Month: March 2016

April 2016

 in Newsletters

APRIL PROGRAM:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MERIDEN / What Meriden Made – Made Meriden

SilverCity

Join us for a visual presentation of the history of Meriden, starting with Colonial times and ending almost in the Present. The presentation pays tribute to the companies that operated in Meriden and gained our city an important place on the global industrial manufacturing map.

This PowerPoint presentation was put together by and will be presented by the volunteers of the Meriden Historical Society. The program is free – refreshments will be served.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016 6:30 p.m at the Meriden Public Library, 105 Miller St. Meriden, CT

 

IN THE NEWS:

INTERNATIONAL SILVER featured in CONNECTICUT EXPLORED MAGAZINE

The Celestial Centerpiece designed for the Moon Room of International Silver Company's display at the 1964-65 World's Fair

The Celestial Centerpiece designed for the Moon Room of International Silver Company’s display at the 1964-65 World’s Fair

In an article titled International Silver Company Shines Once More, Patricia F Singer has done an incredible job featuring International Silver Company. Ms. Singer’s illustrated article covers the history of the company .

The article ends with a beautiful recognition of the volunteers of the Meriden Historical Society: “Patricia F. Singer is a former journalist for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. She has written about International Silver for Silver Magazine. She’s greatly indebted to the Meriden Historical Society volunteers for their help with this article.”

 

AT THE ANDREWS HOMESTEAD

Thanks to Brian Cofranccesco, Kathy McMahon and Chris Ruel we now have a Scavenger Hunt Program at the Andrew’s Homestead. We tested it with St Joseph’s School Seventh grade of Ms. Kelly. This program proved to be a huge success. More educational visits are planned.

The 7th Grade of St. Joseph’s School on a scavenger hunt at the Homestead

The 7th Grade of St. Joseph’s School on a scavenger hunt at the Homestead

As of April, our dedicated crew will be assembling and putting together our May exhibit titled: MADE IN MERIDEN – THE UNIQUE AND UNUSUAL YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER KNOWN OF.

May_2016_Exhibit

 

ONE-TIME-ONLY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We are reaching out to our membership for help on three projects.

These are one-time-only types of things that someone out there might have the expertise or inclination to do:

One is the re-conditioning of a Meriden Fire Alarm box (see image) The paint falls off every time you touch it so it would really need a complete overhaul. It still has the working mechanism inside and we would like to put it on display.

This Fire Alarm Box could use your help

This Fire Alarm Box could use your help

The other project would be to paint the two new doors which the city had installed at the Andrews Homestead when they replaced the windows a few years back. Since then, the doors are showing signs of water damage and need a good coat of paint.

The third project concerns a few areas on the house siding, that can be reached without a ladder, that have begun to peel. These would have to be sanded and repainted. This could be in conjunction with the doors or separately.

We would supply any necessary materials or reimburse any money spent as long as there is a receipt for our records.

 If you think you’d like to help out, please call The Society at 203-693-1913 or e-mail us at MeridenHistoricalSociety@gmail.com and we will make arrangements. Thank you.

 

MEMBERSHIP: We welcome our new members: Diane Lukonis of Cheshire CT and Judy Laczek of Southington CT

 

DAFFODIL FESTIVAL TAG SALE

The Meriden Historical Society will have a table at the Daffodil Festival Tag Sale Saturday, 4/23/16. If you’d like to volunteer for this event please contact the Society at: MeridenHistoricalSociety@gmail.com or by calling 203-639-1319.

 

CONNECTICUT HISTORICAL SOCIETIES APPRAISAL DAY FUND RAISER EVENT

Saturday, May 7th, 2016

758 Rour Rod Road, Berlin CT 06037

In a gesture to local Historical Societies, Nest Egg Auctions will hold its First Annual Historical Societies Appraisal Day. The event is a fund raiser for local historical societies. Ticket holders can bring 2 items to be appraised with no charge for the appraisals. The cost of a ticket is $30.00 donation payable to the Meriden Historical Society or any other participating historical society. For more information go to http://nesteggauctions.com/auction/connecticut-historical-appraisal-day/  To buy a ticket, e-mail us at MeridenHistoricalSociety@gmail.com or call Sherwin Borsuk at 203-237-8042

 

