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

The Connecticut Valley Railroad was formed in 1871, extending from Hartford, Connecticut, south to Old Saybrook, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River. The railroad line was reorganized in 1880 to become the Hartford & Connecticut Valley Railroad, and leased by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad in 1887 to become the Valley Division of that line. The collection consists of shipping documents of freight shipped out of the North Haven, Connecticut, freight yard; real estate records of properties in Middletown, Connecticut; photographic negatives of train wrecks in the New Haven, Connecticut, area; and other papers. Items donated in 2021 include albums of photographic prints of scenes along the Connecticut Valley Railroad and its successors and of the Valley Railroad heritage rail line in Essex, Connecticut; photographic negatives; and historical documents related to the railroads associated with the Connecticut Valley Railroad.

The collection contains correspondence from a student at Storrs Agricultural College to his brother who was at Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.

Researcher and activist in the fat liberation movement and graduate student at the University of Connecticut; also known by the pseudonym Aldebaran.

The Mechanical Bank Research Collection consists of copies from scrapbooks compiled about the Mechanical Bank Collectors of America and mechanical banks, copies of patents and advertising, publications created and compiled for the MBCA annual conventions, newsletters, an issue of "Mechanical Music: Journal of the Music Box Society International," and a DVD comprised mostly of lectures done at the MBCA meetings. The collection also includes an index created by Mr. William Jones of accounting ledgers of the mechanical toy company J. & E. Stevens Company of Cromwell, Connecticut, that he holds in his personal collection.

Photographs of steam and electric locomotives of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, in the 1950s.

One volume of meeting minutes and financial lists

The Meriden & Cromwell Railroad ran between these two cities in Connecticut from 1885 to 1888 when its name changed to the Meriden, Waterbury & Connecticut River Railroad, and was extended to Waterbury, Connecticut, until 1892, when the line was taken over by the New York & New England Railroad. The Album, compiled by James M.S. Ullman of Meriden, Connecticut, has 185 photographs of locomotives, stations, and other scenes associated with these railroad lines.

The Meriden-Wallingford School of Nursing traces its history to the establishment of the Meriden Hospital Nursing program in 1892. The program flourished from the 1890s until 1973 when it was phased out, following the national trend to move nursing programs from the hospital environment to a collegiate environment. The last class graduated in 1976. Information regarding student records (transcripts) of graduates of the Meriden-Wallingford Hospital School of Nursing should contact MidState Medical Center, Education Services, 435 Lewis Avenue, Meriden, CT 06451, Phone: 203-694-8235.

Merle Nacht's illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Hartford Courant, and many other publications. She is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, where her illustrations have graced the prestigious magazine's cover and pages. The collection contains correspondence, books, covers of The New Yorker,, a large original cover illustration and other manuscripts.

Merlin D. Bishop was born 5 October 1907, in Alhambra, Illinois. Bishop worked at the Ford Motor Company between 1925 and 1931. He then attended Wayne University (Detroit, MI) and in 1935-1936, was a member of the Extension Staff of Brookwood Labor College. He was later involved with the United Auto Workers of America, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the Connecticut Governor's Fact-Finding Commission on Education.