Published by Kent Popular Press and Kent Left Studios Forum in 1980. Cover photo from the Kent State University Archives.

On this day in 1970, the Commons at Kent State University was the place 500+ students gathered to rally against the invasion of Cambodia the day before.  This started a train of events over the next few days that culminated in the death of 4 students and 9 others wounded on what is known as the May 4 massacre.  

What is has become a powerful and pervasive symbol of many things to different people, it is at very least a fascinating event for research.  The strength of the Alternative Press Collection at the Dodd Research Center pertains to the Vietnam era and related unrest with alternative tabloids from the 1960s and early 1970s include Georgia Straight, The Berkeley Barb, and East Village Other.  It’s a great resource to learn more about the anti-war struggle that sparked the events of May 1.  http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/dodda2z/subjectarea.cfm?Area=1

As the first Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection, Attilio Frassinelli would have had many stories to tell. In this case, it would be about a housewife from Connecticut who saw an ad to buy a car for 1,395 bananas and decided to bring the bananas to the dealership. When they didn’t honor the ad, she went to Commissioner Frassinelli for help.

In a dedication cermony this past Sunday, the Frassinelli family donated the papers of the late Attilio “Pop” Frassinelli to the Dodd Research Center. Frassinelli’s biography is full of wonderful and interesting surprises.

A life-long resident of Stafford Spring, he was a mill worker, business owner, President of the Rotary Club, Justice of the Peace, insurance agent, the Connecticut Boxing Guild’s “Boxing Man of the Year”, dancer and First Selectman to name a few. In 1955 he was appointed as the first Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection and later, in 1966, elected Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut.

In the words of his granddaughter Dianne Bilyak, family and friends gathered in the Dodd Center “not just to honor, remember, and celebrate Pop, but also to gather as a family and be reminded of our collective history.” We are pleased that the family has chosen the Dodd Research Center to care for and house this important collection to the history of Connecticut.

Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away

Although recorded 37 years after the release of Kodachrome 35mm silde film, the song “Kodachrome,” written by Paul Simon captures the feeling many people have about the remarkably stable film stock. “Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day….” Kodachrome slides from the late 30s, 40s and 50s have retained their ture color with no fading or color shifting. If you want to see what University life really looked like in that period, make sure you visit the exhibition The University of Connecticut in Kodachrome, 1939-1959 scheduled to open May 26, 2009 in the HBL Gallery on the Plaza. These photographs make those decades seem like yesterday. It’s cliche to say history will come alive, but it will.

What does a round puzzle of a bowl of popcorn have to do with Herman Wolf?   What about an assortment of brightly colored shapes?

We’re not sure.  Herman Wolf’s earlier years were filled with membership in the Socialist Party and government employment.  During the second World War, Wolf’s governmental employment was extensive.   He directed labor-public relations for the British Mangement-Labor Commission, wrote a war handbook entitled Labor Defends America, and directed a staff for the War Production Board, which supplied  war plant Labor-Management Production Committees with ideas and materials for impoving efficiency.    After the war, Wolf spent two years as Director of the Fuller House, Inc. of Wichita, Kansas, a corporation created to promote the building of R. Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion Dwelling Machine (the Fuller House). In 1946, he moved to Connecticut and began Herman Wolf Associates, a public relations firm.  He was involved in politics, serving as chief campaign aide in the successful campaigns of Abe Ribicoff, John Dempsy and Ella Grasso. 

In 1972, Wolf closed down his public relations firm for a brief time to become Executive Vice President of the Design Science Institute of Washington D.C., a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the philosophy and works of R. Buckminster Fuller.   

These puzzles are a part of his collection, and could be public relations pieces, architectural designs, or maybe just a hobby.  I think they are examples used for the war plant committees of how a staff spending time doing puzzles can be inefficient (thanks Megan and Dan!)  For more information on Herman Wolf, please see his online finding aid.