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Past Programs

2012 PROGRAMS & WORKSHOPS

Tour:  Behind-the-Scenes Collections Tour (monthly)

Tour: Secrets of the Veeder House (monthly)

Lecture: Eric Rutkow, The Rise and Fall of Two Great American Trees

Family Program: Make a Felt Tree Trivet

Adult Crafternoon: Valentine Paper Crafts

Book Talk: Richard DeLuca, Post Roads and Iron Horses: Transportation in Connecticut from Colonial Times to the Age of Steam

Family Program: Valentines for Kids

Family Program: Story & Crafts at the Museum

Panel Discussion: Imagine Your Town without Trees: A Panel Discussion about Urban Forestry, taped for broadcast on WNPR's "Where We Live" 

Micro-exhibit Opening and Concert: Songs Along the Way: Music, Songs and Images from Migratory Bird Species of the Park River Watershed, in partnership with the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford

Lecture: Eileen M. Angelini, A Little Known History of Discrimination in New England: the Ku Klux Klan Attacks on Franco-Americans in the first half of the 20th Century, in partnership with Real ArtWays

Conference: A Tradition of Craft: Current Works by the Society of American Period Furniture Makers

  • Keynote lecture: Philip Zea, A Collector's Passion for Craftsmanship: The Pioneering Path of George Alfred Cluett (1873-1955)
  • Five Case Studies:  John Davis; Sharon Mehrman; Freddy Roman; Glen Jewell; Nick Kotula, From Inspiration to Completion
  • Lecture/Demonstration: Steven Lash and Vera Meyer, Benjamin Franklin's Glass Armonica
  • Collections Tours and Workshops: Richard Malley and Dr. Thomas Kugelman

Family Program: Trees and Bugs, in partnership with the CT Audubon Society

Special Event: Step Back into the 1940s, a party in celebration of the release of the 1940 census, in partnership with the Connecticut Society of Genealogists and the New England Air Museum

Youth Program: History Day in Connecticut, in partnership with Connecticut's Old State House

Youth Program: Scout Day: Daisy Day at CHS

Family Program: Family Activity Pack Kick-Off

Family Program: Story & Crafts at the Museum

Family Program: Decorate your own Flowerpot

Special Event and Demonstrations: Traditional Crafts Day

Free Public Event: Connecticut Open House Day

Lecture/Demonstration: Will Neptune, Eliphalet Chapin: A Leading Force behind Connecticut Valley Furniture

Lecture: Alyce Perry Englund, Compete, Leave or Change: The Challenges of Connecticut Craftsmen, 1800-1820

Lecture/Demonstration: Steve Latta, New England Furniture Ornamentation in the Federal Period

Special Event: Cheers to History! Celebrating G. Fox

Family Program: Toys over Time

Special Event: Furry Friends Pet Parade & Fair

Family Program: Test your Memory--Make your own Matching Memory Game

Lecture: John Alcorn, The Young Italian American Association: A Safety Net in an Immigrant Community in Connecticut, 1900-1945

Lecture: William Hosley, Silicon Valley of the 19th Century: Rediscovering the Connecticut Valley's Industrial Heritage

Workshop: Research Center Staff,  Introduction to Genealogy Resources: Do You Know Where Your Ancestors Are?

Family Program: Toys for Pets

Family Program: Tellabration--Storyteller Andre Keitt, in partnership with the Connecticut Storytelling Center

Gallery Talk: Mike Messina, Tiny Art: Connecticut Poster Stamps

Lecture: William Hosley, Sam & Elizabeth: Legend and Legacy of Colt's Empire

Adult Crafternoon: Holiday Poppers and Paper Crafts

Family Program: Make your own Holiday Poppers

Micro-Exhibit Opening and Concert: Cats and Dogs in Sound and Music: Inspired by Cats and Dogs in Art and Life, in partnership with the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford

2011 Programs & Workshops

Demonstration and Marketplace:  The Institute for Community Research, The Sewing Circle Project

Family Program: Valentines for Kids

February Vacation Programs: Teddy Bear Picnic | African-American Folktales Performance | Celebrate Connecticut Students Day

Family Program: Create your own Sewing Card

Lecture: Tricia Wilson-Nguyen, New England Samplers: A Closer Look

Lecture: Deborah Ash and Patty Oat, A Legacy in Silk Threads: The Story of Prudence Punderson

Book Talk: Marla Miller, Betsy Ross and the Making of America

Book Talk: Cathryn Prince, A Professor, A President & A Meteor: the Birth of American Science  

How-To Workshop: Diana McCain and Karen DePauw, Needlework, Genealogy, and the Lives of Connecticut Women

Family Program: Kids in the Kitchen

Book Talk: Joshua Kendall, The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster's Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture

Family Program: Celebrate Caribbean Culture at the CHS

Book Talk: Caroline Zinsser, Vine Utley: The Remarkable Country Doctor of Lyme Connecticut (1768-1836)

How -To Workshop: Rich Malley & John Potter, Words from the Front: Looking at Civil War Collections

Lecture: Walter Woodward, Making Connecticut Exhibit Opening Remarks

Family Program: Passport to Connecticut History

Book Talk: Matthew Warshauer, Connecticut in the American Civil War: Slavery, Sacrifice and Survival

Family Program: Toys Over Time

Family program: Create your own Colorful Collage

Book Talk: Christopher L. Webber, American to the Backbone: the Life of James W.C. Pennington, the Fugitive Slave Who Became One of the First Black Abolitionists

