Collections

The collection consists of material created by or relating to José María Chacón y Calvo, which was accumulated by Zenaida Gutiérrez-Vega in the course of her research on the life and work of the Cuban-born literary critic and academic. Material includes original and copies of correspondence received by Chacón y Calvo from various Cuban, Spanish, and Latin American poets and writers; original manuscripts, typescripts, photocopies, and clippings of writings by Chacón y Calvo; an annotated typescript of Chacón y Calvo's diaries dating from 1917 to 1918; research files containing manuscripts, notes, letters, and printed material relating to other writers (possibly compiled by either Chacón y Calvo or Gutiérrez-Vega); original and photocopies of photographs of Chacón y Calvo; and other material.

Chiefly correspondence, also includes manuscripts submitted, and some publicity material associated with the Ziesing Brothers Book Emporium, located in Willimantic, CT.

The Center for the Arts (CFA) gallery was renamed the Ezra [Wesleyan class of 1947] and Cecile Zilkha Gallery in the fall of 1982 in honor of a gift from The Zilkha Foundation, Inc. The Gallery features contemporary art installations as well as faculty and student work.

The collection consists of correspondence, printed material, and photographs relating to the history of Zimbabwe and current political, economic, and social conditions.

The Zionist Organization of America, founded in 1898, probably welcomed its Hartford chapter, known as the Hartford Zionist District, in 1917. Although the exact date is not recorded here, it is known that the Balfour Declaration prompted a group of Hartford businessmen to begin active fundraising, and those same names are part of the Hartford District minutes a few years later. Two years later, the ZOA appointed Abraham Goldstein as the paid director of the Connecticut Zionist Region or Bureau. Goldstein, intelligent and highly gifted as an orator, led the local ZOA activities to stunning success. According to Making a Life, Building a Community by David G. Dalin and Jonathan Rosenbaum, Goldstein was largely responsible for organizing Hartford into one of the most active and influential local districts in the United States. After Goldstein left the employment of the ZOA for a job in insurance, he continued to volunteer for the ZOA, becoming a national leader. One of the highlights in local ZOA history was the visit to Hartford in 1921 by Chaim Weizmann, later President of Israel, and Albert Einstein. The purpose of the visit was to raise funds for the Keren Hayesod (Palestine Restoration Fund) that Weizmann, as head of the World Zionist Organization, championed in opposition to the leaders of the national ZOA, who felt that Palestine should be developed through private investment, not public philanthropy. Local ZOA leaders supported Weizmann's view, however, and gave to the Keren Hayesod wholeheartedly. The Hartford ZOA purchased a house at 621 Albany Avenue in 1926 and used it as their office until selling it in 1933.

The collection consists of pamphlets, broadsides, and newspapers from organizations associated with the Zionist Revisionist movement, including Irgun Tsevai Leumi (Etsel) and Lohame Herut Yisrael (Lehi).

The Zion's Hill Cemetery Association Collection contains the records of the Zion's Hill Cemetery Association.

The Zora Neale Hurston Collection contains Correspondence, Writings, including drafts of her autobiography, Dust Tracks on the Road, the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and a play written in collaboration with Langston Hughes, "Mule Bone," as well as a study of Hurston written in 1972 by Robert Hemenway.