Summer 2013 Interns

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Betsy Pittman

Each summer Archives & Special Collections offers internships to graduate students from a broad spectrum of academic backgrounds. Interns work with collections preserved by the Dodd Research Center and learn the intricacies of preparing collections for future use by researchers. Archives & Special Collections benefits from the focused attention of these young scholars who work to enhance access to the collections we steward. This summer we are pleased to have five students working on a variety of projects. Pictured below are (seated) Arielle Rubins, (standing, l-r) Jorge Santos, Andrew Maloney and Jeffrey Egan. Not pictured is Jessica Strom.

Arielle (Psychology) is working on the development of a comprehensive finding aid for the University Photograph Collection.

Jorge (English) is extracting information from a database describing
materials in the Ed Young Papers in preparation for
the publication of the first finding aid available for the Young Papers.

Andrew (Library Science) is involved in the research and preparation of materials for a publication focused on the work of children’s author and illustrator, Tomie dePaola.

Jeff (History) is processing a portion of the papers of Congressman Bruce Morrison and updating the associated finding aid for the papers.

Jessica (History) has returned this summer to continue her work with a rare collection of broadsides from the period of the Italian Risorgimento. She is selecting broadsides from 1848 that will be digitized and made available online in September 2013.

Summer Interns, 2013

Punk Rock in Connecticut

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Graham Stinnett

A recent acquisition to the Alternative Press Collection is one of the first record albums to be printed in Connecticut of the musical genre popularly known as punk rock. Printed in 1978 by 21st Century Records, the band Epitome released their first album, a self titled vinyl 12″, Epitome ep, containing three tracks: The Thief of Lover’s Lane, Baby No More Tears, and Transistor Sister. Epitome formed in 1977 in Stratford, CT. Playing venues from Bridgeport’s own The Snakepit, The Shandy Gaff in Milford to New York City’s famous C.B.G.B.’s and Max’s Kansas City. The youth culture which formed out of the punk scene represents a politicized anti-establishment ethos and aesthetic that challenged previous youth movements from the late 1960s student based revolt.

To listen to this record, please make an appointment with the Alternative Press Curator.

Through the Lens of An Anthropologist: Women’s Liberation Movement In Song

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Melissa Watterworth Batt

Carey MacDonald is an undergraduate Anthropology major and writing intern. In her blog series Through the Lens of an Anthropologist, Carey analyzes artifacts found in the collections of Archives and Special Collections.

The Alternative Press Collection contains a series of LP (long-play) record albums by female musicians of the twentieth century whose music reflects the first and second waves of the women’s liberation movement. Two of these LPs are the post-first wave Mean Mothers Independent Women’s Blues LP and the second wave era New Haven and Chicago Women’s Liberation Rock Bands’ Mountain Moving Day LP. Through the use of powerful, explicit lyrics and the moving techniques of blues and rock music, both LPs grapple with the issues of women’s rights, equality, and activism. They are timeless, auditory representations of the turbulent social contexts from which they came, and as such, they represent the century-long development of women’s rights awareness.

Volume 1 of the Mean Mothers Independent Women’s Blues album was produced in 1980 by Rosetta Reitz of Rosetta Records in New York, New York. According to Duke University Libraries’ Inventory of the Rosetta Reitz Papers, Reitz was a feminist writer, lecturer, and owner of Rosetta Records, which produced re-releases of female jazz and blues musicians’ songs from the early twentieth century. The LP’s gatefold cover, as mentioned by Graham Stinnett, the Curator for Human Rights Collections, contains biographical information about the female blues singers of the 1920s-1950s who are represented on this album.

Also, according to other content on the gatefold, the title’s term “mean mother” is meant as a compliment to all women, including those represented in the album, in that it is

a positive view of an independent woman, granting her the regard she deserves as one who will not passively accept unjust or unkind treatment.

The gatefold also states that these female singers were not just mourning lost love “in spite of the historic stereotyping imposed on them”, but were actually exploring every aspect of life through their music. These songs were created after the first historical wave of the women’s liberation movement ended in 1920, the year in which women were finally granted the right to vote. Yet despite the creation of this Constitutional amendment, the issue of women’s equality remained contentious. This is apparent when listening to the Mean Mothers album, which contains sixteen songs in total. For instance, Bessie Brown’s 1926 “Ain’t Much Good in the Best of Men Nowdays” laments that “married men have a tendency to roam,” while Bernice Edwards’ 1928 “Long Tall Mama” righteously claims that she is her own, independent woman and shall stand tall against adversity from men and other people in her life. On side B, Lil Armstrong’s 1936 “Or Leave Me Alone” ends with a long bluesy musical accompaniment, adding to the strength of the piece, much like Gladys Bentley’s deep, strong voice does in her 1928 song “How Much Can I Stand?” on side A.

