar, They Still Loved Connecticut Wedding portraits and By Walter W. Woodward the custom of marriage. By Christina Keyser Vida pg 14 “First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage” By Christina Keyser Vida pg 20 Benedict Arnold and the Battle of Ridgefield By Nathaniel Philbrick pg 26 Connecticut Shapes the Intimate-Apparel Industry 20 By Elizabeth Pratt Fox Benedict Arnold and pg 32 Divorce, Connecticut Style the Battle of Ridgefield By Henry S. Cohn Frustrated in love and war. By Nathaniel Philbrick pg 38 Sam & Livy Clemens’s Love Story By Mallory Howard pg 40 Site Lines: Love/Hate for Connecticut’s Brutalist Buildings By Christopher Wigren pg 42 We’re Coming Up Roses 26 By Lea Anne Moran Connecticut Shapes pg 46 Say It With a Card the Intimate-Apparel By Linda Hocking Industry Union , , and pg 48 The Ridiculous and Pernicious Custom of Bundling brassieres made right here. By Elizabeth J. Normen By Elizabeth Pratt Fox pg 50 “Then Comes Baby in a Baby Carriage” By Elizabeth J. Normen pg 51 Spotlight: Events & News from Partner Organizations

32 pg 58 Afterword Divorce, Connecticut Style On the Cover: Keeping things civil Trade card, scrapbook of when a marriage fails. Warner Brothers material, By Henry S. Cohn 1888. Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library See story, page 26.

CT Explored / 7 2 “remarkable old photos and Connecticut Explored ctexplored.org vivid, thoughtful writing….” 2017 Bruce Fraser Friend of the Social Studies Award, Connecticut Council for the Social Studies The Hartford Courant 2014 Connecticut League of History Organizations Award of Merit for African American Connecticut Explored Connecticut history, one good story after another. 2010 Award of Merit, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation 2005 Wilbur Cross Award, Humanities Program of the Year, Connecticut Humanities 2003 Jeffery S. Czopor Award, Hartford Preservation Alliance JOIN Today! and Preservation Week Committee AND NEVER MISS A GOOD STOR Y PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY Connecticut Explored Inc. 4 issues per year: 1 year 2 years IN COLLABORATION WITH OUR ORGANIZATIONAL PARTNERS: Connecticut State Library Mystic Seaport Regular ...... $ 25 $ 45 State Historic Preservation New Haven Museum [ Office, DECD Slater Memorial Museum Discounted & Seniors (60+)...... $ 20 $ 38 Connecticut Landmarks Educator’s Discount ...... $ 15 $ 28 Hartford Public Library Museum of Art Yale Center for British Art Wilton Historical Society Friend of Connecticut Explored ...... $100 Central Connecticut State Association for the Study of (Includes $80 tax-deductible gift) University History Department Connecticut History The Florence Griswold Museum Connecticut River Museum [ Discounted rate for Connecticut Explored organizational partner members/donors: The Amistad Center for Connecticut Society of Art & Culture Genealogists If taking the discount, please check the appropriate box: Connecticut Historical Society Godfrey Memorial Library Connecticut Trust for Hill-Stead Museum o Amistad Center for Art & Culture o Lyman Allyn Art Museum Historic Preservation Kent Historical Society o Association for the Study of o Mark Twain House & Museum Fairfield Museum & New Britain Industrial Museum Connecticut History Mattatuck Museum History Center House o Greenwich Historical Society Roseland Cottage, o CCSU (alumni, students, staff) o Mystic Seaport Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Historic New o Connecticut Historical Society o New Britain Industrial Museum Lebanon Historical Society Stonington Historical Society Connecticut Landmarks New Haven Museum Litchfield Historical Society Torrington Historical Society o o The Mark Twain House & Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum o Connecticut River Museum o Noah Webster House Museum Wesleyan University Press o Connecticut Society of Genealogists o Roseland Cottage, Mattatuck Museum o Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation o Slater Memorial Museum Elizabeth Normen, PUBLISHER o Fairfield Museum & History Center o Stonington Historical Society Jennifer LaRue, EDITOR Florence Griswold Museum Torrington Historical Society Mary Donohue, ASSISTANT PUBLISHER o o John Alves, ART DIRECTOR o Godfrey Memorial Library o Trinity College (alumni, o Greenwich Historical Society students, staff) EDITORIAL BOARD: Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Wadsworth Atheneum Dawn C. Adiletta, independent scholar o o Stacey Close, Eastern Connecticut State University o Hartford Public Library (cardholders) Museum of Art Catherine Fields, Litchfield Historical Society o Hill-Stead Museum o Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum Briann Greenfield o Kent Historical Society o Wilton Historical Society Sheryl Hack, Connecticut Landmarks Lebanon Historical Society Yale Center for British Art Joan Jacobs o o Katherine Kane, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center o Litchfield Historical Society Eugene Leach, Trinity College Matthew Warshauer, Central Connecticut State University ______Sally Whipple, Old State House Walter Woodward, State Historian, University of Connecticut Name ______SUPPORTED IN PART BY Address ______Connecticut Explored (ISSN: 1553-3689) is published quarterly by Connecticut City/State/ZIP Explored Inc. ©2017 and mailed to members. Connecticut Explored is ______protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner without written consent. Memberships are $25 per year for four issues. To join or note E-mail Telephone a change of address, go to www.ctexplored.org or write to Connecticut Explored , P. O. Box 271561, West Hartford, CT 06127-1561. Articles and essays published in Connecticut Explored are works of journalism and not the official o VISA o MC o AMEX # ______policy of Connecticut Explored and its organizational partners. Connecticut Explored and its organizational partners assume no responsibility for the con - tent of advertisements. Amount $ ______Exp. Date ______Security Code ______ADVERTISING: Call Mary Donohue at 860-523-5158 or e-mail [email protected]. Signature ______Date ______POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Connecticut Explored , P. O. Box 271561, West Hartford, CT 06127-1561.

Make check payable to: Connecticut Explored Call for articles If you would like to propose a topic or are interested in and mail to: P. O. Box 271561 writing for Connecticut Explored please submit queries and one or two published West Hartford, CT 06127-1561 samples to [email protected]. Visit ctexplored.org for more information about upcoming themes and submission information. CT Explored / 8 HOG RIVER JOURNAL Happy Valentine’s Day! Gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. All you have to do is click on the player . Or you can subscribe via iTunes or Google What better theme is there as we celebrate our 15th Play for free. Listen while you cook, exercise, garden , clean the anniversary than one inspired by the upcoming Valentine’s house, or drive somewhere. If you haven’t done so already, Day holiday and our passion for Connecticut history? In this check it out —and recommend it to a friend! issue you’ll read stories about love, hate, and rivalry in We’re also thinking about the next generation of Connecticans Connecticut’s past. We’re incredibly honored to feature and how to ensure they grow up to be informed citizen- best-selling historian Nathaniel Philbrick with an excerpt voters. That moved us to create Where I Live: Connecticut , a from his 2016 Valiant Ambition (Viking) about Benedict social-studies resource about Connecticut for third graders Arnold—with whom Connecticut had a mutual love/hate available as a free website and e-book and, for a modest relationship. We feature the love/hero side of the story; charge, in print. Working with educators, students, the read “Benedict Arnold Turns and Burns New London” (Fall Connecticut Council for the Social Studies, and the history 2006) for the hate/villain side of the story. community on this new publication has been rewarding. An anniversary is a good time to take stock and reflect Teachers are loving this new way to incorporate Connecticut’s on where we’ve been—but not for long. The fact is that history, geography, economy, and civics into the curriculum. we’re always thinking about the future. William Faulkner This is our Valentine to you. All of this—15 years worth— famously wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even wouldn’t have been possible without the buy-in of our past.” Recent events related to the removal of Confederate readers and listeners. Your memberships, your contributions statues underscores what he’s talking about. But I also take to the Friends of Connecticut Explored (please give before his quote as a reminder that history is not behind us—it’s December 31, 2017 in honor of our anniversary) , your very much with us today. That motivates me to keep purchase of back issues, your purchase of gift subscriptions for exploring our past to better understand our present. family and friends, keep us going. Thank you for your passion But the world is a rapidly changing place, too. We need for Connecticut history and for your support of Connecticut to be thinking about where Connecticut Explored is going. Explored, Grating the Nutmeg, Where I Live: Connecticut and We’re always asking ourselves if we can use new technolo - all of the organizations that make what we do possible as we gies to tell Connecticut’s stories. That’s how Grating the look ahead to the next 15 years of great stories about Nutmeg , our podcast of Connecticut history produced with Connecticut history. state historian Walt Woodward, was born two years ago. Nearly 40 episodes, and a growing audience of an average Elizabeth Normen, Publisher of 300 – 500 listeners per episode later, Grating the Nutmeg [email protected] has enabled us to offer something different from what we 860-233-5421 offer in the magazine. We’ve visited craft brewers, hopyards, WWI reenactments, food shacks, a drive-in movie theater, a beach colony, an archaeological dig, a replica of Adriaen Block’s Onrust , and museums and historic sites 15 across the state. Episodes come in a variety in formats, years! including lectures, conversations, on-the-spot interviews, and dramatic storytelling. Episodes range from about 25 to Connecticut Explored uncovers the state’s cultural heritage with the 45 minutes, and a new one comes out every couple of aim of revealing connections between our past, present, and future. weeks. Find all of the episodes at ctexplored.org/listen or For stories from our back issues visit ctexplored.org.

CT Explored / 9 Letters, etc. 2 To submit letters to the editor e-mail [email protected] or write to Editor, Connecticut Explored , P.O. Box 271561, West Hartford, CT 06127-1561. ‘Tis the Season! We are so thankful to our Friends , who helped us through a difficult funding Recent Episodes Not 15 year, and ask you to Be Missed years! to support us Episode 21: A Connecticut Christmas Story. with a special GIFTS: LIMITED-TIME First released December 1, 2016, Connecticut gift in our 15th- SPECIAL OFFER Explored’s holiday reading of Harriet Beecher anniversary year. Give a gift subscription or subscribe Stowe’s classic Christmas story excerpted from 15 years, 60 issues, 3,800 pages, hundreds of for the first time and we’ll add two issues Poganuc People , and a visit to the Mark Twain “Aha!” moments—and more to come! to the subscription at no additional cost. House for the holidays, featuring music from Friends of Connecticut Explored make a The offer expires December 31, 2017. Gift Duke Ellington's Suite from the Nutcracker tax-deductible contribution above and beyond subscriptions are a great way to support the Ballet performed by the New England Jazz their member-subscription, many at the magazine and to introduce a student, Ensemble. $100 level or above, to ensure we can keep neighbor, friend, or relative—including those Episode 38: Talkin’ About the 9/11 Generation. publishing and to help us reach out in who have moved out of state—to Connecticut CCSU history professor Matthew Warshauer important ways. Explored . (This offer excludes discounted talks about his theory that children who were We’re asking you to make a educator subscriptions.) Use the subscription between 10 and 20 years old on September 11, card in this issue or subscribe online at 2011 have been affected in a very particular $150 gift in honor of our ctexplored.org/shop and use the coupon way—and wonders how we will remember 15th anniversary. code Holiday17. Orders received by December 9/11 generations from now. Connecticut Explored would not be where 18 will be shipped before Christmas. Episode 37: A 400-Year Old Boat, a Sea it is today—celebrating our 15th anniversary— Serpent, & a Murmuration of Swallows without the contributions of our Friends . Want to Receive Information Join state historian Walt Woodward on a Please make a gift of $100, $150, or more Between Issues? Connecticut River Museum sunset excursion (add your subscription renewal to receive full Provide us with your e-mail address to receive onboard Onrust , a replica of Adriaen Block’s tax-deduction to the gift portion) to the notices about programs, the latest Grating the ship, the first European boat to enter the 15 th Anniversary Friends of Connecticut Nutmeg episode, and a complimentary edition Connecticut River, with a teller of tall tales, Explored. Gifts of $100 or more received by of e- Connecticut Explored to read on your iPad and some very talented young artists— December 31, 2017 will be acknowledged or tablet in addition to your print copy. in search of a few million swallows. in the Spring 2018 issue. Send your preferred e-mail address to Find episodes at ctexplored.org/listen or Give online at ctexplored.org/shop or send [email protected]. a check to Connecticut Explored , P.O. Box Gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com, or subscribe to Grating the Nutmeg (it’s free) on iTunes or 271561, West Hartford, CT 06127-1561. Correction: Our confusion between two now available on Google Play. images resulted in our publishing an incorrect Contact us: caption for the image on page 32-33, “200 Subscriptions and advertising: Mary at Years of Deaf Education” (Fall 2017). It should Need a Replacement? If your issue of Connecticut Explored arrives 860-523-5158, [email protected] have read: “A student in speech class feels the damaged or the USPS fails to deliver it, please Editorial or other questions: Elizabeth at vibrations of the teacher’s throat and feels the contact us for a replacement—on us. Extra 860-233-5421, [email protected] ‘blowing’ on his finger to learn how words are copies may be ordered for $8 each, including formed, c. 1945.” The image does not show a shipping and sales tax. Back issues are available student learning sign language. Our apologies under the Issues tab on ctexplored.org. for this error.

