[slideshow_deploy id=’3997′]

The New England Hurricane of 1938 was one of the most famous of weather disasters in the region’s history and for many years the standard upon which all other hurricanes were held.  The devastation was enormous: after making landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on September 21 it is estimated to have killed between 682 and 800 people, damaged or destroyed over 57,000 homes, and caused property losses estimated at $306 million ($4.7 billion in 2013).

Shown here are a few of the images we have in our collection showing the devastation from the hurricane.  More photographs, from other libraries in the state in addition to Archives & Special Collections, are at Connecticut History Online, at http://www.cthistoryonline.org/.  We also have an online exhibit showing photographs from the Southern New England Telephone Company Records on how this company responded to this natural disaster, at http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/exhibits/snet/beyondthecall/1938hurricane/index.htm.