Browse Exhibits (17 total)

The planning of this exhibition began in the fall of 2021 when Western Connecticut State University (WCSU) agreed to temporarily house a collection of ~450 lantern slides created by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) between 1933 and 1942. These slides were previously in the possession of the State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP). A CCSU Graduate student had been scanning these pre-pandemic in preparation for their transfer to the State Archive. Karen Keeler ('22) and I scanned what was left and used this digitization project as the basis of my Janick Fellowship research project. Through this exhibition, in addition to the scanning, we wanted to identify the purpose of these lantern slides, demonstrate the need for digital preservation, and show how these slides relate to Connecticut during the Great Depression. Though few know it, the impact of the C.C.C. work in this State is still evident today in many of our State Parks and…

World War 1914-1918 Era French and Belgian propaganda. This exhibit contains scans of the "La Libre Belgique" newspaper, "Journée du Poliu" postcards, and "The Belgian Deportations". The overall focus of this exhibit is to share and appreciate the propaganda from the First World War.

This exhibit will provide a look at some of the pages from this program, giving greater insight into their significance

The 1970's signified the end of the Civil Rights movement and America's involvement in Vietnam. In Connecticut, state colleges were all affected by big budget cuts that forced colleges to raise tuition. This had a huge impact on the students and faculty because it now made it harder to students to get into the universities, and teachers lost their jobs. Western Connecticut State University did not escape this, they were heavily impacted. The university united and formed protests to show their displeasure towards the states government during 1973 which had lasted for several days. Along with that, the issue of controversy came up after a fundraising effort by students for athletics were under the spotlight after labeling it a slave trade. Both of these demonstrations were occuring on the same day on September 19th, 1973.

In the 8th century, a Chinese performance art called Nong (能 skill/craft) made its way to Japan. Nong often consisted of acrobats, jesters, and jugglers, and could rightly be described as a form of circus. In Japan, this art was dubbed Sarugaku (猿楽monkey music) and eventually absorbed a number of other traditional Japanese crafts, which were already popular with the peasants and nobles alike. In the Muromachi period (1336-1573), Sarugaku became divided into two separate art forms, the one being Nō(能 skill/talent), and the other being Kyōgen (狂言 wild words). While Nō is characterized by an emotional gravity,Kyōgen is distinctly comedic in nature. In the late 1300s, the actor, playwright, and musician Kan'ami, along with his son Zeami, are credited with having formalized Nō theater. They set down the stylistic, theoretical, and practical guidelines of the art; guidelines which have gone almost untouched for 700 years.

These are images form the Donald Moss collection. He designed covers for Sports Illustrated for decades until his retirement. In this exhibit, there are some of the greatest to ever play baseball, and a close shot of Oscar Robertson.

As the first national political election to ever permit the votes of women, the election of 1920 was a milestone for the men and women that had been working for women’s suffrage since the founding of the country.  Following Connecticut’s ratification of the 19th Amendment, voting registrars all over the state scrambled to register women and new voters just weeks before the election.  Participation of voters on became so immense the Election Day was established a national holiday for the Election of 1920.  Come Election Day, the streets of Connecticut bustled with the heels and hats of thousands of women ready to exercise their new right to influence politics through voting.  Voter rolls filled quickly with names of women who had waited many years to stand before a ballot which they could cast as their own, such as Elizabeth Hyslop who was 80 years old when she cast the first ballot in the Danbury election of 1920.  Participation in the election went beyond the traditional candidate and…

Mission Statement Our mission is to acknowledge, represent, and establish the importance of the Danbury Hatters Case in relation to the labor movement in American History. Introduction Once upon a time workers had few righs. Once upon a time unions were of little importance. The Danbury Hatters' Case was the popular name for the Loewe v. Lawlor case. It is the first U.S Supreme Court case to find that the Sherman Antitrust Act applied to organized labor. In our lifetime when groups of workers are not satisfied with their work conditions or if their jobs are trying to keep them from starting unions they can strike without fear that their company will sue them. In 1903 when the workers of the Loewe factory started the strike, the right to organize boycotts and strikes was not recognized by the Supreme Court. 240 lives were negatively changed by the outcome of the Supreme Court desison in 1908. 240 workers had to give up almost a year's worth of savings to pay off what Dietrich Loewe…

A series of exhibits that explore various topics represented in the WCSU Archives