Stamford History Real Time

Welcome!

This blog keeps readers up-to-date about what's happening at The Stamford Historical Society.  The society is committed to putting  information about  its function and Stamford's history into cyberspace, both through its website and here.

Readers' comments on blog posts are welcome!  Comments are moderated to weed out spammers.

HISTORY CENTER OF STAMFORD
preserving the past / defining the present / connecting with the future
VOLUNTEER MATTERS — VOLUNTEERS MATTER!
The society is largely a volunteer powered organization and always in need of volunteers.

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The Society celebrates 100 years since its incorporation.  Visit our exhibit "100 Years in the Making:  Highlights from the Society's Collections" (Tuesday through Saturday 12 Noon to 4:00 PM)

Blog authors:  Stamford Historical Society, Tom Anderson, Suzann Emmens.

November Photo Selection of the Month The Citizens Savings Bank, c. 1914

The November Photo Selection of the Month is up:
The Citizens Savings Bank, c. 1914

Browsing through our library for inspiration, we came across yet another article from The Guide to Nature Magazine, with excellent photos of the Citizens Savings Bank around 1914.  And as luck will have it, a search in the Vertical Files produced a brochure from which the photos and some of the text were taken, meaning that there were more items, some very typical of the era, such as the "Ladies' Room" which had a little desk with a mirror and sort of a chaise lounge where the lady, no doubt exhausted from her banking chores, could rest.

Whitman Bailey Selection for November Artist's View of Soldiers' Memorial at St. John's Park

Today is Veterans Day, so what is more fitting than a sketch of the Soldiers' Memorial at St. John's Park?

as seen from Hawthorne Street
Download Newspaper Clipping of November 14, 1925

Stamford Historical Society Receives Conservation Bookshelf

Treasured objects and artifacts held by the Society will be preserved for future generations with help from the IMLS Connecting to Collections Bookshelf, a core set of conservation books and online resources donated by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).  IMLS has now awarded almost 3,000 free sets of the IMLS Bookshelf, in cooperation with the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH).

The Society did not have any current materials related to conservation, preservation and storage of our collections, and these books will greatly aid us as we seek to better house and police our items.

“When IMLS launched this initiative to improve the dire state of our nation’s collections, we understood that the materials gathered for the Bookshelf would serve as important tools for museums, libraries, and archives nationwide,” said Anne-Imelda Radice, Director of IMLS.  “We were both pleased and encouraged by the overwhelming interest of institutions prepared to answer the call to action, and we know that with their dedication, artifacts from our shared history will be preserved for future generations.”

It's not too late to sign up for our Victorian Tea, Sunday, November 8

The Stamford Historical Society
Invites you to attend
The Sixth Annual Victorian Tea
Sunday, November 8, 2009, 2:30—5 PM

100 Years in the Making: Highlights from the Society's Collections

In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of its Incorporation, the Society has put together a beautiful exhibit which presents the best of the best from our collections.  Curated by Executive Director Dr. Thomas A. Zoubek, the exhibit displays samples of the treasures accumulated over the past century.

Dr. Zoubek and Librarian Ronald Marcus will give gallery talks, leading us through the "rooms" set up in both the Red and Halliday galleries.

The talks begins at 3 PM, followed by our traditional tea and raffle for tea baskets.

For reservations call (203) 329-1183
Admission: $15
Please make your check payable to The Stamford Historical Society and send it to the Society at 1508 High Ridge Road, Stamford, CT 06903.

Vertical Files Index, updated September 2009, now online

We are pleased to report that the updated Vertical Files Index is now online.

The Stamford Historical Society, Index of Vertical Files
Revised September 2009

The Vertical Files in the Marcus Research Library are organized in file drawers by category and subject. They contain paper based material such as news clippings, letters, brochures, and more.

Kudos to Grace Bounty who purged and updated the files over the summer!

Research requests may be sent to
history@stamfordhistory.org
Research Fees

The Stamford Historical Society was incorporated 100 years ago today

From The Advocate Archives:

October 22, 1909

The Stamford Historical Society was duly organized as an incorporated body at a meeting held in the office of Attorney Robert A. Fosdick. Nine of eleven parties named in the act of incorporation were present. After a formal vote accepting and approving the incorporation, several resolutions were passed merging the new corporation with the unincorporated body previously known as the Stamford Historical Society.

Stamford Times: Stamford Historical Society celebrates 100 years

Article in the Stamford Times:   Stamford Historical Society celebrates 100 year

STAMFORD -- The Stamford Historical Society intends on proving Sting wrong. Unlike the message of the musician's song "History Will Teach Us Nothing," the 100-year-old institution contends it will.

This month marks the Society's 100th anniversary since becoming a fully incorporated non-profit on Oct. 13, 1909.

