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Most of the documents in the Higginson Collection are letters written or forwarded to Thomas Wentworth Higginson during a single week in April 1861, just after the start of the Civil War. These documents (1) concern recruitment and provision of financial or other kinds of support for an ultimately unsuccessful plan for an abolitionist guerrilla force to operate in western Maryland and Virginia; (2) secret service and espionage activities against the Confederate states; and (3) plans to free enslaved people and promote the early abolition of slavery. There are also five letters to Higginson dating from 1848 and 1850, including from authors Charles Francis Adams and Richard Henry Dana and botanist Edward Tuckerman.

The Thompson Raceway was the first private road racing course built and operated in the United States. Prior to its construction, all sports car road races had been conducted either on public highways or on airport runways. The Thompson Raceway was opened in 1952, just prior to the ban of racing on public roads, and was used for road racing until 1967. Now called the Thompson International Speedway, it has been rebuilt as an oval and is used for occasional NASCAR events. The collection includes administrative files, publicity materials, entry lists, race information, financial records, scrapbooks and photographs. Click here to see the scanned paper finding aid and container list (pdf).

The item documents the Timothy Dwight College, Yale University, Class of 2001.

The Tolland County Bank was established August 4, 1826, at a meeting of leading citizens. They obtained a charter and the bank opened for business on March 18, 1829. In 1865, the bank obtained a charter as the Tolland County National Bank. It went out of business in 1885. The premises, furniture and fixtures were sold in 1886 to the Savings Bank of Tolland, which had been chartered in 1841, and had operated since that date in the same building and often with the same officers as the commercial bank. These records were among the contents of ten to fifteen burlap bags received by the State Library from an unknown source in 1935. Subsequent examination revealed the collection also contains Tolland town records, Tolland county records, and a few Farmington town papers. Also discovered were personal files of Frank T. Newcomb, who served as a cashier and treasurer of both banks, town clerk, town treasurer, and county treasurer. The collection includes bills and receipts, promissory notes, quarterly bank statements, correspondence, deeds and mortgages, and lists of subscribers. Click here to see the scanned paper finding aid and container list (pdf).

The papers of author Tom Clark containing manuscripts of poetry, fiction, biographies and baseball writing, notebooks and artwork (published and unpublished). Also includes correspondence, research notes and other materials, inteviews and drafts of Clark's Charles Olson: The Allegory of a Poet's Life (New York: Norton, 1991).

Truman Smith writes to Abijah Catlin regarding party politics.

Letter from Truman Smith to Richard Ely Selden regarding the Whig party and upcoming elections.

Following the Revolutionary War, there was a need for a census of the entire Nation. The first census was taken in 1790. Over the years, the Nation's needs and interests became more complex and the content of the decennial census changed accordingly. The 1810 census included the first inquiry on manufacturers, quantity and value of products was conducted. In 1840, questions on fisheries were added. In 1850, the census included inquires on social issues, such as taxation, churches, pauperism, and crime. The sole purpose of the censuses and surveys is to secure general statistical information. Personal census information is closed for seventy-two years after the date of the census. The collection contains official manuscript copies, photostats, and microfilm copies of the United States census schedules for Connecticut, with a few schedules for neighboring states.Click here to see the scanned paper finding aid and container list (pdf).

The collection contains documentation, publications, and announcements produced by the H. Fred Simons African American Cultural Center.