At the Farmer’s Convention that was held between the 15th and 17th of December 1880, Charles and Augustus Storrs announced their intention of offering property and funds to the State of Connecticut for the establishment of an agricultural school for boys.  The property in question was located in the rural, eastern portion of the state and included about 160 acres of land, farm buildings and a residence that had originally housed the Connecticut Soldiers’  Orphans’ Home, constructed in 1866 by Edwin Whitney.  The original Deed to the property was not clear and necessitated further legalities over the next several years but within the year, the State of Connecticut accepted the gift and the Storrs Agricultural School was established.

Duplicate of Storrs Deed, 1887

Storrs, Deed, p. 2

To tide you over for the next few winter weeks while the Dodd Research Center is closed for the winter break, we’d like to highlight a sampling of books from the Stephenson Collection of books on ice skating.  The collection includes everything from novels to how-to manuals. 

Hand-in-Hand Figure Skating by N. G. Thompson and F. L. Cannan, published in 1896, gives an overview of different hand holding positions while skating, including face to face, the link, side by side, and the echelon, all with illustrations.

Figure Skating for Women, by James A. Cruikshank, was published in 1921.

“It is not extravagant praise of figure skating to say that it is probably the finest sport available to the majority of American women.”  — James A. Cruikshank, page 9.

And finally, Ice Rink Skating, by T. D. Richardson, from 1938.

From the staff at the Dodd Research Center, we wish you a happy and peaceful holiday season.

A New Haven Railroad dining car employee serves Thanksgiving dinner to a passenger.

A SNET employee is served Thanksgiving dinner at the New London office cafeteria.

Tucked inside is Grace Murray’s famous dressing.  See recipe on Page 27.”

Of course we wouldn’t leave you hanging and not give you the recipe.  All of us at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Course of Study, 1881

With the 2009 Thanskgiving Break beginning at the end of the day on November 20th; the UConn campuses are much quieter.  The majority of the undergraduate students have left for a week-long break. Only a few days after their return finals begin.

We tend to forget that it wasn’t always like this.   A quick look in the Archives is enough to demonstrate how much things have changed at the University. 

On October 7, 1881, 12 young men began their agricultural studies at the new, small school nestled in the hills of northwestern Connecticut.   Their course of study was prescribed and the daily schedule had little variety. 

Daily Schedule, Academic year 1881-1882

 In comparison, this past August, 20,812 undergraduates (men and women) settled in on the University’s 6 campuses across the state to begin the Fall 2009 semester.  Hundreds of courses are available to leading to one hundred possible majors. Not to mention, the daily schedule is no longer prescribed and varies tremendously across the campuses and student body.   

The one thing that probably hasn’t changed much is the pervasive question that settles on the campuses this time of year–is it over yet?

Mary Travers, part of the legendary folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, whose protest music helped define the 1960s passed away in Danbury, Connecticut on Wednesday. 

The interview below is from the December 20, 1976 issue of the socialist newspaper, In These Times, part of the Alternative Press Collection at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center.

From the interview:

“All art forms reflect society.  Music does not create the revolution.  It articulates it maybe, but it is not a lasting force.  Something has to be happening in society first.”

“’I think the country suffered terrible blows in the latter half of the ‘60s, she says, ‘with all the assassination and the unresponsiveness of the government—unresponsive in a way that it had not been unresponsive before.  In previous times, when there was extended pressure from people over periods of time, the government moved off the dime.  And that didn’t happen in the ‘60s.’   The election of Jimmy Carter, a ‘well-meaning person’ may make some difference, Travers believes.  ‘In order to have change you have to have someone who pivots, someone who is responsive to change.”’

The Alternative Press Collection at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut is one of the oldest and largest collections of alternative press materials in the United States.  The Alternative Press Collection (APC) was founded in the late 1960s out of student participation in activist movements for social, cultural and political change.  Currently, the APC includes thousands of national and international newspapers, serials, books, pamphlets, ephemera and artifacts documenting activist themes and organizations, particularly focusing on underground and counter culture publications from the 1960s and 1970s. 

For more information about the Alternative Press Collection, please go to http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/collections/apc/brochure.htm

The first sign of fall on campus isn’t the change in the weather or the foliage, it’s the return of the students.  Overwhelmed by the concentrate influx of vehicles, parents, siblings and students the move in days are chaotic, no matter how well planned.   Sixty years ago, the process seems to have been a little less chaotic but I doubt the pictures tell the full story!  Welcome back, everyone!

Co-eds move in to the dorms, circa 1950

Helping hands ease the move, circa 1952

Patrick B. McGinnis in the cab of a New Haven Railroad locomotive, 1954

August 14, 2009, is the 46th anniversary of the indictment by a Federal grand jury in Boston, Massachusetts, of former New Haven Railroad president Patrick B. McGinnis on a charge of obtaining personal profit from a deal involving the sale of railroad cars while he was president of the Boston & Maine Railroad.  McGinnis was president of the New Haven Railroad from April 1, 1954, to January 18, 1956, and was controversial from the outset.  He won the presidency through a proxy fight, ousting President Frederick “Buck” Dumaine, Jr., and during his tenure he was regarded as controversial for deferring maintenance and buying expensive new motive power at a time when the New Haven Railroad was experiencing diminishing ridership and the effects of extensive floods in August 1955, in which hundreds of miles of track were damaged.  Immediately upon being ousted as President of the NHRR McGinnis became President of the Boston & Maine Railroad, but was indicted a few years later for graft and served time in a federal prison.  Those who worked for the railroad or have studied the history of the New Haven Railroad still today debate the dastardly deeds of this flamboyant railroad president.

This photograph shows Patrick McGinnis in 1954 in the cab of a New Haven Railroad locomotive, and is from the Charles Gunn Papers in Archives & Special Collections.  You can find out more about the Railroad History Archive at http://railroads.uconn.edu/

March 20, 1960

Even the most dedicated authors get a bit of “spring fever”. Edwin Way Teale, who devoted his life to nature and the environment, shows signs in his diary that he is thankful for spring to arrive during his first spring at “Trial Wood”, the newly purchased seventy-nine acre property he and his wife Nellie purchased in Hampton, CT.

“We drive to Willimantic for Sunday papers – walk in woods and down lane to see pussywillow tree in the afternoon.”

He further states that he should be working on Chapter XXI (of “Journey Into Summer”) but “seem to have spring fever!”

(in the interest of full disclosure, we should also let you know that 6 days later on March 26, it was 0 degrees at dawn) Enjoy Spring!

Welcome!  There is always something new and exciting to be found in the archives at the Dodd Research Center.  ‘Fresh Pickin’s’ will allow us to bring those things to you.  We will reach into our own abundant orchard, found right here at the University of Connecticut, and offer regular highlights from our collections and keep you up to date on our programs.

It’s a work in progress – so come along for the ride and tell us what you think!