Grating the Nutmeg Connecticut Explored Magazine

June is PRIDE month and we’re celebrating by bringing you an episode about efforts to bring LGBTQ+ history to light. As one guest, historian William Mann writes, “Throughout its history, Connecticut’s LGBTQ population has moved from leading hidden, solitary lives to claiming visible, powerful, valuable, and contributing places in society.”  In this episode, we talk about what historians have found in Connecticut’s Colonial records, some surprising connections to famous individuals and landmarks and at the end of the episode, there’s a recommendation for  three places to visit to celebrate LGBTQ+ history.
 
In order to prepare for this episode, two digital resources created by our guests were used. Both of these are available on the web and the links are below.
 
The first is the Historic Timeline of Connecticut’s LGBTQ Community online exhibition directed by William Mann for the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. Mann is an author and historian whose books include Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn, named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times; The Wars of the Roosevelts: The Ruthless Rise of America’s Greatest Political Family; Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood; and Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood.  He is an Assistant Professor of History at Central Connecticut State University, where he teaches LGBTQ History.
See the timeline here: https://www.connecticutmuseum.org/lgbtqtimeline/
 
Mann is available for lectures and book talks. He can be reached at williammannauthor@gmail.com
 
The second digital resource is a recorded lecture, Intemperate Habits: LGBTQ History from a Connecticut Perspective, a talk by Dr. Susan Ferentinos . She is an advisor to an inspiring new project, the Ridgefield LGBTQ Oral History Project. The Ridgefield Oral History project is a partnership between the Ridgefield Historical Society and Ridgefield Pride that will train high school students to conduct oral interviews with members of Ridgefield’s gay community. Ferentinos is a public history researcher, writer, and consultant helping cultural organizations share untold stories about women and LGBTQ people. She is advising the Ridgefield LGBTQ Oral History Project and has recently worked with the Palmer-Warner House in East Haddam, Connecticut, and the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site in Hyde Park, New York. She is the author of the award-winning book Interpreting LGBT History at Museums and Historic Sites and has contributed her expertise to the National Park Service initiative “Telling All Americans’ Stories.” Ferentinos is available for lectures and book talks. Contact her at https://susanferentinos.com/
Watch her lecture here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1111325966517828
 
Here are three fantastic places to visit that celebrate LGBTQ+ lives-links for each of these is below:
1)    James Merrill House
CT Open House Day @ the James Merrill House
 
Jun 08, 2024, 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM EDT
Stonington, 107 Water St, Stonington, CT 06378, USA
The James Merrill House is a writer's home and a home for writers. As part of CT Open House Day, we will open the doors of the JMH to the public for an opportunity to tour the charming, color-drenched home of one of America's greatest poets at 107 Water Street in the picturesque Stonington Borough.
 
https://www.jamesmerrillhouse.org/
 
2)    Philip Johnson’s Glass House-New Canaan, open now for the summer tour season, order your tickets on line at:
https://theglasshouse.org/visit/hours/
 
3)    Bloodroot Restaurant
https://www.bloodroot.com/
Bloodroot, a vegan, feminist, activist restaurant, owned by lesbians Selma Miriam and Noel Furie in Bridgeport, Connecticut, has thrived for 42 years. See their website for information on reservations for dinner or lunch.
 
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Did you know that comic books were invented in Connecticut? Well, sort of. There are lots of precedents for printing texts with images. But the origin of mass market comic book printing is 1930s Waterbury, where Eastern Color printing began by re-publishing comic strips from newspapers in magazine form. Eventually they partnered with Dell publishing to print the first original content American comic books. But today’s episode takes us a ways down Route 8 from Waterbury to Derby. From the 1940s to 1991, Derby was the home of Charlton Comics, unique for being a one-stop shop that included writers, artists, publishing, and distribution under one roof. The story of Charlton is colorful in more than one way. In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum talks to Jon B. Cooke, author of The Charlton Companion. Learn about the seedy origins of the company, its often lackadaisical approach to quality control, and why there was nothing else like it in American comics.
Learn more about the Nutmeg state’s connection to the comic industry by visiting the Connecticut Museum’s exhibition, Connecticut’s Bookshelf now on display at the museum in Hartford. Jon B. Cooke’s book, The Charlton Companion, is available in digital form online at twomorrows.com 
 
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Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org.  You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go and lots of day trip ideas!
 
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
 
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Help us produce the podcast by donating to non-profit Connecticut Explored at https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
 
Photo Credit: My Secret Life, Charlton Publications, Vol. 1, No. 25, Sept. 1958. Connecticut Museum Collection.
 
 

 
It’s Spring in Connecticut and this episode is part of our celebration of May as Historic Preservation Month. Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven is the first planned cemetery in the country. The design of Grove Street Cemetery in the 1790s pioneered several of the features that became standard like family plots and an established walkway grid. It is also one of the most beautiful places in Connecticut and is designated as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. It is on the Connecticut Freedom Trail. 
 
Executive Producer Mary Donohue’s guests are Michael Morand and Channing Harris. Michael Morand is Director of Community Engagement for Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. He was just appointed the official City Historian of New Haven and currently chairs the Friends of the Grove Street Cemetery.

Channing Harris is a landscape architect. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the New Haven Preservation Trust and on the Board of the Friends of Grove Street Cemetery. At the cemetery he's been involved with replanting the next generation of trees, enhancing the front border garden, and assisted with the certification of the cemetery as an Arboretum.
 