Years later, during the second wave of the women’s liberation movement, The New Haven Women’s Liberation Rock Band and the Chicago Women’s Liberation Rock Band collaborated to create their 1972 nine-song album entitled Mountain Moving Day through Somerville, Massachusetts-based Rounder Records. The second wave was characterized by similar social issues pertaining to women’s rights but with particular regard to women’s equality in the workplace and a woman’s right to choose.

A woman’s right to choose is dealt with in the New Haven band’s “Abortion Song” in which Jennifer Abod and her accompanying vocalists demand for their right to choose singing, “Free our sisters; abortion is our right.” Their frequent use of “sister” works to establish a common sense of sisterhood between themselves and other women. This term is also heavily used in “So Fine” as in the lyric “Strength of my sisters coming out so fine.” While the New Haven band’s songs deal more with female sexuality, the Chicago band’s songs work to oppose stereotypical women’s gender roles in songs such as “Secretary” and “Ain’t Gonna Marry.”

Ultimately, these female bands produced music in a similar vein as their jazz and blues predecessors indicating their intent to develop and maintain a nationwide women’s rights consciousness that is rooted in the past century and yet relevant today.

Carey MacDonald, writing intern

Faculty publication celebrates Pura Belpre

Posted on April 22, 2013 by

Dr. Lisa Sanchez Gonzalez, associate professor in UConn’s English Department, has published a new book on Pura Belpre, the storyteller, author and librarian at New York Public Library who brought Puerto Rican folklore and the needs of bilingual children to light. In addition to extensive biographical information about Belpre and a selection of pictures, Dr. Sanchez Gonzalez has included 32 of Belpre’s stories and 12 essays. The essays range from such topics as “The Art of writing for children” to “Library work with bilingual children.”

Cover, The Stories I read to the children: the Life and writing of Pura Belpre, the legendary storyteller, children’s author, and New York Public Librarian by Lisa Sanchez Gonzalez (New York : Hunter College, 2013).

One of Belpre’s delightful stories that Dr. Sanchez Gonzalez has selected for inclusion is “The Parrot who liked to eat Spanish Sausages.”

Once there was a parrot who liked to each Spanish sausages. Every day he would saunter into the kitchen, watch for the cook to leave for a few minutes, then snatch the Spanish sausages from the pot and saunter out before she came back.

At last the cook became suspicious and decided to watch the parrot. One day she hid behind the kitchen door and waited for the parrot to come. She had placed on the table a pot of vegetables with a string of sausages, as she often did before she lit the fire.

By and by the parrot came sauntering in. He went straight to the table, lifted the pot’s lid, took out the string of sausages, and made short work of them. Then off he sauntered again.

The cook said not a word. But later on, when she had placed the pot on a low fire, and the water was lukewarm, she picked up the parrot and poked his head into the pot. The parrot lost all of his head feathers and never again snuck into the kitchen to lift the Spanish sausages out of the pot.

One day a very important guest arrived to visit the family. And, as he often did, he overstayed his visit. Since it was time for dinner the family invited him to eat with them. The guest accepted graciously. While they ate, the parrot sauntered into the dining room. He circled the table twice, then flew up and sat on the guest’s shoulder. Suddenly he noticed that the guest’s head was completely bald. “So,” the parrot cried, “you too like to eat Spanish sausages!” And laughing and screeching the parrot flew out of the room.

