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

The Scovill Manufacturing Company manufactured a variety of metal products from the early nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century in Waterbury, Connecticut. The collection consists of design plans for various machine tools and equipment as well as typewritten histories about the company, photographs, product catalogs, and employee pins.

The Papers consist of approximately 350 photographic prints and 500 negatives of images of steam locomotives mostly of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, taken in the Hartford, Connecticut, area.

Group of legal documents issued by the descendants of Anna Sewell concerning royalties from the first movie version of her classic animal novel made by Vitagraph Company in 1921, correspondence between solicitors (January 20-September 13, 1921), copy of the will from the author's brother Phillip Sewell.

Seymour "Sy" Gresser was born 9 May 1926, in Baltimore, Md., the son of Simon Solomon and Sara (Williams) Gresser. Educated at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Washington, D.C., (student, 1949-50), George Washington University (student, 1950-53), and University of Maryland (B.S., 1949, M.A., 1972).

The collection contains administrative records, correspondence, financial records, legal documents, maps, notes, publications, preliminary sketches, blueprints, and microfilm from the Seymour Manufacturing Company and the Seymour Specialty Wire Company. The Seymour Manufacturing Company, later renamed the Seymour Specialty Wire Company, produced brass products at several mills along the Naugatuck River for over one hundred years, before closing in 1991.

The collection contains photographs and slides taken by Mr. Swadosh.

In 1809, John W. Tibbits and Lafayette Tibbits came to Jewett City, Connecticut, and purchased a mill privilege on the Pachaug River. After enjoying several good years during the War of 1812, the company was reorganized in 1815, and incorporated on 20 September 1816. The company was soon struggling and was finally sold in 1823 to John Slater. On the death of John Slater in 1843, his two sons John Fox and William S. Slater inherited his business properties. John F. Slater was succeeded by his son William A. Slater in 1884. Two years later, the Great Freshet of 1886 destroyed most of the dams along the Pachaug. As a result, the Slater mills were inundated, production was lost for many months, and more than $150,000 was spent for repairs. This crisis was surmounted and by 1896, the company's most prosperous period, 700 looms and 19,000 spindles were operating, providing employment for 500 people. The major products were stripes, plaids, flannels, shirtings, dress goods, and fancy colored goods.

The Slow Loris Press was a independent non-profit venture headed by Anthony and Patricia Petrosky. The Slow Loris Press focused on publishing a poetry magazine called Rapport which evolved into a more wide ranging format with the start of the Slow Loris Reader (SLR) in 1978. The Press also published chapbooks and broadsides. It ceased operation in 1984 principally due to insufficient financial support.

The Smith family of Canterbury, CT, owned and operated a number of mills in the section of Hanover from the mid-eighteenth century until the 1940s. The original site on Little River, north of Hanover and Woodchuck Hill Roads, became the home to five successive generations of Smiths.