Collections : [Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library]

Andrew Daniels was active in Fairfield county labor unions and causes from 1941 until his death in 1982. Starting as a secretary for the Aluminum Workers of America, he went on to sit as a part of the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration. His papers chart his labor career and provide insight into negotiations and changes in the Connecticut landscape as labor unions began a decline in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Riker family had considerable impact on Bridgeport in the early 20th century. Hired by the Locomobile Company of America, engineer Andrew L. Riker worked in Bridgeport for two decades His time as the chief of engineering and vice president of the Locomobile Company occurred at the same time that Bridgeport was producing seemingly everything, from heavy industrial products to small consumer goods. The papers of Andrew L. Riker and the Riker Family provide a look into how Riker himself functioned, how he worked, and what his private life was like. Materials also relate to his immediate and larger family, and help to offer a full picture of the family. Prominent within is material related to the early automobile industry, as well as family photographs and patents.

Anita Vogel, born Anita Steibers and later remarried as Anita Sklarsky, was born in 1919 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was an incredibly active force in Bridgeport, founding the Citizens Committee for the Improvement of the Bridgeport Public Schools and going on to become a member of the Board of Education. The material within the collection represents her time on the Board and the emphasis placed on school dropouts, racial bias in the early 1960s classroom, and educational trends and studies at the time.

Anne Drew Hallock was born in 1869. She was a public-school teacher at the Barnum School in Bridgeport, specializing in art. In 1893, she garnered local fame when she rescued three men from drowning. She would go on to continue teaching and promoting the arts and other civic causes in her lifetime.

Arthur Clifford served as the president of the lumber giant A.W. Burritt Company for many years. While that Bridgeport institution was a huge employer in the city for many years, the papers of Arthur Clifford primary focus on his leading role with the Bridgeport Redevelopment Agency in the early 1960s, helping to develop Bridgeport's downtown business district and influencing the visual look of the area to today.

Barry Goodkin is a theater researcher who spent time focused on Bridgeport, Stratford, and Fairfield theaters. Within are original photographs, research, and newspaper articles on venues including the Palace, Majestic, and Bijou theaters along with the Downtown Cabaret Theater, Klein Memorial Auditorium, and others.

Benjamin Swan served as the minister for a number of congregations in Fairfield and New Haven counties in the 1830s through the 1890s. While this collection has some material related to his personal life, it primarily contains the genealogical research he conducted for various local families, typically colonial. He was an active member of the Fairfield County Historical Society.

Consisting of correspondence, accounts, enrollment bonds, and personal compositions, the papers of Burr Knapp allow for insight into one of the oldest maritime trade families in Bridgeport and how the city relied on harbor trade in the first half of the 1800s prior to industrialization.

Serving as an officer for Company F, 14th Connecticut, Captain Frederick Doten experienced fighting at Antietam and Gettysburg, and spent time in Libby Prison. His letters to his girlfriend, Georgia, offer an intimate view into both daily life of a Civil War officer and the horrors of the war. In several cases, letters were sent every other day.

Charles Augustus Wheeler served as the superintendent of the City of Bridgeport Police Department from 1927 to 1944 and was an active member of a number of police organizations at the state and national level. His tenure in Bridgeport saw changes made to transportation, traffic, and more. The collection contains his assembled clippings that document these changes.