New Book on Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson by Dr. Philip Nel

Posted on April 19, 2013 by

Dr. Philip Nel’s newest work, Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature, was published in September of 2012 by the University Press of Mississippi. This book is the culmination of years of work to bring to light the lives and times of the man who created Harold and the purple crayon and the woman who, with Maurice Sendak, created A Hole is to dig. Over the course of their marriage and collaborations, they created over 75 books and influenced some of the best in the business, including Chris van Allsburg who thanked Harold and his purple crayon in his Caldecott acceptance speech in 1981. Nel points out that while Krauss and Johnson were “never quite household names…Their circle of friends and acquaintances included some of the important cultural figures of the twentieth century.” (pg.7) This impeccably researched work which literally took Nel a decade to write, is arranged in 28 chapters, with extensive notes, bibliography, index and illustrations, some reprinted from published works and some from the three dozen archives he visited including the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection. In his epilogue, Nel writes, “Crockett Johnson shows us that a crayon can create a world, while Ruth Krauss demonstrates that dreams can be as large as a giant orange carrot. Whenever children and grown-ups seek books that invite them to think and to imagine, they need look no further than Johnson and Krauss. There, they will find a very special house, where holes are to dig, walls are a canvas, and people are artists, drawing paths that take them anywhere they want to go.” (pg. 275)

Congratulations, Dr. Nel, on an exceptional work of scholarship.

Philip Nel, Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss (Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2012). ISBN 978-1-61703-624-8. EBook 978-1-61703-625-5.

Take Back the Night, the Day, the Street, the Home…

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Graham Stinnett

Wednesday, April 17th is Take Back the Night on the University of Connecticut campus. An event recognized across North America in response to violence against wimmin. Since its inception Take Back the Night has been about reclaiming space beyond the physically passive act of recognition and observation. Wimmin, the disproportionate victims of domestic violence, rape, sexual assault and harassment, have found solidarity through the action of speaking out and mobilization en masse against this violence. It’s sister mobilization, Slutwalk, has also achieved support across the broad spectrum of wimmin who experience patriarchy in the streets, an intended social space for interaction in work, transit and play.

The Alternative Press Collection (APC) in the Archives contains numerous publications on wimmin-positive theory and praxis in response to gender violence since the 1960s. Of note is the feminist publication Aegis: Magazine on Ending Violence Against Women published in 1978 by the Feminist Alliance Against Rape. Defined by the magazine’s statement of purpose, the movement to build solidarity through information was seminal in establishing wimmin’s resources in regions where silence was (is) the normative response to gender violence:

The purpose of Aegis is to aid the efforts of feminists working to end violence against women. To this end, Aegis provides practical information and resources for grassroots organizers, along with promoting a continuing discussion among feminists of the root causes of rape, battering, sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women.

Depicted in the image below is the cover of the September/October 1979 issue, portraying the advocacy debate around wimmin’s rights to self defense.

In addition to our extensive APC collection of periodicals is a recently acquired special collection art installation about building solidarity and non-violence amongst wimmin through art therapy. In this case, pulping panties into paper! From the Peace Paper Project comes another alliterative piece, Panty Pulping! The installment consists of loose pieces of paper made from mulched wimmin’s underwear that has been forged anew through storytelling and constructing the foundations of a new page for which a narrative can be written about wimmins voices together.

To view these pieces or any materials about wimmin’s rights and radical feminism, please contact the curator.

Fifty Years of Anti-Nuclear Power Advocacy: Now Open for Research

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Melissa Watterworth Batt

Poster from the Larry Bogart Papers

During a long career of anti-nuclear power advocacy, from the late 1950s to the early 1990s, Larry Bogart—and his associates after him—gathered together and distributed an enormous collection of information on the hazards of nuclear power. Today the archive serves as a chronicle of the struggle against nuclear power and its grass roots origins. The collection is comprised of 42 boxes, amounting to approximately 54 linear feet, and covers approximately 50 years of time, spanning even after Larry Bogart’s death in 1991. In its extent it is more than a life’s work, and now, after a period of about three months of careful work, I am glad to report is completely inventoried!

The collection is comprised of anti-nuclear power publications from many different nationwide organizations—including his own, such as Nuclear Opponents and Energy News Digest—which show his concern for the nationwide problem, rather than merely local concerns. As can be surmised from the vast quantity of newspaper clippings, though, he devoted much attention to stopping power plants in the Northeast, such as Indian Point in New York, Vermont Yankee, and Seabrook in New Hampshire. His correspondence, though rarer, further indicates a deep devotion to the fight against nuclear power—since it is very nearly the only subject discussed—and correspondence written to him at his various organizations such as the Citizens Energy Council, Friends of the Hudson and the Anti-Pollution League—often requests for information or subscriptions to publications—shows his great importance within this advocacy movement.

