Year: 2016

November 2016

LEGENDS, LORE AND HAUNTING IN MERIDEN with moderator Julie Griffin.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10 6:30 at the Meriden Public Library:

Is the Solomon Goffe House (1711) haunted? Are there spirits in the Andrews Homestead (1760)?

Julie has been researching, photographing and documenting paranormal legends and activities in the area for quite some time now.

Bring a friend to this spirited meeting.

Admission is free. Refreshments will be served.

 

DIGITAL PRESERVATION EVENT – UPDATE

The Meriden Historical Society sponsored  a digital preservation event to help individuals preserve personal collections of print, photos and other media materials by having them digitized at a reasonable price.

Digital Memory Media advisors were on hand at the Society’s Bernice Morehouse Research Center to advise and pick up old slides, photos, family VHS videotapes etc. We thank all who have stopped by and brought in their items to be digitized.

Notifications will go out as soon as we know the date when the digitized materials as well as the originals will be available to be picked up.

On the pick-up date, representatives of Digital Memory Media will be on hand to assist and collect material to be digitized from those who missed the October 22nd event.

 

AT THE ANDREWS HOMESTEAD:

Our heartfelt thank to our member Ruth Grandy for loaning us her late husband’s mounted Meriden Postcards collection. Roughly 100 people stopped by to view the spkecial Meriden postcard disply and view our permanent display of Meriden’s history and industry.

We were especially pleased to host the 4th and 5th grade students of the Ben Franklin Elementary School, their teachers and chaperones. We conducted 6 tours for about 120 students. The students visited the Andrews Homested over a period of 2 days as part of their social studies curriculum. Kudos to teacher Terence Ayrton for arranging the visit.

postcardssmMeriden Postcard Display at the Homestead

 

WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS

Jan Fontanella and Deborah Patterson

 

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CORPORATE MEMBERS

Nest Egg Auctions

758 Four Rod Road

Berlin, CT 06037

203-630-1400

The Record Journal

500 S. Broad St, Meriden CT 06450

203-235-1661

The Remodeling Company

848 N. Colony Rd

Meriden, CT 06450

203-213-1053

October 2016

 

EVERY SUNDAY IN OCTOBER 11:00 am – 3:00 pm

AT THE ANDREWS HOMESTEAD 424 W. Main St, Meriden: SHOWCASING OUR PERMANENT COLLECTION and MERIDEN POST CARDS FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION

The Andrews Homestead is a colonial era red building located at 424 W. Main Street, Meriden. On display are hundreds of items manufactured in Meriden. From Bradley and Hubbard decorative items to Wilcox and White Organs, famous companies  and obscure ones,  lamps, glass and silverplate are all on display.

Also on display, by special arrangement, is an extensive collection of Meriden post cards from a private collection.

Admission is free, donations ae greatly appreciated.

 

THURSDAY OCTOBER 13 6:30 pm

At the Meriden Public Library 105 Miller St, Meriden CT

SPRINGDALE AVENUE: THE SAN GIOVANNESE AND OTHER EARLY ITALIANS OF MERIDEN

Moderated by Christine Pittsley.

Admission is free. Refreshments will be served.

 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22  AT THE BERNICE MOREHOUSE RESEARCH CENTER 1090 Hanover Ave, Meriden – A DIGITAL PRESERVATION EVENT – FUND RAISER

The Meriden Historical Society will sponsor a digital preservation event to help individuals preserve personal collections of print, photos and other media materials by having them digitized at a reasonable price.

Digital Memory Media advisors will be on hand on Oct. 22, 2016 from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM at to counsel individuals on the best way to digitally preserve their collections. Bring your old slides, photos, family VHS videotaped etc.  to the Research Center the day of the session. Once scanned and digitized, patrons will be notified of a date and time to retrieve their material.

