Association for the Study of Connecticut History

Annual Meeting of the Association
for the Study of Connecticut History will be held on Saturday,
April 28, 2007, at the Connecticut River Museum, Essex, CT.
The meeting theme, "A River Runs through It: Putting the
Connecticut in Connecticut's History" will be addressed by
three speakers:

Brenda Milkofsky, Senior Curator, Connecticut River Museum,
Launching Liberty: The Connecticut Valley in The American
Revolution: Off the Walls and onto the Web.

Joseph Avitable, University of Rochester, Connecting Colonial
Connecticut to the Atlantic World Economy, 1690-1776.

Steve Grant, The Hartford Courant, The Connecticut River:
An Environmental History.

After the program, there will be a short annual business meeting
of the ASCH membership with election of officers. This will be
followed by a guided tour of the Connecticut River and lunch
aboard the RiverQuest. A copy of the entire program with registration information is available at the ASCH website: http://asch.ccsu.edu
For further information, please call or e-mail:
Patricia Bodak Stark
ASCH Secretary
860-434-0112
starkbpw@aol.com

Connecticut Historical Society Library blog

New and exciting additions to the collection at the Connecticut Historical Society Library.

We will be reporting new additions to our collections, mostly manuscript, but some printed material and media as well. We are constantly adding new manuscript and discovering one's already in the collection. Information about these items/collections will appear at the CHS blog before they show up in their online catalog.

Please visit the CHS blog, and if you want to keep updated, please subscribe to the RSS feed. www.manuscripts.wordpress.com
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About CHS:

From award-winning, interactive exhibits to exciting special events and programs, plus a nationally significant library, the Connecticut Historical Society Museum presents family-friendly, educational offerings that explore Connecticut’s diverse, dynamic and changing history. Ongoing exhibits include Tours and Detours Through Early Connecticut exploring rustic life in CT over 200 years ago. Amistad– A True Story of Freedom travels through the Africans’ struggle for freedom following their 1839 revolt aboard the Amistad. Group Tours are available for both children and adults. Located at One Elizabeth Street in Hartford’s historic West End, make the CHS Museum your must-see destination along CT’s Cultural Tourism Trail, easily accessible from I-84, Exit # 46, Sisson Avenue. Exhibition hours: Tuesday - Saturday, Noon to 5 p.m. Library hours: Tuesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last admission: 4:15 p.m.). Admission is $6 (adults), $3 (seniors, students, and youths 6 - 17), FREE for children under six and CHS Museum/Old State House members and FREE the first Saturday of every month. Open year round. Closed major holidays. FREE and ample parking. Web site: www.chs.org. For information call: 860-236-5621.

"Working the Land: The Story of Connecticut Agriculture"

"Working the Land: The Story of Connecticut Agriculture"

Premieres Friday, April 13th at 9 p.m. on CPTV

Past, present and future of state farming are subject of new documentary Moodus, Conn. (April 4, 2007) - Since its earliest days, Connecticut farmers and the farming way of life helped to build the state, givesustenance to millions and provide residents with a special sense ofplace. Today, farming in Connecticut is at a crossroads as lifestyle changes and development pressures threaten its future. The past, present and future of state farming are explored in Working the Land: The Story of Connecticut Agriculture, a 90-minute documentary that premieres Friday, April 13, at 9 p.m. on Connecticut Public Television (CPTV). State resident Ken Simon produced, wrote and directed the documentary, his 21st program on Connecticut history, culture or public policy. Connecticut resident Sam Waterston narrates the program.

In the last half of the 20th century, Connecticut, like other states, had experienced a steady decline in farming. In 1944, there were 22,000 farms in the state. Today, there are 4,200. To the dismay of many concerned with state agriculture, farmland loss has intensified inrecent years. From 1997 to 2002, Connecticut led all other states in the rate of loss -- 12 percent of existing farmland, with no signs of slowing down since then. Yet, agriculture continues to be an important part of Connecticut's economy, food system and culture. Some trends are downright encouraging, such as increasing demand for locally grown food, more direct marketing from farm to consumer, and the growing business of agricultural-based tourism. Working the Land features 26 farmers who help to tell the story of state agriculture. Farmers in the program range from multi-generation farm families to first-generation farmers, from part-timers to multi-million-dollar operators. They grow, harvest, make and sell a diverse array of farm products -- from decorative plants to organic produce, gourmet vegetables, wine, cheese, grass-fed lamb and beef, and a wide range of added-value products.

An extended-edition DVD of the program is available at retail outletsstatewide and at the project website www.WorkingTheLand.com. The website contains interview transcripts, exclusive articles and video footage, links to state farmsand farm products, an archival photographic database, and interactive features. Working the Land is a co-production of Simon Pure Productions and Connecticut Humanities Council. It is the latest program in The Connecticut Experience, a collaborative series of the Humanities Council and Connecticut Public Television. Lead underwriting for the project was provided by Connecticut Farmland Trust, with major underwriting from Connecticut Farm Bureau, Connecticut Department of Agriculture and the 1772 Foundation. PRODUCTION CREDITS Producer, Writer, Director: Kenneth A. Simon Executive Producers: Kenneth A. Simon (SimonPure Productions), Bruce Fraser (Connecticut Humanities Council) Narrator: Sam Waterston, Original Score: Steve Evans, Contact: Ken Simon, mailto:ksimon@simonpure.com , www.workingtheland.com