Grating the Nutmeg

In this episode, CTExplored publisher Elizabeth Normen talks with Connecticut River Museum curator Amy Trout about the museum’s summer exhibition Speed: Hydroplane Racing on the Connecticut River, 1900 – 1940. Trout tells us what a hydroplane is and why racing them became popular in the midst of the Great Depression. As opposed to yachting, she explains, hydroplane racing was an everyman’s sport that people flocked to the riverfront to watch. She talks boat design, which outboard engines were popular, and who the stand-out racers of the 20s and 30s—a number of whom were young women—were. Speed is on view through October 9, 2022.   Read more! Pleasure Boating on the Connecticut River, Summer 2018 https://www.ctexplored.org/cover-story-pleasure-boating-on-the-connecticut-river/ Full Steam Ahead: Steamboat Travel in Connecticut, Spring 2009 https://www.ctexplored.org/full-steam-ahead-steamboat-travel-in-connecticut/

In 1822, the Hartford Retreat for the Insane was chartered as one of the first mental health centers in the United States, and the first hospital of any kind in CT. In 2022, the CHS is exploring of the story of mental health in our state. Recently, the CHS invited Dr. Harold I (Hank) Schwartz to talk about the history of the Hartford Retreat, renamed the Institute of Living in the 20th century.  His presentation took us through the state of mental health care in the early 1800s, the reasons for the founding of the Retreat, and its place in the development of modern psychiatry. Dr. Schwartz, is the Psychiatrist-in-Chief Emeritus at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital and formerly served as Vice President, Behavioral Health at Hartford Healthcare. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine. His talk is presented here for you with minimal edits.   To learn more about the Connecticut Historical Society’s exhibition Common Struggle, Individual Experience: An Exhibition About Mental Health, go to chs.org. You can view a 3D, virtual tour of the exhibition here.  Image: "Hartford Retreat for the Insane," postcard, CHS collection 1984.13.109   Produced by Natalie Belanger. Mixed by Patrick O'Sullivan.    See more: "The Institute of Living," Feb/Mar/Apr 2004, CT Explored.

Most people in the tri-state area have driven the Merritt Parkway with its extraordinary bridges and landscaped vistas.  But can a roadway built in the 1930s during the Great Depression survive today in the 21st century without losing its charm? In celebration of Historic Preservation Month, we will learn how the Merritt Parkway, the state’s most heavily visited National Register historic district, was saved from modernization and restored to its original design. In this episode, Asst. Publisher Mary Donohue learns more about the history and preservation of the parkway from her guests Christopher Wigren deputy director of Preservation Connecticut and author of Connecticut Architecture: Stories of 100 Places. He co-wrote the National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Merritt Parkway and serves on the Department of Transportation's Merritt Parkway Advisory Committee. And her second guest, Wes Haynes, the Executive Director of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy, a non-profit organization committed to the preservation, revitalization and stewardship of the Parkway.    Thanks to Chris for being our guest. You can order his book here: https://www.amazon.com/Connecticut-Architecture-Stories-Places-Garnet/dp/0819578134/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1072LVNSI3O9I&keywords=wigren&qid=1651172449&s=books&sprefix=%2Cstripbooks%2C58&sr=1-1 And thanks to Wes for being our guest. Find out more about the Merritt Parkway Conservancy here: https://www.merrittparkway.org/ For more Connecticut Explored stories about the Merritt Parkway, https://www.ctexplored.org/soapbox-preserving-the-meritt-parkway/ https://www.ctexplored.org/national-historic-preservation-act-40-and-fabulous/ https://www.ctexplored.org/meet-preservation-connecticut/ Photos used with permission from the Merritt Parkway Conservancy. This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan, High Wattage Media, LLC at highwattagemedia.com Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years She may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net.