MERIDEN GREEN GRAND OPENING

The Meriden Historical Society’s Tent at the opening of the Meriden Green drew quite a number of people who were greeted by a Charles Parker impersonator – our own Bruce Rovinsky. Ruth Grandy’s Meriden postcards collection was of great interest as well.

meriden-green“Charles Parker” At the opening of the Meriden Green

 

GRANTS: Work on the Annex is completed. Thanks to the Cuno Foundation for their grant and to the Suzio/York cement companies for the donation of gravel for this project. Next project will be the repaire of the Research Center’s driveway.

img_7456Before: note mold rot and dirt

img_5805After power washing, scraping and cleaning of dirt

annex-doneAfter all work was done

 

WE NOTE WITH SORROW

The passing of the Society’s past president Betty  Masterson.

 

WELCOME OUR NEW MEMBER:

Roger Camp

 

FOR THEIR GENEROSITY

We thank: The Cuno Foundation whose grant paid for the restoration and painting of the Annex; Lorenzo Suzio and the Suzio-York Hill Companies for their donation of gravel and to Jan Franco for her generous donation in memory of Jim and Betty Masterson.

 

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR

CORPORATE MEMBERS

 

Nest Egg Auctions

www.nesteggauctions.com

758 Four Rod Roa

Berlin, CT 06037

203-630-1400

The Record Journal

http://myrecordjournal.com/

500 S. Broad St, Meriden CT 06450

203-235-1661

The Remodeling Company

848 N. Colony Rd

Meriden, CT 06450

203-213-1053

September 2016

HAPPENINGS

Summer is almost over and here, at the society, much has been happening and more is being planned.

C.L.H.O COLLEAGUE CIRCLE MEETING: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

We will be hosting the next meeting of the Connecticut League of Historic Organization – Colleague Circle. In this meeting historical societies, history museums and historic sites run only by volunteers will brainstorm and share information abut the challenges they all face and, in some cases, have overcome. Among the issues to be discussed are governance, collections, digitization, and a whole lot more. The meeting will take place at the Research Center.

 

MERIDEN GREEN GRAND OPENING

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 & 10

The Meriden Historical Society will take part in the community-wide event at the opening of the park.

Visit us on Saturday between 8:30 and 4:00 pm. We will be at booth 44 on the Pratt Street side of the Park.

Sincere thanks to Ruth Grandy for loaning her post-card boards for the event.

 

TAG SALE

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17

9:00 am – 1:00 pm. At the Research Center 1090 Hanover in South Meriden.

Following the success of our June tag sale, we will be holding our second (and last for this year) tag sale fund raising event at the Society’s Bernice Morehouse Research Center’s parking lot. Members and non-members are welcome to set up at the sale. The cost is a $15.00 donation to the Society per set-up ($10.00 for members). 

As previously, the Meriden Historical Society will set up its own booth.  We hope to see you there.

 

GROUNDS BEAUTIFICATION: Lesley Carabetta and Diantha Morse have been gardening, weeding, trimming and soon will be planting at both the Research Center and the Andrews Homestead.

Lesley managed to apply a second coat of paint to the rear of the Andrews Homestead. Her next project is a major landscaping. Please call the society (203-639-1913) if you can help. The job includes moving of soil and stones.

Thanks to the City of Meriden’s tree warden for removing the dead tree from the lawn of the Andrews Homestead.

 

CARPENTER DAM REMOVAL

Andrew Piatek served as the Meriden Historical Society’s representative at the removal of Carpenter Dam on the Quinnipiac river. Andy brought back some archaeological relics unearthed at the event.

 

GRANTS: Work has begun on the Annex at the Research Center thanks to a grant from the CUNO Foundation.

 

MERIDEN HEALTH DEPARTMENT WALKING TRAILS

We have teamed up with the Meriden Health Department and Midstate Medical Center and provided points of historic interest to their “Step it Up”, walking and hiking program.

 

CATALOGS DIGITIZATION

Kudos to Paul Butkus who has taken upon himself the enormous task of digitizing our vast collection of catalogs and setting same on a database program. In conjunction, thanks to Lesley Solkoske, who had compiled a list of all catalogues, design books etc. and had labeled the shelves hosting those catalogs. Her work will help facilitate the cataloging of our catalogs.

