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SECOND SUNDAY Archives
JULY 2007
July 8 (Sunday), 10 AM - 3 PM - Celebrate Connecticut Historic Gardens Day with a tour of the hidden gardens of Starr Street and enjoy strawberry shortcake in the Shaw Mansion garden.
The New London County Historical Society is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Shaw Mansion as its headquarters—the property was purchased from Jane Perkins, the great-great granddaughter of the original builder, in 1907. For the anniversary party the society is focusing attention on the recently planted gardens and restored summer house and root cellar.
Starr Street gardens will be open from 10 am to 2 pm. Those gardens open for ticket holders will be marked and residents will welcome you. Strawberry shortcake will be available at the Shaw Mansion from 11 am to 3 pm. The silent auction at the Shaw Mansion will close at 2:30.
Ticket holders for the event will be admitted to residents’ gardens in the Starr Street historic district as well as for tours of the Shaw Mansion gardens. At the Mansion, strawberry shortcake will be served, there will be garden exhibitors, and garden-themed silent auction items will be available. $20 tickets may be purchased at the Shaw Mansion, 11 Blinman Street, New London, CT, or by phone at (860) 443-1209.JUNE 2007
June 10 (Sunday), 2 PM - Elysa Engelman of Mystic Seaport will present “Will the Real Lydia Pinkham Please Stand Up?”.
One of the most famous faces in American advertising, Lydia E. Pinkham’s grandmotherly image graced millions of tradecards, pamphlets, bookmarks, and souvenir spoons, all promoting her over-the counter medicines to American women between the 1870’s and 1960’s. At the same time Lydia Pinkham became the butt of vaudeville jokes, a rallying figure for anti-drug activists and a threat to druggists and doctors across the land. This illustrated talk and display of Pinkham collectibles explores the images that consumers faced on a daily basis during the last century.
Elysa Engelman, Exhibit Researcher/Developer at Mystic Seaport has been working in museums for 15 years. She received her PhD. in American and New England Studies from Boston University, with her dissertation examining the multi-faceted advertising trademark of Lydia E. Pinkham and its reception by physicians, consumers, retail druggists, comics, and competitors.
The program is part of the New London County Historical Society’s Second Sunday Series at the Shaw Mansion, 11 Blinman Street, New London, CT. It is free to members and $5 for non-members. For further information, please call The Society at (860) 443-1209.MAY 2007
National Maritime Day Event
May 20 (Sunday), 2 PM - Maritime New London Tour of Cedar Grove Cemetery.
Substituting for our Second Sunday program in May will be a Third Sunday program with Bill Peterson! Join us at 2 pm at the Administration building in the cemetery for the one hour (or so) walking tour in which Bill's trained eye will point out the many maritime connections which have been carved in stone.
Refreshments will be served following the tour. Free for NLCHS members, $5 for non-members.
For further information, please call The Society at (860) 443-1209.MARCH, 2007
March 11, 2 pm - Evelyn Kennedy of Sewtique in Groton will present "TLC for Precious Textiles".
Whether it's Great-Great-Grandma's sampler or your child's christening dress, there are good and bad ways to care for it, and specific measures you can take to remove stains from different types of fabric.
Ms. Kennedy will not only give advice about cleaning and caring for textiles, but also have items of different types from different periods available for "touch and feel" examination.
Audience members are encouraged to bring textiles they'd like to know more about - have you ever wondered if those lace curtains really came with Aunt Mary from Ireland, or were they made here?
Evelyn Seifert Kennedy founded Sewtique, a textile repair, restoration, and alterations business, in 1970. She has an MS in Textile Science from the University of Rhode Island, and is an accredited appraiser with the International Society of Appraisers, with specialty of textiles and apparel.
Admission is free for members of the Historical Society, $5 for others.
Shaw Mansion is located at 11 Blinman Street, New London, near the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets.
For more information, please call (860) 443-1209.
FEBRUARY, 2007
February 11, 2 pm - Presentation and book signing by Richard Radune, author of Pequot Plantation: The Story of an Early Colonial Settlement
Books will be available for purchase.
According to the author, southeastern Connecticut had a much greater impact on the course of seventeenth century colonial history than has generally been portrayed in broad scope histories or textbooks.
His goal in the book was to illuminate Pequot Plantation by not only showing its interaction with historic events in New England but also as part of England’s drive for world dominance. Radune follows the lives of numerous settlers as well as the three principal Indian tribes and their leaders.
Richard Radune grew up in New Britain, CT, and is a 1965 graduate of Syracuse University with a major in U. S. history. He served in the Air Force in North Dakota and Alaska. Following a 30-year career with CIGNA Corporation in different parts of the country, Radune retired in 1998 and returned to Connecticut where his life long interest in history could be readily pursued. He lives in Branford with his wife, Eleanor.