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From Afar, They Still Loved Connecticut By Walter W. Woodward

In the fall of 1858, William Ransom was really homesick. Like tens half feet high, was emblazoned with the words “Nutmeg State,” of thousands of Connecticans affected during the first half of and around its base were wooden nutmegs and cucumber seeds the 19th century by such issues as tapped-out farmland, economic “sufficient to deceive a practiced eye.” downturns, high taxation, climate change, and political repres - Toasts were given in profusion, among them: to “Connecticut, sion, he had left Connecticut in search of a better life. He’d made our common mother, home of our brightest hours;” to his way to the start-up town of Galesburg in southern Illinois, “The Charter Oak, may it ever live in the memory of all;” to “The becoming over time so successful there that people called him Connecticut River—the Mississippi of New England,” “the “squire.” But that fall, instead of reveling in his achievements, Daughters of Connecticut,” the “Sons of Connecticut,” and Ransom found himself longing for the place that had given him “their Yankee genius.” Even the town of Vernon was toasted by birth and shaped his most fundamental values. He missed a man named Sage, who praised his hometown for furnishing Connecticut. And he wondered if there were others in Illinois the “Sages of the West.” Each toast was followed by a short who felt the same. disquisition elaborating on its significance and meaning. That in A man of action, Ransom made a plan to find out. He talked turn was followed by a musical interlude of songs such as “The to other expatriates, and, as he recorded in a report of the Connecticut Peddler” and “Old 100.” Connecticut Association in 1860, they formed a committee to When the party ended some time after midnight, participants invite “all persons of Connecticut birth, and all heads of families agreed they had enjoyed a “feast of reason and a flow of of which either the husband or wife may be of Connecticut the soul,” and the Sons and Daughters of Connecticut as an origin” to come to a “Connecticut Festival” consisting of a “So - organization was born. cial Interview” at three o’clock, followed by a “Pic Nic Supper” A year later, on January 7, 1860, they met again, and despite at six, offerings for which were to be brought by the participants. an ice storm that made many would-be attendees unable to The event was to be held on January 7, 1859, the birthday of travel, another 300 people made it to the event and held an even Connecticut Revolutionary war hero Israel Putnam. Those who more elaborate celebration of Connecticut ties that lasted across came were asked to bring “paintings, relics, or other articles space and time. The next January, they may or may not have held calculated to revive associations connected with the parent the third Connecticut Festival, for it was 1861, and there is no State.” More committees were formed—focusing on such record extant. Lincoln—from the land of Illinois—was the new matters as arrangements, tables, toasts, and invitations. And a president, and South Carolina had already seceded from the band—made up of Connecticut-born musicians—was engaged. Union. The sons and daughters of Connecticut, in Illinois and But would anybody come? elsewhere, were about to become Americans at war. January 7 dawned inauspiciously, for the day proved to be One thing, however, is clear. Then and now, though many “one of the coldest and severest of the season.” Only the people left this state through necessity, or for opportunity, they hardiest dared venture out. But venture out they did. To nearly took and take their love for Connecticut with them. 2 everyone’s astonishment, more than 300 former Connecticans showed up in Galesburg that snowbound day, ranging from “the Walter Woodward is the Connecticut state historian. old, sedate and wrinkled” to the “young, beautiful, and Listen to his podcasts at Gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. accomplished.” Their potluck contributions created a massive Source: Wm. Merwin Ransom, “First and second annual New England feast that included among a cornucopia of other festivals of the sons and daughters of Connecticut, celebrated at Dunn's hall, city of Galesburg, Illinois, dishes, oysters, baked beans, turkey, pumpkin and apple pies, January 7th, 1859, and January 6th, 1860,” Connecticut fried cakes, and cranberry sauce. One cake, nearly two-and-a- Association, Galesburg, Illinois

CT Explored / 13 Today’s couples generally adhere to this progression: love, then marriage. But Connecti - cut Puritans in the 17th century typically followed the opposite path, choosing a suitable spouse to marry with the hope that love would follow. Claudia Johnson notes in Daily Life in Colonial New England (ABC-CLIO, 2017) that “love was not considered necessary By Christina Keyser Vida before a marriage took place. Nor should love between husband and wife ever be greater than their love “Fir omes Love, Then omes for God.” While religious beliefs were central to early colonists’ lives, magistrates  officiated at weddings of the time. Ministers were arriage” not permitted to perform marriages in Connecticut prior to 1687. Early Puritans also eschewed the long-standing tradition of exchanging rings as too catholic. The notion of romantic marriages grew over the course of the 18th century as the Enlightenment took hold. Rings reappeared in the late 1700s as Puritan ideologies relaxed. Later, “love and marriage were greatly sentimentalized in antebellum fiction and popular art,” according to Nancy Finlay, in her Picturing Victorian America: Prints by the Kellogg Brothers of Hartford, Connecticut, 1830-1880 (Connecticut Historical Society, 2009). Queen Victoria’s wedding to Prince Albert in 1840 captured the world’s attention, and that event popularized the white wedding as a symbol of purity. The Kellogg brothers of Hartford published a lithograph of the ceremony, supplying the public’s Phoebe Bourque and Archibald Fraser demand for visual details of the romantic royals. married in Moosup in 1888. Bourque Queen Victoria later became an avid supporter of photography, commissioning made her own dress. Their formal portraits were captured in a photography portraits of herself and her family for the public and as private gifts. The cost of portrait studio in nearby Central Village. photography decreased throughout the 1800s, making it possible for non-royal couples Windham Textile & History Museum, Willimantic to capture images of themselves on or around their happy day, often in a nearby studio setting with a formal backdrop. The invention of Kodak’s #1 camera in 1888 sparked the rise of amateur photographers’ taking snapshots of newlyweds in more spontaneous moments before, during, and after the wedding ceremony. Photography, whether professional or amateur, continued to play a key role in documenting Connecticut’s 20th-century couples. Many followed American wedding trends: the frugality of the 1930s and 1940s, the practiced formality of the 1950s, and the counter-culture backlash of the 1960s and 1970s. Photos from the 1980s reflect the cultural impact of the 1981 royal nuptials of Prince Charles and Lady Di, the 1987 publication of Martha Stewart’s Weddings , and an economic boom that supported the burgeoning wedding industry. While today’s Connecticut weddings can be lavish celebrations, they can also be simple private affairs. The State of Connecticut merely requires couples to be unrelated and age 18 or older, file an application, obtain a license, and have the ceremony Sisters Hannah Stodell and Reyna Stodell had a double wedding ceremony on performed by an approved officiant. 2 August 19, 1894 in their home at 20 Warren Street, New Haven. Hannah Christina Vida is former curator of the Windsor Historical Society and an independent scholar, married Joseph Ullman (left), and Reyna now residing in Richmond, Virginia. married Abram M. Friedman. Thank you to readers who submitted photos for this story. The Connecticut Historical Society CT Explored / 14

In 1897 Eva Follett became the second wife of Ira DeVer Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers Company in Bridgeport. She was in her 20s and he was in his 50s. Well-known photographer Aimé Dupont took her bridal portrait at his New York City studio inset : Eva Follett’s shapely owed much of its form to her corset, the “Redfern,” made by her groom’s company, Warner Brothers Corset Company. Fairfield Museum & History Center

CT Explored / 15 John Coolidge, son of President Calvin Coolidge, met Florence Trumbull, daughter of Connecticut’s governor, on a train in 1925 while heading to Washington, D.C., for his father’s inauguration. The celebrity couple received national attention when they married in 1929 in Plainville’s South Church. The Chicago Tribune reported that “more than 1,500 giant yellow chrysanthemums, transported from California by special car, will be used in the decoration of the church.” The Connecticut Historical Society

Minnie Heinzmann and Oskar Lindquist exchanged vows in New Britain’s South Church on October 13, 1928. Courtesy of Henry Arneth

Charlotte Fuller married Guy Warner Eastman in Norwich in December 1904. Three years later, he died after being struck by a train in . Charlotte Eastman, an artist, was the director of the Norwich “She looked so sweet in rather light blue dress, with to match, Art School from 1910 to 1943 flowers in one hand and cane in the other, and so collected and self-contained,” wrote one of Theodate Pope’s cousins after attending and never remarried. Slater Memorial Museum her wedding to John Riddle in May 1916. They married at Pope’s home, Hill-Stead, in Farmington. Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington

CT Explored / 16 above: In 1947 Gloria Ben Maor and Joseph Turner married at Agudas Achim Synagogue on Greenfield Street in Hartford. Jewish Historical Society of

left: Adella Smolensky and John M. Sliva married on May 30, 1936 in New Britain. This snapshot shows the happy couple exiting Holy Cross Church. The Connecticut Historical Society

CT Explored / 17 The parents of Susan McClen and their wedding party outside Trinity Episcopal Church on September 29, 1956 in Torrington. Courtesy of Susan McClen

Robert and Helen De Fiore united in marriage on August 11, 1951 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Waterbury. Courtesy of Roberta De Fiore

Betty Powers (right) married John Mitchell in Hartford Shaun Leonardo, El Conquistador , 2007. in 1957 in a dress made by her mother, Sarah Powers (left). Courtesy of Frank Mitchell

CT Explored / 18 above: Connecticut’s earliest town halls displayed “marriage banns,” or written announcements, three consecutive weeks before a betrothed couple planned to marry. The century-old Hartford City Hall has witnessed the beginning of many marriages. Alan and Mara Trott stopped by on March 5, 2016 after their ceremony at St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church. Courtesy of Amber Jones Photography left: Connecticut was the second state to allow civil unions, beginning in 2005, and the third to allow same-sex marriage, in 2008. Shown here: Beth Bye and Tracey Wilson’s 2005 civil-union ceremony in the Universalist Church of West Hartford. The Hartford Courant noted their marriage on November 12, 2008 as the first same-sex marriage in Connecticut, though it was not the only one that day. Courtesy of Beth Bye and Tracey Wilson

CT Explored / 19 By Nathaniel Philbrick

From VALIANT AMBITION: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick, published on May 10, 2016 by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Copyright © 2016 by Nathaniel Philbrick

“In the winter of 1777, Benedict Arnold fell in love,” best-selling to—go after and destroy the rebels’ stockpile of provisions historian Nathaniel Philbrick begins chapter 4 of his 2016 book Valiant and military stores in Danbury. The following is excerpted, by Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate permission, from Valiant Ambition. of the American Revolution. But that’s not why we’ve selected a Thirty miles up the Connecticut coast, Benedict Arnold was part of this chapter to excerpt in this issue about love, hate, and rivalry attempting to enjoy his time in New Haven. Back in January, in Connecticut history. What happens later in the chapter, after the when he had stopped by on his way from Washington’s head - 36-year-old widower was rebuffed by 16-year-old Elizabeth Deblois of quarters on the Delaware to his assignment in , Boston, is a window into Arnold’s love/hate relationship with his home the citizens of New Haven had hailed him as a conquering hero. state of Connecticut and how rivalries fueled his eventual turn against For the son of a bankrupt alcoholic, it had been a heady time. it during the American Revolution. This visit, however, was different. His recent humiliations— Arnold’s grievances and frustrations were mounting that winter of in both love and war—were the talk of the town. The 1777. He was already considering a move from the Continental army unfinished mansion on the New Haven waterfront that he’d to the navy, when, as Philbrick writes, begun building prior to the Revolution—paneled with He received stunning news. Not only had the Conti - mahogany from Honduras, with stables for twelve horses and nental Congress decided not to award him his expected an orchard of a hundred fruit trees—had become a sadly promotion; it had promoted five brigadier generals past dilapidated monument to his declining fortunes. him to the rank of major general. … [General George] And then, on the afternoon of April 26, just as he prepared Washington was both embarrassed and appalled on to begin the long trek to Philadelphia, Arnold received word Arnold’s behalf. …Washington eventually learned that that the British were headed to Danbury. the promotions had been based on a newly instituted By the night of April 26, Howe’s men had marched almost quota system by which each state was allotted two completely unopposed to Danbury, where they proceeded to major generals. Since Connecticut already had two destroy 1,700 tents, 5,000 pairs of , 60 hogsheads of rum, officers of that rank, the Continental Congress, in its 20 hogsheads of wine, 4,000 barrels of beef, and 5,000 barrels wisdom, had determined that their -ranking of flour, as well as putting torch to more than forty houses. The brigadier general, who also happened to have the best town’s meetinghouse, it was discovered, was also “full of record in the army, should suffer the humiliation of stores,” and that too was consigned to the flames. watching five of his lesser peers move past him in the Later that night, after an almost thirty-mile ride in the rain, ranks. … At Washington’s repeated urgings, Arnold Arnold rendezvoused with generals David Wooster and Gold promised to do nothing rash but admitted that he could Silliman and about six hundred militiamen in the town of Red - not help but ‘view [the nonpromotion] as a very civil ding, about eight miles to the south of Danbury. Knowing that way of requesting my resignation.’ Tryon’s path back to his ships at the mouth of the Saugatuck River would likely take him through Ridgefield, Arnold and Arnold went to New Haven in the spring of 1777 to visit his Silliman resolved to march to that town with four hundred sister, check on his businesses, and see his three young sons. He planned to go on to Philadelphia to argue his case before Congress. Nathaniel Philbrick won the National Book Award for In the Heart of But fate intervened. New York’s royal governor William Tryon the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex (2000) and was a finalist decided to do what British commander-in-chief William Howe failed for the Pulitzer Prize for History for Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War (2006). BENEDICT ARNOLD and the CT Explored / 20 BATTLE of RIDGEFIELD Benedict Arnold, from a painting by John Trumbull, c. 1894. Library of Congress CT Explored / 21 men while Wooster and a smaller force harassed the rear of the At a narrow point in the road through Ridgefield, bounded retreating British. The hope was that Wooster could delay the by a steep rocky ledge on one side and a farmhouse on the enemy long enough to allow Arnold and Silliman the time to other, Arnold oversaw the construction of a breastwork made prepare a proper reception. of wagons, rocks, and mounds of earth. Around eleven in the morning, Wooster, sixty-six years old and a veteran of the French and Indian War who had had his dif - ferences with Arnold while in Canada, bravely led his men against the enemy’s rear. A British officer later remarked that the elderly general “opposed us with more obstinancy than skill.” Before Wooster had a chance to fall back, he received a musket ball in the groin. His son rushed to his aid, and when a regular bore down on the two of them, the younger Wooster refused to ask for quarter and, according to the British officer, “died by the bayonet” at his mortally wounded father’s side. In the meantime, Arnold hastened to prepare his tiny force of less than five hundred militiamen, instructing them to hold their fire until the British were well within range. As Tryon approached at the head of a column that extended for more than a half mile behind him, he realized that “Arnold had taken post very advantageously.” The Ameri - can general might have a much smaller force of mere militiamen, but dislodging them was not going to be easy. At that point, Tryon requested that the more experienced William Erskine, whom Tryon regarded as “the first general [in the British army] without exception,” assume command. Instead of assaulting Arnold’s well-prepared force head-on, he sent out flanking parties that worked their way far enough to the edges of the breastwork that they were able to fire directly on the militiamen. With nothing between them and the enemy’s musketballs, the militamen began to retreat. All the while, Arnold continued to ride his horse back and forth along the fragmenting American line in an attempt to form a rear guard that might protect the men as they fall back. Arnold once claimed that “he was a coward till he was fifteen years of age” and that “his courage was acquired.” The son of a devout Congregation - alist mother who frequently harangued him about the inevitability of death, he appears to have become convinced that he was somehow immune to the perils that had claimed four of his siblings © 2016 Jeffrey Ward; Viking Penguin and left only himself and his sister Hannah to grow into adulthood. The year before, when he lay in a makeshift hospital bed in Quebec with his left leg CT Explored / 22 in a splint and with two pistols at his side in the event of a surprise attack by the enemy, he had insisted in a The Battle of Ridgefield, depicted by a London printmaker, 1780, letter to Hannah that the “Providence which has carried me with Benedict Arnold astride his horse, lower right. The caption through so many dangers is still my protection. I am in the way reads, “Arnold displayed his usual intrepidily [sic], his horse having been shot within a few yards of our foremost ranks. He suddenly of my duty and know no fear.” disengaged himself, & drawing a pistol out, shot the soldier dead As had been proven at Valcour Island and now at the little who was running up to transfix him with his bayonet.” town of Ridgefield, this was no idle boast. His men were fleeing The Keeler Tavern Museum all around him, but Arnold refused to yield. His horse was ulti - mately hit by nine different musket balls before the stricken an - imal collapsed to the ground. His legs ensnared in the stirrups, for the two pistols in the holsters of his saddle, Arnold was Arnold struggled to untangle himself as a well-known reputed to have said, “Not yet,” before shooting the loyalist Connecticut loyalist rushed toward him with a fixed bayonet. dead. He soon extricated himself from the stirrups and escaped “Surrender!” the loyalist cried. “You are a prisoner!” Reaching into the nearby swamp. CT Explored / 23 Tryon, with Erskine’s help, had easily defeated the on Quebec, was hit in the side by a round of grapeshot, the Americans. His soldiers, however, were exhausted, leaving him Americans began to retreat. no choice but to encamp near Ridgefield and continue the Once again, Arnold showed no qualms about putting himself march the next morning. That night Arnold conducted a quick in harm’s way and, according to a witness, “rode up to our front council of war and with Silliman’s help prepared to lay another line and [ignoring] the enemy’s fire of musketry and grapeshot trap for his enemy. [exhorted us] by the love of themselves, posterity, and all that’s By delaying the enemy at Ridgefield, Arnold had given his sacred not to desert him, but … all to no purpose.” For the Connecticut countrymen the time required to descend upon second time in as many days, Arnold had a horse shot out from the British invaders. “The militia began to harass us early… and underneath him while a musket ball creased the collar of his increased every mile, galling us from their houses and fences,” . Even the British were impressed. “The enemy opposed a British officer wrote. “Several instances of astonishing with great bravery,” an officer marveled, “many opening their temerity marked the rebels in this route. Four men, from one breasts to the bayonets with great fury and our ammunition house, fired on the army and persisted in defending it till they began to be very scarce.” perished in its flames. One man on horseback rode up within fifteen yards of our advanced guard, fired his piece and had the The British considered Tryon’s raid on Danbury a great success. The good fortune to escape unhurt.” Continental Congress appreciated the valiant attempt by Arnold, By that time, Arnold had been joined by his friend John Wooster, Silliman, and the local militia to defend Connecticut and inflict Lamb and his artillery regiment, the corps that Arnold had damage on Tryon’s troops. In recognition of Arnold’s bravery and helped finance with the loan of a thousand pounds back in leadership, the United States Congress reconsidered its treatment of February. Now that he had three fieldpieces at his disposal, Arnold. In early May Arnold was promoted to major general—but the Arnold found a section of high ground about two miles north U. S. Congress tempered the honor by insisting he be granted lower of Norwalk that commanded a fork in the road through which seniority than those promoted above him in February. Tryon must pass. According to a witness, Arnold had “made the A year later Washington put Arnold in command of Philadelphia, best disposition possible of his little army.” Unfortunately, a loy - which had been recently evacuated by the British. There, Arnold met alist became aware of Arnold’s position and, knowing of a place and married 18-year-old loyalist Peggy Shippen in 1779. Proceeding to on the Saugatuck River that was fordable, led Tryon’s soldiers live beyond his means, Arnold was later court-martialed for using his across the river just to the north of the roadblock. position for financial gain. In 1780 and in command of the army’s Momentarily foiled, Arnold led the attack on the rear of the position at West Point, he secretly prepared to turn West Point over to fleeing British, who had by the late afternoon reached the the British. The plot was discovered, but he escaped and became an relative safety of Compo Hill overlooking Long Island Sound, officer in the British army. where the fleet of warships and transports awaited. Throughout Four years after the Battle of Ridgefield, on September 6, 1781, the day, Arnold had been his usual daredevil self. “[He] exposed Benedict Arnold would trade roles with Tryon and lead the British himself almost to a fault,” a witness wrote, “[and] exhibited the attack on New London—just 14 miles down the Thames River from greatest marks of bravery, coolness, and fortitude.” his hometown of Norwich. Read that story in “Benedict Arnold Turns Once the regulars had been reinforced with some fresh and Burns New London” in the Fall 2006 issue or online at troops from the transports, Tryon and Erskine determined to ctexplored.org/benedict-arnold-turns-and-burns-new-london/. 2 disperse Arnold’s militiamen before they began loading their soldiers onto the ships. It was then, a British officer recalled, that Major Charles Stuart “gained immortal honor.” What Stuart realized was that Lamb and his friend Eleazer Oswald—both of whom had been with Arnold at Quebec—had nearly completed a makeshift battery for their three six-pounders. They must attack before the cannons could begin firing. With a vanguard of just a dozen men, Stuart led a bayonet charge of more than four hundred regulars that quickly overran the rebel position. Lamb and Oswald did their best—the British officers commented that their fieldpieces “were well served”—but when Lamb, who’d already lost an eye during the assault

The Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center CT Explored / 24 Explore!

Purchase Valiant Ambition at penguinrandomhouse.com/books/316034/valiant- ambition-by-nathaniel-philbrick/.

Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center 132 Main Street, Ridgefield Costumed docents lead tours tracing lives that embody New England and national history across Timothy Keeler’s tavern, now a museum, drew cannon fire. (A cannonball is three centuries. Closed during January. still buried in a corner post.) The British believed patriots were making keelertavernmuseum.org, 203-438-5485 ammunition in the basement. The Keeler Tavern Museum CT Explored / 25 Trade card for Dr. Warner’s Coraline Corset, c. 1885. Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library CT Explored / 26 Connecticut Shapes the Intimate-Apparel Industry By Elizabeth Pratt Fox

The production of corsets and undergar - underdresses for women. The Bristol 2003 film Cold Mountain . A women’s ments—those most intimate of Knitting Company, for example, version, made in and knit, underthings that we wear for comfort founded in 1850, was by 1882 the N. L. was a -like underdress. and hygiene or to improve our appear - Birge & Sons Company, specializing in Some companies specialized. The ance—was a major industry in Con - men’s and children’s underwear. Eastern Underwear Company in South necticut and a leading source of factory The Winsted Company Norwalk, for instance, produced goods jobs for women from the mid-19th to opened in 1882 on the banks of the Still only for women and children, and the mid-20th century. The industry was River. It produced hosiery and under - the Nichols Underwear Corporation made possible by the availability of wear and by 1936 was the largest in the same city produced only muslin mass-produced textiles developed underwear. during the industrial revolution and the development by 1850 Underwear of practical sewing machines. The American Hosiery Com - Connecticut entrepreneurs per - pany in New Britain was ceived the possibilities these founded in 1868 “to manufac - new technologies offered. By ture from wool, cotton, , the third quarter of the 19th flax or other materials or com - century the state produced large bination there in any or every numbers of woolen and cotton description of goods which are underwear and hosiery and or may be desired and to sell played an important role in the the same.” The company was production of corsets. formed to fill a demand for fine By 1907, 19 companies in woolen underwear and to Connecticut manufactured diversify New Britain’s Indus - knitted hosiery, both trial base after the Civil War. and , and underwear for One of the company’s first women, men, and children. products was a very fine These products were made on underwear made from soft large knitting machines using Merino lambswool. The prod - wool, silk, and cotton. The com - ucts were made for men, panies were located throughout women, and children. As part the state, but the largest were of a marketing campaign, they the American Hosiery Company adopted the name AMHO and in New Britain and the Winsted “The Stitching Room,” Illustrated Catalogue Warner Brothers the slogan “Body Clothing Hosiery Company in Winsted. Corset Manufacturer , 1886. Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library Means Better Underwear.” Many began as hosiery-knitting John Butler Talcott, one of factories and moved to produc - the founders of the American ing knitted underwear such as long producer of knitted in Hosiery Corporation, was introduced to underwear, knitted , and under - the state. Almost all of these factories the knitting industry in 1853 while pants for men and and produced union suits, the men’s one- president of the New Britain Knitting piece now familiar to Company. He imported machinery from Elizabeth Pratt Fox is a museum and his - viewers of the television show Little toric-site consultant. She most recently England and a mechanic to operate wrote “The Gaiety of the Connecticut House on the Prairie (1974 – 1984) or the the equipment at American Hosiery. Cocktail Shaker” (Summer 2017). CT Explored / 27 C/B á la Spirite Corsets advertisement, The Strouse, Adler Company, New Haven, 1903 . Jewish Historical Society of He imported Merino Along with that growth came labor wool from Australia disputes. In 1901, 70 women went on and Egyptian and Sea strike over issues of pay and working Island cotton that was conditions at the Alling Mill, also known spun on the new ma - as the Paugassett Mills, in Derby. After chines. 54 days, Samuel Gompers, the president American Hosiery of the American Federation of Labor, won a number of came to Derby to help settle the strike awards. At the 1876 and quickly negotiated an end. Centennial Interna - tional Exhibition in Corsets Philadelphia, the com - In the 19th century Connecticut’s whal - pany was commended ing industry supplied the whalebone for for the “high standard corset stays. Workers worked primarily of excellence in texture in their own homes and small shops and and finish, perfection in were paid by the piece. A private and form.” By contract worker described the working the 1920s the company conditions in a letter to the New Haven tried to convince its Union newspaper (August 6, 1871): The customers that “Im - cut material was provided to the stitcher. pressions count! That’s After it was stitched, it was embroidered, why men are particular boned, eyeleted, trimmed, bound, about their outward starched and ironed, laced, and packed. appearance. And, as The stitcher was responsible for 48 rows fine outer clothing of stitching on a single corset averaging impresses others, fine a foot a row, and she had to purchase body clothing makes her own thread from the manufacturer. even a stronger impres - The stitcher made 85 cents per dozen sion on yourself.” Un - corsets, and the wholesale price was dergarments now had about $10 per dozen. After a corset had become more than just about warmth gone through the many hands of or coolness and comfort. They were production, the company made a profit self-expressions of status. of $5.65 per dozen. The early 1900s was a boom period That system soon changed. The for the production of underwear in Strouse, Adler Company was founded Connecticut. Several in New Haven in 1862 by Isaac Strouse companies added and Max Adler, who were Bavarian factory buildings and Jews. They purchased a year-old corset expanded their work - company and developed it into one of above: Postcard, forces. The Bristol R&G Corset the largest employers in New Haven. By Factory, South Manufactory Com - 1877 the firm had outgrown its building Norwalk, 1909. pany employed 150 and relocated to a large factory building Courtesy of the workers in 1903. By Norwalk History Room, on Olive Street in the Wooster Square Norwalk Public Library 1907 N. L. Birge & neighborhood that had previously Sons Company, also housed Winchester & Davies, a right: Postcard, The in Bristol, had 120 work - Warner Bros. Co., manufacturer. Oliver Winchester had Bridgeport, Conn, ers and a showroom and offices in New left the shirt-manufacturing company to Danziger & Berman, c. 1915. York City. The Winsted Hosiery Com - form the Winchester Repeating Arms Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library pany added a six-bay extension to its Company. factory in 1911. CT Explored / 28 By 1889 Strouse, Adler employed for $1.25 to $2.50, which made them New , where wages were lower. It 1,200 workers in several five-story affordable for most women. The Report of threatened that 500 workers would lose buildings. A description in the chamber the Commissioners from Connecticut to the their jobs if the factory had to move. The of commerce-sponsored The Industrial Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904 workers also protested the requirement Advantages of the City of New Haven, Conn. described the corset factory as occupying that they supply their own needles and published in 1889 states that 132,425 square feet and producing 600 thread at a cost of about $2 per week The production of the house dozen corsets per day in nearly 500 dif - and purchase them from the company consists of corset and corset clasps ferent styles and sizes. The corsets were store. The thread alone cost 33 percent of all grades and patterns, and in made of “, Coutils, Alexandria more than at other stores in the city. The which the firm have no superiors Cloth, Silk and Cotton Batistes, and outcome of the strike is unknown. in the world. These products are Satins.” The designs were overseen by a These exploited garment workers, made from improved designs, each French corsetiere and made by a “very almost all Italian, Jewish, or Polish operation is performed with the ut - large force of experienced operatives women, would not have unions to most precision and accuracy, that employed in the thirty departments the protect their rights until the 1930s. the finished corset may be made corsets pass through to completion.” Brothers Ira DeVer Warner and Lucien adaptable to any figure. The work - Working conditions at the Strouse, Warner, whose company would become manship is unexcelled, and the Adler Company in 1889 were described known as Warner Brothers and then materials used are the best in the in The Industrial Advantages of the City of Warnaco, began life as tailors in upstate market. In the styles and patterns New Haven. Max Adler, it said, New York before focusing on manufac - care is given to the laws of health, has introduced many novel fea - turing corsets. They moved to Bridgeport and there is no wonder that the tures for the comfort and conven - in 1876 to expand their factory. They ninety-five per cent of ladies now- ience of his employees, and he faced healthy competition in the city, but a-days buys corsets manufactured has discovered the means of ob - while Strouse, Adler was the largest for the trade instead of resorting to taining faithful and superior serv - corset factory in the 19th century, by the the more expensive work of ice from a large force of the best early 20th century Warner Brothers was custom methods, when such a and the most expert workers, and on top. Through the 20th century, sales perfect-fitting and beautiful corsets the good feeling that prevails be - at Warner continued to increase as the can be procured everywhere as tween himself and his small army company introduced innovative prod - those made by this firm. of helpers, is a credit to him and a ucts. Combined, Connecticut factories Strouse, Adler’s corsets were in high matter of favorable comment. manufactured three-quarters of the demand among women who wanted to Unfortunately, the workers did not corsets in the United States in the early achieve the hourglass figure so popular have that same “good feeling.” On 20th century. from the mid-19th century to the early Saturday, February 8, 1890, the workers Ira and Lucien Warner were trained 20th century. The famous C/B corset arrived as usual but the minute the su - as doctors, and before entering the a la Spirite (“C/B” stood for “100 bones,” perintendent entered one workshop, textile business they had ventured into the Roman numeral “C” for 100 and the the 300 women there stopped running snake-oil remedies under the name “B” for bones made from whalebone or the machines. They quietly left their “Warner’s Safe Kidney and Liver Cure.” baleen) was able to give most women a stations and the factory. The strike was They became interested in developing a measuring between 18 and 22 called after the workers heard that in corset that was less constrictive than inches around! At the end of the two days pay cuts were to take effect. others on the market and named their century the company introduced the For each worker who did piece-work product “Dr. Warner’s Health Corset.” “Watchspring” corset, which used the cut was between 20 percent and 40 One of their most successful corsets was sliding detachable spring steel rather percent. The pay of stitchers was the “Coraline.” It was manufactured in than the traditional, fragile whalebone reduced from $6 to $5 per week. The part with Tampico grass fiber, also called for stays. The corsets were warranted to trimmers’ pay was cut by 40 percent and coraline, imported from Mexico. The never break and were made in several the lace binders’ by 59 percent. The grass becomes tough and elastic when styles. company claimed that the cuts were heated and pressed, making it an ideal The company was able to produce necessary because of competition from material for keeping the corset’s high-quality foundation garments selling plants in , New York, and shape. By the late 1880s the company

