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Over the past nine months I have reported numerous times about various budget reductions that have been either proposed or implemented to deal with the state's budget shortfalls in the current fiscal year and in the fiscal year beginning in July 2016. As I write this, there is still no budget agreement for FY 2017. Because many of the statewide library programs are represented by specific line items in the State Library budget, it is easy to become focused on one part of the budget and forget that the State Library's budget must also support a host of other activities. So as budget talks continue, I thought this would be a good time to provide a big picture of the State Library – its services and responsibilities.
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Some Baseball at the Connecticut State Library
Once again spring is upon us. The trees are budding and the crocuses and daffodils are beginning to bloom after a long winter slumber. For a great many of us, spring is the time when the boys of summer pack their bags and head off to warmer climes to begin training anew for another exciting season of that all-American pastime, baseball! The Connecticut State Library is home to a very unique publication that reflects Connecticut's fascination with the baseball dating from way back to the 1860s!
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Museum of CT History Website
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T
he Museum’s website has a clean new look with a responsive design for tablet/phone browsing and a classic menu navigation. Check it out at:
http://museumofcthistory.org
You will find all of the favorites have migrated from the old site, with additional content.
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Divorce: A Connecticut Genealogy Treasure Trove
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The Connecticut State Library is well known in the history and genealogy communities for having one of the finest collections for conducting family history or genealogy research. Countless primary and secondary resources are available for use by patrons in manuscript and published form, along with thousands of microfilms of such materials as Connecticut vital, church, land, and probate records.
One valuable type of record used, yet often overlooked, to discover information about one's family is Connecticut divorce records.
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The Chair that Belongs to the Ages
On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln became the first American President to be assassinated. The death of the 16th President of the United States marked a dark period in the history of the United States. As the events unfolded, Mrs. Lincoln was too gief-stricken to leave the White House. She did not take the train to Springfield, Illinois for President Lincoln's burial. She stayed in the White House for several weeks grieving the loss of her husband and packing up the family possessions. She packed several items to take with her and at the same time she gave away items that reminded her of her husband. She was quoted as saying that she could not bear to be reminded of the past.
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Managing the State of Connecticut's Information Assets
The Information Age has significantly raised the value of
information created by public and private organizations and has turned it into an asset that must be managed and protected. Libra
rians and archivists have always recognized that information is an asset that must be managed properly in order to be freely available to anyone who needs it. They create catalog records and finding aids to categorize information, allowing it to be easily found, used, and returned to its assigned location and available for the next user.
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World War I Acquisitions at
the Connecticut State Library
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n the 1920s State Librarian George Godard assembled a large collection of World War I artifacts by appealing for their donation by the many Connecticut veterans who had survived the war. In typical Godard fashion, he cajoled veterans to donate uniforms, pieces of equipment, battlefield souvenirs, trench art, and miscellaneous artifacts. Museum staff has added to this nucleus over the years, and in light of the 100th anniversary of the conflict, has recently begun to focus more directly on World War I as a collecting venue, seeking artifacts that illustrate and document Connecticut’s pre-war activities from 1916 to 1918, its citizen-soldiers’ combat role from 1918 to 1919, and the post-war period, notably the service medals awarded by many Connecticut cities and towns to those who served, as well as the many World War memorials that were erected in the 1920s.
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History Day Students from Region 15 Schools Visit the State Library
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he State Library recently had visits by fifty young researchers. The researchers were Connecticut students participating in this year's Connecticut History Day competition. The students, from Region 15 Schools serving the towns of Middlebury and Southbury, came to research at the State Library in two groups, on February 4 and 17. This has been a long-running cooperation between the State Library and Region 15 for more than ten years providing service to hundreds of students.
Connecticut History Day is a program for students in grades 6-12 that encourages exploration of local, state, national, and world history. The students themselves chose a wide range of topics on a general theme provided by the organizers of National History Day. The themes, mostly beyond the borders of Connecticut, included:
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Connecticut State Library | http://ctstatelibrary.org/Website
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