The Larry Bogart Papers, rather than a direct biography of Larry Bogart, provides students and researchers with ample source materials for studying the movement as well as the specific concerns of scientists and citizens in the early era of nuclear power. Larry Bogart brought countless clippings and publications into one place from people and organizations from around the world, giving us a collection with a very wide scope. What the collection offers is greater than one person could have produced singlehandedly: a chronicle of fifty years of anti-nuclear advocacy, told in many voices.

Daniel Allie, undergraduate student employee

#Occuprint

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Graham Stinnett

One of our recent acquisitions is a poster collection created by Occuprint of the Occupy Wall Street Screen Printing Guild. The collection consists of thirty-one posters which were selected from hundreds on the Occuprint website. The materials were produced under creative commons allowing for free copying and usage as well as open submission by artists illustrating the occupy movement world wide. These logos and images are now finding their way onto t-shirts, buttons, flyers and websites. The prints began as sketches and signage made on pizza boxes in Zuccotti Park, New York during the Occupy Wall Street encampment which evolved into the polished and colorful images printed by the guild. Demonstration art and signage is not an original artifact of the Occupy movement, as our Poras Collection of Vietnam War Memorabilia demonstrates; infact the modern poster is often reliant on the influences of previous counter culture and purposefully self-aware. However, this material is a representation of demonstration sign art which was never part of the demonstration itself, thereby creating a digital archive of art in a political vein originating across the globe to both mimic the Occupy Wall Street movement and symbolize the individual geographies of protest. Its appeal for mass reproducibility, as occured in previous eras of resistance and demonstration, is in itself a form of protest to the commodification of art as an industry for profit, a root cause of “the 99%” slogan.

These posters can be viewed by appointment only, please contact the curator of the Alternative Press Collection for details. A great resource of digitized demonstration posters from the 1960s and 1970s can be found at the Oakland Museum of California.

Collections now available

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Betsy Pittman

John P. McDonald Reading Reading Room, Archives & Special Collections

Below is a list of collections that are now open and available for research (links to finding aids provided), arranged by broad collecting area. Researchers are encouraged to contact the staff with any questions.

Business, Railroad & Labor Collections:

AFSCME, Local 1303 Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/afscme1303/MSS19880060.html

Articles related to a strike by employees of the Milford Mental Health Clinic in 1983.

Bartholomew Alpress & Co. Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/alpress/MSS20070072.html

Record books of the saw mill located in Bristol, Connecticut.

Iron Workers Association of Reading, PA http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/ironworkers/MSS19990040.html

Notebook with handwritten constitution and by-laws of association.

Norwich Typographical Union Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/ntu/MSS19980170.html

Financial records of the Union.

Providence & Worcester Railroad Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/providenceworcester/MSS19970120.html

Treasurers accounts, treasury books, superintendents letters, deeds, and other administrative files.

William B. Young Collection of the Connecticut Co. http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/wbyoung/MSS20120077.html

Correspondence, maps, photographic images, car rosters, administrative reports, and other materials about trolley and street railroad cars and the history of the Connecticut Company.

Children’s Literature Collections:

Martha G. Alexander Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/alexander/MSS20020015.html

Manuscripts, dummies, and proofs for a significant number of published works by noted children’s author.

Paul W. Catanese Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/catanese/MSS20050112.html

Manuscripts and correspondence associated with two of Mr. Catanese’s books, “The Brave Apprentice” and “The Thief and the Beanstalk.”

Bonnie Christensen Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/christensen/MSS20050088.html

Original illustrations, woodcut blocks, research materials, and manuscript materials associated with the children’s author.

Stephanie Clayton Collection of Little Red Riding Hood http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/clayton/MSS20120005.html

Assorted realia related to, and depicting, the Little Red Riding Hood Fairy Tale. The collection contains stuffed animals, dolls, porcelain figures, and a clock.

Joanna Cole Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/cole/MSS20030130.html

Editorial correspondence, manuscripts and sketches of Cole, author of the Magic School Bus series.

Mary DePalma Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/depalma/MSS20110116.html

Materials used to create several of Ms. DePalma’s works, such as My Chair, The Strange Egg, Many Millions of Leaves, A Grand Old Tree, The Perfect Gift, and The Nutcracker Doll.

Mary Greenwalt Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/greenwalt/MSS20120122.html

Illustrations of her works on the lives of famous composers published between 1936 and 1946.

Mary Ann Hoberman Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/hoberman/MSS20050168.html

Manuscripts, original artwork, poetry, and various administrative records associated with the work of award winning children’s author.