For over 2000 years, the American chestnut was the tallest, largest, and most omnipresent tree in all Connecticut. It’s a tree for which a hundred hills, countless streets, and at least one Connecticut town were named, a tree whose nuts we sing about on the holidays, and a tree which helped frame our houses, shape our furniture, fence and feed our livestock, make tracks for our trains, and hold our utility lines.  In this episode,  Jack Swatt, President of the Connecticut chapter of the American chestnut Foundation, talks with state historian Walt Woodward about the long history and importance of the American chestnut tree, the devastation brought by the historic chestnut blight, and the amazing efforts by scientists today to restore this functionally extinct species to its former place in Connecticut’s woodlands.  Appreciation to Daniel Birch for "Trees in the Wind," episode intro music licensed by Creatrive Commons

In this episode, architectural historian Mary Donohue and podcast engineer Patrick O’Sullivan explore the Hartford work of early twentieth century architect Donn Barber especially his magnificent Connecticut State Library building and two of the city’s early skyscrapers. Her guest, retired Connecticut State Librarian Ken Wiggin, explains how Barber got the plum commission to design the Connecticut State Library.   Donn Barber, born in 1871, a New York City architect, could be called the “Father of Hartford Skyscrapers.” He designed Hartford’s first skyscraper, the Hartford National Bank in 1911, and another, the Travelers Tower in 1919, that reigned as the tallest in New England for decades. The first—the Hartford National Bank Building—was demolished in 1990, while the other—Travelers Tower—is still an icon of the Hartford skyline, one whose owner restored it in 2013. Barber and these two buildings not only dramatically changed Hartford’s skyline, they also played a role in advancing the city’s burgeoning white-collar banking and insurance industries in the early 20th century.   By 1906, architect Donn Barber had received his first commission from the Travelers Insurance Company to design the first section of the Travelers building on Main Street. But was the magnificent Connecticut State Library and Supreme Court Building in 1910 that cemented his reputation in Hartford for designing grand show stopping buildings.   Barber’s Hartford work included several landmark buildings. He designed the Connecticut State Library in 1910, the unrealized Charter Oak Bank Building in 1914, the Travelers Tower in three stages between 1906 and 1919; the Hartford Times Building in 1920, and the Travelers Insurance Co. building at Grove and Prospect streets in 1921.   Washington, D.C.-born Donn Barber received the best architectural training available and worked in some of New York City’s toniest architectural design firms. He was educated at Yale and Columbia universities and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. The Ecole fostered a generation of American architects who designed in what became known in architecture and city-planning circles as the Beaux Arts style. This Classically-based style reshaped American taste, and its cities, at the beginning of the 20th century. Barber worked for Carrere & Hastings, Cass Gilbert (architect of Waterbury City Hall and New Haven’s Union Station and former owner/resident of Ridgefield’s Keeler Tavern Museum), and Lord & Howlett before opening his own office in 1900.   Learn more about his Hartford work here:   https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticut-state-library-george-godard-gets-his-building/   https://www.ctexplored.org/saving-face-the-hartford-times-building/   and in the Spring 2022 issue of Connecticut Explored. This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan, High Wattage Media, LLC.   Subscribe to Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/subscribe/

Spurred by Abraham Lincoln’s campaign stop in Hartford in March 1860, the Wide Awake movement spread from Connecticut throughout the North like wildfire. In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the Connecticut Historical Society’s Natalie Belanger takes a look at this pivotal youth movement of the Civil War era. Listen to find out how this home-grown political movement and their signature torchlit parades helped to redefine American democracy on the eve of the Civil War.  This topic was inspired by “Albert’s Odd Jobs,” an exhibition on view at the CT Historical Society through April 16, 2022. It covers the life of Glastonbury’s Albert Walker, a farmer, skilled artisan, amateur magician, and, of course, a Wide Awake. You can take a virtual 3D tour of “Albert’s Odd Jobs” on the museum’s website, chs.org.  Special thanks to guest Jon Grinspan, the Curator of Political History at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Grinspan studies the deep history of American democracy, especially the wild partisan campaigns of the 1800s. He frequently contributes to the New York Times, and his work has been featured in The New Yorker, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. His most recent book is The Age of Acrimony: How American Fought to Fix Their Democracy 1865-1915.   Learn more about Connecticut and the Civil War here: https://www.ctexplored.org/connecticut-in-the-civil-war-2/ This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Subscribe to Connecticut Explored at https://www.ctexplored.org/shop/ Image credit: Wide Awake Flag, 1889. This flag was reportedly carried by the Wide Awakes during an excursion to Washington, D.C. for the Presidential inauguration parade of Benjamin Harrison on 4 March 1889. CHS Collection, 1950.530.0 

March is Women’s History Month and in this episode publisher Elizabeth Normen talks with author Eve Kahn about her 2019 book, Forever Seeing New Beauties: The Forgotten Impressionist Mary Rogers Wiliams,1857 - 1907 (Wesleyan University Press, 2019). It’s a rare insider view of the challenges women artists faced in the late 19th century. Kahn drew from a collection of Williams’s gossipy letters home in which she describes her desperation to escape her teaching job at Smith College to paint and travel abroad. Hear how Williams talked her way into artist James McNeil Whistler’s London home, and about drawing from a cadaver at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris.  Find out more about the book at https://www.evekahn.com and read her story in the Winter 2021-2022 issue of CTExplored at https://www.ctexplored.org/mary-rogers-williams-we-shall-want-to-do-a-lot-of-rambling/.  

