Collections : [Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library]

Irving Moy is the child of two Chinese parents. His experiences growing up in Bridgeport represent an insight into the city's Chinese American community after the Second World War. Present in the collection is documentation of Moy's childhood in Bridgeport, his interest in the American Civil War and the Chinese American soldier, Joseph Pierce, and his career within Connecticut's healthcare and social service systems. Mr. Moy continues to be active and involved with his interests.

Individual branches of the United Way work within local communities to meet their needs. Within this collection are examples of allocation work done by the United East of Eastern Fairfield County to meet Bridgeport's needs in the late 1970s.

Columbia Records was a major employer in Bridgeport, and had its origins in the American Graphophone Company, which was based in the city. Starting in the 1960s and well into the 1980s, Sam Burger saw the transition of Columbia Records from LP to tapes to CDs. Also in his records is a notebook belonging to Alfred VanSant Bodine, which contains the exact chemical makeups of various records during the late 1919s and into the 1920s, offering insight into manufacture and production in the company's early days, as well as the mid 20th century.

The Model Cities Program was a nationwide initiative begun by the Lyndon B. Johnson administration and lasted from 1966 to 1974. A part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, participating cities sought to approach urban redevelopment and renewal from a different angle, especially as urban renewal began to sound like buzz words. This collection contains printed material and reports related to Bridgeport's implementation of the Model Cities program, as well as related social service programs that followed in its wake.

Due to Bridgeport's status as the adopted hometown of P.T. Barnum as well as the legacy of the Barnum and Bailey Winter Quarters, the Bridgeport History Center has actively collected circus related material through the years. The material in this collection represents individual acquisitions of handbills, programs, and the like, arranged in an artificial collection.

Following the purchase of the Bridgeport based Locomobile Company of America by Durant Motors in 1922, Locomobile continued to produce autos and automotive parts. The blueprints within this collection document what was produced from 1924 to 1926.

Founded in 1919, Bridgeport Rotary has provided public service for 100 years. As a part of Rotary International, the club's mandate to provide public good and promote business among members is well documented in the collection. In addition to providing day-to-day administrative information from the club's history, a large portion of the records focus on the 1970s to 1990s. Viewed in conjunction with other like organizations from that time - such as the records of the United Way and the YWCA - these materials offer an insight into the societal problems of Bridgeport during a time of sharp economic downtown in the city.

One of the very first organizations of its kind in the United States, the School Volunteers Association of Bridgeport can trace its history back to 1964. Originally called Y.O.U. – Youth Opportunities Unlimited – the organization was born out of a pilot program of the local Junior League to respond to a lack of pre-kindergarten programs, library, guidance counselor, and social worker in Bridgeport's Waltersville School. Well over a thousand volunteers cycled through the programs that SVA became known for, including Read Aloud Day, mentoring, library support, tutoring, the creation of business, school, and community partnerships which helped to add more volunteers to the organization, and other forms of support and enrichment for students in Bridgeport. The records reflect the organization's early days, as well as activities from the 1990s until 2021 when SVA was forced to dissolve.

Park City Hospital was founded in 1924, meant to serve the downtown Bridgeport community and provide quicker access for emergencies for those who could not speedily access the northern Bridgeport or St. Vincent's hospitals. This smaller hospital served the community until 1993, and helped to provide high quality care to the immediate area. These records reflect this community impact through clippings, publicity documentation, and newsletters, along with annual reports among other documents.

Herman Steinkraus is best known in Bridgeport for being the long-time president of the Bridgeport Brass Company and one of the founding members of the Barnum Festival. The collection contains the speeches he gave as the president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, photographs of his professional activities and interests, and information about the construction of I-95 in Connecticut.