CT Explored / 29 Advertisement, American Hosiery Company, New Britain, c. 1920. Artwork proof for Warner Brothers “Dash-Away Red” New Britain Industrial Museum advertisement, 1966. Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library employed more than 1,500 workers, and girls walked off the job, demanding for an innovative new product: a seven-eighths of whom were women. an eight-hour workday and an increase brassiere that held the breasts in place The women worked in the stitching in wages. The Boston Evening Transcript but gave the wearer freedom of move - room and at the winding machines. reported on August 19, 1915 that the ment. The ensuing period of women’s Men worked in the hacking room, strike had ended and that “the firm transition from the corset to the brassiere where they chopped the fiber, and in granted the eight-hour work day and was challenging for the company. By the tempering room, where the fiber the company’s compromise offer of 1932 Warner Brothers Corset was more was made elastic. The coraline fiber was 12 ½ per cent increase in wages was than $1 million in the red, but it slowly stitched into the two folds of the cloth, accepted. The workers organized as a recovered by continually adding new forming ribs. The Warner factory in branch of the International Textile and to its product line. Later 1886 had five stitching rooms with more Workers of America, at a meeting last in the 20th century, it began to make than 500 sewing machines. night, and then paraded the street, women’s swimwear. In 1964 it cele - In 1887 the company established the tooting horns and waving banners.” brated its history by producing a history Seaside Institute as a dining, lecture, and of the company, Arthur W. Pearce’s The meeting hall for women. It served meals rassieres Future out of the Past: An Illustrated History at cost and offered workers a reading B of The Warner Brothers Company on Its 90th room, library, and music room. How - Warner took a major step in 1915 with Anniversary with the Histories of the ever, its presence did not prevent labor the purchase of the 1914 patent of Mary Corporate Family CF Hathaway, Puritan disputes. In 1915 about 1,300 women Phelps Jacob of Mamaroneck, New York and Warner’s Packaging. CT Explored / 30 In 1968 Warner Brothers Company stressed the comfort of its New Model became Warnaco, Inc. and then the 837 with the straightforward slogan , and it diversified by “They fit. They wear. They hold their adding men’s and women’s sportswear shape.” The company marketed widely, and through aggressive mergers and often buying quarter-page advertise - acquisitions. It was now the parent com - ments in popular ladies’ pany off Warner’s, Speedo, and Olga. In magazines such as Ladies’ the late 1980s, Warnaco moved its Home Journal. The com - corporate headquarters to New York pany is listed in the city City and relocated some staff to Milford, directories through 1929. Connecticut. Most of the production The site was occupied moved overseas and to a factory in from 1930 to 1935 by the Duncansville, Pennsylvania. In 2013 Corsetry, Inc., which was Warnaco was purchased by PVH, probably a different and Phillips-Van Heusen, a clothing short-lived company. conglomerate based in New York City. Although the under - garment industry has left he nd of the nderwear the state, its history lives T E U on in the factories where Industry in Connecticut those undergarments were Strouse, Alder also found itself having manufactured. A number to change with the times. In the of these buildings, includ - mid-1950s the company used a new ing those that once housed synthetic material, LYCRA™, in devel - Strouse, Adler in New oping a called the Haven, Warner Brothers “Smoothie” . The Smoothie was in Bridgeport, R&G in advertised as “so silky soft, so light and South Norwalk, Winsted dainty, yet with the miraculous power Hosiery in Winsted, and of LYCRA™.” Unfortunately, the com - Kraus Corsets in Derby, pany did not survive a corporate have been retrofitted as takeover in 1994 by the holding apartments. Some even company Aristotle Corporation, and in retain a painted advertise - 1998 Sara Lee purchased it. The factory ment, as the Smoothie closed its doors in 1999. Foundation Garments ad The underwear industry in Connecti - that remains on the side of cut closed because of mergers and the former Strouse, Adler acquisitions in the clothing business and factory, or the company the move of its factories to areas with name, such as R&G Corset Advertisement for The Strouse, Adler cheaper labor. Most corset companies Co., which remains on one of that Company’s “Smoothie” girdle, 1961. closed because they did not diversify company’s former buildings in South New Haven Museum when the corset went out of style. A Norwalk, giving this important past in - Connecticut example is the R & G Corset dustry a presence today. 2 Company of South Norwalk. Founded by Emil Roth and Julius Goldschmidt in 1880, it was originally located on North Water Street, but by 1895 the company built a new factory on Ann Street. In 1901 it employed 1,000 workers and produced 650 dozen corsets daily. R&G’s

CT Explored / 31 IDIVOR C

CT Explored / 32 By Henry S. Cohn

In the 1630s the Connecticut colony had little precedent for addressing the issue of divorce. England granted divorce in its ecclesiastical courts as a religious matter. Marriage for the Puritans was a civil—not religious—matter. Ministers could not perform marriages in Connecticut until British law was imposed on the colony under the Dominion of New England in 1686. As a result, Connecticut initially developed a divorce mechanism that differed entirely from English practice. The Connecticut position, liberal for its time, also broke with most other colonies (and later most states) that relied on the Bible’s Matthew 19:6 to guide its divorce laws. Matthew 19:6 famously says that what God has CONNECTICU T joined together, no man may put asunder. What was behind the Connecticut colony’s approach to divorce? The settlers of Connecticut STYLE considered preservation of the family unit part of E their social policy. Unrestrained family disruptions had to be kept to a minimum. The colonial leaders were determined to adopt a progressive approach to divorce and find a place for this action in civil society as a means of eliminating community strife. At the same time, these officials required that divorce occur under strict controls, with court review of proof and fault. Through this, not only did Connecticut throw off the shackles of the English ecclesiastical court, it also chose to avoid the complete bar to divorce that stood in some colonies and the total lack of control over the husband and wife in other colonies.

Henry S. Cohn is a former judge of the Connecticut Superior Court and presently serves as a Judge Trial Referee. This article is based on two essays by the author: Connecticut’s Divorce Mechanism” (American Journal of Legal History , 1970), and Zephaniah Swi‟ft and Divorce” ( Connecticut Supreme Court History , 2009). He co-wrote with Christop“her A. Griffin “Senator Brandegee Stonewalls Women’s Suffrage” (Spring 2016) .

CT Explored / 33 In what may be, according to the Connecticut State Archives, the earliest divorce case in the state involving African Americans, in 1771 James, an enslaved man owned by Abigail Hide of Norwich, petitioned the state legislature for divorce from his wife Grace on the grounds of abandonment. The petition was granted. Grace was a free woman. She worked as a servant for Governor Jonathan Trumbull in Lebanon. As part of the case, Grace gave her unequivocal response, signing with her mark, which was witnessed by Daniel Hyde and Jonathan Trumbull Jr. It says: I do hereby acknowledge that I have been notified of the petition of James, Mrs. Hide’s Negro man, to the Supt Court to be held in Norwich 4th Tuesday of March instant, praying for a Bill of Divorce from his marriage with me. And I do hereby also acknowledge that the fact of my refusing to live with him for more than four years last past as therein alledged [sic] is true; and I do moreover now also absolutely refuse ever to live with him for the future. As … James is a slave, according to the custom of the country & as by the same custom our children, if we should have any would be in danger of being subjected to the miserable state of condition of the father; I believe myself justified in such my refusal. Lebanon 15th March AD 1771. State Archives, Connecticut State Library

CT Explored / 34 In the towns of Windsor, Hartford, granting of divorces. Divorce was to be is the 1713 case of John Merriman and Wethersfield (which together granted upon complaint, proof, and against his wife, Hannah. In 1713 made up the early colony of Connecti - prosecuti‟on” showing that the spouse Hannah deserted John, leaving cut) divorces were first granted solely had committed adultery and fled pun - Wallingford and going to live with her by the general court. This body pos - ishment, or that the husband had relatives in Windsor. John almost at sessed the legislative power and much failed in his conjugal duties to the wife, once sought relief through the general of the judicial power of the commu - or that one spouse had willfully assembly but was refused. He also was nity. (Those powers were separated deserted the other, refusing all matri - refused while seeking divorce in the later on.) At the general court evidence monial society. The statute cites Bible Hartford Superior Court because his for the divorce (by deposition, in large verses Matthew 19:9 and I Corinthians allegations were not proven. Mean - measure) would be collected. The 7:15 in support of its provisions. In while John wrote reconciliation letters members of the general court would 1663 the ground of seven years’ to his wife, saving a witnessed copy of then consider the case and reach a absence was added by the New Haven each for his records. He also collected decision. The hearings were highly General Court, the members of the leg - sworn statements from Windsor informal. There were no set procedures islature finding the law for divorce citizens that he had asked his wife to or enumerated grounds. And often already provided‟ and in force, to be return. John tried again, this time in there was an attempt made to avoid short in some cases. . . .” New Haven. He tendered his accusa - the divorce by attempting to reconcile It is to be noted that the New Haven tion” to the New Haven Superio“ r Court the parties. colony’s law of divorce tended more in September 1716 on the grounds of While taking place before a primarily toward present practice than did that three years’ willful desertion. legislative body, these early divorces had of the colony of Connecticut. After the Hannah was notified in Windsor of judicial aspects. They were not the same two colonies merged in 1665 and the the complaint, and she answered and as the legislative divorces of other establishment of the court of assistants submitted a list of grievances. She said colonies, which involved the passing of in 1666, the Connecticut General that John Merriman has broken the a special act of divorcement. Justice Assembly in 1667 decreed that the most‟ if not all the essential articles in William Hamersley (writing in 1905) court of assistants would hear certain his covenant of marriage with me.” has termed the Connecticut colony’s di - divorce cases. The court of assistants The trial took place in March 1717, vorces as judicial” in form and lacking was renamed the superior court” in with both parties testifying before in the elem‟ ents of legislative divorce. He 1711. The court o‟f assistants (here - judges John Hamlin, Samuel Eells, and gives as an example the general court’s inafter the superior court) was to grant Jonathan Law. John Merriman’s use of local magistrates to take evidence divorces on certain grounds: adultery, depositions were presented. The depo - before the divorce was allowed. In the desertion, fraudulent contract, and nents included his sons, his servants, earliest recorded Connecticut divorce seven years’ absence (much like the and his friends. His niece swore in case—that of Goody Beckwith in New Haven laws of 1655.) When a writing that her uncle lived in a kind 1655—Goody presented to the general party had one of these specified of slavish fear of her [h‟is wife].” John court evidence of her husband’s depar - grounds to claim, he or she went to the finally introduced into evidence a copy ture and discontinuance.” The‟ court county superior court. When that of an unrelated 1683 judgment of decided that she must then testify lower court couldn’t find sufficient divorce in the court of assistants, further to magistrates at Strattford.” grounds to grant the divorce, the case where the grounds had been willful The magistrates would then‟ be empow - went to the Connecticut General desertion, as proof that he had legal ered to issue a bill of divorce. Assembly as it still was the body of grounds for the divorce. The colony of New Haven also original jurisdiction. The Connecticut Hannah had little to present. She developed a divorce mechanism during Superior Court also referred difficult testified that she had rather be obliged this period. (See Jon Blue, The Case of petitions to the general assembly, to live in the ‟jail all her days than to be the Piglet’s Paternity , 2015.) The Laws of requesting guidance as to what its legal obliged to live with her husband.” She New Haven of 1655 include an article options were. tried to justify her strong dislike for her devoted to divorce. The court of mag - Though more liberal than in other husband and pleaded for her position. istrates (the lowest of the local courts) places, divorce in Connecticut was still Her daughters also took her side and was to be the exclusive body for the a complicated matter. A good example told of John’s cruel mistreatment.

