Connecticut Historical Society - History

History

In 1825, the Connecticut General Assembly was presented a petition signed by Connecticut citizens including Thomas Robbins, John Trumbull, Thomas Day, and William W. Ellsworth stating the importance of creating a society for preserving historical materials.

After approval from the General Assembly, the Connecticut Historical Society was created to collect objects related to the history of the United States, specifically Connecticut. The first elected officers were Trumbull, Day, Robbins, Thomas Church Brownell and Walter Mitchell.

With the rise in prominence of Hartford in the 1820s, the Society's committee decided to house its first meetings in the city. Yet despite a flurry of activity, the Society became inactive after 1825 and it was not until 1839 when new interest regained. The first official quarters for the CHS was over a store at 124 Main Street in Hartford.

The CHS' new ideals and direction were spearheaded by educationalist Henry Barnard, who recommended that the Society enroll members from around the state, encouraged a history and genealogy magazine and retrieved speakers for lectures who could address groups throughout Connecticut.

With its growing collection of books, pamphlets and objects, the CHS moved its home to a room in the newly built Wadsworth Athenaeum in 1843. By 1844, the collection of Society grew to 6,000 pamphlets, 250 bound volumes of newspapers, manuscripts, coins, portraits and furniture. New officers were elected including David D. Field. The CHS appointed Thomas Robbins as its first librarian because of his extensive book collection and antiquarian expertise.

Under Robbins' tenure, the new quarters were open six days a week and interpretive tours of objects were given. Some early objects in the collection were a chest of William Brewster, a tavern sign of General Israel Putnam and a bloodstained vest worn by Colonel William Ledyard at the Battle of Groton Heights. After the death of Robbins in 1856, Connecticut historians James Hammond Trumbull and Charles J. Hoadly contributed to the CHS through various published research and lectures. The first woman elected in the organization was Ellen D. Larned in 1870.

In 1893, the Society hired Albert Carlos Bates as a full-time librarian and it was under his tenure that membership doubled, the annual income increased five-fold and the collection grew. To accommodate the growth, the CHS purchased the house of inventor Curtis Veeder at Elizabeth Street in the West End of Hartford. Alterations to the building in the 1950s-1970s included the addition of book stacks, auditorium, exhibition galleries and reading room.

In the early 2000s, the CHS hired Bruce Mau and Frank Gehry to design a new museum near Trinity College, but lack of funds prevented the project from happening. From 2003 to 2007, CHS operated the Old State House and created a permanent exhibit "History Is All Around Us".