Past Program Highlights
A People Generally Enlightened Cannot Be Enslaved:"
Black Activism and Higher Education in Antebellum New Haven
lecture by Hilary J. Moss, Assistant Professor of Black Studies and History, Amherst College
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Professor Moss will explored the emergence of white opposition to black education through a close examination of the 1831 uproar in New Haven over the first effort to build a black college in the nation.
Sponsored in collaboration with The Amistad Committee.
Joshua Kendall Lecture and Book Signing: The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus
March 18, 2008
5:30-7:00 pm
Join us to hear author Joshua Kendall discuss his brand new book The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness and the Creation of Roget’s Thesaurus. Kendall reveals the untold story of Peter Mark Roget, his remarkable vision and reasons for developing his thesaurus. Roget began making his list of words at the age of eight and dedicated his adult life to putting the English language into a sensible order, eventually settling on 1,000 neatly arranged categories.
Roget was a magnetic individual who led a colorful life of adventure and romance. However, he also battled personal demons. As the shadow of mental illness loomed over him and those he loved, Roget endeavored to institute a sense of order in his life. He started with lists.
In The Man Who Made Lists, Kendall delivers the truth behind this man of many words and raises provocative questions about the changing role of language in the 21st century. With email and text messaging barraging us every day, how do we preserve the integrity of language? As we head toward the 2008 election, with social commentary reaching explosive new levels, how do we engage in civil discourse while still saying exactly what we really mean?
Joshua Kendall is a Yale College graduate, freelance journalist and author whose work has appeared in various publications, including Business Week, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. He has also co-written three academic psychology books. For his outstanding reporting on psychiatry, he has received national journalism awards from both the National Mental Health Association and the American Psychoanalytic Association. He did graduate work in comparative literature at Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Boston.
Connecticut Landmarks Society Annual Lecture Series: CT Collectors: The Patrons & Their Passions
Programs are from 5:30-6:30 pm in the NHM&HS auditorium
Please contact the CT Landmarks Society to register: 860.247.8996 or www.ctlandmarks.org
Fee per Lecture: $8 members, $10 non members
Fee for the Series: $25 members, $35 non members
March 26, 2008
Collecting for the Nation, Struggling Against the Truth of History: Francis Patrick Garvin (1875-1937) and George Dudley Seymour (1859-1945)
Dr. Catherine Whalen, Bard Graduate School
April 2, 2008
Robert Whittemore - Impressionist Art Collector
Ann Smith, Independent Curator
April 9, 2008
Mickey Cartin and Sol LeWitt
Stephen Holmes
April 16, 2008
Collecting Art in Victorian CT: Elizabeth Colt and Robbins Battell
Bill Hosley, Executive Director NHM&HS
Robert Forbes Lecture & Book Signing: The Missouri Crisis of 1819-1921: The View from New Haven
January 15, 2008
5:30-7:00 pm
Saving Our Cities/Saving the Land: New Urbanism Film Festival
Thursday evenings - 5:30-7:30 pm
January 17, 24, 31 February 7, 21, 28, 2008
No charge for films, Refreshments available for purchase
Come in from the cold this winter and explore some of the critical issues facing our communities. For six weeks in January and February we will feature films, commentary and lively discussion as we “travel” across the country in search of answers to the challenge of urban sprawl, community alienation, clogged transportation, the loss of independent commerce and the corresponding threats to precious historical resources. Find communities looking for new ways to come together, define their neighborhoods and fight the Big Box.
Connecticut has been facing the problem of city versus town since colonial days, resulting in 169 governmental entities with great independent spirit but little interconnectedness. How do we come together? How do our communities maintain a sense of identity in an increasingly homogenized world? What about our cities? A century ago they were the engines of the industrial age. But what is their role now and in the future?
The issues facing us here are being addressed by communities across the nation. At each of our evening programs commentators will lead discussions that will bring the challenges home and help us rethink the "American Dream."
Films:
January 17: Connecticut and Its Cities: Three Centuries of Change (Part 1) Our introductory film explores the forces that created Connecticut’s cities and surrounding small towns, how they grew and what happened when industry moved on.
January 24th: Taken For a Ride Public transportation shaped urban communities, offering citizens easy transportation and driving the development of downtown shopping and commercial districts. This changed in the 1930s through a sweeping campaign by GM to buy and dismantle the streetcars across the country.