The Society will celebrate 100 years of meticulously collecting and categorizing local memorabilia through a centennial exhibit titled "100 years in the Making: Highlights from the Society's Collections," which opens Oct. 25.   read entire article

100th Birthday Party – help us spread the word

A flyer to distribute:
Download the 100th Birthday Party Flyer

A Major Milestone: 100th Anniversary of the Stamford Historical Society’s Incorporation

This year the Society celebrates its 100th Anniversary of Incorporation.

Although the Stamford Historical Society was founded in 1901, it took a number of years before the Society met regularly.  After meeting five times between October of 1901 and March of 1902, the Society did not meet again until the fall of 1905.  From then on, monthly meetings were held, other than during the summer months of July and August.  This practice continues today as there is no August meeting of the Board.  It was not until 1909 that the Society was recognized by the State of Connecticut as an incorporated body.  Colonel Woolsey Hopkins, Society President (1901–09), had appointed a committee to see to this goal as early as 1907, but it was not until after his death that the goal was realized under the Society’s second president Frederick G. Mather (1909–23). 

In order to celebrate the 100th anniversary of incorporation, the Society is putting together a centennial exposition, 100 Years in the Making: Highlights from the Society’s Collections, that will chronicle our history as well as show off some of the finest pieces in our collections.

Whitman Bailey Selection for October Looking East Across Rippowam Park

There has been a lot in the news lately about the downtown Mill River restoration project, so I was pleased to find an October sketch from the Whitman Bailey collection of Rippowam Park:

Looking East Across Rippowam Park

Download Newspaper Clipping of October 15, 1932

In the background, across the barely discernible Mill River with its concrete banks, can be seen the Roger Smith Hotel on Washington Blvd., later victim of urban redevelopment.  We wrote about the hotel earlier in the year.

The Stamford Historical Society celebrates 100 Years! A Family Event! Sunday, October 25

Bring the entire family to our 100th birthday celebration
Sunday, October 25
12 – 4 PM
Society Headquarters
1508 High Ridge Rd.

Music, magic, games, and crafts.

Admission $10
ages 4-12 $5
under 4 free
Ice cream, cake, drinks and goodies included.

EXHIBIT OPENING
100 Years in the Making: Highlights from the Society's Collections

Touch-a-truck on Saturday, rain or shine

A reminder:

Family Fun at Stamford Historical Society’s Touch-A-Truck
Location: The Stamford Historical Society, 1508 High Ridge Road
Time: 1:00 PM, Saturday, October 3rd

On Saturday, October 3rd the Stamford Historical Society will be hosting its 3rd Annual Touch-A-Truck Day from 1 – 4 PM in the afternoon. In addition to the trucks, there will be free face-painting for the children. Drinks, healthy snacks, and baked goodies will be available for purchase. Admission is $5/person and children under 4 are admitted free.

Whitman Bailey Selection for September Toms House contains relics of early Stamford

Whitman Bailey obviously loved the Cove area, we have many of his sketches in our collection.  Here is the side view of Toms House at 319 Weed Avenue, as of September 1954.  Current online property records indicate that the house was built in 1843.  As of the 1977/79 Historic Houses Survey and the April 1979 record, the property belonged to to the William Dippel estate and, "The house has remained in the same family since its construction and has had the fewest alterations of any in this row of mid-19th century cottages which housed employees of the nearby Cove Mills."

Download Newspaper Clipping of September 4, 1954

September Photo Selection of the Month Barbershops of the Past

This nice selection from the "Business Enterprises" section of our photo collection was chosen by our summer volunteer, Elizabeth Packer:

Barbershops in Stamford

There is one mystery though:  two photos are labeled "Carmine Cerrata Barbershop."  However, we can't find any listing in the city directories, nor do census pages help.  The second and later photo gives the street address of the Davenport Hotel on West Park Place.  Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

How I spent my summer vacation

Volunteer coordinator Jane Flounders writes in our newsletter Stamford Pioneer, Fall 2009:

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

First came Amanda Bucci, a sophomore at Eastern Connecticut State University. She told us she was hoping to major in Museum Sciences. She wasn’t able to find a job this summer, so she was interested in volunteering with us. Tom Zoubek immediately put her to work as the lead worker on our long hoped for inventory. Amanda sorted, cleaned, noted, measured, cross referenced, hand lettered accession numbers and compiled inventory records for items in our porcelain, toy, arms, baskets, boxes and small silver pieces. Her summer began to take on a feel of a personal seminar in curatorial tasks. Subsequently, she went to work polishing chairs and tables as well as correcting curatorial notes for these collections.

The shortage of summer employment opportunities soon brought Caroline Johnson, Colgate 2011, to us. She began working in the chair room, which had been cleaned of the heavy dirt and dust by Alex Zavoluk’s Boy Scout team. Ronnie Minkoff joined Caroline right after her graduation from West Hill High School. The two became our chair experts. They were later joined by Amanda, and together they cleaned, measured, checked accession numbers and matched records for our collection of wood chairs. They even moved on to work on the furniture in the table and mirror room.