Forty years ago, a freshman legislator in the Connecticut General Assembly wrote and engineered passage of one of the most important pieces of consumer protection legislation in history – The Lemon Law (actually two laws passed in 1982 and 1984) that required automobile manufacturers to repair defective vehicles in a timely manner, replace the vehicle with a new one, or refund the customer's purchase price. Today Lemon Laws are in place in every state of the union and countries around the world. John J Woodcock, father of the Lemon Law, tells the story of the Lemon Law's creation, passage, and the years long battle with car manufacturers to preserve its integrity. Produced by Walter Woodward. 

As we all ease into 2022, we want to thank our listeners for supporting Grating the Nutmeg! We’ve just had our 6th birthday and hit over 100,000 downloads! We couldn’t have done it without you. Be sure to let us know if there are topics you think we should investigate. If you could manufacture something out of stone or metal and make a buck, chances are it was produced in Connecticut. Asst. Publisher Mary Donohue explores the history of an unusual and unique--in the truest sense of the word--Connecticut company that made grave markers out of zinc. Affectionately known as “Zinkies” by cemetery buffs, these bluish-grey metal gravestones were made in Bridgeport and shipped across the country. The company’s slogan was “As enduring as the pyramids” but was that true or just boosterism? We’ll find out with author and Bridgeport historian Carolyn Ivanoff whose feature article on the Monumental Bronze Company comes out in Connecticut Explored’s upcoming Spring 2022 issue.     Her book, "We Fought at Gettysburg," scheduled for publication in late spring 2022, features first-hand accounts by the survivors of the 17th Connecticut Infantry and their experiences on the greatest battlefield of the American Civil War. Thanks to Carolyn Ivanoff for being our guest. You can find her Bridgeport history blog at https://bportlibrary.org/hc/business-and-commerce/monuments-everlasting-bridgeports-monumental-bronze-company/#more-14000 Don’t forget to get your copy of Connecticut Explored’s Spring 2022 issue to read more about the “Zinkies.” And to see dozens of Zinkies from across the country, follow the “gardenofwhitebronze” on Instagram. The digitized catalog at the Smithsonian Institution can be seen here https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/whitebronzemonu00monu Episode photo shows the Beech Family monument, Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport. The front panel shows the iconic harvested wheat and scythe bas-relief. The “golden sheaf” on the front panel symbolized that the deceased had had a long and abundant life. Photo by Carolyn Ivanoff.  This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan. Donohue has documented the built environment and pop culture for over 30 years. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net Did you know that you can get our new e-newsletter, CTExplored/Inbox by signing up at our website ctexplored.org? You’ll receive your bi-weekly newsletter from Connecticut Explored with the latest stories, the newest Grating the Nutmeg podcast, programs and exhibitions from around the state to see or watch this month and more!   

In this episode, Connecticut Historical Society’s Natalie Belanger, frequent contributor to Grating the Nutmeg, talks with Antoinette Brim-Bell, Professor of English at Capital Community College, about Ann Plato, one of the first Black women to publish a book in the United States. Ann Plato is part of Capitol Community College’s NEH-funded Hartford Heritage Project which highlights the history of the Talcott Street Church, the first Black congregation in Hartford and where Plato was a teacher.  Many thanks to Antoinette Brim-Bell! If you want to learn more about the Hartford Heritage Project, visit their website. Ann Plato’s book, Essay: Including Biographies and Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose and Poetry, has been digitized by the New York Public Library and is available to read online.  Want to know more about Connecticut’s landmarks, museums, art, and history? Subscribe to Connecticut Explored-in your mailbox or inbox- https://www.ctexplored.org/ And for a daily dose of history, visit Today in Connecticut History produced by Connecticut State Historian Walt Woodward at https://todayincthistory.com/ This episode was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan.  Please join us again for the next episode of Grating the Nutmeg!