Collections : [University of Connecticut -Archives and Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Center]

David McKain was an award winning author and retired University of Connecticut faculty member (Avery Point Campus). McKain's papers contain manuscripts of edited and unedited written works, professional correspondence and related documents, as well as photographs and genealogical research on the McKain/McKean/McCain family history.

The collection consists of administrative and financial records, photographs, postcards, correspondence, timetables, broadsides, legal records, publications, and a myriad of other materials related to the history of the railroad in the United States, particularly in New England. Railroads include the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and its predecessors and successors, including Penn Central and Amtrak.

Folklorist David Shuldiner worked in Connecticut's Department of Aging to promote the creativity, vitality, and well-being of elderly residents in the state. His oral history project focused on the elderly.

The Davis & Geck Company was founded in 1909 by Charles T. Davis and Fred A. Geck. The company specialized in surgical sutures, beginning with catgut and moving on to kangaroo tendons and later to advanced synthetic materials. For much of its history, Davis & Geck was the world's second largest producer of surgical sutures. The company became part of American Cyanamid in 1930. After subsequent sales, the company was renamed Sherwood, Davis and Geck. Though the D+G offices were initially located in Brooklyn, New York, the company purchased a factory in Danbury, Connecticut, in the early 1950s. This factory was scheduled for closure in 1998 following the sale of Sherwood, Davis and Geck to the Tyco Corporation and the transfer of plant operations to Mexico.

The collection contains administrative and financial records, correspondence, patterns and samples documenting the later years of the last Leavers loom lace manufacturer in the state of Connecticut.

The collection contains programs, announcements, photographs, scrapbooks, minutes, by-laws, biographies, history booklets, publications of the Connecticut Chapter of the national education organization.

Children's book author and illustrator. Since 1986, Nolan has been the coordinator of illustration in the Hartford Art School.

The collection contains newspapers collected in conjunction with the University of Connecticut Libraries' exhibit, "The Ethnic American Press: Cultural Maintenance and Assimilation Roles." The collection is comprised of a broad spectrm of non-English and English language papers collected by Diana I. Rios, professor of communication sciences at the University of Connecticut.

Diane Di Prima, best known for her work as a Beat poet and writer, was born 6 August 1934 in Brooklyn, New York. She attended Swarthmore College (1951-1953). Di Prima has received National Endowment for the Arts grants in 1966 for Poets Press and in 1973. She writes nonfiction, autobiographies, journals, essays, poetry and plays.

Diaries dating from the 19th century provide information on mid-century farm life, social activities, local travel and education at a one room school. Two "thoughts diaries" of the same period give one man's views on Christianity, human nature and slavery. Travel journals from the later part of the century describe trips through European countries; these also contain information on transportation and lodging. Those dating from the 20th century reveal much about the life of a Connecticut female artist and her thoughts and feelings concerning World War II. Also included is the 1943 diary of a University of Connecticut coed and the 1902 diary of a Hartford store employee.