 

SAVE THE DATE:

EVERY SUNDAY IN OCTOBER AT THE ANDREWS HOMESTEAD

OPEN HOUSE. On display will be MERIDEN RELATED ITEMS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION OF THE MERIDEN HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

 

THEY CAME FROM ITALY – Italian Immigration to Meriden at the Turn of the Century

THURSDAY OCTOBER 13 6:30 pm at the Meriden Public Library

Stories of immigration to Meriden. The meeting will be led by Christine Pittsley, of the Connecticut State Library.

 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22 – DIGITIZATION – FUND RAISER

Tired of having boxes of photographs, photo albums that take space, VHS tapes with no players, old movies without a projector to screen them?

Here is your chance to convert them into digital documents. Digital Memory Media of East Brunswick, NJ will be at the Research Center to collect your old media and, for a fee, they will convert it to digital form for you in their laboratories. Digital Memory Media will donate a percentage of the fees collected to the Meriden Historical Society.

 

CT IN WORLD WAR I – STORIES AND MEMORABILIA COLLECTION

The Connecticut State Library is collecting stories, images, and memorabilia of World War I and digitizing them. We will be holding a digitization meet sometime later this year. Members and the public are encouraged to bring WWI memorabilia to be digitized on the spot. This can include items and stories. More details to follow.

 

FOR THEIR GENEROSITY

We thank: Bill Glick and Paul Butkus. Special thanks to Frank Chiarenza and the estate of Lester Dequaine for their very generous donations.

 

WE NOTE WITH SORROW

The passing of Lester Dequaine this past June. Lester, a long time member, was a member of the board of directors and a past treasurer of the Society.

Our heartfelt sympathy to our long time member and past president Betty Masterson and her family on the passing of her beloved husband Jim Masterson this past August. Jim was a long time member of the Society and had served on its board of directors.

Both men will be missed and long remembered for their generosity and their dedicated support of the Meriden Historical Society.

 

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR

CORPORATE MEMBERS

 

NEST EGG AUCTIONS

758 Four Rod Road

Berlin, CT 06037

203-630-1400

THE RECORD JOURNAL

500 S. Broad St,

Meriden CT 06450

203-235-1661

THE REMODELING COMPANY

848 N. Colony Rd

Meriden, CT 06450

203-213-1053

 

June 2016

 

IN MEMORY OF DOROTHY E. DALY

A dogwood tree and a plaque commemorating Dorothy E. Daly, our Librarian & Archivist who passed away, was dedicated at our May Annual Membership meeting.

Dorothy Daly Tree 015Dorothy’s Dogwood tree, commemorative plaque & her family at the Annual Meeting

 

UPCOMING EVENTS – TAG SALE

Saturday June 18 & Saturday September 17   9:00 am – 1:00 pm

We have scheduled 2 tag sale fund raising events this year. The first will be held on Saturday, June 18 and the second on Saturday September 17, with a rain date of the Saturday following each originally scheduled date. The sales will be held at the Society’s Bernice Morehouse Research Center’s parking lot, located at  1090 Hanover in South Meriden. (click on address for map and directions)

Members and non-members are welcome to set up at the sale. The cost is a $15.00 donation to the Society per set-up ($10.00 for members).

As in last year, the Meriden Historical Society will set up its own booth in the shed.  We hope to see you there.

 

MEMBERSHIP:

We welcome Julie Griffin of Meriden CT and Sheila Wolf Sullivan of Hebron, CT.

Memberships in the Meriden Historical Society run January through December. If you have not yet done so, please renew your membership. You may do so on line at http://www.MeridenHistoricalSociety.org/membership/

Or by mailing a check to:

Meriden Historical Society – Membership

P.O.Box 3005

Meriden, CT 06450

 

Membership rates are:

Individual – $15.00 per person yearly

Student – $10.00 per person yearly

Senior (over 65) $10.00 per person yearly

Family – $25.00 yearly

Corporate – $50.00 yearly

Life – $250.00 per person

Senior Life – $125.00 per person

Your dues and your donations help preserve Meriden’s past for future generations.