Admission is free for members of the Historical Society, $5 for others.
Shaw Mansion is located at 11 Blinman Street, New London, near the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets.
For more information, please call (860) 443-1209.JANUARY, 2007
January 14, 2007, 2 PM - Dr. Nancy Steenburg, presenting new research based on our manuscript collection: “Two New Londons: Frances Caulkins and the New London Ladies’ Seamen’s Friend Society".
In the 1840s, women of New London, including historian Frances Manwaring Caulkins, founded a Ladies’ Seamen’s Friend Society to aid indigent and injured sailors. At first glance the Society seemed to have laudable goals in providing a safety net for local seamen. Yet a majority of members were the wives, daughters, or sisters of the men who owned the major whaling and shipping companies in the city. Were the charity efforts of the ladies merely a salve for the consciences of their menfolk, or did the women of New London have their own agenda of reform?
Steenburg is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point. She received her AB from Harvard, MA from Trinity College, and PhD from the University of Connecticut, all in history. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowship grants, and has published widely on Connecticut history subjects. Her 2005 book, Children and the Criminal Law in Connecticut, 1635-1855: Changing Perceptions of Childhood, was recently recognized as the year’s best book on Connecticut history by the Association for the Study of Connecticut History.
Dr. Steenburg is currently working on a biography of Frances Caulkins, a pioneering female historian, whose collected papers are part of our collection. The Society, planning a new edition of Caulkins’ unmatched 1860 work, History of New London, has called upon Steenburg’s expertise to write a new introduction to the republished book. The Second Sunday presentation will share photographs and images that will provide a rare view of 19th-century New London.
Refreshments will follow the lecture. Admission is free for members of the historical society, $5 for others.
The Shaw Mansion is located at 11 Blinman Street, New London, near the intersection of Bank and Tilley Streets.
For more information, please call (860) 443-1209.NOVEMBER 2006
November 12, 2006, 2 PM - Jackwyn Durrschmidt: Ralph Earl - Putting a Face on New London.
Long before there was Joe Stannart and his photographic portraits of people in New London, there was Ralph Earl—and William Johnston and other portrait painters. On Sunday, November 12th, at 2 p.m., Jackwyn Durrschmidt will present a talk and “tour” of the New London County Historical Society’s portraits of various members of the Shaw family. Six of these are by Ralph Earl, a noted portrait painter of the Early Republic era. Two pre-Revolutionary portraits are by William Johnston.
Mrs. Durrschmidt has been a docent at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum for the past 16 years, and has written a history of the museum. She is also a docent at the Society’s headquarters, the Shaw Mansion, where the program will be held.
The program is free to members and $5 for non-members. For more information, please call (860) 443-1209.JULY, 2006
July 9, 2006, 2 PM - Max Downes, an Australian ornithologist and historian, will talk about Heard Island.
In the mid-nineteenth century, at least 25 percent of New London whaling voyages were "Bound for Desolation," as locals called the sub-Antarctic Islands in the Indian Ocean.
On July 9 at 2 pm in the Shaw Mansion, the New London County Historical Society will present a special Second Sunday program on one of these, Heard Island. Heard Island was frequently visited by New Londoners who exploited the rich elephant seal grounds on the desolate island.
Mr. Downes has visited the island several times and has made a study of New London's connections to Heard Island.
In New London for the first time in July, he is excited to be visiting this city, which has loomed so large in his scientific and historic studies. For the past several years he has been in contact with Society Treasurer, Deborah Donovan, who recently completed annotating a whaling journal to Heard Island written in 1855-57.
Following the presentation, refreshments will be served in the gardens of the Shaw Mansion. Anyone interested in New London's historic and profound connection to Antarctica is invited to attend.
The presentation is $5 for non-members. Members are free. For more information contact Edward Baker at the Shaw Mansion, 860-443-1209.APRIL, 2006
April 9, 2006, 2 PM - Assistant State Archivist Bruce P. Stark will speak on "Beyond Black Roots: New Evidence from County Court Records".
Anyone who has studied people of color in Connecticut is acquainted with the outstanding work, Black Roots in Southeastern Connecticut, 1650-1900, compiled by Barbara W. Brown and James M. Rose. It was first published in 1980 and reprinted by the New London County Historical Society in 2001.
A recent initiative at the Connecticut State Library in Hartford to process, arrange, and describe county court records has led to important new discoveries that expand upon and provide new details on the black experience in southeastern Connecticut. County court records contain a treasure trove of information on virtually all subjects of interest to family and local historians, genealogists, and those studying people of color.
Stark served as the director for the project. He will offer insights on what has been discovered in the records of the New London County Courts between 1700 and 1855, in particular what they tell us about the lives of people of color from the region.