Nonny Hogrogian Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/hogrogian/MSS19970059.html

Illustrations, drawings, and proofs of works by children’s book author and illustrator.

Kathy Jakobsen Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/jakobsen/MSS20060245.html

Artwork, audio visual materials, books, color slides, correspondence, drawings, illustrations, photographs, posters, publications, sketches, and videocassettes documenting the work of one of America’s premier folk artists.

David Katz Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/katzd/MSS20040059.html

Materials relating to Katz’s publication You can be a woman engineer published in 1995.

Judith Liberman Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/liberman/MSS19980002.html

Correspondence and original manuscript materials of artist and author.

Arnold Lobel Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/lobel/MSS20100109.html

Original text and artwork produced by children’s book author and illustrator.

William MacKellar Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/mackellar/MSS19900052.html

Iillustrations, dummies and manuscripts associated with four titles.

Movable Book Society Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/mbs/MSS20050016.html

Records of the Society.

Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (NE) Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/sbwi/MSS20110022.html

Records of the Society.

Catherine Stock Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/stock/MSS20050059.html

Works of art, dummies, and gallery proofs.

Weston Woods Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/westonwoods/MSS20040141.html

25 animation celluloids used in the creation of children’s filmstrips by the Weston Woods Studio.

Hans Wilhelm Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/wilhelm/MSS20040134.html

Dummies, illustrations, books (4), works of art, preliminary sketches, photographs, fliers, posters, ephemera (calendars), and postcards related to Hello Sun!

Human Rights Collections:

Adam Nadel Photography Collection http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/nadel/MSS20110035.html

Large scale photography by Pulitzer Prize nominated photojournalist.

Diana Rios Collection of Ethnic Press Newspapers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/rios/MSS20090107.html

Ethnic newspapers from across the United States that are made available for teaching purposes.

World Education Fellowship Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/wef/MSS19940011.html

Administrative records, correspondence, fliers, notes, and transcripts from 1969-1992.

A. B. Xuma Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/xuma/MSS20000143.html

Microfilm version of papers of anti-apartheid activist A. B. Xuma.

Literary Collections:

Merrill Gillespie Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/gillespie/MSS20040029.html

Correspondence from Michael Rumaker to Merrill Gillespie.

Oliver Jensen Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/jensen/MSS20030042.html

Personal and professional papers of Oliver Ormerod Jensen, writer, editor, self-taught historian, and railroad enthusiast.

Harriet Slavitz Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/slavitz/MSS20080070.html

Manuscripts, journals, notebooks correspondence and audio recordings of poet, essayist, freelance writer, book editor, and instructor.

Photograph Collections:

Mary Lou Estabrook Photographs http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/estabrook/MSS20110106.html

Documents the photographic work of Mary Lou Estabrook in her capacity as Associate Editor and Chief Photographer of the Lakeville Journal, 1971-1986.

Political & Public Polling Collections, Personal papers:

Alumni Legislators Collection http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/alumnileg/MSS19980166.html

Ephemera, fliers, photographs, postcards, publications, and realia related to Connecticut State Legislators who were graduates of the University of Connecticut.

Arthur W. Fanta Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/fanta/MSS20120124.html

Reflects his work at the Nuremberg War Trials from 1945-1948.

Camille Forman Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/formanc/MSS20030036.html

Administrative records, clippings, correspondence, ephemera, galley proofs, and financial records of local author.

Sam Gejdenson Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/Gejdenson/MSS20010008.html

Congressional records of Sam Gejdenson, U.S. Representative from Connecticut’s 2nd Congressional district, 1981-2000.

Paul K. Perry Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/perry/MSS20100028.html

Correspondence, reports, studies, polls and similar materials related to the personal and professional interests of noted Gallup organization employee.

John Rowland Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/rowland/MSS19900020.html

Congressional records from 1985 to 1991 from Connecticut’s fifth district, including constituent correspondence from 1985 to 1990, campaign and congressional newsletters, press releases, and legislative profiles.

Charles Towne Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/towne/MSS19920025.html

Note cards, indexed alphabetically, and by subject of city editor of the Hartford Courant for 47 years.

Dexter Wilcomb Papers (Connecticut Soldiers Collection) http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/wilcomb/MSS19950026.html

World War II memorabilia donated by Technician Third Grade, Dexter Wilcomb.