CT Explored / 35 John then asked the court to call in preceding half century and called for a judge deemed it advisable. A three-year the ministers of the churches of Hart - change. When Bostonian Sara Knight residency requirement was also added; ford and New Haven to consider the traveled to New Haven in 1704, she presently it is one year. ground of willful desertion from a reli - reported in a diary and subsequent travel After the Civil War the divorce rate gious vantage point. The use of divines— article that divorces are too much in began to rise considerably, as Glenda Riley or ministers—to assist the court was vogue among the Eng‟lish in this Indul - notes in Divorce, an American Tradition common during this period. On July 17, gent Colony as their Records plentifully (Oxford University Press, 1991).While the 1717 the divines answered, approving of prove.” increase was somewhat attributable to divorce in the case of a wife’s desertion. Coming to the rescue was Zephaniah the war itself (as after and The Reverend Joseph Mose stated for Swift, a lawyer and later Connecticut’s World War II), the rate also grew the divines that while Jesus had disap - chief justice, who wrote a defense of throughout the later 1800s due to the in - proved of divorce, His opposition was divorce in his System of the Laws of the State creasing use of the action by the working solely based on overly liberal Old Testa - of Connecticut (1795): classes of ment law (Deuteronomy Chapter 24:1); In this state the legislature has society. Dislike of divorce procedure grew the civil authorities of Connecticut could wisely steered between the in Connecticut even as the trend toward grant divorces for desertion and not two extremes. We neither divorce continued. violate Jesus’ limited animosity. Mose’s admit that marriage is indissol - In 1867 a bill was proposed, but not letter concluded: And it is supposed in uble, so as to involve a person adopted, that would have provided for the letter and ques‟tion that the husband in wretchedness for life, who is tighter controls on divorce. Among the be not so to blame, as may justify such unfortunate in forming a mat - bill’s provisions were: the requirement of separation.” Later in 1717 the court rimonial connection; nor do two witnesses at default” divorce hear - found that John was partially at fault we allow it to be dissolved ings; all hearings‟ were to be in open and therefore refused his divorce. upon such slight pretenses, as court, including committee hearings; a John then appealed his case to the give the parties the power of one-year waiting period before divorce general assembly again—the body of last releasing themselves from it, would be granted on certain grounds; a resort at this time. He stated that the when whim, caprice, or a six-month interlocutory period; and an superior court erred in failing to grant relish for variety shall dictate. optional provision to prevent the remar - him a divorce because while he had Substantial reasons only, riage of the parties. proved the ground of desertion, Hannah which shew that the design of In 1868 Dwight Loomis, a Connecticut had lied about his alleged cruelty. In May marriage is defeated, will have legal historian, felt grounds for divorce 1718 a bill was prepared giving John the influence, and the validity of needed tightening, charging in the New right to a rehearing in the New Haven these reasons must be judged Englander that, “By the operation of our Superior Court. The bill passed both of by a court of law, and not by divorce laws, bigamy and polygamy lower and upper houses after discussion. the party themselves. . . . The have been erected into an institution Notice was given to the superior court to wisdom and good policy of this which retains all their vicious attractive - reconsider the case in the court’s fall law, is evidenced by the ness, and without some of the restraints term. This hearing was held in October consideration that in no which in Oriental communities [pre - 1718 in Hartford. Even though Hannah country, is a greater share of sumably those that had harams] mitigate was not present, the divorce was finally domestic felicity enjoyed, than the practical operation of the system.” granted by the court. in this state. And in 1883 Dr. Morgan Dix, the rector There were those in the general of Hartford’s Trinity College, heavily No legal writer had greater influence on community who were displeased by the criticized the allowance of divorce, Connecticut law than Swift in 1795— liberality of Connecticut’s divorce proce - stating that the action led to a breakup and even into the 21st century. dures. In 1788 Benjamin Trumbull, a of the family and ultimately to what was In 1796 and 1797, under the direction Congregational minister, published An feared most of all, Communism. of Elizur Goodrich, the general assembly Appeal to the Public, Especially to the The Connecticut legal community’s reformed the divorce laws of the state. A Learned, with Respect to the Unlawfulness of reaction was once again one of modera - new statute added a concrete require - Divorces . He charged that 390 couples tion. After 1879 quicker procedures ment of notice with the possibility of had been divorced in Connecticut in the developed first to the growing number of postponement in any case in which the cases where there was no appearance or CT Explored / 36 answer by the respondent, and then in The founders believed that Sunday Herald , Waterbury, November 24, 1889. those cases where the parties stipulated Jesus did not completely re - for early determination. ject divorce but had merely The Hartford Courant was quick to put restrictions on what was respond to the anti-divorce movement. freely allowed by the Old Its owners were Joseph Roswell Hawley Testament codes. The Puri - and his best friend from Hamilton tans, disagreeing with the College, Charles Dudley Warner. British restrictions of the Hawley, who wrote the newspaper’s ed - time, saw divorce as an evil, itorials, was a cousin by marriage to necessary to quiet commu - Harriet Beecher Stowe and Isabella nity discontent. In Connecti - Beecher Hooker. He had been a law cut, the legislature was used partner with Isabella Hooker’s husband as the chosen forum early in John until the pull of the Civil War and the development of divorce, post-war politics led him to give up his until the court system came law practice. He shared the liberal to be viewed as the better Protestant values of the Hartford literary jurisdiction. community. His July 23, 1881 editorial The divorce system defended the status of divorce in developed from the concept Connecticut. It quoted from Swift’s that the state must have a System, in which Swift approved of role in every marriage. The divorce “when it is evident that the religion of the Puritans also parties cannot derive from [marriage] produced the concept of the benefits for which it was instituted, fault, which led to an adver - and when instead of being a source of sary system, requiring a the highest pleasure and most enduring complaint, proof, and the felicity, it becomes the source of the right to appeal. But divorce deepest woe and misery.” Hawley con - was also affected by the de - cluded: “That [Swift’s] statement is true sire for the possibility of rec - and of fundamental importance is onciliation. This mediation overlooked by many intelligent and required cooperation and respectable people, who being fortunate privacy between the parties. Thompsonville Press , and happy in their own married in obtaining the divorce April 23, 1914. relations, look upon divorce as an without long waiting periods unmixed evil, and in the statistics of was also a factor. Thus a increasing divorce find proof that the balance was struck over Evening Gazette , world is growing worse.” time. Divorce was to be Norwalk, Hawley’s strong support for divorce granted by the state, but it May 13, 1899. carried the day, and the action survived. moved from its beginnings Court procedure became more refined in the legislature to the courts. Now the over the years, eventually developing more personal and equitable facets are into the present system of uncontested even pushed out of the courtroom into or “no-fault” divorce. The ground irre - pre-trial stages, often handled by trievable breakdown” was added in“ the non-governmental means. Connecticut’s early 1970s. More recently, non-adver - approach has gradually become a The clerk of the Superior Court for sarial divorce that omits court presence model for other jurisdictions throughout New Haven County placed this official is available under certain circumstances. our country and indeed the English- notice four weeks running in advance The action for divorce in Connecticut speaking world. 2 of Ann Clark’s May court date, began as a concept in search of a means. Meriden Recorder , May 9, 1866.

CT Explored / 37 Olivia Langdon Clemens, c. 1872, a few years after she married Samuel Clemens.

A love letter Samuel Clemens sent to Olivia 18 years into their marriage, November 27, 1888.

Samuel and Olivia Clemens, 1903, the year before Olivia died.

CT Explored / 38 AM IVY LEMENS S OVE TORY S & L Mark TwCain’s image as a in o’ur own cLastle, by our own firesSide, blessed in each other’s By Mallory Howard sardonic, sometimes cynical unwavering love & confidence. But it makes me ever so restive, humorist and sharp-witted observer of human behavior Livy! —& impatient to throw off these wandering duties that remains firmly ensconced in American culture more than a thrall me now, & take you in my arms, never to miss your dear century after his death. But that image often concealed a soft presence again. heart—at least when it came to the love of his life, his wife, Sam’s persistent charm worked, and the couple got married Olivia, whom he called Livy. on February 2, 1870 in Livy’s hometown; the Reverend Twain—or Samuel Clemens—met her in 1867 after he and Thomas K. Beecher, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and her brother Charley Langdon found themselves fellow travelers Clemens’s dear friend Reverend Joseph Twichell officiated. on board the steamship Quaker City on a five-and-a-half-month In 1871 they moved to Hartford. Livy’s wealth provided for trip to the Holy Land. Langdon showed Clemens an ivory the design and building of their house on Farmington Avenue, miniature portrait of his sister, and Sam was smitten. where they lived from 1874 to 1891. They had four beloved Back in the U.S., Clemens pursued the introduction to Olivia children: Their first-born, and only son, Langdon, died of Langdon, who was living at home in Elmira, New York. diphtheria in 1872 at 19 months; Susy was born that same year; The couple’s first date at the end of December or beginning of Clara in 1874, and Jean in 1880. January was in New York City: Sam accompanied Livy to a In 1874 Sam sent his wife a rather racy message: reading by the famous British author Charles Dickens. I love to picture myself ringing the bell, at midnight—then

Their early letters suggest that Livy resisted Sam’s ardent a pause of a second or two—then the turning of the bolt, & entreaties for many months thereafter. But Sam pressed on. “Who is it?”—then ever so many kisses—then you & I in His language grew a bit flowery to impress Olivia, as this 1869 the bath-room, I drinking my cock-tail & undressing, & you letter shows: standing by—then to bed, and everything happy & jolly as Livy dear, I have already mailed to-days letter, but I am so it should be. I do love & honor you, my darling. proud of my privilege of writing the dearest girl in the world We get a glimpse of Livy’s feelings about these early love whenever I please, that I must add a few lines, if only to say I letters in one she wrote to Sam at the beginning of that difficult love you, Livy. For I do love year of 1872 (dated January 7): you, Livy—as the dew My Youth [her pet name for Sam] , you have seemed so loves the flowers; as the near and dear to me, if any thing more than usually so, since birds love the sunshine; as last evening … I could not help going to the tin box when the wavelets love the I went to my room … I did not read any of the oldest love breeze; as mothers love letters, only some that were written since we were married,— their first-born as memory how sweet the memory … our love life is—…but at such times loves old faces; as the it is hard not to be able to put out my hand and touch you— yearning tides love the Last night I had a vivid dream of your return, a natural moon; as the angels love dream, in my sleep I did all the things that I should have done the pure in heart. I so love waking if you had returned to me, put my hand in yours, The Clemens family at home you that if you were taken stroked your hair, did every thing that should make me really in Hartford, 1885. from me it seems as if all my conscious of your presence—Youth don’t you think it is very love would follow after you sweet to love as we love? & leave my heart a dull & vacant ruin forever & forever. Livy, who had always been frail and suffered bouts of Sam imagined what their life would be like together. That ill health, died in 1904 at age 58. Sam, in his grief, paid loving same year he wrote: tribute to her at the end of his brief Book of Genesis fantasy And so you have been having visions of our future home, too, called “Adam’s Diary.” At its poignant conclusion, Adam visits Livy? I have such visions every day of my life, now. And they the grave of Eve and laments, “Wheresoever she was, there always take one favorite shape—peace, & quiet—rest, & was Eden.” 2 seclusion from the rush & roar & discord of the world. You & I apart from the jangling elements of the outside world, Mallory Howard is assistant curator at The Mark Twain House & Museum. All images courtesy of The Mark Twain House & Museum, reading & studying together when the day’s duties are done— Hartford, Connecticut. CT Explored / 39 Site Lines: Love/Hate for Connecticut’s Brutalist Buildings protruding ribs that were hammered off, leaving rough stumps that expose the multicolored aggregate within. From a distance this produces a texture like corduroy: striated, irregular, almost fuzzy. Rudolph’s devotion to spatial gymnastics, however, in many ways overwhelmed his planning. Artists, for instance, griped about cramped, poorly lit studios and complained of skin abrasions caused by brushing against the rugged concrete. Brutalism flourished through the 1960s and well into the 1970s before falling into disfavor. But not just disfavor. For years, the vitriol addressed at Brutalism reached a height known by few other out-of-favor styles. Buildings were described as eye - sores, forbidding, impenetrable, egotistical, surly, grim. One reason for the vitriol may be the Brutalists’ frequent use of concrete. While inexpensive and almost limitlessly flexible, concrete can feel dank and cold. It chips and stains easily, becoming Art and Architecture Building, designed unsightly. And it is more associated with by Paul Rudolph, built 1961 – 1963, Yale anonymous and suggestive of faceless cor - garages or highway overpasses than with University, New Haven. Library of Congress porate bureaucracies. Instead of unifor - schools or churches. mity and machine-like finishes, the Another problem is that Brutalism’s rise By Christopher Wigren Brutalists aimed for individuality and coincided with urban renewal. The heavy monumentality devoid of refinement, as forms and rough textures of renewal-era the word brut implied. They wanted build - housing projects or schools have fueled the What sane architect would willingly label ing exteriors to express the layout and legend that they were designed as his or her buildings as cruel, savage—in functions of their interiors, and they fortresses to protect users against hostile short, brutal? That’s the question that’s im - wanted to rely on the true nature of mate - and dangerous cities. But that belief mediately raised by Brutalist buildings of rials to determine form. doesn’t explain the fact that nearly identi - the 1960s and 1970s. Brutalist architecture is epitomized in cal designs also appeared in the most The answer, of course, is: no one. one of the movement’s best-known bucolic suburbs. Brutalism doesn’t take its name from the examples, the Yale Art and Architecture Perhaps the most serious problem lay English word brutal , but rather from the building, completed in 1963. Architect in Brutalism’s aim, as expressed by pro - French word brut , which means, among Paul Rudolph assembled studios, offices, moters such as the critic Reyner Banham, other definitions, raw or unrefined. places for display and criticism, and a to be powerful and straightforward rather Brutalism emerged in the 1950s in library in a complex composition of 30- than elegant. Balancing its monumental reaction to International Style Modernism, odd levels (counts vary) made visible in forms and rugged textures with human whose simple, boxy forms and steel-and- the irregular forms of the exterior. For the scale required great skill—more than glass facades had come to seem blandly walls, Rudolph specified concrete cast with many architects possessed. As the distin - CT Explored / 40 guished English architectural historian Brutalism is hardly the first architectural Nikolaus Pevsner observed at the dedica - style to be hated. The history of the preser - tion of Yale’s Art and Architecture build - vation movement contains references to ing, even a mediocre architect could “inferior” Greek Revival design, tirades imitate International Style buildings and against Victorian buildings, and anti-Mod - create something that at least was service - ernist screeds. For Brutalism, the hatred able. Not so, he argued, with Brutalism. may have come on more quickly and been And when Brutalism is bad, it’s very bad— more persistent. But, like those styles, it heavy and threatening, or grimly bland. too seems to be coming into its own again. These failures gave the whole movement And, luckily, many of its most important a negative reputation that was only rein - works are still around to enjoy new forced by the unfortunate name. appreciation. One reason may be that A section of the wall of Trinity College’s life sciences Recently, however, Brutalism has begun they’re just too hard to tear down… . 2 center, designed by Douglas Orr, de Cossey, Winder & to enjoy a revival. In Boston, it’s been Associates, built 1967 – 1969, Hartford . Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation championed by architects Mark Pasnik, Christopher Wigren is deputy director of the Michael Kubo, and Chris Grimley, who Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, based in Hamden. propose rebranding the style as a tactic for improving its standing. In a 2015 interview on The Atlantic’s Citylab website, Pasnik said, “I think ‘Heroic’ is a better title for Explore! what [Brutalist architects’] actual aspira - tions were.… They were developing archi - Newhavenmodern.org tecture for the civic realm. They believed The New Haven Preservation Trust’s award-winning website has listings and in democracy and had high aspirations.” histories with lots of great photos. Recent renovation projects have pro - vided opportunities to reconsider Brutalist TheGlassHouse.org/learn/modern- buildings. In 2008 Yale completed a homes-survey/ 200 Main Street, New Britain, architect More than 100 Modern homes were unknown, built 1975. photo: Tod Bryant, National restoration of the Art and Architecture constructed from the 1950s to the 1970s building that was led by Gwathmey Siegel in New Canaan. Find a link to a PDF of Register of Historic Places & Associates. The spatial complexity of the New Canaan Mid-Century Modern Houses survey here. Rudolph’s interiors was restored, and a new (albeit visually underwhelming) ad - Forthcoming! dition improves the building’s functionality. CONNECTICUT ARCHITECTURE: Stories of 100 Places , Connecticut College took a less rever - by Christopher Wigren, due out Fall ential approach with its Shain Library 2018 from Wesleyan University Press. (1974, Kilham, Beder & Chu Architects). Wigren gives readers a preview in the Spring 2018 issue of Connecticut In a 2015 renovation Schwartz/Silver Explored . Wesleyan.edu/wespress Architects preserved the original striated concrete and syncopated fenestration but made the building more approachable by Connecticut Explored enlarging some of the original slit windows received support for this Elihu Burritt Library, Central Connecticut State and cutting open the façade for a glassy publication from the University, designed by Hirsch, Kaestle & Boos, reading room. Back in New Haven, the State Historic Preservation Office of the built 1969 – 1972, New Britain. Connecticut Trust city’s housing authority sponsored a Department of Economic and Community for Historic Preservation Development with funds from the Community National Register nomination for Crawford Investment Act of the State of Connecticut. Manor, a 1965 high-rise also designed by Rudolph, and now is renovating the building.

CT Explored / 41 Nothing says “love” like roses, and Connecticut has three notable historic rose gardens to love. We’re Hartford’s Elizabeth Park Rose Garden is the oldest and third largest municipal rose garden Coming in the country. But New Haven and Norwich have notable municipal Up R SES rose gardens, too.

By Lea Anne Moran Pardee Rose Garden in New Haven’s East Rock Park is home to dozens of old and new rose varieties. Veterans Memorial Rose Garden is a treasure tucked away in a corner of Norwich’s Mohegan Park. They are all well worth a visit in June, when roses are at their peak.