January 31: Subdivide: Isolation and Community in America What is life like in contemporary suburbia? Follow this personal study of isolation and the struggle to find community in an era of careless development.
February 7: Suburbia: The Good Life in Connecticut? Learn how suburban ideals and myths influence our views on privacy, education, safety and the future of Connecticut’s urban centers.
February 21: Independent America Follow the filmmakers on a transcontinental journey through 32 states in search of “Independent America.” Hear from hardy souls fighting for the right to remain independent in a land smothered by Big Box stores and fast-food chains.
February 28: Save Our Land/Save Our Towns Join us for this voyage of discovery as we see how cities can be rebuilt and countrysides preserved from stripmalls and subdivisions.
New Haven Heritage Salon: Yesterday Once More: New Haven Remembers the Carpenters
Thursday, February 14, 2008
5:30 - 7:00 pm
$15 members, $20 non-members
Come to the New Haven Museum and Historical Society for a very special romantic Valentine's Day event, honoring two famous "hometown heroes." New Haven natives Karen and Richard Carpenter, graduates of Nathan Hale School and Wilbur Cross High were the most popular American recording artists of the 1970s. They sold 100 million records and their journey started here.
The Salon is the perfect romantic prelude to an evening out in the city. A lecture by William Hosley will be followed by a musical tribute performance by NHM trustee Andrew Rubinoff and Neighborhood Music School voice instructor and singer Anne Tofflemire. Of course, Valentine's Day would not be complete without champagne and strawberries!
Annual Meeting
Monday, November 19 5:00-7:00pm
NHM&HS Auditorium
The evening will include the annual Business Meeting and two special programs. A reception will follow with food provided by LaCuisine. For the full agenda please download the pdf attached here: 2007 Annual Meeting Agenda. Please note that if you read this agenda before Nov. 16, changes have been made. The current link connects to the updated agenda including a revised list of board nominations and recognitions. Thank you. To review the 2006 Annual Meeting Minutes please download the document: 2006 Annual Meeting Minutes
Program
1. Sharing & Caring: 150 Years at the Museum of New Haven
William Hosley, NHM&HS Executive Director
2. The Story of a Painting: George Washington & His Generals
Amy Trout, NHM&HS Curator
Whitney Library Associates Program Series
The Associates is a group of Historical Society members interested in supporting the work of the Whitney Library and in learning more about issues related to the Library's collections and mission. Four programs for the Associates have been scheduled for this year. All programs begin at 5:00 pm. in the Whitney Library
March 22: Timothy Dwight's Travels
Bill Hosley, Executive Director NHM&HS
May 9: The Dana Digitization Project
James Campbell, Librarian and Curator of Manuscripts
September 17: New Haven Theatre Programs
James Campbell, Librarian and Curator of Manuscripts
November 13: New Haven GIS Mapping Project,
by Tom Thurston Director of Education at the Gilder Lehrman Center
New Haven Heritage Salon
Prophet of Place: Rediscovering George Dudley Seymour’s Civic Vision for New Haven and Connecticut
July 12th, 5:30—7:30 pm
Prophet of Place: Rediscovering George Dudley Seymour’s Civic Vision for New Haven and Connecticut is held in concert with the latest Community Gallery exhibition, The New Haven Bar: From the Colonies to Today, where Seymour is featured as one of our city’s most prominent lawyers.
The Heritage Salons are “After-Work” programs that combine food for the mind and body, bringing museum staff together with outside scholars and experts to explore important aspects of our cultural heritage. The combination of learning, leisure, socializing and refreshments in our inviting downtown location makes for an inspiring mix.
Prophet of Place is a lecture by museum director William Hosley, followed by a panel discussion on “Imagining Connecticut Tomorrow” featuring renowned scholars and 21st century visionaries including Yale Professor Douglas Rae, State Senator Donald Williams and Governor Jody Rell (or a member of her administration). A review of Seymour’s activism in city planning, historic preservation, forestry, antiquarian studies, and town/gown relations will provide a platform for discussing related current events and issues.
This program marks the Centennial of New Haven’s City Plan, launched through Seymour’s advocacy in June of 1907. The plan, developed by Cass Gilbert and Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr., radically changed the look of New Haven, especially around the Green.