Jerry Wagner Political Collection http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/wagner/MSS20060234.html

Materials from the political campaigns of Emilio Daddario and Hubert Humphrey and aspects of the political career of Toby Moffet

University Archives:

4-H Clubs of CT Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/4h/MSS19870027.html

Numerous club publications, photographs, scrapbooks, slides, film, and administrative records of the 4-H Clubs of Connecticut which originated in 1913 with the establishment of the first club in Mansfield, Connecticut.

Accreditation Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/accreditation/MSS19980244.html

Administrative records pertaining to the University’s accreditation by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

Floyd Bass Collection of John E. Rogers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/bass/MSS19940076.html

Clippings, sound recordings, books, an honorary degree, and research posters relating to Dr. John E. Rogers collected by Dr. Bass.

Norman Bender Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/bender/MSS20120101.html

Correspondence, notes, articles and publications created or collected by Mr. Bender during his tenure in the University of Connecticut, Cooperative Extension Service.

Richard D. Brown Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/brownr/MSS20100096.html

Course materials, student records and recommendations, papers and presentations, professional associations, and grant applications of UConn History professor Richard D. Brown.

Cell Stress Society International Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/cssi/MSS20100099.html

Records documenting the establishment, management, development and growth of the Cell Stress Society International and its associated journal publication on the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut from 1995 to the present.

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/canr/MSS19970010.html

Records of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Computing Committee Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/computing/MSS19980101.html

Correspondence, clippings, administrative reporting, committe proceedings, notes, fliers (handouts), and publications related to the Computing Committee and their involvement in UCINFO.

Office of Institutional Research Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/oir/MSS19980288.html

Administrative records, reports and clippings.

Ombudsman’s Office records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/ombudsman/MSS19920019.html

Administrative records, fliers, news clippings, and legal documents from the period the office existed at the University.

Poetic Journeys Collection http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/poeticjourneys/MSS20010101.html

Posters from the Poetic Journeys Galleries from 2000-2004.

Puerto Rican and Latino Studies Institute Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/prlsi/MSS20070019.html

Correspondence, minutes, printed materials, and financial records of the Institute.

Carl W. Rettenmeyer Papers http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/rettenmeyer/MSS20100063.html

Correspondence and field notes of noted biologist.

Cynthia Reeves Snow Collection http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/snowc/MSS20030156.html

Diploma, report card, dance program and publications from one of the early female graduates of the University.

Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/storrsexperiment/MSS19720001.html

Adminstrative records of one of the oldest agricultural experiment and research stations in the United States.

Storrs Draft Information Committee Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/storrsdraft/MSS19980271.html

Administrative records, correspondence, legal documents, fliers, notes, and publications of the committee.

University Communications Office Records http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/communications/MSS19950007.html

Files of the Office.

University of Connecticut Professional Employees Association (UCPEA) Collection http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/ucpea/MSS19970138.html

Administrative records, correspondence, legal documents, financial records, publications, and fliers (pamphlets, handouts, announcements), related to the Association.

University Poster Collection http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/poster/MSS20000040.html

Posters documenting University events, particularly athletic activities, from 1969-2012.

Grants for Research: Apply Now For Spring/Summer Travel

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Melissa Watterworth Batt

Scholars and graduate students whose research requires use of the collections held by Archives and Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center are invited to apply for travel grants. Applications must be received by January 30, 2013 for travel to the University of Connecticut between March and August 2013. Grants up to $500 are made to graduate students and post-doctoral students, and established scholars are eligible for awards of up to $1,500. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to cover travel and accommodations expenses. Details and application instructions can be found on the Strochlitz Travel Grant page online.

Criteria for selection include the scope and significance of the individual’s research project relative to the subject strengths of the repository collections, his or her scholarly research credentials, and letters of support. We particularly seek applications from individuals whose research relates to the following fields of inquiry: Alternative and Underground Press in America, American Literature and Poetics, American Political History, Blues and African American Vernacular Music, Latin American and Caribbean Culture and History, Human Rights, Labor History, Public Polling History, and Connecticut and Railroad History, among others. Contact Greg Colati, Director, with any questions.