Lea Anne Moran is garden manager at Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington. All photos by Lea Anne Moran.

CT Explored / 42 Veterans Memorial Rose Garden Rockwell Street entrance to Mohegan Park, Norwich Veterans Memorial Rose Garden (also known as Mohegan Until 2013 the garden was a trial site for All American Rose Memorial Rose Garden) is the newest and smallest of the trio. Selections, a California company that provided roses in This little gem was dedicated in 1948 (and re-dedicated in 2008) exchange for feedback about how they performed until it closed to honor veterans of World War II and has been maintained by in 2013. Memorial donations made in honor of a loved one are the City of Norwich ever since. It is set on a half acre at the used to purchase new plants, as evidenced by plaques in the rose southern tip of Mohegan Park, a wooded city park full of trails, beds, an indication of the many visitors who have enjoyed the a swimming pond, and picnic areas. beauty of this rose garden. 2 A rose garden is a fitting tribute to Norwich, known as “The Rose City.” It got that name after famed preacher Henry Ward Beecher visited in about 1850 and admired the gardens there, calling it “The Rose of New England,” as the story was told in the Norwich Bulletin . A group of citizens led by Roy D. Judd in the 1940s determined that “The Rose City” should have a park befitting its name. They raised funds and hired Thomas H. Desmond, a landscape architect from Simsbury, to design the garden. Delayed by World War II, the rose garden was installed in 1947. Its first rose, “Lady Stanhope,” was planted on April 16, 1947. In 2008 the garden was enclosed by a tall fence to protect it from browsing deer, says Angelo Yeitz, the city’s superintendent of streets and parks. Today the beds are burst - ing with 120 rose varieties and 1,250 rose bushes.

Veterans Memorial Rose Garden, Mohegan Park, 2017.

CT Explored / 43 Pardee Rose Garden 180 Park Road, Hamden The Pardee Rose Garden is located on two acres of East Rock described in the Pardee papers held by the New Haven Museum. Park that straddle Hamden and New Haven. It is operated by The original rose garden was symmetrical in design, with a long the City of New Haven. East Rock Park is listed on the National central row of arches dividing beds that contained 46 varieties Register of Historic Places. The rose garden was created in 1922 of roses, including hybrid tea, polyantha, hybrid perpetual, with a gift from William S. Pardee (1860 –1918), a New Haven climbers, and old-garden roses. lawyer and businessman. He bequeathed funds to the city to According to Matthew Naab, the horticultural supervisor with create a rose garden “with flowers, (and) all that the City of New Haven, the rose garden was re-designed in the blossoms” to honor his mother, Nancy Maria English Pardee, as 1970s, during a time of budget cutbacks. Superintendent of horticulture at the time, Landon Winchester, removed the central row of rose-covered arches and reduced the overall number of plants. It was in this redesign that the central wedding-cake- shaped gazebo was added. The current garden holds 76 varieties, 1,500 bushes in all, and includes many new varieties along with some of the originals. The climbing roses “Cecile Brun - ner” and “American Pillar” are two that have been replanted in honor of the original plan. 2

Pardee Rose Garden, East Rock Park, 2017.

CT Explored / 44 Elizabeth Park Rose Garden, Elizabeth Park, 2017. Elizabeth Park Rose Garden Prospect and Asylum streets, West Hartford Elizabeth Park Rose Garden stands at the heart of the 101-acre Elizabeth Park, on the former estate of Charles Pond. Pond donated the land, which straddles Hartford and West Harford, to the city of Hartford, stipulating that the park be named in honor of his wife, Elizabeth. The park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Elizabeth Park Conservancy website provides a wealth of information about the Pond family, the park, and its rose garden. The conservancy raises funds for the garden’s upkeep each year and since 2016 has also maintained the gardens in the park. In 1896 the City of Hartford hired Swiss-born land - scape architect Theodore Wirth as superintendent of parks. By 1897 he had created a welcoming city park with Victorian flowerbeds, trees, shrubs, winding roads, and, in the style of Frederick Law Olmsted, a picturesque vista of the surrounding countryside. In 1903 Wirth began designing the formal rose garden on 1.25 acres because he felt that “roses bring joy to the public,” the Elizabeth Park Conservancy website notes. The design fills a square that centers on a vine-covered gazebo sitting atop a four-foot rise of land. Eight rows of rose-covered arches radiate out from the center. The garden opened in 1904 with 116 beds, each filled with 16 to 60 plants of a single variety. In 1912 a semi-circular section was added at the south side to provide the first testing beds for the American Rose Society. In 1937 a matching semi-circular section was added to the north side, doubling the size of the rose garden to 2.5 acres. All American Rose Selections provided volunteers. The rambler-covered arches bloom in mid-to-late test roses until the company closed in 2013. June, lasting for just a few weeks. The beds of roses begin their By 1911 people came from all around to visit the rose garden, colorful show in early to mid-June, and many continue bloom - and, according to the Elizabeth Park Conservancy, “a large ing throughout the summer. The garden’s more than 800 manufacturer of postcards” sold more postcards of Elizabeth varieties and 15,000 rose bushes include hybrid tea, hybrid Park that year than of any other garden or park in the country. perpetual, floribunda, shrub, and pillar roses. Old-garden roses The gazebo was rebuilt in 2005 with new cedar. It is fully (those dating before 1867) can be found in the heritage rose covered once again with Virginia creeper (woodbine). Storm- garden recently restored by the Connecticut Valley Garden Club damaged arches were replaced after the surprise snow storm in in a secluded section of the park beside the shade garden. 2 October 2012, and climbing roses are filling in to cover them. Today the rose garden is one of the most visited and photographed gardens of Elizabeth Park, according to Andrea Masisak, the conservancy’s manager of gardens, grounds and

CT Explored / 45 Lilac Hedges attempted to bolster marketing efforts and diversify its offerings with stationery and an extensive Valentine’s Day portfolio, c. late 1960s.

Ralph Hinchman at his desk. He designed many of the company’s most popular offerings.

An example of an early Lilac Hedges card featuring a historic Litchfield home. CT Explored / 46 By Linda Hocking In the early 20th century Hinchman’s bulk of income come during the Christ - grandparents purchased property that mas holiday season made it difficult to Lilac Hedges was a greeting-card com - originally belonged to the historic Echo operate year-round. Second, competition pany in Litchfield, Connecticut in the Farms—the first dairy to commercially from Hallmark and other larger producers 1950s and 1960s founded by Ralph P. bottle milk for distribution in New York of greeting cards was fierce. It seemed Hinchman III (1921 – 2005). For the City—and renamed it Lilac Hedges. After that as soon as Lilac Hedges launched a Litchfield Historical Society, the collection attending Cooper Union, Hinchman new product, the larger companies were of cards and records donated by Hinch - decided to try his hand at creating cards. doing the same thing. man’s sister, Elsa Hinchman Clark, and His father provided financing (it’s unknown Hinchman’s designs were often artists Jac Venza and Harry Dunn adds to what his profession was), and Hinchman inspired by historical research. He noted an under-documented but significant era learned how to operate a business. The the popularity of a holiday design he in Litchfield’s history. While Marcel barn became Hinchman’s studio and made on a parchment-like paper and Breuer was designing the town’s first provided a home—and a name—for the created other products with a similar his - modern house complete with art by budding company. His first commercial toric feel. Soon after, he asked Hilary order came in November 1950 fron Cunard Knight to design invitations featuring a Steamships. They ordered 1,000 cards with butler and a maid modeled after Helen an image of a steamship on the front. Hokenson’s New Yorker cartoons of the Say it Beginning with his own drawings 1930s and 1940s. of Litchfield houses , Although the company had expanded Hinchman created its line to include invitations, Valentines, holiday cards to blank note cards, and stationery, Hinch - With a Card sell to friends in man struggled to make the business a town. In order to financial success. In 1972 or 1973 he sold expand, he needed to create a his share of the business to McIlhenney, sample book from which customers who moved it to California, where it may could order. He decided to enlist have only lasted a year or two. artists he knew from New York, After the sale of his business, Hinch - including Jac Venza, Hilary man traveled throughout the south Knight (who would later achieve painting murals in private homes. He fame as the illustrator of the occasionally held art shows in the Lilac Eloise series of children’s books), Hedges studio. He died in 2005. 2 Donn Sheets, Henry Bowman, Author’s Note: Thanks to Elsa Hinchman and others—including a young Clark for her donation of Lilac Hedges cards, Andy Warhol. Venza became drawings, and records, artist Harry Dunn for his co-creative director and a his donation of cards he illustrated to Litch - member of the company’s board, and he field Historical Society, and Jac Venza, who took on the task of finding new artists. provided much of the information in this ar - ticle during an oral history interview in 2012. Alexander Calder, Hinchman began what They added a sales team. Major de - would become a national enterprise from partment stores such as Bergdorf Good - his family’s property on Fern Road. Scant man and Bonwit Teller began carrying Linda Hocking is curator of library and archives at the Litchfield Historical Society. records, though, leave much of this story the line of cards. Needing to expand fur - still to be documented. ther, Hinchman invited Francis McIlhen - All images courtesy of The Hinchman was born in Brooklyn, New ney, a friend from Philadelphia, to be a Litchfield Historical Society. York. After serving in World War II, he business partner. McIlhenney focused on attended Cooper Union in New York and the daily operations of the business. The alternated his time between his grand - printer, Bill Exner, moved his press into mother’s and friends’ apartments in New the barn. York and his parents’ home in Litchfield. As the company grew, it had to diver - sify, for two reasons. First, having the CT Explored / 47 By Elizabeth J. Normen THE RIDICULOUS AND PERNICIOUS CUSTOM OF BUNDLING In 2005 a review copy of Henry Reed Stile’s History of Bundling , applied to the custom of a man and a woman, especially lovers, first published in 1871, came across my desk. My first impression thus sleeping.” Its use in a sentence, from Washington Irving’s was that it seemed like a funny topic to warrant a reprint— 1809 Knickerbocker’s History of New York , was: “Van Corlear stopped especially at $145.50 a copy. Its dedication, too, was curious. “To occasionally in the villages to eat pumpkin pies, dance at country My esteemed friend, Deacon Jabez H. Hayden, of Windsor Locks, frolics, and bundle with the Yankee lasses.” Connecticut,” it said, “whose jealous love of his native state, led We begin to see what Hayden is upset about. We Connecticans him, in defense of her good fame, to make some strictures upon look like simpletons. What husband or parent in any era would a statement relative to BUNDLING , in my History and Genealogies let strange men share a bed with his wife or daughter? Records of Ancient Windsor, Conn. , which strictures… set me upon the of births outside or less than nine months after marriage in the further investigation of this interesting subject...” I put the book colonial period show that extra- and premarital sex happened. aside, but this issue’s theme led me to pull it off the shelf and take The sharing of beds was common because beds were scarce. But a closer look. the 1788 definition of bundling specifies wives and daughters. It seems that after Stiles’s history of Windsor was published When strangers shared beds with men—was that just called in 1859, Hayden wrote to him with strong objections to the sleeping ? Unfortunately, the historical record appears thin, assertion that after the French and Indian War Windsor’s soldiers consisting of hearsay from many years past. had come home with Though Stiles suggests that bundling died out around 1800, stores of loose camp vices and recklessness, which soon his defense was published in 1871, demonstrating that New flooded the land with immorality and infidelity. The England’s reputation for bundling stuck fast. Boston reportedly church was neglected, drunkenness fearfully increased, banned the book, but as late as the 1890s bundling remained, in and social life was sadly corrupted. Bundling —that ridicu - the words of one historian, “a standing taint against New England lous and pernicious custom which prevailed among the morality.” young to a degree which we can scarcely credit—sapped A century earlier, in October 1782, Jean-Baptiste-Antoine de the fountain of morality and tarnished the escutcheons Verger, a sublieutenant in the Comte de Rochambeau’s army, of thousands of families. wrote this delightfully judgment-free description of bundling as Hayden feared “that this subject of bundling cannot be ventilated a courtship ritual: without endangering the fair fame of old Connecticut.” 29 October We camped across the Connecticut River 2 What was this “ridiculous and pernicious custom” that had miles beyond Hartford. … The inhabitants of Connecti - tarnished so many escutcheons and was best not further “venti - cut are the best people in the United States, without any lated?” History of Bundling includes two definitions. From the 1788 doubt. They have a lively curiosity and examined our British publication A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue: “A troops and all our actions with evident astonishment. man and a woman sleeping in the same bed, he with his small … I can not refrain from reporting a very extraordinary clothes, and she with her on; an expedient practiced in custom of this charming province, which is known as America on a scarcity of beds, where, on such occasions, “bundling.” A stranger or a resident who frequents a husbands and parents frequently permitted travelers to bundle house and takes a fancy to a daughter of the house may with their wives and daughters.” declare his love in the presence of her father and mother From the 1864 edition of Merriam Webster’s Dictionary without their taking it amiss; if she looks with favor (the word does not appear in Noah Webster’s 1828 or 1842 upon his declaration and permits him to continue his dictionaries): “To sleep on the same bed without undressing; — , he is at perfect liberty to accompany her wherever

CT Explored / 48 The Webster sons and daughters shared a bedroom, typical 18th-century sleeping arrangements. Illustration by Monica Vachula for the Noah Webster House’s self-guided iPad tablet tour. Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society

he wants without fear or reproach from her parents. everybody in the house enters the room and beats Then, if he is on good terms with the lady, he can the lover for his too great impetuosity. Regardless of propose bundling with her. This means going to bed appearances, it is rare that a girl takes advantage of this with her. The man may remove his coat and shoes but great freedom, which confirms the good faith of these nothing more, and the girl takes off nothing more than amiable citizens. her . Then they lie down together on the same bed, even in the presence of the mother—and the most Amiable citizens, indeed. 2 strict mother. If they are alone in the room and indiscreet ardor leads the man to rashness or violent Elizabeth Normen is publisher of Connecticut Explored . She last acts…, woe to him if the least cry escapes her, for then wrote “John E. Brockett Goes for the Gold” (Winter 2015-2016).

CT Explored / 49 By Elizabeth J. Normen “Then Comes Baby in a Baby Carriage” These baby pictures were selected from Connecticuthistoryillustrated.org, an online digital library of historic images from more than a dozen Connecticut organizations’ collections. Two images were taken by Everett Augustus Scholfield, who, according to Mystic Seaport’s website, began working as a studio photographer right after his return from serving in the Civil War. Born in 1843, he learned photography from his father Edwin, who opened a photography studio in Westerly, Rhode Island in the 1850s. Apparently a bit of a rolling stone or perhaps in search of a promising location for his business, Scholfield set up successive studios over the next 15 years—at times with and without partners—in Wakefield, Rhode Island and then in Norwich, Stonington, Putnam, and Mystic, Connecticut. During that time he also made sojourns to St. Croix and Honduras. In 1879 he set up Oliver O. Jensen, shown here c. 1915, grew up to found American Heritage shop with his two brothers in Westerly. magazine and become president of In 1885 he left Scholfield Brothers and the Connecticut Valley Railroad. opened a studio in New London. He retired Connecticut Historical Society in 1912 and died in 1930 at the age of 86. 2 Elizabeth Normen is publisher of Connecticut Explored .