The talk is part of the Society's Second Sunday series and will take place at the Shaw Mansion on Blinman Street in New London.
Space is limited, and reservations are required. The program is free to members of the NLCHS and $5 for non-members. Please call 860-443-1209 for details and to register.MARCH 2006
March 12, 2006, 2 PM, at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London - a Curator's Gallery Tour of the exhibit, "Commerce and Culture: Architecture and Society on New London's State Street", on view until early April.
The Connecticut League of History Organizations has just announced that the exhibit is this year's recipient of its "Award of Merit" for historical exhibits.
Abigail Van Slyck, Dayton Associate Professor of Art History, and Director of the Architectural Studies Program at Connecticut College, served as guest curator of the exhibit and will be the guide, sharing her perspectives.
The program will take place at 2 p.m. in the second floor gallery of the Lyman Allyn Art Museum.
Members of the New London County Historical Society and the Lyman Allyn Art Museum will be admitted free. There is a $5 charge for non-members. For further information, please call 860-443-1209.FEBRUARY, 2006
February 26, 2006, 2PM, at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London - Greg Stone will speak on "The History of Eminent Domain In New London: From Ocean Beach to Fort Trumbull".
Stone will discuss how the city has used its power of eminent domain for good -- and sometimes not so good – results. The projects he will cover include Ocean Beach Park, the twin span to the Gold Star Memorial Bridge, three urban renewal projects and the controversial Fort Trumbull Project.
Greg Stone is the deputy editorial page editor for The Day newspaper, and author ofThe Day Paper: The Story of One of America's Last Independent Newspapers. He recently won the Yankee Quill Award for distinguished service in New England journalism. Stone is a graduate of Tufts University and has a master's degree in journalism from Boston University. He is a director of the New London Maritime Society and teaches journalism at the University of Connecticut at Avery Point.
The program is part of the Society’s Second Sunday Series. Because of the interest in this topic, it will be held at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum.
Space is limited, and reservations are required. The program is free to members of the NLCHS and $5 for non-members.
Please call 860-443-1209 for details and to register.JANUARY, 2006
January 8, 2006, 2PM - Dr.Glenn S. Gordinier speaks on diverse communities, "Transported, Transformed: The Many Faces of Whaling New London".
By the middle of the 1800s, New London was the second largest whaling port in America. The thriving town had been transformed by the whaling industry in just a few short decades, as had the makeup of its population. Glenn will give an illustrated talk thal examines these changes in New London, including the arrival of people from islands scattered across the length and breadth of the Atlantic, the slave South, the nations of Europe, and beyond.
Dr. Gordinier is the Robert G. Albion Historian at Mystic Seaport, where he teaches for the Williams College - Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program and co-directs the Munson Institute. He also serves on the faculty at the University of Connecticut, Avery Point. He has published widely on regional and maritime history topics, including editing Perspectives on Race, Ethnicity and Power in Maritime America, 2000. Having spoken at libraries, museums and historical societies throughout the region, he is pleased to return to the NLCHS to share findings on the local population a century and a half ago.
Space is limited, and reservations are required. The program is free to members of the NLCHS and $5 for non-members.
Please call 860-443-1209 for details and to register.NOVEMBER, 2005
November 13, 2005, 2PM - Tom Althuis will give a slide lecture on “The History of Groton Bank: What Makes It Important?”
This year marks the 350th anniversary of the colonial settlement of the east bank of the Thames River, which became known as Groton Bank.
Shipbuilding and farming were important colonial activities there, and the area later became Groton’s commercial center, as well as home to many prominent sea captains and other citizens. Using his collection of slides of old photographs, Althuis will take viewers on a “walk” of Groton Bank during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
He is a cofounder (in 1971) and the current president of the Groton Bank Historical Association.OCTOBER, 2005
October 9, 2005, 2PM - the New London County Historical Society will present a panel on “Looking for Treasure: Researching at the Shaw Mansion.”
The Society has been collecting research materials since its founding in 1870, and has a rich collection of both books and manuscripts. Several of the less known manuscript collections of the Society will be discussed, including Frances Caulkins’s handwritten genealogical research, the R.B. Wall newspaper article collection, and other “treasures” useful to historians and genealogists.AUGUST 2005
August 14, 2PM ~ seating available at 1:30 PM
Dale Plummer, Municipal Historian for the City of Norwich, will give a lecture/slide presentation, "Looking Back on Starr Street", followed by a walking tour of the Starr Street Historic District. Refreshments will be available after the tour. Early arrival is encouraged to secure seating.
Plummer was an early proponent of the idea of saving and restoring Starr Street. With his own house and his own work he was able to "show the way" creating an example and setting the challenge. Plummer will share his unique perspective on the history, the politics, the work, the dirt and the glory that went into the Starr Street that we see today.
