Collections : [Connecticut Museum of Culture and History]

This collection, which encompasses the accession numbers 81604, 81605, and 81606, contains materials dated from 1759 to 1953, but the bulk of the collection was created between 1770 and 1850. It has been arranged according to the individuals who produced the records and, to the extent possible, proceeds chronologically with more general records in the later folders.

The museum and library jointly purchased this collection. Uniforms, a duffle bag, and patches went to the museum. Photographs were transferred to the Graphics Department and the printed and manuscript material went to the library.

The collection primarily consists of the letters written to Frank Smith while he was in the army. Evidently Frank was a bit of a ladies’ man. Many of his letters are from young women, including Genevieve from Boston, Mabel from New Bedford, Mass., Helen Green of New London, and Ruth of Washington, DC. While stationed at Fort Mead, Maryland, and Fort Meigs in Washington, DC, Frank met and started wooing Elizabeth Martin. Numerous letters from her to Frank (and to his mother) are in the collection. Other letters are from cousins and aunts in New Jersey and New London, including Margaret Schrader and Tess (last name unknown). He also received letters from some of his co-workers from J.N. Lapointe Co., who addressed him by the nickname “Smoke”. All of these letters are arranged chronologically.

The majority of the collection concerns the activities of Samuel Wadsworth, a merchant and landowner of Hartford. Among his legal records are bills of sale for one Negro woman and two Negro men, 1756-1766, and a document in which Sarah Boardman gives her man Peter “liberty to work for” Samuel Wadsworth. Deeds comprise another substantial portion of Wadsworth’s legal papers and these instruments of transfer include leases for “farm letts”, and the sale and purchase of partial interest in several sailing vessels. Accounts among Samuel’s financial records indicate he traded horses for rum and sugar in Barbados. There are also bills for services rendered by what appears to be a maid, one for schooling Gurdon, and one for making britches for Samuel and his son and repairing britches for his Negro. An account of the distribution of Samuel’s estate illustrates the extent of his wealth and land holdings. In 1826, someone made an inventory of land owned by Gurdon and George Wadsworth with exact measurements of each plot. Gurdon’s papers also include a copy of a document setting out his widow’s third. Several plot plans accompany the land inventories. Samuel’s daughter Hannah married John Bigelow. When Bigelow died, Samuel settled his estate. The estate records and several earlier documents, such as a bill dated 1777 for eleven months service in your company, indicate Bigelow served during the Revolution.

The collection was donated to the Historical Society on December 4, 1894. In 1903 they were bound into two volumes. With another volume of material from a different donor, the collections were known as the Separate Church Papers. At a later date the documents were disbound and their page numbers from their respective volumes were noted in the upper left hand corner. The documents retain their page number order, which is roughly chronological.

The collection consists entirely of letters written by Siebert to his wife Josephine in West Hartford, Connecticut. They are arranged chronologically.

The collection primarily consists of minutes of meetings from 1908 to 1992, with a gap between 1956 and 1959. The first years are recorded in volumes with pre-printed pages produced by the national grange. After 1959 the volumes are standard record books purchased from office supply stores. During the years when Virginia Smith was secretary, 1968-1988, the minutes are interspersed with newspaper clippings and publications related to the topics discussed at each meeting. Care should be taken when opening these volumes and turning the pages. A standard meeting consisted of reports from various committees, reading incoming correspondence, conducting old and new business, and enjoying the “Literary Program”. Members also planned social events and community projects, such as the town sign displayed along Route 7.

This collection contains the correspondence of Newton C. Brainard, a Past President of the Connecticut Historical Society, as well as the correspondence of Thompson Harlow, former Director of CHS, all of which relates to their research on the origins of the seal of the city of Hartford that was reportedly first used on a diploma bestowed upon Hector Lewis St. John Crèvecoeur (1735-1813) in 1785 by the mayor of Hartford. There are also research notes, an exhibit placard, newspaper articles, and pictures of the original Hartford seal. The collection also contains an embossing of the seal itself.