Unidentified baby and dog, c. 1890 – 1899. photo: Everett A. Scholfield. Mystic Seaport

The name “Ladd” is scratched on the plate, c. 1890 – 1899. photo: Everett A. Scholfield, Mystic Seaport

Unidentified baby, Norwich, c. 1880 – 1889. photo: Laighton Brothers, Connecticut Historical Society CT Explored / 50 spotlight News & events not to be missed from CONNECTICUT EXPLORED’S partners Three Centuries of Christmas “Three Centuries of Christmas” tours at the Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum demonstrate in charming detail how the holiday evolved in Con - necticut. Three historic houses delight the senses and captivate the imagination. Enjoy at a preview party Friday, December 8, 5 to 8 p.m., candlelight tours December 15 and 16, and daytime tours De - cember 9, 2017 to January 7, 2018. Webb-Deane-Stevens Museum, 211 Main Street, Wethersfield. webb-deane-stevens.org; 860-529-0612

Norwich Artist Bela Lyon Pratt Norwich-born artist Bela Lyon Pratt (1867-1917) is best known in Connecticut for his sensitive por - trayal of Nathan Hale (below). He was scion of the prominent Whittlesey family of Music Vale Semi - nary in Salem, Connecticut. As a child he was sur - Lebanon, A Winter Destination Michelle Alexander to Speak rounded by art and music. His talent emerged Winter is a great time to visit Lebanon. Life slows Central Connecticut State University’s history de - early, and he entered the Yale School of Fine Arts down a bit once the weather gets cold, but the partment welcomes Michelle Alexander, a civil- at 16. There he followed a path common among Lebanon Historical Society is open year round. The rights advocate and writer best known for her the most prominent artists of the late 19th and museum’s exhibits are open Wednesday through 2010 book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration early 20th centuries: Art Students League, École Saturday from noon to 4 p.m., and staff office in the Age of Colorblindness . She will speak on des Beaux-arts, and apprenticeship. Pratt appren - hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 6 p.m. in the ticed with Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who men - A visit to Lebanon offers a great opportunity Welte Auditorium. The moderated conversation tored him and whose work, in many cases, Pratt to get out and stretch your legs . The walking path will be followed by a reception and book-signing. completed. Now, on the sesquicentennial of his around the historic, mile-long Lebanon Green is Admission is free, and the event is open to the birth and the centennial of his death, the Slater kept open and accessible. If the weather stays public. Museum presents Bela Lyon Pratt: Sculptor of cold, the seasonal skating pond in the middle of CCSU’s history department also invites you to Monument , on view through January 15, 2018. the green offers family-friendly fun. look at course offerings and take a spring course. The exhibition includes objects gathered from Or, if it’s too cold, visit the museum to explore Senior citizens may take courses tuition-free! The around the country and Canada, many never be - Lebanon’s past. Explore a 10,000+-year-old Paleo history department offers great topics for the HIST fore on public display. A special event will be held Indian site, the town’s central role in the American 100 and 295 courses, including The 9/11 Genera - on December 11, 2017 to mark the artist’s birth - Revolution, or the ways immigrants reshaped the tion; Race, Gender and Sports; History and Docu - day. town in the early 20th century. mentary; Food in World History; Digital History; Slater Memorial Museum, 108 Crescent Street, Lebanon Historical Society Museum, and African History Through Film. Course registra - Norwich. 860-887-2506; slatermuseum.org 856 Trumbull Highway, Lebanon. 860-642-6579; tion is open through January 16, 2018. Visit historyofLebanon.org ccsu.edu/history/ for information and to register.

New Railroad-History Book The Connecticut Valley Railroad once carried pas - sengers and freight along the Connecticut River and is now known for the steam-powered excur - sion trains that carry more than 30,000 passengers each year. Written by Max R. Miller, former vice president of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, Along the Valley Line provides the first history of the railroad; it is illustrated with maps, ephemera, and photos. Wesleyan University Press, Wesleyan.edu/ wespress

CT Explored / 51 spotlight

identity. Connecticut State Library reference librarian Mel Smith recently created new index volumes for divorce information contained in the state archives for Hartford County and Fairfield County. They are part of archival record group (RG) #003, Records of the Judicial Department. State Archives, Connecticut State Library, 231 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. Ctstatelibrary.org

Robert Motherwell, June 1944. Smithsonian Institution

The Craft of Letter Writing she traces the steps of her ancestor William Pen to Paper: Artists’ Handwritten Letters from Grimes, who traveled along the Underground the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art , on Railroad to freedom in Connecticut. He wrote the view at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old first fugitive-slave narrative in U.S. history, which Lyme February 9 through May 6, 2018, reveals the was published in 1825, when slavery was still legal beauty and intimacy of the craft of letter writing . in Connecticut. The film conveys not only Mason’s From casually jotted notes to elaborately deco - long road to uncover her past but also the rated epistles, Pen to Paper explores the handwrit - unimaginable conditions that faced Grimes as ing of celebrated artists Alexander Calder, Mary he struggled to free himself from slavery. The Cassatt, Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Eakins, screening and speaking event will be held Sunday, Howard Finster, Jacob Lawrence, Robert Mother - February 4, 2018. Visit the society’s website for well, Claes Oldenburg, Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackson details and event registration. Pollock, John Singer Sargent, James McNeil Litchfield Historical Society, 7 South Street, Whistler, and many others. Litchfield. Litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org; 860-567-4501 Do You Know How to Reach A selection of letters from the Florence Gris - Your SHPO? wold Museum archives augments the display. Let - The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is ter writing was an important part of Lyme Art Divorce Indices Available responsible for managing a statewide program of Colony life, with artists staying there writing to at the State Library historic preservation for Connecticut’s citizens. The family back home and to art-world contacts. Paint - Divorces were granted in Connecticut during the office works to identify and increase appreciation ings from the Florence Griswold Museum’s collec - earliest colonial times by the general court, which for the buildings, structures, landscapes, archaeo - tion hang alongside artists’ letters. This exhibition later became the general assembly. Divorce logical sites, and places that form Connecticut’s was organized by the Archives of American Art, records are a valuable source of information, but heritage . Much of that work is devoted to under - Smithsonian Institution. are often overlooked . In the 18th century, for standing why these resources contribute to our Florence Griswold Museum, 96 Lyme Street, Old instance, individuals could sue for divorce in the culture and how to maintain them. Lyme. 860-434-5542; florencegriswoldmuseum.org case of adultery, desertion, fraudulent contract, or SHPO recently relocated to 450 Columbus seven years’ absence. One of the more interesting Boulevard in Hartford. Connect online at cases involved a convicted thief and a single Documentary Film Screening facebook.com/CTSHPO or mobile.twitter.com/ Regina Mason, international speaker, author, unwed mother who passed herself off as a SHPOConnecticut. playwright, and producer, will be at the Litchfield refugee from British troops on Long Island and as For a list of e-mail addresses and updated Historical Society for a screening of her award- a widow who had lost her wealth and was now phone numbers, visit cultureandtourism.org/cct. winning documentary Gina’s Journey: The Search reduced to “great distress.” Obadiah Munson for William Grimes . The film follows Mason’s path married her in November 1777, and in August to historical locations and key points of interest as 1778 he sought a divorce after learning her true

CT Explored / 52 (l) Wampum-carving apprentice Josh Carter (Pequot) and (r) master teacher Allen Hazard (Narragansett) Passing it On A unique regional program marks 20 years of Sledding, Skating, Skiing Celebrated Stowe Center Talk: Private Prisons heritage education activities with a new exhibition Love it or hate it, winter is a defining part of our The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center presents a talk at the Connecticut Historical Society. The Southern New England experience. Winter Wonderland at and book signing with Lauren-Brooke Eisen, New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship the Fairfield Museum, on view through February author of Inside Private Prisons: An American Program connects masters of a folk or traditional 25, 2018, will celebrate some of the winter Dilemma in the Age of Mass Incarceration on art form with students to teach artistic skills and activities that past generations have loved— December 14 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Admission is cultural knowledge through the apprenticeship such as sledding, skating, and skiing . Winter free. model of regular, informal, intensive long-term Wonderland will also explore how people have When 1980s tough-on-crime policies learning. The program, an initiative of the dealt with the more hated aspects of winter, such overcrowded state prisons, private companies Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at CHS as shoveling snow and coping with blizzards. saw potential profit in building and operating with funding from the National Endowment for Visitors who come between December 1, 2017 correctional facilities. Today more than 100,000 of the Arts, knits together artists from the same and January 7, 2018 can also enjoy the museum’s 1.5 million incarcerated Americans are held in ethnic or occupational group across state lines to annual Holiday Express Train Show , which offers privately run prisons . Sometimes criticized for share traditions and stimulate new learning . The another kind of winter wonderland. The train making money off mass incarceration, these exhibition, on view January 18 to March 10, 2018, show will be open weekdays 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. prisons generate $5 billion in annual revenue. will display the work of masters and apprentices, and weekends 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Based on Eisen’s work as a prosecutor, journalist, photographs of artists and their artistic progress, Fairfield Museum & History Center, 370 Beach and attorney, Inside Private Prisons blends research and statements from artists relating their Road, Fairfield. fairfieldhistory.org; 203-259-1598 and investigative reporting to analyze privatized experiences and the outcomes of their work. corrections in America. Eisen is senior counsel for Artist demonstrations and performances are View of the the Brennan Center for Justice at New York also planned. Lighthouse University School of Law. She holds an A.B. Connecticut Historical Society, 1 Elizabeth The Stonington from Princeton University and a J.D. from the Street, Hartford. 860-236-5621; chs.org/calendar Historical Soci - Georgetown University Law Center. Make a A Museum on the Move ety will sponsor reservation at Stowecenter.org. the exhibition Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, 77 Forest The New Britain Industrial Museum has MOVED to Lighting the Street, Hartford. 860-522-9258, ext. 317; 59 West Main Way: Views of HarrietBeecherStowe.org Street, New the Lighthouse , Britain. Come which features depictions of the Stonington see the mu - Lighthouse, both vintage and contemporary . seum’s great The historical society is mining its collections but collection in a will also feature works of art in any form that Finding Your Ancestors historic building depict Stonington’s beloved 1840 lighthouse. Godfrey Memorial Library is a genealogy library in downtown Opening reception January 12, 2018, 5 to 7 p.m., on a mission to assist you in finding ancestors New Britain . The museum is open Tuesday, at the La Grua Center, 32 Water Street, across the country and around the world . The Thursday, and Friday, 2 – 5 p.m., Wednesday, Stonington. library offers on-site and online resources, training noon – 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Stonington Historical Society, 40 Palmer Street. programs, and expert research assistance. Admission is free every Saturday from 10 a.m. Stonington. 860-535-1131; stoningtonhistory.org Godfrey Memorial Library, 134 Newfield Street, to noon. nbindustrial.org Middletown. Godfrey.org; 860-346-4375

CT Explored / 53 spotlight

worship, employment, and housing. The stories of Jewish immigrants who sought to build new lives here are told through photographs, artifacts, archival documents, ephemera, and first-person accounts. The exhibition also explores the little-known fact that there were Jewish property owners in Greenwich as far back as colonial times. Although much of the growth of the town’s Jewish community began in the 1960s (today about 11 percent of the population is Jewish), the tale begins with the mass exodus of Jews from Eastern Europe to America between 1880 and 1920. Greenwich Historical Society, 39 Strickland Road, Cos Cob. 203-869-6899; greenwichhistory.org Webster’s Wassail Go “a’wassailing” with the Noah Webster House Gorey’s Worlds On View on Thursday, December 14, for Webster’s Wassail , Founded in 1842 with a vision to infuse art into a casual cocktail event featuring traditional the American experience, the Wadsworth holiday foods and drinks . You’ll “see the blazing Atheneum is now home to a collection of nearly yule before us,” enjoy “chestnuts roasting over an 50,000 artworks spanning 5,000 years. Located in open fire,” and join fellow revelers as you wait for Jane Peterson, “Turkish Fountain with Garden.” the heart of Connecticut’s capital city and housed someone to “bring us some figgy pudding!” © The Metropolitan Museum of Art in five historic, interconnected buildings, the Purchase tickets at noahwebster.yapsody.com. Wadsworth Atheneum features post-war and Noah Webster House, 227 South Main Street, Jane Peterson Retrospective contemporary art galleries, an unparalleled West Hartford. noahwebsterhouse.org; Jane Peterson was a modern woman and an artist collection of Hudson River School landscapes, and 860-521-5362; in the early 20th century. A retrospective of her extensive collections of European and American work will be on view at the Mattatuck Museum in paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts. Treasures from Around the World Waterbury through January 28, 2018. At Home Mark your calendars for the special exhibition The enigmatic 17th-century masterpiece “The and Abroad unites Peterson’s work in one place Gorey’s Worlds , opening February 10, 2018. The Paston Treasure” will make its North American for the first time in more than 40 years, showing exhibition will explore the artistic inspiration of debut at the Yale Center for British Art on the breadth of both her skill and subjects. famed American artist and author Edward Gorey February 15, 2018 in an exhibition organized in Peterson traveled widely and captured her (1925-2000). Visit the museum’s website for a full partnership with the United Kingdom’s Norwich journeys in impressionist paintings that reflected schedule of lectures, gallery talks, tours, films, and Castle Museum & Art Gallery. the people and places of locales as far flung as free community programs. Admission is free for In addition to the painting, The Paston Egypt and Turkey. Later Peterson worked in an Hartford residents. Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World will expressionist style, focusing on gardens and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, feature nearly 140 objects from more than 50 beaches around her homes in Long Island and 600 Main Street, Hartford. thewadsworth.org international institutions and private lenders. Florida. Peterson’s colorful and festive subjects are The display will include five treasures from the reflections of her zest for life, prodigious energy, Sunday Lectures in Kent 16th and 17th centuries that appear in the paint - and artistic daring—in both subject and style. Kent Historical Society’s Sunday Series programs ing: a pair of silver-gilt flagons, a Strombus shell Mattatuck Museum, 144 West Main Street, take place the third Sunday in January, March, cup, two unique nautilus cups, and a perfume Waterbury. mattmuseum.org May, September, and November, usually at 2 p.m., flask with a mother-of-pearl body, which will be at the Kent Town Hall. Since 2010 the society has gathered together for the first time in more The Jewish Experience in Greenwich featured a variety of knowledgeable speakers than three centuries. In addition to these works, An American Odyssey: The Jewish Experience in addressing topics of historical interest. The 2017 a variety of supportive objects will reconstruct Greenwich explores the history of the Jewish series was sponsored by Kent Barns and the the network of artists, craftsmen, and natural community in Greenwich, Connecticut within the Kent Lions Club. philosophers s urrounding the Pastons, a land- broader context of the history of the town and Kent Historical Society, kenthistoricalsociety.org owning family from Norfolk known for their the nation. On view through April 15, 2018, An medieval letters, and illustrate the family’s American Odyssey looks at the ways in which ascension and its ultimate demis e. Jewish families have contributed to the larger The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known community for more than a century, despite World , on view February 15 to May 27, 2018, periods of discrimination and restrictions on Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel Street, New Haven. britishart.yale.edu CT Explored / 54 Mixed Reality Art Installation Visitors to Mystic Seaport will soon be able to experience a natural phenomenon that only occurs in the world’s coldest climates. Murmur: A Mixed Reality Art Installation features a vast sculpture representing a pingo, a mound of earth-covered ice that took centuries to form . Created by leading contemporary artist John Grade, the sculpture is carved from Alaskan yellow cedar to exactly replicate a pingo in Alaska’s Noatak National Preserve. The installation is fully immersive and interac - tive. Mixed reality technology will take the experience a step farther. Visitors may use wireless headsets to hear the sights and sounds around the pingo. Holographic pools of water, flocks of birds, and other unique flora and fauna transport visitors from the Connecticut coast to an Alaskan marsh 80 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Murmur will be on view in the Collins Gallery from January through April 2018. Mystic Seaport, 75 Greenmanville Avenue, Mystic. 860-572-0711; mysticseaport.org