It has now been twenty-five years since the dedication of Starr Street as a restored historic district. People who are new to the area would be surprised to find out what it looked like before the restoration! Those attending the August Second Sunday Program of the New London County Historical Society will get a glimpse of the "before and after," and will get a sense of the joys, the headaches, the displacements, and the sheer struggle that went into the work of recreating this neighborhood of classic mid-nineteenth-century architecture.APRIL 2005
April 10, 2 PM - Jason Mancini will speak about “Local Native and African Communities in the 18th and 19th Centuries”. Jason has been a researcher at the Mashantucket Research Center for the past ten years. He has recently been using previously neglected sources, such as Seaman’s Protection Certificates and vessel crew lists, to locate and better understand communities that usually were “under the radar” in earlier times.
MARCH 2005
March 13, 2 PM - William Ryczek will speak on “When Base Ball First Got Organized”.
After the Civil War, baseball was transformed from a game for gentlemen’s exercise to one that professionals were paid to win. The first professional players’ league was formed in 1871. Today’s New England Vintage Base Ball League plays by the rules approved in 1861—among them, no gloves and no pitcher’s mound.
Ryczek is a member of the Middletown Mansfields Base Ball Club. He is the author of two books on early baseball, When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865-1870, and Blackguards and Red Stockings: A History of Baseball’s National Association, 1871-1875. Copies of his books will be available for purchase.
Visit our Base Ball PageFEBRUARY 2005
February 13, 2 PM ~ Architectural historian James Sexton will present an illustrated talk titled “Our Old House: Findings from the Shaw Perkins Mansion Historic Structure Report”.
Under a grant from the Connecticut Humanities Council, Sexton researched the 1756 Shaw Mansion both architecturally and historically, delving into over two hundred years’ worth of clues to the residents and changing appearance of the house.
The study uncovered gaps in our knowledge of the story of the Shaw Mansion and challenged myths that have grown up around it.
The talk is sponsored by the New London County Historical Society, which purchased the Shaw Mansion in 1907 after a public campaign reported in great detail in The Day.
JANUARY 2005
January 9, 2 PM ~ Dr. Nancy Steenburg will present a talk titled “More than Just a Historian: Frances Caulkins and 19th Century Womanhood”.
Frances Manwaring Caulkins is usually remembered today for her histories of New London and Norwich and her other compilations of historical information. She was also an educator, abolitionist, author of numerous Sunday School tracts and other writings, and much beloved by her extended family.
Steenburg will explore Caulkins’s family, education, careers, and why at the end of her life she felt she had not done anything worthwhile.
Dr. Steenburg is an assistant professor of history at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus and coordinator of the newly-approved four year American Studies program. She received her BA from Harvard, her MA from Trinity College, and her PhD from the University of Connecticut. She is also the author of the very recently published Children and the Criminal Law in Connecticut, 1635-1855: Changing Perceptions of Childhood.NOVEMBER 2004
There will be a reception to meet new NLCHS Executive Director following the November 14th Second Sunday program at the Shaw-Perkins Mansion. Please call 443-1209 for details.APRIL 2004
April 18, 2004 2 p.m., Talk by Deborah Donovan. "New London: Whaling City or Sealing City?”. Much of New London’s nineteenth century whaling wealth actually came from sealing, the killing and processing of seals for their fat. Vessels from New London would sail to islands close to the Antarctic and set up shop for months and years at a stretch, sending home barrels of oil by other ships before returning fully laden themselves.
Ms. Donovan has been transcribing a journal kept on board the barque Laurens by Charles Kennon during a sealing voyage that lasted from 1855-1857. The journal, which was donated to the New London County Historical Society in 2002, will be on display.
Talk free to members, $5 nonmembers.
Contact us for further information at 860 443-1209.MARCH 2004
March 14, 2004 2 p.m., Talk by Greg Stone, "Theodore Bodenwein: New London's Pultizer". Bodenwein was the longtime publisher of The Day, New London area newspaper. Mr. Stone will sign copies of his book "The Day Newspaper". Talk Free to members, $5 nonmembers. Contact us for further information at 860 443-1209.
FEBRUARY 2004
February 8, 2004 2 p.m., Talk by Dr. Richard Buel, "Victims or Provokers? New England's Federalists and the Coming of the War of 1812". Free to members, $5 nonmembers. Contact us for further information at 860 443-1209.JANUARY 2004
January 11, 2004 2 p.m.,"The Lawrence Legacy"
Prominent 19th century merchants and philanthropists, i.e., hospital, Soldiers and Sailors Monument, etc.. Free to members, $5 nonmembers. Contact us for further information at 860 443-1209
NLCHS, 11 Blinman St., New London, CT 06320 email