Bus Trip: Connecticut's Civil War Treasure Troves with tour escort and historian Bill Hosley

Lecture and Magic Show: Robert Olson, Exploring the World of Magician Albert Walker, 19th-Century Magician

Book Talk: Kevin Murphy, Crowbar Governor: The Life & Times of Morgan Gardner Bulkeley

Book Talk: David E. Koskoff, The Senator from Central Casting:, The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Thomas J. Dodd

Workshop: Research Center Staff, Do you Know Where Your Ancestors Are? Introduction to Genealogy Resources

Concert: The Rosewood Chamber Ensemble, The Musical World of John Quincy Adams (A Hartford Symphony Musical Dialogues Program)

Family Concert: Phil Rosenthal, Bluegrass Performance

Exhibit Program: Thankful for Trees Day

How-To Workshop: Nancy Finlay & Samuel Benton Guiney III, Researching Your Historic House

Writers' Workshop: Lessons from a Bestseller with NY Times best-selling author Steve Berry

Family Program: Make your own Holiday Popper

Book Talk: Keith Stavely & Kathleen Fitzgerald, Northern Hospitality: Cooking by the Book in New England

Workshop: Research Center Staff, Do You Know Where Your Ancestors Are? Introduction to Genealogy Resources

Adult Crafternoon: Holiday Paper Crafts

2010 Programs & Workshops

Family Program:  Valentine's Day Card Workshop

Lecture:  Barbara Miller and Kate Steinway, Victorian Hartford in Words and Pictures

Workshop: Diana McCain, A Look at the Federal Census--Past and Present

February Vacation Program: Victorian Vacation Day

Book Talk: Aife Murray, Maid as Muse: How Servants Changed Emily Dickinson's Life and Language

Book Talk: M. Wm. Phelps, The Devil's Rooming House

Gallery Talk: Nancy Finlay, Pictures of Victorian Hartford

Family Program: Silhouette Saturday

Book Talk: Graham Hodges, David Ruggles: A Radical Black Abolitionist and the Underground Railroad in New York City

Workshop: Diana McCain, Digging into Tax Records

Family Program:  Mother's Day Mosaics

Lecture: Kiki Smith, Contemporary Artist Draws Inspiration from 18th-Century Embroidery

Book Talk: Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, Stories in Stones: How Geology Influenced Connecticut History and Culture

Workshop: Karen DePauw, Caring for Your Historic Textiles

Lecture/Demonstration: James Reed, From Stone to Paper, the Lithographic Process

Book Talk: Daniel Okrent, Last Call: the Rise and Fall of Prohibition

Connecticut Trails Day: Ed Richardson, Tree Walk through the West End

Panel Discussion: Georgia Barnhill, Dr. James Brust, John Zak, Donald Cresswell, Reflections on Hartford's Kellogg Brothers

Outdoor Concert: Phil Rosenthal Duo, Folk and Bluegrass Concert (Made possible by a grant from the Evelyn W. Preston Memorial Trust Fund)

Family Program: Experience a Colonial School Day

Book Talk: Bruce Epperson, Peddling Bicycles to America: The Rise of an Industry

Family Program:  JuggleJoy presents "Circus Fun for Everyone"

Conference: Connecticut Needlework: Women, Art, and Family

  • Susan Schoelwer, Needlework in Connecticut: Recent Findings, New Directions
  • Linda Baumgarten, Layered Meaning: Quilted Petticoats of Connecticut, 1740-1760
  • Deirdre Windsor, 18th-19th-Century Connecticut Needlework: Exploring the Impact of Past Intervention and Present Conservation Treatments
  • Linda Eaton, The Material Culture of Needlework: Why it Matters

Family Program: Simple Stitching for Kids

Book Talk: John Laurence Busch, Steam Coffin: Captain Moses Rogers and the Steamship Savannah Break the Sound Barrier

Family Program: Create your own Holiday Poppers

2009 Programs & Workshops

Book Talk:  Louis P. Masur, The Soiling of Old Glory: The Story of a Photograph that Shocked America

Family Program: February Vacation at CHS

Lecture: Kristin Haas and Frank Mitchell, Citizen Soldiers, the Flag, Wars, and Presidents

Youth Program: Scout Day at CHS

WNPR Panel Discussion:  John Dankosky (Moderator), Dr. William Howe, Christine A. Baker, Allison Kasic, Title IX: On the Court and Off

Family Program: Planting a Seed

Lecture:  Susan P. Schoelwer, Return to Ford's Theater: Authenticating the Lincoln Assassination Flag

Family Program: Mom and Me

Lecture:  Abbott Lowell Cummings, A is for Abigail: The Abigail Ball Box

Family Program: Dad and Me

Family Program: The Circus Comes to Town

Family Program: Grandparents' Day at CHS

Special Event: Lincoln Bicentennial Civil War Encampment

Special Event: Valley Collector Car Club Show

Lecture: Walter Woodward, Connecticut's Western Reserve

Family Program: Exploring Family History at CHS

Youth Program: Scout Day at CHS

Lecture: Patricia Warner, She Shoots... She Scores! But How Does She Manage in Those Clothes?

Special Event: Half-time at Turkey Time

Book Talk: John Puzzo, The Vietnam War Through the Eyes of a Connecticut Veteran

Book Talk:  Briann Greenfield, Out of the Attic: Inventing Antiques in Twentieth-Century New England

Book Talk:  Joel Richard Paul, Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution

Family Program: Celebrate the Holidays with a Bang--Poppers at CHS