Plan Your Summer Event Roseland Cottage in Woodstock offers a unique and beautiful setting for weddings and other private parties . From May through October the photo: Stephanie Vegliante flowering trees and historic gardens are lovely for events held outside or in the carriage house. Tents are allowed, and the lawns may also be used for games. Winter is a good time to begin planning your summer event. Roseland Cottage, 556 Route 169, Woodstock. Elbridge Ayer Burbank, “American Beauty,” 1906 E.A. Burbank’s earliest portrait subjects were 860-928-4074; historicnewengland.org black children he painted into sentimental “American Beauty” in miniatures that suggest a desire to test the Holidays at the The Amistad Center’s Collection boundaries of the period’s fashionable painting Hotchkiss-Fyler House Many works in The Amistad Center for Art & conventions. Burbank’s “American Beauty” The Torrington Historical Society invites you to Culture’s collection reflect the theme Love/Hate/ resonated with an audience dazed by the stream celebrate the holiday season with a tour of an Rivalry. “Love and Theft” is the phrase critic of angelic white children cryptically posed in outstanding house museum. Christmas at the Eric Lott used to characterize the dyad of emo - garlands of roses. Burbank acknowledges the Hotchkiss-Fyler House , open December 9 to 30, tions that fed blackface minstrelsy. In the pages of rose’s secret language of love—decoded in the Thursday to Sunday, noon to 4 p.m., showcases a his North Star newspaper the abolitionist Frederick popular dictionaries of floral symbols— and all the grand Victorian home decorated with Christmas Douglass railed against this entertainment. emotions angelic black children would inspire and trees, antique ornaments and toys, garlands, Though he carefully managed his own image, have to explore. This image appeared in the Sun - and flower arrangements. Douglass’s writings could not dissuade Victorian day supplement of newspapers across the country. Torrington Historical Society, 192 Main Street, Americans’ interest in stereotypic cards, The Amistad Center for Art & Culture, 600 Main Torrington. torringtonhistoricalsociety.org; particularly those featuring black children. Street, Hartford. Amistadcenter.org; 860-838-4133 860-482-8260 CT Explored / 55 spotlight Nadir Balan, “Philip English,” 2017

Uncovering the Palmer-Warner Broadway Show on View House’s Gay History Take a bow! Hill-Stead Museum proudly presents Connecticut Landmarks is preparing to open the From Page to Stage: Broadway Costumes from Palmer-Warner House in East Haddam as its first the Goodspeed Musicals Collection . This special designated LGBTQ historic site . The 1738 house exhibition, on view throughout the historic house, sits on 50 acres and was home to preservation New Haven in World War I is on view through January 1, 2018. It honors the architect Frederic Palmer (below, r), one of CTL’s “At 4 A.M. we boarded our train at the Pope family’s enjoyment of literature, poetry, and founders, from the late 1930s until his death in Winchester Plant to steam quietly down the live performance, particularly theater and opera. 1971. His life partner Howard Metzger (below, l) main line…we turned northward toward the The costumes featured are from 1901 to 1946, lived in the house from the mid-1940s until his Connecticut River Valley…All lights were the same era that the Pope family resided at death in 2005. extinguished in the cars. Unknown to New Haven Hill-Stead. View magnificent costumes from we slipped away towards Canada. My final shows such as Showboat, Anything Goes, Pirates memory of Camp Yale was of Mrs. Locke in the of Penzance, Carousel , and Kiss Me, Kate , plus arms of her husband beneath the stars of a warm many lesser-known productions, with vignettes autumn night. She was never to see him again.” of accessories and archival ephemera. Original So reads an entry in the dramatic diary of Philip theater programs on loan from the American H. English, who served on the front lines during Musical Theater Collection at World War I. English’s recollections are part of Library and period sound recordings will add an New Haven Goes to War , a series of exhibits and extra dimension to this unique experience. Tickets programs at the New Haven Museum commemo - may be purchased separately for -focused rating the Elm City during WWI . A century later tours and regular house tours or in combination. the museum commissioned local artist Nadir Balan Visit hillstead.org for complete pricing information to illustrate scenes from English’s diary in a and tour schedules. graphic-novel style (above). Hill-Stead Museum, 35 Mountain Road, New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Avenue, Farmington. 860-677-4787; hillstead.org New Haven. newhavenmuseum.org; 203-562-4183

Recording Hartford’s Jazz History The Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library, in concert with the library’s Baby Grand Jazz series, will begin collecting, exhibiting, and The house remains virtually untouched since sharing the stories and music of Hartford’s beloved Metzger’s death. CT Landmarks is cataloguing the jazz greats. Through work made possible by The property’s extensive collections and researching its Charles H. Kaman Charitable Foundation, the gay history. CT Landmarks seeks to create a safe library will document the rise of this popular place in which to present the site’s important series, now in its 15th year, with photographs, story, actively engage visitors in sharing their own concert video, and oral-history interviews . Large- stories, and foster dialogue around inclusion, format images will be on display each year during individuality, privacy, and privilege. the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Baby Grand Jazz seasons Connecticut Landmarks is launching a in the library’s Center for Contemporary Culture $1-million campaign to raise funds to preserve and (CCC). The CCC has become a popular venue for renovate the c. 1640 – 1660 barn, one of the old - jazz performances, with its quality sound system est in the state, and to create a Visitor Welcome, and comfortable seating. The oral-history portion Program & Exhibit Center. of this project will be complete in summer 2019, and Connecticut Landmarks, ctlandmarks.org interviews made available for public viewing at hhc.hplct.org. The free Baby Grand Jazz series takes Announcing CSG's 2018 place Sundays, June through April, 3 – 4 p.m. Literary Awards (except for Easter Sunday) at the downtown library. Submit your book or essay for a chance to win the Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library, Connecticut Society of Genealogists’s $500 grand 500 Main Street, Hartford. hplct.org prize, $250 first prize, or $100 essay prize. Essay categories are: Genealogy, Family History, Resource Publication, and Tell Me Your Family Story . The contest is open to all and runs March 15 to July 15, 2018. Connecticut Society of Genealogists, csginc.org

CT Explored / 56 James Weidman Mark Twain House Offers New Option for the Blind The Mark Twain House & Museum is pleased to announce that, with support from CRISAccess, its orientation exhibition I Have Sampled This Life are now equipped with QR Codes describing the objects on display, includ - ing Mark Twain’s pipe, pen, and inkwell, a printer’s type case, and the Paige Compositor on which Samuel Clemens squandered his fortune. CRISAccess was devel - oped by CRIS Radio to create a simple, low-cost solution to improve access to museum exhibits for people who are blind or print challenged due to other disabilities by providing audio versions of printed information displayed at museums. Scanning the QR code with a mobile-device Got Mills? Trains, Trains, Trains—and Santa! application triggers an audio recording about the exhibition and the objects it contains. The Mark The Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation The much-anticipated Great Trains Holiday Exhibit Twain House & Museum is thrilled to have support has launched a new website for its Making at the Wilton Historical Society is on view through from CRISAccess in making its orientation gallery, Places: Historic Mills of Connecticut project. January 15, 2018. Decorated for the holidays, the and thus Mark Twain himself, more accessible Connecticutmills.org, a sister to connecticutbarns.org, society’s historic 18th- and 19th-century buildings to visitors. is designed to stimulate re-use of Connecticut’s are transformed into a train-lover’s delight , with The Mark Twain House and Museum, vast historic industrial resources . It provides multiple track layouts winding through tiny towns 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford. information to mill owners about what to do featuring many different kinds of buildings, marktwain.org; 860-247-0998 with their mills, including resources for preserving, tunnels, and two working Ferris wheels! New maintaining, and creatively adapting them for this year is an amazing LEGO train set-up and Explore the Connecticut River modern uses, and provides information to mill expanded hands-on BRIO! The interactive display Discover the exciting history and spectacular enthusiasts about what they can do IN various enchants visitors of all ages with lots of to environment of New England’s Great River at the historic mills—such as where to enjoy a beer, push and knowledgeable “train engineers” on Connecticut River Museum in beautiful Essex. get a bite to eat, or take a yoga class. hand to “talk trains.” Santa Claus will visit on Bring your family and explore three floors of Connecticutmills.org includes an extensive Saturday, December 9, and pomander and exhibits. Climb aboard a replica of the Turtle inventory of mill structures developed with gingerbread cookie workshops will be featured. submarine and find out what it was like to be a funding from the State Historic Preservation Visit their website for details about more submarine pilot during the American Revolution. Office. The inventory not only identifies properties holiday fun! Explore all 410 miles of the river in the vertical that encapsulate the social, architectural, and Wilton Historical Society, 224 Danbury Road, gallery of aerial photos and a whimsical mural of economic histories of Connecticut’s communities Wilton. wiltonhistorical.org; 203-762-7257 but also lists vacant, underutilized, and distressed the river. Learn the stories of people and the river sites with greatest opportunity for rehabilitation from Native Americans before English settlement and re-use. to people of today. The Connecticut River Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, Museum offers changing exhibitions and cttrust.org programs, too. Through February 2018 the magic returns with the 24th annual model train show. From early February through mid-March 2018, climb aboard RiverQuest and join staff naturalists for “Eagle” and “Winter Wildlife” cruises. Connecticut River Museum, 67 Main Street, Essex. Ctrivermuseum.org; 860-767-8269

Listen to our podcasts at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.org . CT Explored / 57 afterword

The Fairfield Historical Society’s grant will document the last battle of the Pequot War, the Battle of Munnacommock Swamp (July 13 – 14, 1637). The historical society will work in collabo - ration with the Connecticut Office of the State Archaeologist, the Connecticut State Historian, and the local community. Learn more about the Pequot War at “Exploring and Uncovering the Pequot War,” Fall 2013 (ctexplored.org/exploring-and-uncovering- the-pequot-war/), and at PequotWar.org. 200th Anniversary of the Constitution of 1818 Celebrating the 200th anniversary of our state constitution might sound of dubious interest. But in fact this was a fascinating time in our state’s development. Though Connecticut had become a state on January 9, 1788, it continued operating under the Royal Charter of 1662 and the Funda - mental Orders of 1639! The who, what, where, Saybrook Fort commander Lion Gardiner. and why of the first state constitution will be the photo: Connecticut Explored subject of Connecticut Explored ’s fall 2018 issue. Federal Money Received to In the early 19th century, change was putting Preserve Pequot War Sites Leffingwell House, 1961. Library of Congress pressure on many fronts. Good farmland was be - The Old Saybrook Historical Society, the Fairfield coming scarce, and Connecticut experienced out - History for the Holidays Historical Society, and the Mashantucket Pequot migration. It was the eve of the industrial There’s something magical about a historic house Tribal Nation received grants last summer from revolution, when Connecticut’s agrarian economy decked out for the holidays, and many history the ’s American Battlefield would give way to industry and the state would museums host special seasonal events. In addition Protection Program. The grant program is see its first large-scale immigration. Slavery was to the holiday events listed in the Spotlight designed to help communities preserve and on the wane but still legal in the state (as it section of this issue, consider a visit to the protect America’s significant battlefields . would be for another 30 years). We were at odds Leffingwell House Museum in Norwich on Old Saybrook received $43,000 toward with the federal government over the War of Sunday, December 3, from 1 to 4 p.m. This event preservation of and education programs about 1812 and toyed with seceding from the union. is offered free of charge as a way of saying thank Saybrook Fort, the first fortified settlement in Contested issues addressed in the constitution you for the community support the museum has New England, according to The Mashantucket were voting rights—which were expanded for received this past year. The main floor will be Pequot Museum’s Battlefields of the Pequot War some, and were eliminated for others—and decorated to reflect early Christmas celebrations website (pequotwar.org). The fort was built in religious freedom—again, expanded for some in New England, the Southern colonies, and the 1635 – 1636 by a group that included future but not others. evolution of the American Christmas tradition. Connecticut governor John Winthrop Jr. for the A number of organizations across the state are Interpreters will answer questions and provide Saybrook Company—itself a group of “15 well- collaborating and planning to mark the event. holiday history. Storyteller Morning Star will heeled English Puritans,” according to state Connecticut Humanities is offering grants to delight guests with her “Tales of Teddie,” and historian Walt Woodward (see “Our State Seal,” eligible nonprofits of up to $3,000 for projects there will be a surprise visit from President Winter 2015-2016). that commemorate the Connecticut Constitution William Harrison as portrayed by re-enactor The fort was under siege by the Pequots for of 1818 . Upcoming grant deadlines are January 5 Kevin Titus. six months, from September 1636 to March 1637. and February 2, 2018. Find guidelines at The Leffingwell House was built c. 1675 as a This was the “first time the English and Natives cthumanities.org. two-room structure. It was expanded over time in New England fought each other in a sustained and served as an inn. The museum is owned conflict, and the sites and actions associated and operated by the Society of the Founders with the siege are the earliest recorded in New of Norwich. England,” according to the Old Saybrook Leffingwell House Museum, 348 Washington Historical Society. Street, Norwich. Leffingwellhousemuseum.org, The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation 860-889-9440. Find out about other arts and will develop a report and an educational forum heritage events in at related to battlefield preservation and aimed at culturesect.org, the website of the Southeastern expanding understanding of the Pequot War. Connecticut Cultural Coalition.

CT Explored / 58 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@ @@ @ @@ @

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