Make a day of it in New Haven with a visit to Grove Street Cemetery and perhaps the New Haven Museum or the newly-reopened Peabody Museum. The Cemetery gates are open every day from 9-4. For the times and dates of the 2024 guided tours, go to the Facebook page of the Friends of Grove Street Cemetery. For more information on joining the Friends or volunteering, go to their website at https://www.grovestreetcemetery.org/become-member
 
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Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org.  You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go and lots of day trip ideas!
 
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
 
Mary Donohue is an award-winning author, historian and preservationist. Contact her at marydonohue@comcast.net    and follow her Facebook and Instagram pages at WeHa Sidewalk Historian.
 
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Help us produce the podcast by donating to non-profit Connecticut Explored at https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
 
image: 
Henry Austin Papers (MS 1034). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.

 
In this episode, we uncover a Connecticut World War II story that features airplanes without engines. Sound crazy? You’ll learn how these engineless gliders helped beat the Nazis. Executive Producer Mary Donohue will also talk to the author of a new book that details the role that over 45 Connecticut companies played in producing the ammunition, weapons and machines that the United States needed as part of the massive war effort during World War II.
 
Her guests today are Connecticut author Sharon Cohen and Melissa Josefiak, Executive Director of the Essex Historical Society.
 
Cohen has authored several books. Her new book Connecticut Industries Unite for WWII Victory was published in 2023 and placed second in the 2024 New England Book Festival.
Its available from High Point Publishing:
www.highpointpub.com
. Sharon Cohen is available for book talks and signings. Contact her at cohencomm1@earthlink.net
 
The Essex Historical Society has new publications on the three Essex villages-Ivoryton, Centerbrook and Essex, where much of today’s story takes place.
For information on the publications and programs of the Essex Historical Society, go to their website at https://www.essexhistory.org/ and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
 
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored
You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go and lots of day trip ideas!
 
image: Courtesy of Essex Historical Society
 
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You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website here: https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg
 
Executive producer Mary Donohue is an award-winning author, historic preservationist and architectural historian. She can be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
 
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
 
 Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
 

 
In this episode, we celebrate and commemorate National Borinqueneers Day coming up on April 13th. It recognizes the bravery, service, and sacrifice of the 65th Infantry Regiment,  a United States Army unit that consisted mostly of soldiers from Puerto Rico and the only segregated Latino unit in the United States Army.
 
But the honor and fidelity of the men of the 65th came into question in 1952 during the Korean War when 91 regiment members were arrested and tried for desertion and disobeying orders. How could this happen to such a distinguished and decorated unit of the Army?
 
Executive Producer Mary Donohue’s guest for this episode is accomplished Connecticut author of young adult literature, Talia Aikens-Nunez. In her book, Men of the 65th, The Borinqueneers of the Korean War, she guides us through the history of the 65th from its beginning in 1899.
 
This book is a great read for a young adult reader or anyone that has a member of their family that served in the regiment. There is a beautiful monument to the Borinqueneers in New Britain at the intersection of Beaver and Farmington Streets-well worth a visit. And we have an article that was published in Connecticut Exploredmagazine on the monument that is free to read on our website-link below.                
 
Read more about the Borinqueneers Memorial here: https://www.ctexplored.org/site-lines-monument-to-connecticuts-borinqueneers/
 
Talia Aikens-Nunez is available for book talks and signings. She can be reached on her website at https://www.kidslitbytalia.com/
 
Can you use your power of giving to make a $250 dollar donation? We would love to send you our brand-new Grating the Nutmeg t-shirt as a thank you!  Donor and t-shirt recipient Jack Soos writes “I love how this podcast uncovers amazing stories and historical insights right in our backyard! Thank you so much and keep up the good work!”
 
You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website here: 
https://ctexplored.networkforgood.com/projects/179036-support-ct-history-podcast-grating-the-nutmeg  
Executive producer Mary Donohue is an award-winning author, historic preservationist and architectural historian. She may be reached at marydonohue@comcast.net
 
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This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
 
 
Subscribe to get your copy of Connecticut Explored magazine delivered to your mailbox or your inbox-subscribe at ctexplored.org.  You won’t want to miss our Summer issue with new places to go!
 
Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.
 
 

 
One of the most recognizable food brands in the world got started in a kitchen in Fairfield, Connecticut. In this episode, Natalie Belanger chats with historian Cathryn J. Prince about Margaret Rudkin, the woman who founded Pepperidge Farm. 
 
Read Prince's full-length article about Rudkin on the Connecticut Explored website here: https://www.ctexplored.org/pepperidge-farm-healthful-bread-builds-a-business/
 
Natalie Belanger is the Adult Programs Manager at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. You can see the Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook in their current exhibition, Connecticut's Bookshelf, open now through September 8, 2024.
 
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Can you use your power of giving to make a $250 dollar donation? We would love to send you our brand-new Grating the Nutmeg t-shirt as a thank you!  Donor and t-shirt recipient Jack Soos writes “I love how this podcast uncovers amazing stories and historical insights right in our backyard! Thank you so much and keep up the good work!”
 
You can help us continue to produce the podcast by donating directly to Grating the Nutmeg on the Connecticut Explored website at ctexplored.org   Click the donate button at the top and then look for the Grating the Nutmeg donation link at the bottom.
 
This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Natalie Belanger and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
 
Photo credit: Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook cover, CMCH collection 641.5 R916m