The Library staff at work

Librarian Ron Marcus has returned from his medical leave, and the volunteers in the Marcus Research Library have done quite a bit of cataloging and updating over the summer. 

Books have been moved downstairs and will soon grace the library shelves, being swapped for items of curatorial interest only, which will be stored upstairs.  Anne Case is making progress in adding books and pamphlets to the online catalog of the Ferguson Library.  The Vertical Files have been updated, necessitating a revision of the corresponding web pages.  Work on the Inventoried Collection is ongoing – an index will be online soon.  More Whitman Bailey clippings have been unearthed and are being added to the Whitman Bailey Collection, and major work has been done on Bailey's original sketches – more on this in a later post, as well as on a collection of obituaries.  Eileen Sharkey is hard at work transferring veterans' oral history interviews connected with our recent WWII exhibit onto modern media.  The staff is also assisting Executive Director Tom Zoubek's work on the upcoming exhibit, 100 Years in the Making: Highlights from the Society's Collections.

Our thanks to the above, as well as to Grace Bounty, Dorothy Mix, and our student volunteers, current and recent.

Meanwhile, Irene Hahn and Richard Teasdale are hard at work revising the website and bringing it in the 21st century.  Stay tuned …

Chief Historian Emeritus, National Park Service, Edwin C. Bearss to speak Thursday night in Stamford

Please mark your calendar!

The Civil War Round Table of Fairfield County is hosting Edwin Bearss at its monthly meeting at the Stamford Historical Society headquarters at 1508 High Ridge Road, Thursday, September 17, at 7:30 PM.  Admission is free.

Mr. Bearss' talk is titled

The Defense of Little Round Top:
A New Interpretation

How important was this terrain in averting Union disaster on the Second Day, and does Joshua Chamberlain deserve the fawning credit heaped upon him for its successful defense? Ed will challenge the conventional view of this pivotal action. Get set for the controversy!

More on Mr. Bearss

Newsletter Stamford Pioneer, Fall 2009 Edition

The Fall 2009 edition of our newsletter, Stamford Pioneer, is available online now.

The Look of Stamford a Century Ago
East Main Street from Atlantic Square, 1909

Download Stamford Pioneer, Fall 2009 (PDF)

Learn about the 100th Anniversary of Society’s Incorporation, related celebrations, and a new exhibit.  Read "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," discover the result of the "Cozy Sundays" survey, and more.

The Stamford House Hotel

The old Stamford House hotel on Main Street was originally named the Stage House in the days of the stagecoach.  It was built at the end of the eighteenth century as a private residence, and it opened as a hotel in the early 1800's.  The Stamford House was one of the leading hotels during the 1800's.



The Stamford House was located on East Main Street at the corner of Stage Street on the block between the canal (later Canal Street) and Pacific Street.  Main Street near Atlantic Square was the hub of downtown Stamford in the 19th century.  Main Street was also known as the Connecticut Turnpike and was part of the Boston Post Road which connected the major ports of the northeast.

The above text is from a record group which The Stamford Historical Society maintains in its Research Library,  The Stamford House Register (1865-1869) – RG15, and which contains quite a bit of ancillary information. There is also a page in Picturesque Stamford 1892, Hotels.  The pole in the center front of the above photo advertizes that the hotel maintained a barber shop.  It also had a cobbler, a tailor and a hat shop.

The hotel was razed in 1916, but the guests moved right into the just completed Davenport Hotel on West Park Place.  Later, as Urban Renewal photos show, the Davenport had been renamed Stamford House.

A Promotional Description of the Stamford House Hotel, undated.

Urban Renewal Map – Stage Street can be found at Block 25, from Main to Canal streets;  it's now "underneath" the Stamford Town Center.  A recent Photo Selection of the Month, Postcards: Hotels in Stamford, March 2009.

The Stamford Historical Society: Mission Statement

The Stamford Historical Society
Mission Statement

The Stamford Historical Society, the municipal historian of Stamford, is an educational and research institution, whose primary functions are to collect, preserve, conserve, interpret, and exhibit materials relating to Stamford, Connecticut and our region in order to engage citizens in the telling of their stories.

The Society is dedicated to preserving regional history and providing opportunities for the community to understand and experience the past through the presentation of exhibits and displays, lectures, demonstrations, special events and participatory programs. In particular, we preserve and offer tours of the unique Hoyt Barnum house, built in 1699. As the city of Stamford’s history center, we have a responsibility to all citizens of our community to preserve the varied experiences that reflect our cultural heritage.

Our History

Why Do We Need A Historical Society?