 

FOR THEIR GENEROSITY

We thank: Anonymous, Sherwin and Ruth Borsuk, Brian Cofrancesco, Robert LaRiviere, Betty and Jim Masterson, Kathy McMahon, Andrew Piatek, and Lesley Solkoske.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

A heartfelt thanks to all of you who have helped make the Meriden Historical Society the vibrant organization it is. Sincere thanks to those who gave us their financial support and to those who brought us physical items both related to Meriden for our collection and items of general interest to be sold as a source of revenue. Thank you to the City of Meriden for the new roof at the Andrews Home. Thank you to the Cuno Foundation. The Foundation’s grant enabled us to repair the  roof at our Bernice Morehouse Research Center and to erect a new signage at the Andrews Home. Thank you to all the volunteers who donate their time and dedicated labor.

Special thanks go to Matthew Jacobs, a student at Middlesex College. Matt joined us every Wednesday this past year. He is now inventorying our collections. To Charleen Atkinson and Lesley Carabetta who are painting the rear doors of the Andrews Home and to Diantha Morse and Lesley Carabetta. The two of them weeded and cleared the grounds of the Research Center. Special thanks go to our Wednesday volunteers: Sharon Deming our image librarian, researcher and genealogist, to Richard Bartholomew and Bob Smith for helping Allen Weathers with his genealogy project. Thank you to Andy Piatek who will be our representative on a project to remove Carpenter’s dam in Meriden. This project is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in partnership with the CT Fund for the Environment and the State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Special thanks to Kathy McMahon who is stepping down as a board member but will continue helping organize the collections.

Thank you to our board members (in alphabetical order)

Sherwin Borsuk (treasurer) , Mary Ellen Brechlin (accession & de-accession advisor), Lesley Carabetta (membership co-chair and grounds beautification), Brian Cofrancesco (programs, social media and designer of our presentations), Martha Colaresi (grants & liaison to the Meriden Arts Council), Charles Kline (research), Diantha Morse (ground beautification), Bruce Rovinsky (tag sale & social media), Stacey Rovinsky (hospitality), Chris Ruel (secretary, organizer of our collections and exhibit consultant/curator), Ray Ruel (house and grounds), Peter Slavinski (past president and security) Lesley Solkoske (Vice president, membership co-chair and librarian), Ron Stempien (advisor to the board), Allen Weathers (curator and director of research) and Laura Winoski (research and genealogy project). I am looking forward to working with all of you.

Ruth Borsuk

 

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR

CORPORATE MEMBERS

Nest Egg Auctions

758 Four Rod Road

Berlin, CT 06037

203-630-1400

The Record Journal

500 S. Broad St,

Meriden CT 06450

203-235-1661

The Remodeling Company

848 N. Colony Rd

Meriden, CT 06450

203-213-1053

 

May 2016

MAY PROGRAM: MERIDEN THROUGH MAPS : 1690 TO 1896

Tuesday, May 10, 2016 6:30 p.m at the Meriden Public Library, 105 Miller St. Meriden, CT

Meriden & Adjacent Country 1850

Join us for a visual presentation of Meriden and its development as seen through 27 historic maps.

This presentation was put together by its presenter Robert Smith, and edited by Brian Cofrancesco. Both are member volunteers of the Meriden Historical Society. The program is free and is co-sponsored by the Meriden Public Library. Refreshments will be served.

 

2016 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING: SOCIAL, ANNUAL REPORTS, VOTING IN OF A NEW BOARD & LIGHT SUPPER  Our Annual Membership meeting will be held   Thursday, May 12, 2016 at 6:00 pm at our Bernice Morehouse Research Center, 1090 Hanover Avenue in South Meriden.

