Collections : [Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library]

Founded in 1973 by Ruth Gregory and Hellen Wallat, the Equal Access Concerns for the Handicapped (EACH) focused on the needs of wheelchair users and others with mobility limitations in Fairfield County. The collection's comprehensive scrapbooks created by Gregory show the slow but steady progress the group made towards greater accessibility prior to the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

he International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators was founded in 1893 and is an active union to this day. Within Bridgeport, membership was weighted towards movie theatre employees who worked the projection booths in the many, many movie theatres in and around Bridgeport. Founded in [X] and dissolved in 1993, the records of local 277 provide insight into the finances, history, and Bridgeport members of IATSE.

In 1947, 13 women founded Les Treize Inc. in order to support higher education for African Americans. Les Treize helps to fund African American high school students' secondary education, be it college, technical school, or business school. The material within focuses primarily on the organization in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Miller, Hicks, and Hewitt was an auto body shop located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Located on 2075 Fairfield Avenue, the company provided service from 1925-1985. Present in this collection is the company's early days, reflected primarily through financial documents.

Organized in May of 1897, the Mosaic Club was a women's organization that lasted from the 1890s until sometime in the 1970s. It came out of a small circle of neighborhood women who got together and read Shakespeare together, but over time it expanded to include most of the humanities, including art, music, history, and social sciences. Minutes and clippings make up the bulk of the collection, and provide extensive documentation of most of the club's history.

Park City Hospital was founded in 1924, meant to serve the downtown Bridgeport community and provide quicker access for emergencies for those who could not speedily access the northern Bridgeport or St. Vincent's hospitals. This smaller hospital served the community until 1993, and helped to provide high quality care to the immediate area. These records reflect this community impact through clippings, publicity documentation, and newsletters, along with annual reports among other documents.

Little League began in 1939 as a means to invite young boys (and some girls) to play baseball. The organization was formed in Williamsport, Pennsylannia, and experienced a rapid growth in the years after World War II. Bridgeport affiliated with the Williamsport organization in 1949, early adopters of the structure. A number of Little leagues formed, including Park City, East End, and Black Rock.

Project OWN, began in 1968 under the name of the West End Corporation and was an offshoot from the major organization Action for Bridgeport Community Development (ABCD). These records focus on the beginnings of Project OWN including their lobbying for closed sewer tanks following the death of Gary Crooks and their mini-store which helped address the food dessert of the West End.

Read's Department Stores began in 1857 as a dry goods store. Selling high quality goods, it quickly gained a reputation as one of the premier places to shop in Bridgeport. Eventually the single store evolved into a local chain, boasting clothing, hats, special restrooms, a dedicated tea room, and more. This collection focuses primarily on the visual history of the flagship Read's store in Bridgeport, located at Broad and John Streets, with photographs of window displays and interiors dominant. Also present is information for employees who worked at the store, some ledgers, and material related to the Read family.

Starting in 1929, the Bridgeport iteration of the Altrusa Club provided public service and means for women to connect from 1929 to 1988. Within the collection is extensive documentation of the group's minutes, budgets, and their major public service initiatives and their impact, with a focus on 1951 until the club disbanded in 1988.