Early Connecticut Silver is a catalog of the most significant pieces of silver hollowware made by Connecticut silversmiths between the years 1700 and 1840, as well as representative flatware and other pieces such as swords and Masonic jewels. In all, it constitutes an exhibit that could never be mounted in a single museum, and one that proves the authors' conviction that Connecticut silver is distinctive and worthy of comparison to the more sophisticated contemporary styles associated with the silversmiths of Boston and New York City. Wesleyan is proud to offer a new edition of this essential...

Founded in 1831, Wesleyan University's campus in Middletown, Connecticut, is rich in architecture and history. This attractive collection of photographs of campus buildings begins with the original buildings of College Row, and like a walking tour, takes the reader past a variety of more recent additions. Focusing on what would interest both alumni and university visitors, author Leslie Starr has included academic, athletic, administrative, and arts buildings, as well as residence halls, fraternity houses, and the off-campus deli. In-depth, informative captions detail each building's history...

Westover, a girls' school in Middlebury, Connecticut, was founded in 1909 by emancipated "New Women," educator Mary Hillard and architect Theodate Pope Riddle. Landscape designer Beatrix Farrand did the plantings. It has evolved from a finishing school for the Protestant elite, including F. Scott Fitzgerald's first love, to a meritocracy for pupils of many religions and races from all over the world. The fascinating account of the ups and downs of this female community is the subject of Laurie Lisle's lively and well-researched book. The author describes the innovations of the idealistic...

In a series of entertaining essays, geoscientist Jelle Zeilinga de Boer describes how early settlers discovered and exploited Connecticut's natural resources. Their successes as well as failures form the very basis of the state's history: Chatham's gold played a role in the acquisition of its Charter, and Middletown's lead helped the colony gain its freedom during the Revolution. Fertile soils in the Central Valley fueled the state's development into an agricultural power house, and iron ores discovered in the western highlands helped trigger its manufacturing eminence. The Statue of Liberty,...

Hot and humid, crisp and cold, or frigid and icy, the climate affects everything from what we wear to what we grow and what kind of work we do. In Dr. Mel's Connecticut Climate Book, beloved Connecticut meteorologist "Dr. Mel" Goldstein explains how the weather in the state changes from season to season, and how weather and climate work together. The book also delivers a fascinating account of Connecticut's weather history covering the past three centuries. Blizzards, cold waves, thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and heat waves are included--documented with photographs, data plots...

The photographs in The Connecticut River follow this major waterway for 410 miles, from its origin near the Canadian border to its wide mouth on Long Island Sound, giving us a vivid portrait of a living artery of the New England landscape. Author and photographer Al Braden opens the book with an essay introducing important aspects of the river, and then presents 136 full-page color photos, ranging from close-ups to dramatic aerials, to reveal the river as few people are privileged to experience it. Readers will see and learn about the landscape, history, development, conservation, geologic...

This is the first account of the evolution of music at Wesleyan University, a campus known since the mid-nineteenth century for its musical life--first as the "Singing College of New England" and then, after 1960, as the home of a renowned undergraduate and graduate department that integrates world music studies with more traditional Western and experimental musical forms. Through excerpts from accounts in the campus newspaper over the earlier decades and eyewitness accounts by key figures in recent times, the book compactly surveys a wide range of musical formations, practices, repertoires,...

West Rock and East Rock are bold and beautiful features around New Haven, Connecticut. They resemble monumental gateways (or time-tried sentinels) and represent a moment in geologic time when the North American and African continents began to separate and volcanism affected much of Connecticut. The rocks attracted the attention of poets, painters, and naturalists when beliefs rose about the spiritual dimensions of nature in the early 19th century. More than two dozen artists, including Frederick Church, George Durrie, and John Weir, captured their magic and produced an assortment of classic...

This collection of nine original essays provides a rich new understanding of Connecticut's vital role in the Civil War. The book's nine chapters address an array of individual topics that together weave an intricate fabric depicting the state's involvement in this tumultuous period of American history. In-depth examinations of subjects as diverse as the abolitionist movement in Windham County, the shipbuilding industry in Mystic, and post-traumatic stress disorder in Connecticut veterans serve as an excellent companion to Matthew Warshauer's earlier book on the subject, Connecticut in the...

Featuring more than 100 stunning full-color photographs along with helpful diagrams and historic photos, Barns of Connecticut captures both the iconic and the unique, including historic and noteworthy barns. The book discusses the importance of barns to Connecticut agriculture across our state and up to the present day. Markham Starr's Barns of Connecticut offers a lovely introduction to the architectural, functional, and agricultural roles these structures played in early Connecticut. Through text and color photographs, it tells a story of change and continuity. From the earliest colonial...