Your presence does make a difference. Meet your fellow members including the Society’s officers and directors, listen to the annual reports, vote in a new board (list of new board members under NOMINATING – see below), enjoy a light supper, schmooze and socialize

 

AT THE ANDREWS HOMESTEAD:

MADE IN MERIDEN – THE UNIQUE AND UNUSUAL YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER KNOWN OF.   Every Sunday in May 11:00 am – 3:00 pm.

May_2016_Exhibit

Our volunteers have done it again – They have mounted a collection of lesser known items manufactured in Meriden. These items reflect familiar and obscure Meriden manufacturing companies and some of their both familiar and, now obscure products. We’d love to see you at the Homestead and hear you exclaim: “This was made in Meriden?!”

Admission is free – donations are always appreciated.

Visitors who donate $10.00 or more at the opening day of the exhibit will receive, while supply lasts, a free ticket to the May 7th Nest Egg Auctions First Historical Societies Appraisal Event, good for an appraisal of 2 items.

 

FIRST ANNUAL CONNECTICUT HISTORICAL APPRAISAL DAY

Saturday, May 7th , 2016 at Nest egg Auctions, 758 Four Rod Rd., Berlin, CT 06037

In a gesture to local Historical Societies, Nest Egg Auctions will hold its First Annual Historical Societies Appraisal Day. The event is a fund raiser for local historical societies. Ticket holders can bring 2 items to be appraised with no charge for the appraisals. Tickets are available from participating historical societies. You can get your ticket by dropping off at the Meriden Historical Society’s Research Center on Wednesday May 4th between 1:30 and 4:00 and making a $10 donation, or by making the same amount donation at the opening of our MADE IN MERIDEN – THE UNIQUE AND UNUSUAL YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER KNOWN OF exhibit Sunday, May 1st 11:00 – 3:00 at the Andrews Homestead, 424 W. Main St. Meriden.

 

NOMINATING COMMITTEE

This year’s Nominating Committee comprised of Stacey and Bruce Rovinsky, Neda Weathers and Ruth and Sherwin Borsuk presents the following slate of officers & directors for the following year:

OFFICERS:

Ruth Borsuk – President

Lesley Solkoske – V. President

Chris Ruel – Secretary

Sherwin Borsuk – Treasurer

Peter Slavinski – Immediate Past President

Allen Weathers – Curator

DIRECTORS:

Mary Ellen Brechlin

Lesley Carabetta

Brian Cofrancesco

Martha Colaresi

Charles Kline

Diantha Morse

Bruce Rovinsky

Stacey Rovinsky

Ray Ruel

Laura Winoski

Ron Stempien, as an advisor to the board.

 

MEMBERSHIP:

We welcome our new members: Suzanne and Bruce Burchsted of Meriden, Carmen DeMoro of Meriden, Salman Hamid of Hamden and Jennifer Perusier of Meriden.

 

FOR THEIR GENEROUS DONATIONS TO THE SOCIETY we wish to thank Martha Colaresi and Alice Maigs.

 

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR

CORPORATE MEMBERS

Nest Egg Auctions

758 Four Rod Road

Berlin, CT 06037

203-630-1400

The Record Journal

500 S. Broad St, Meriden CT 06450

203-235-1661

The Remodeling Company

848 N. Colony Rd

Meriden, CT 06450

203-213-1053

 

April 2016

APRIL PROGRAM:

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MERIDEN / What Meriden Made – Made Meriden

SilverCity

Join us for a visual presentation of the history of Meriden, starting with Colonial times and ending almost in the Present. The presentation pays tribute to the companies that operated in Meriden and gained our city an important place on the global industrial manufacturing map.