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR

CORPORATE MEMBERS

Nest Egg Auctions

758 Four Rod Road

Berlin, CT 06037

203-630-1400

The Record Journal

500 S. Broad St, Meriden CT 06450

203-235-1661

The Remodeling Company

848 N. Colony Rd

Meriden, CT 06450

203-213-105

 

March, 2016

 in Newsletters

MARCH PROGRAM:

THE NOT SO GOOD LIFE OF THE COLONIAL GOODWIFE

Tuesday, March 8, 2016 6:30 p.m at the Meriden Public Library, 105 Miller St. Meriden, CT

 Colonial Goodwife poster copy

Discover what life was really like for New England’s colonial women in the spheres of birth, death, sex and birth control, childcare, sickness, and medicine.

In 2011, Velya Jancz-Urban and her family bought a foreclosed 1770 farmhouse in Woodbury, Connecticut, unaware of what the house would reveal. Behind the walls, surprises and secrets waited to be exposed. This became the spark for the novel, Acquiescence. While researching her novel, Velya became obsessed (in a good way) with colonial women.

Her entertainingly informative presentation, “The Not-So-Good Life of the Colonial Goodwife,” not only makes audience members laugh and grimace, but it also honors our foremothers. It’s not about quilting bees and spinning wheels; rather it’s an interactive presentation about the little-known issues faced by New England’s colonial women.

See:  www.colonialgoodwife.com  Or this Amazon link for Acquiescence:

Velya Jancz-Urban is a teacher, author of a number of books on a variety of topics, former Brazilian dairy farm owner, expert on New England’s colonial women, and inhabitant of a 1770 house she claims is haunted.

 This program is free and open to the public. It is co sponsored with the Meriden Public Library. Refreshments will be served.

 

AT THE ANDREWS HOMESTEAD

Be prepared to be amazed! Our May exhibit at the Homestead will showcase lesser known manufacuring companies and businesses who called Meriden their home. While the International Silver, Bradley and Hubbard, Manning Bowman, Handel, Wave Crest, Miller and Parker Companies will still be there, the emphasis will be on the smaller companies, the ones that made amazing things for which they have not received the same buzz as the aforementioned.

There have been some changes made in the upstairs rooms at the Andrews Homestead in preparation for our May exhibit (see above.) With the interest that schools have been showing in learning about Meriden, we will be using the rooms as teaching tools to give an idea of life in the late 19th and early 20th century. There will also be changes In some areas downstairs. Meantime, the ouotside of the house has been completed with the addition of copper gutters with leaf guards. The gas fired heat is up and running. The city has done a great job on our museum so please come and visit in May.

On a different note – the old tree in front of the Homestead lost yet another branch, taking out our telephone line in the process. Kudos to Monitor Controls for alerting us of the problem, to Ray and Chris Ruel who went down in bad weather to investigate and confirm the problem and to Frontier Communications for hooking us back up in a speedy fashion.

 

AT THE RESEARCH CENTER

Our volunteers continue to help in the never-ending geneaogy project headed by Allen Weathers.

Heavy snow and consequent plowing brought down the white fence at the Research Center. Sincere thanks to our member Rob LaRivierre of the Remodeling Company who came in and repaired/re-erected the fence.

 

MEMBERSHIP

Lesley Solkoske and Lesley Carabetta, our membership co-chairpersons, sent out renewal notices in early January.

We wish to thank all who have already responded so quickly to the 2016 membership drive.

If you have not yet done so, please send in your dues – your payments and donations keeps us going.

We’d like to take this opportunity to welcome our new members: Judy Laczek and Diane Lukonis.

 

FOR THEIR GENEROSITY

Sincere thanks to the following donors:

John Arndt, Agnes Baur, Frank Chiarenza, Ruth Ann C. Davis, John Fowler, Nancy Gluck, Lorraine Hancock, Margaret S. Jenkins, Stacia Morehouse, Diantha Morse, Janet Pestey, Robert B. Siegler and to Joan M. Munger for her donation in Memrory of Leon Bartholomew

 

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR

CORPORATE MEMBERS

 

Nest Egg Auctions

758 Four Rod Road

Berlin, CT 06037

203-630-1400

The Record Journal

11 Crown St, Meriden CT 06450

203-235-1661

The Remodeling Company

848 N. Colony Rd

Meriden, CT 06450

203-213-1053