Grating the Nutmeg

Two of Connecticut’s most influential women, Beatrice Fox Auerbach, the owner of G. Fox, the largest privately-owned department store in the United States at the time and U.S. Congresswoman Chase Going Woodhouse, the second woman to be elected to the US Congress from Connecticut, spent seven weeks travelling through 10 countries in the Middle East and Europe in 1949. Only four years after the end of WWII and one year after the founding of the new nation of Israel, Auerbach and Woodhouse were shown battlefields, refugee camps, and the ruins of German cities. Auerbach’s diary entries reveal what she saw and experienced-civil war in Greece, Arab refugee camps in Transjordan, the value of using Hebrew in Israel, and the fear of rising anti-Semitism and communism in Germany. In this episode, edited from a lecture given at the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford, Dr. Tracey Wilson comments on Auerbach and Woodhouse’s contribution to the development of women in leadership roles in Connecticut and reads from Mrs. Auerbach’s travel diaries. Both women are in the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.   Dr. Wilson received her Ph. D in history from Brown University and serves as the West Hartford Town Historian. To listen to the full lecture or view the videotape, contact the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford. The Auerbach diaries are in the collection of the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, and the papers of Chase Going Woodhouse are in the collection of the Dodd Center, University of Connecticut at Storrs. To hear more about G. Fox Dept Store, listen to Episode 73 of Grating the Nutmeg, “Dept Stores, G. Fox and the Black Freedom Movement”.  This episode was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.  To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on itunes, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Spotify or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org  

This summer the Connecticut Historical Society is hosting an exhibition called Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow. It’s a traveling show that originated at the New-York Historical Society. The exhibition explores the struggle for full citizenship and racial equality that unfolded after the Civil War. Even though northern states like Connecticut did not institute Jim Crow segregation by law, discrimination and segregation were the norm in many public spaces, including elegant department stores like New York City’s Macy’s, Bloomingdales, and Hartford’s G. Fox. In this episode, Dr. Traci Parker of the University of Massachusetts, with some editorial commentary from host Natalie Belanger talk about what department stores like G. Fox meant to consumers and retail workers alike, and how they become sites of struggle in the civil rights movement.     Dr. Parker’s new book is Department Stores and the Black Freedom Movement: Workers, Consumers, and Civil Rights from the 1930s to the 1980s published by the University of North Carolina Press. For more information about G. Fox Dept Store, contact the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford.   This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.   To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on itunes, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay, SoundCloud or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org

BONUS CONTENT: LECTURE ONLY 

  In Part 2 of our Series Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of Dartmouth College and Its Roots in the town of Columbia. Mohegan Elder Beth Regan tells the story of Samson Occom. Occom,  a Mohegan convert to Christianity,  was educated by Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, became a teacher and minister, raised much of the money used to establish Dartmouth, and went on to found the utopian native Christian community of Brothertown, New York. Occom’s story as told by Mohegan elder Regan provides a different and importantperspective on Dartmouth’s founding, one that is not to be missed.   This episode is dedicated to Mohegan Nonner and elder Faith Damon Davison, with whom Regan was to give her talk. She was prevented by the onset of an illness that led to her passing a few weeks later. A wise and wonderful person, Nonner Faith Damon Davison will be missed by all of us who knew her, - 

Recently, alumni of Dartmouth College, members of the Mohegan nation, the Columbia Historical Society and state and local officials gathered in the quiet corner town of Columbia to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the founding of that Ivy League Institution. Why Columbia? That is where the Great Awakening minister Eleazar Wheelock, inspired by the educational achievements of Mohegan student Samson Occom, founded Moor’s Indian Charity School, the training school for indigenous missionaries that led directly to Wheelock’s founding of Dartmouth in 1769. In this episode, following Elder Beth Regan’s Mohegan-language conference invocation, state historian Walt Woodward describes Eleazar Wheelock’s life as a local minister and Great Awakening evangelist, his relationship with Samson Occom, and life at Moor’s Indian Charity School. “Eleazar Wheelock, the Great Awakening, Samson Occom, and the Indian School -  This episode of Grating the Nutmeg.”

This episode celebrates the 100th anniversary of the most influential design school of the twentieth century, the Bauhaus, and Connecticut’s connection to it. Connecticut Explored’s Assistant Publisher Mary Donohue and conceptual artist, photographer and frequent Connecticut Explored contributor Bob Gregson talk about pioneering Modern artists Anni and Josef Albers, who escaped Nazi Germany in the 1930s and made New Haven their home in  1950. It’s a remarkable story. Josef was associated with the Bauhaus longer than any other artist and Anni was the last surviving teacher from the Bauhaus. Both had independent careers as world  famous, influential teachers and artists.     For more information about the Albers, read Bob’s feature story in the Winter 2018-2019 issue of Connecticut Explored at ctexplored.org and for more about the Albers,  go to the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation’s website at albersfoundation.org.  For more about our guest, go to BobGregson.com   This episode was hosted and produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.  And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, at ctexplored.org. Through May 31, 2019, for just $20, Grating the Nutmeg listeners receive 6 issues for the price of 4 with coupon code GTNSpring19.  That’s 2 free issues added to a one-year subscription with coupon code GTNSpring19 when you subscribe by May 31, 2019 at ctexplored.org/shop To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on iTunes, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Spotify or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com.