This PowerPoint presentation was put together by and will be presented by the volunteers of the Meriden Historical Society. The program is free – refreshments will be served.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016 6:30 p.m at the Meriden Public Library, 105 Miller St. Meriden, CT

 

IN THE NEWS:

INTERNATIONAL SILVER featured in CONNECTICUT EXPLORED MAGAZINE

The Celestial Centerpiece designed for the Moon Room of International Silver Company's display at the 1964-65 World's Fair

The Celestial Centerpiece designed for the Moon Room of International Silver Company’s display at the 1964-65 World’s Fair

In an article titled International Silver Company Shines Once More, Patricia F Singer has done an incredible job featuring International Silver Company. Ms. Singer’s illustrated article covers the history of the company .

The article ends with a beautiful recognition of the volunteers of the Meriden Historical Society: “Patricia F. Singer is a former journalist for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. She has written about International Silver for Silver Magazine. She’s greatly indebted to the Meriden Historical Society volunteers for their help with this article.”

 

AT THE ANDREWS HOMESTEAD

Thanks to Brian Cofranccesco, Kathy McMahon and Chris Ruel we now have a Scavenger Hunt Program at the Andrew’s Homestead. We tested it with St Joseph’s School Seventh grade of Ms. Kelly. This program proved to be a huge success. More educational visits are planned.

The 7th Grade of St. Joseph’s School on a scavenger hunt at the Homestead

The 7th Grade of St. Joseph’s School on a scavenger hunt at the Homestead

As of April, our dedicated crew will be assembling and putting together our May exhibit titled: MADE IN MERIDEN – THE UNIQUE AND UNUSUAL YOU WOULD HAVE NEVER KNOWN OF.

May_2016_Exhibit

 

ONE-TIME-ONLY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We are reaching out to our membership for help on three projects.

These are one-time-only types of things that someone out there might have the expertise or inclination to do:

One is the re-conditioning of a Meriden Fire Alarm box (see image) The paint falls off every time you touch it so it would really need a complete overhaul. It still has the working mechanism inside and we would like to put it on display.

This Fire Alarm Box could use your help

This Fire Alarm Box could use your help

The other project would be to paint the two new doors which the city had installed at the Andrews Homestead when they replaced the windows a few years back. Since then, the doors are showing signs of water damage and need a good coat of paint.

The third project concerns a few areas on the house siding, that can be reached without a ladder, that have begun to peel. These would have to be sanded and repainted. This could be in conjunction with the doors or separately.

We would supply any necessary materials or reimburse any money spent as long as there is a receipt for our records.

 If you think you’d like to help out, please call The Society at 203-693-1913 or e-mail us at MeridenHistoricalSociety@gmail.com and we will make arrangements. Thank you.

 

MEMBERSHIP: We welcome our new members: Diane Lukonis of Cheshire CT and Judy Laczek of Southington CT

 

DAFFODIL FESTIVAL TAG SALE

The Meriden Historical Society will have a table at the Daffodil Festival Tag Sale Saturday, 4/23/16. If you’d like to volunteer for this event please contact the Society at: MeridenHistoricalSociety@gmail.com or by calling 203-639-1319.

 

CONNECTICUT HISTORICAL SOCIETIES APPRAISAL DAY FUND RAISER EVENT

Saturday, May 7th, 2016

758 Rour Rod Road, Berlin CT 06037

In a gesture to local Historical Societies, Nest Egg Auctions will hold its First Annual Historical Societies Appraisal Day. The event is a fund raiser for local historical societies. Ticket holders can bring 2 items to be appraised with no charge for the appraisals. The cost of a ticket is $30.00 donation payable to the Meriden Historical Society or any other participating historical society. For more information go to http://nesteggauctions.com/auction/connecticut-historical-appraisal-day/  To buy a ticket, e-mail us at MeridenHistoricalSociety@gmail.com or call Sherwin Borsuk at 203-237-8042

 

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR

CORPORATE MEMBERS

Nest Egg Auctions

758 Four Rod Road

Berlin, CT 06037

203-630-1400

The Record Journal

500 S. Broad St, Meriden CT 06450

203-235-1661

The Remodeling Company

848 N. Colony Rd

Meriden, CT 06450

203-213-105

 

March, 2016

MARCH PROGRAM:

THE NOT SO GOOD LIFE OF THE COLONIAL GOODWIFE

Tuesday, March 8, 2016 6:30 p.m at the Meriden Public Library, 105 Miller St. Meriden, CT

 Colonial Goodwife poster copy

Discover what life was really like for New England’s colonial women in the spheres of birth, death, sex and birth control, childcare, sickness, and medicine.