The program is co-sponsored by the New Haven Bar Association, and 1000 Friends of Connecticut.
Admission: $20 members of NHMHS, New Haven Bar Association, 1000 Friends of CT
$30 nonmembers
A Sense of Place: A Survey of Connecticut Architecture
Explore the state’s rich architectural heritage over 4 weeks. Audience members will view images of some of Connecticut’s most significant buildings and learn about the exciting techniques historians use to uncover the past. This year’s series will include an optional hands-on architectural workshop at the Phelps-Hatheway House with A&L’s Building Conservator, Benjamin Wilson.
Beauty & the Beast: 300 Years of Connecticut Architecture
Speaker: Bill Hosley, Executive Director, New Haven Museum and Historical Society
Date: March 14
This first lecture provides a fast-paced survey of the state’s built environment, touching down in dozens of locations. From the post and beam, framed housed of the 17th and early 18th centuries to architect-designed masterpieces of 20th century Modernism, Connecticut has it all.
Secrets Underground: What Archaeology Can Contribute to Interpretation of Everyday Household Life
Speaker: Mary Harper, Director of the Public Archaeology Survey Team, Inc.
Date: March 21
This lecture examines how archaeology provides a more complete and intimate picture of daily life in the colonial era. Ms. Harper will share her findings from excavations of 18th-century Connecticut houses, (including a recent project at A&L’s Nathan Hale Homestead) as well as her work on buried structures in Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Eighteenth Century Architecture Three Ways
Speaker: Dr. James Sexton, Independent Architectural Historian
Date: March 28
This lecture focuses on three significant Connecticut structures: the Bush-Holley House in Greenwich, the Joseph Webb House in Wethersfield, and the Pardee-Morris House in New Haven. While these18th-century houses have much in common, each is representative of a different building type –a center chimney “saltbox”, a center hall house, and a “River God” mansion.
Beyond the March of Styles: Architecture and Urban Space in Victorian New London
Speaker: Dr. Abigail A. Van Slyck, Dayton Associate Professor of Art History & Director of
Architectural Studies at Connecticut College
Date: April 4
The final lecture discusses how buildings shaped the experience of the people who lived and worked on State Street in the 19th century. Dr. Van Slyck will also highlight the collective campaign waged by Victorian New Londoners to bring order to the unruly urban fabric of their city.
New Haven Heritage Salon
An Evening with Prof. Edmund Sinnott: Slides, Snacks & Conversation about New England Church Architecture & Preservation
When: Tuesday February 27, 2007, 5:30-7:30 pm
Yale Professor of Botany, Edmund Sinnott (1888-1968) is alive and well in the extraordinary archive of photographs and writings he and collaborator Jerold Manter produced during the 1940s-70s on the subject of New England Church architecture. Their labor of love – Meetinghouse & Church in Early New England (1963) – is a masterpiece that involved relentless exploration in all six New England states, studying the “temples of grace” that are such icons of the New England experience. The subject of New England church architecture is deep and rich. It’s early and modern. It’s Protestant, Catholic and more. These buildings give shape, form and meaning to our environment and in many Connecticut towns they are the single most prominent architectural landmarks. New England’s heritage in church architecture is now at risk. Urban parishes have been devastated by a 50-year exodus to the suburbs. Declining religiosity has left the faith community with a mounting obligation to preserve the crown jewels of our civilization. Those who care about art, history, and community understand why sustaining these buildings and institutions matters. A cover story in the recent Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation newsletter (www.cttust.org) goes into details about how historic church buildings can benefit and sustain themselves by serving multiple purposes. In addition to a slide program focusing on Prof. Sinnott’s work, this program will involve preservationists, scholars of religion & clergyman/stewards in a discussion of church building care and preservation. With this program, the New Haven Museum debuts its New Haven Heritage Salon Series – a program involving learning, leisure, socializing, and refreshments. Cost per person is $15 for members, $20 for non members
2006 Seal of the City Award
On November 14th, 2006 the New Haven Museum presented the Knights of Columbus with the Seal of the City award. First presented in 1992, the Seal of the City recognizes a person or organization for their contributions to the quality of life in greater New Haven.