The Connecticut Company, and a devoted collector of its history

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Laura Smith

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William B. Young was an avid fan, enthusiast and historian of the Connecticut Company, particularly its trolley cars, which controlled the street railroad system that provided public transportation in the state’s towns and cities from 1905 to 1948. Mr. Young, born in 1942, spent much of his youth in Stamford and Roxbury, Connecticut, where he explored local trolley right-of-ways, collected railroad documents and memorabilia, took photographs, and rode the trains at every opportunity, not just in the state but across the country. While earning a degree in history (focusing many of his term papers on transportation history) at Yale University he worked summers as a Conductor on the Chicago Transit Authority. After he graduated in 1966 he was commissioned as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy, serving as a Naval Aviator during the Vietnam War, and continued as a flight instructor after the war, when he left active duty in 1977. After his service he became a database programmer and lived in North Carolina until his death in December 2010.

Mr. Young compiled an enormous and extraordinarily comprehensive collection of materials about the trolley system which includes publications, photographs, timetables, maps, postcards, manuals, and reports. He corresponded with an extensive network of other knowledgeable railroad and trolley historians, where the minutiae of the cars and the broad history of the company were discussed and dissected with equal interest and regard. His ultimate goal in amassing this information was the creation of a car roster database, which classified each car in the system by number, owner, purchase cost, weight, roof, type, builder, first year in service, accident history, motor type, compressor type, and controller.

In February 2011 Mr. Young’s sister, Mary Young, contacted the archives about donating the collection. In the time between this initial contact and its ultimate donation in June 2012, Ms. Young and her sister Lucy gathered the materials from Mr. Young’s home in North Carolina, separated those materials most appropriate for donation, boxed and organized the materials by format, created “finding guides” and other descriptions to ease discovery of the materials, and provided much of the written information about Mr. Young and the company that helped place it all in context. This comprehensive collection is now available for use by the general public, and its finding aid, which includes long descriptions of the life of Mr. Young and the Connecticut Company, is available at http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/wbyoung/MSS20120077.html. An electronic version of the database will be made available by the Shore Line Trolley Museum, but an extensive printout of the database can be found with the collection here in Archives & Special Collections.

The Connecticut Company, which by 1907 was controlled by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, operated most of the trolleys and buses in Connecticut, with fourteen divisions and, at its peak in the 1910s, a roster of over 2200 cars and nearly 800 miles of track that either ran in or connected twelve major Connecticut cities. Ridership started to drop in the 1920s and systems were abandoned by the 1930s. The last trolley ran on September 25, 1948, in New Haven, as the post-war boom of personal ownership of the automobile became widespread.

Connecticut is lucky to have two trolley museums to preserve this important aspect of transportation, including the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven (http://www.shorelinetrolley.com/) and the Connecticut Trolley Museum in East Windsor (http://www.ct-trolley.org/).

The archive is deeply grateful to the family of William B. Young for this valuable collection that will serve as a vital resource for this corner of the state’s transportation history.

Laura Smith, Curator of Business, Railroad and Labor Collections

According to a recent poll

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As the 2012 Presidential election gears up for the fall, American voters are being inundated with statistics, information, perspectives and opinions on the candidates vying for office. Quite frequently, the reports are augmented by statistics generated from public opinion polls. Archives & Special Collections has been collecting the papers of American pollsters since 1995 with the donation of the Elmo Roper Papers. Those interested in the work involved in creating political polls and science behind them have a wide range of collections in which to conduct research. The public polling collections, which include the papers of Archibald Crossley, Samuel Lubell, Paul Perry, James Vicary and Daniel Yankelovich, now include the work of Warren Mitofsky.

Draft of report on Kentucky Gubernatorial election, 1967

Warren Mitofsky, who conducted and invented the first exit poll in the 1967 Kentucky Gubernatorial Election. Warren Mitofsky, was born on September 17, 1934, in the Bronx, NY. He attended and graduated from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, and did graduate work at the University of North Carolina. Mitofsky began his career working for the U.S. Census Bureau. While there, he designed many surveys on demographics including those for the poverty program and presidential commissions. During this time, he also developed, with his colleague Joseph Waksberg, an efficient random digit dialing sampling method that would be widely implemented and an industry standard for many years. Mitofsky left the Census Bureau for CBS News in 1967 to become the executive director of the election and survey unit, a post he held until 1990. Inspired by George Fine’s surveys of moviegoers after they left the theater, At the same time he developed the analysis and projection systems used to call elections. Exit polls were first used in national elections in 1972 and remain in use to the present day.

Mitofsky’s career and work to refine the outcome of elections is well documented in his papers, and with the publication of the finding aid (http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/mitofsky/MSS20080071.html), the collection is now open for research.

–Betsy Pittman, University Archivist

UConn Library Archives and Special Collections Blog

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