In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the CT Museum of Culture and History tells the story of the Good Will Club, the forerunner of the youth club movement that got its start in Hartford. But the story of the club can't be separated from that of its founder, a woman who's an inductee of the CT Women's Hall of Fame for her barrier-breaking work in the legal field.
There are lots of ways to learn more about the history of the Good Will Club and about Mary Hall. Here’s a partial list of sources consulted for this episode:
Elizabeth Warren, “Mary Hall: Breaking the Legal Barrier,” CT Explored, Spring 2010
Kevin Flood, “The Boys and Girls Clubs of America Started Here,” CT Explored, Fall 2019
Mary Hall’s Entry in the CT Women’s Hall of Fame
Judge A. Susan Peck, “Upcoming Survey on the Status of Connecticut Women in the Legal Profession,” CT Lawyer, September/October 2024
Some other sources you might like to check out: You can look at digitized issues of the Good Will Star, the newspaper published by the boys of the Good Will Club, held at the Connecticut State Library; see a timeline of the history of the Boys and Girls Club of Hartford; and visit the Connecticut Museum’s Waterman Research Center to see published histories of the Good Will/Boys and Girls Club as well as Mary Hall’s scrapbook.
This episode received support from the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, Hartford, Connecticut.
image: Mary Hall and Good Will Club Boys, Mary Hall Scrapbook, MS 78249 CMCH Collection.
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This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger, Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/
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