In 2011, Velya Jancz-Urban and her family bought a foreclosed 1770 farmhouse in Woodbury, Connecticut, unaware of what the house would reveal. Behind the walls, surprises and secrets waited to be exposed. This became the spark for the novel, Acquiescence. While researching her novel, Velya became obsessed (in a good way) with colonial women.

Her entertainingly informative presentation, “The Not-So-Good Life of the Colonial Goodwife,” not only makes audience members laugh and grimace, but it also honors our foremothers. It’s not about quilting bees and spinning wheels; rather it’s an interactive presentation about the little-known issues faced by New England’s colonial women.

See:  www.colonialgoodwife.com  Or this Amazon link for Acquiescence:

Velya Jancz-Urban is a teacher, author of a number of books on a variety of topics, former Brazilian dairy farm owner, expert on New England’s colonial women, and inhabitant of a 1770 house she claims is haunted.

 This program is free and open to the public. It is co sponsored with the Meriden Public Library. Refreshments will be served.

 

AT THE ANDREWS HOMESTEAD

Be prepared to be amazed! Our May exhibit at the Homestead will showcase lesser known manufacuring companies and businesses who called Meriden their home. While the International Silver, Bradley and Hubbard, Manning Bowman, Handel, Wave Crest, Miller and Parker Companies will still be there, the emphasis will be on the smaller companies, the ones that made amazing things for which they have not received the same buzz as the aforementioned.

There have been some changes made in the upstairs rooms at the Andrews Homestead in preparation for our May exhibit (see above.) With the interest that schools have been showing in learning about Meriden, we will be using the rooms as teaching tools to give an idea of life in the late 19th and early 20th century. There will also be changes In some areas downstairs. Meantime, the ouotside of the house has been completed with the addition of copper gutters with leaf guards. The gas fired heat is up and running. The city has done a great job on our museum so please come and visit in May.

On a different note – the old tree in front of the Homestead lost yet another branch, taking out our telephone line in the process. Kudos to Monitor Controls for alerting us of the problem, to Ray and Chris Ruel who went down in bad weather to investigate and confirm the problem and to Frontier Communications for hooking us back up in a speedy fashion.

 

AT THE RESEARCH CENTER

Our volunteers continue to help in the never-ending geneaogy project headed by Allen Weathers.

Heavy snow and consequent plowing brought down the white fence at the Research Center. Sincere thanks to our member Rob LaRivierre of the Remodeling Company who came in and repaired/re-erected the fence.

 

MEMBERSHIP

Lesley Solkoske and Lesley Carabetta, our membership co-chairpersons, sent out renewal notices in early January.

We wish to thank all who have already responded so quickly to the 2016 membership drive.

If you have not yet done so, please send in your dues – your payments and donations keeps us going.

We’d like to take this opportunity to welcome our new members: Judy Laczek and Diane Lukonis.

 

FOR THEIR GENEROSITY

Sincere thanks to the following donors:

John Arndt, Agnes Baur, Frank Chiarenza, Ruth Ann C. Davis, John Fowler, Nancy Gluck, Lorraine Hancock, Margaret S. Jenkins, Stacia Morehouse, Diantha Morse, Janet Pestey, Robert B. Siegler and to Joan M. Munger for her donation in Memrory of Leon Bartholomew

 

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR

CORPORATE MEMBERS

 

Nest Egg Auctions

758 Four Rod Road

Berlin, CT 06037

203-630-1400

The Record Journal

11 Crown St, Meriden CT 06450

203-235-1661

The Remodeling Company

848 N. Colony Rd

Meriden, CT 06450

203-213-1053