                It’s not very often that a historian interviews a poet for a history podcast, but in this episode state historian Walt Woodward interviews award-winning poet, novelist, essayist, environmentalist, and former Deputy Commission of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection David K. Leff about his   new verse novel, The Breach: Voices Haunting a New England Mill Town (Homebound Books, 2019). The Breach is a fascinating study of decline in  a New England factory village  caught in the throes of both an economic and an environmental crisis. And - plus, plus, plus - it’s a story  told mostly by historical objects. Leff talks about his book,  the reasons he lets objects tell the story, and reads some of the entries, too.   Warning: Leff's readings contain a bit of profanity, one violent episode, and a hint of sex.  

In this podcast cross-over episode,  Johnna Kaplan, author of Connecticut Explored's spring 2019 story about Fort Trumbull in New London, Connecticut is joined by her Going/Steadypodcast co-host Kerri Provost. Listen as they dive into the history of Fort Trumbull, a Connecticut state park that’s seen a devastating Revolutionary War battle, witnessed Prohibition-era high-speed boat chases, and housed a top-secret military research facility. Today Fort Trumbull is one of New London’s must-visit attractions, part of the new Thames River Heritage Park.  Thanks to the co-hosts of Going/Steady, Kerri Provost of Real Hartford and Johnna Kaplan of The Size of Connecticut. Listen to Going/Steady podcast at goingsteadyct.com and on iTunes. For more information about the fort, visit ct.gov/deep and fortfriends.org.  For more about the summer water taxi and historic attractions go to thamesriverheritagepark.org This episode produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay, Soundcloud or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And to read Johnna's story, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history,at ctexplored.org. Through May 31, 2019, for just $20, Grating the Nutmeg listeners receive 6 issues for the price of 4 with coupon code GTNSpring19. That’s 2 free issues added to a one-year subscription with coupon code GTNSpring19 when you subscribe by May 31, 2019 at ctexplored.org/shop

The story behind this episode started with the high-profile heist in 1991 of a stained-glass window from the nineteenth century mausoleum of a New London industrialist. The window was designed by world-famous artist Louis Comfort Tiffany.  But the thieves hadn’t counted on a persistent detective. Tiffany, best known for his brilliant innovations in glass, had deep Connecticut roots. A new permanent exhibition about his work, including 100 fine- and decorative-arts objects, is now on view at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London. Join host Mary Donohue and curator Tanya Pohrt and museum director Sam Quigley to discover more about Tiffany’s career, his family ties to New London, and his life-long pursuit of beauty. Read our story about Louis Comfort Tiffany in the Winter 2018-2019 issue online at ctexplored.org. For more information about the Lyman Allyn’s exhibition “Louis Comfort Tiffany in New London” and the Lyman Allyn Art Museum visit lymanallyn.org.  To see a fantastic interior designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and his firm Associated Artists, visit the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford. This episode was hosted and produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan with music by Miles Elliot. To hear more episodes of Grating the Nutmeg subscribe on itunes, iHeartRadio, GooglePlay,, Sound Cloud or at gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com. And for more great Connecticut history stories, subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history,  at ctexplored.org. Through May 31, 2019, we’ve got a special offer for Grating the Nutmeg listeners. For just $20, you’ll receive 6 issues for the price of 4 with coupon code GTNSpring19. That’s 2 free issues added to a one-year subscription with coupon code GTNSpring19 when you subscribe by May 31, 2019.

Recently, US News and World Report ranked Connecticut 4th best among the 50 states in the quality of our healthcare. We have great research universities and teaching hospitals, and pharma, biotech, and medical engineering companies most states envy. That’s what makes this podcast so surprising. This is the story of how the little Litchfield County hill town of Sharon – with a population of 2700 people – has produced some of our state’s leading medical innovators. And it’s been doing so for centuries.            Join State Historian Walt Woodward on a visit to the Sharon Historical Society where co-curators Susan Shepard and Marge Smith tell us about the breakthroughs in innoculation, immunotherapy, and gender equity in the medical field pioneered by Sharon residents. It’s part of their exhibit “Sharon Cures: Centuries of Medicine in One Small Town”. It’s three stories in one, that will surprise, inform, and make you want to learn more about this town of medical marvels. While you're listening, view an album of photos from the exhibit on the Connecticut State Historian's Facebook Page