LibGuides: Archives & Special Collections for Local History Research: Archival Collections by Town

Local History Resources in ASC by Town

Connecticut School Desegregation Collection, 2002-0044
The collection contains legal files, documents, reports, studies, correspondence, publications, conference proceedings, papers and similar materials pertaining to two lawsuits concerning the desegregation of Connecticut's public schools.

Series I contains materials related to Connecticut's Sheff v. O'Neill case, 1965-1994, and contains documents issued by state agencies, educational associations and the city of Hartford, as well as reports from academic institutions. Also included is a comprehensive, annotated bibliography of the documents compiled by David R. Gilmore. The exhibits have been arranged chronologically and assigned a file number, which is cross-referenced in the bibliography.

Series II is comprised of the Bridgeport School Desegregation Files (undated, 1972-1983). The series contains publications, papers and conference proceedings collected in connection with the desegregation of the Bridgeport public schools. Also included in the series are reference materials related to school desegregation cases in other American cities. The type of materials in the series are similar in nature to those in Series I and therefore have also been arranged chronologically by publication date.
Jeremiah J. Driscoll Papers, 2000-0077
The papers consist of a scrapbook of newspaper clippings and photographs related to Driscoll's activities with Royal Industrial Union (Local 937, UAW-CIO), public concerns of evictions of families from housing projects because of their "over-income", unionization efforts in Connecticut businesses, and state politics.
Henry D. Gray Papers, 1984-0009
Born on January 18, 1908, Henry Gray studied at Pomona College. In 1933 he received a B.D. from the Hartford Theological Seminary and later earned a Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh. Gray helped found churches around the world. Reverend Gray ministered at South Congregational Church in Hartford for 15 years. He was a member of the Hartford Commission on the City Plan and retired in 1970.
Hartford Stock Exchange Records, 1998-0376
The records consist of the Hartford Stock Exchange's official quotations book for the years 1918 to 1925. The large ledger contains the daily stock prices from businesses in the Hartford, Connecticut, area. Included are insurance companies, manufacturing companies, and financial companies. The businesses listed are companies that the exchange traded stock in.
Haymarket People's Fund Records, 1995-0021
The Haymarket People's Fund Records consist of the organization's files on its Connecticut activities from 1974 - 1983 [bulk, 1974-1981], primarily in Hartford and Southern Connecticut (New Haven area). Files contain applications and background information on organizations requesting grants in each specified district.
Louise B. Simmons Papers, 2015-0113
The papers consist of correspondence, publications, pamphlets, press releases, newspapers clippings, meeting agendas, realia, posters and political buttons that provide information about political, labor and social issues relevant to communities in the Hartford, Connecticut, region as well as issues on national and international topics. Most of the issues were ones of protest to inequalities and injustices of economic, racial and gender oppression, and the literature in the collection shows the various ways Louise Simmons and other members of political and social groups in Hartford responded to find effective ways to work for social justice.
Connecticut Historic Preservation Collection: Hartford files
The collection consists of archaeological surveys, historical and architectural surveys, documentation studies of properties, and maps, produced for the Connecticut Historical Commission by archaeologists and historians.
Young Women's Christian Association of Greater Hartford Records,1991-0024
The records of the YWCA of Greater Hartford document its growth and evolution as a service organization for women from its inception in 1866 through the early 1980s. The collection includes administrative and financial records, minutes, correspondence, publications, reports, newspaper clippings, memorabilia, 16mm film, negatives, photographs, a record album and scrapbooks.

F. Peter Libassi Papers, 1998-0333
The collection contains publications, proposals, petitions, photographs and plans for the "new community" and documentation of the Greater Hartford Process, Inc. According to the documents in the collection, the Greater Hartford Community Development Corporation (DevCo) proposed the gradual creation of a "new community" over 15 years on approximately 1,500 acres of land located in the northwest corner of Coventry, Connecticut.
Clara Smith Hutt Family Papers
Family history and documentation collected by Clara smith Hutt of Coventry, Connecticut. Materials document the Balch, England, Finnegan, Freeman, Hutt, Loomis, Mosman, Oltrim, Pierce, Platt, Smith, Storrs and Upham families of Connecticut and Massachusetts, all of whom had connections to Mrs. Hutt. Topics include travel, marriage, local and regional events, military and legal events.
Southern New England Telephone Company Records: Coventry Town History
Town histories collected by the Southern New England Telephone Company (SNET)
Connecticut Historic Preservation Collection: Coventry files
The collection consists of archaeological surveys, historical and architectural surveys, documentation studies of properties, and maps, produced for the Connecticut Historical Commission by archaeologists and historians.

American Thread Company Records, 1998-0302
In 1898, the English Sewing Company of England purchased the Willimantic Linen Company England mills and formed the American Thread Company locally known as “ATCO” or “the THREAD”. The Willimantic mill was closed when the company moved to North Carolina in 1985. The collection consists of one print and twenty-four (25) annual reports which provide information on officers, earnings, and information of interest to stockholders. The collection covers the period from 1953-1978.
Roselin Manufacturing Company, Inc., Records, 2018-0130
The Roselin Manufacturing Company was established in 1921 in New York City by Isidore Rosenstein and William Lintz for the purpose of "manufacturing, buying, selling and dealing in all kinds of braids, trimmings and sundrey articles." The company appears to have been reorganized in 1924 and again in 1931, when the Lintz family was no longer affiliated with the company. In 1935 the company moved its ribbon weaving operation to 95 Milk Street in Willimantic, CT. The collection consists of payroll ledgers, legal documents such as partnership agreements and by-laws, stock certificates, Board of Directors meeting minutes, ribbon samples on warp order cards, and photographs of a company party in 1939 and of the silk system warper, shown in the company building in Willimantic, Connecticut, after the company closed and soon before the warper was dismantled.
Walter Snow Papers, 1975-0005
The Walter Snow Papers contain the surviving manuscripts of Walter Snow (both published and unpublished). These works include short stories, journalistic articles, correspondence, poems, novels, and plays. Most of Snow's surviving correspondence relates to his attempts to get his works published. Following high school, Snow worked in Willimantic, Connecticut, at the American Thread Company. From 1921 until 1924, Snow held a variety of positions such as jag boy, thread carrier, Order's Department "chaser", and as Works Department timekeeper and clerk. He was laid off during the retrenchment just before the six-month 1925 strike.
Willimantic Food Coop
The Willimantic Food Co-op (WFC) originated as the Willimantic Buyer's Club (WBC), a private pre-order food buying club, which began operating during the early 1970s [1974/1975?] in the basement of St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Valley Street in Willimantic, CT. The collection includes minutes, by-laws, correspondence, publications, administrative and financial records, photographs pertaining to the activities and interests of the organization and its members from its founding through 1986 [1979-1985 bulk dates].
Southern New England Telephone Company Records: Willimantic Town History
Town histories collected by the Southern New England Telephone Company (SNET).

Mansfield Organ Pipe Works Records, 1986-0005
This small collection provides insights into local history and social relationships, and business development in eastern Connecticut. It is of special interest to the music historian since it reveals the detail and scope of the organ manufacturing industry in the area. There is specific information about organs and organ parts; their kind, size, manufacture, function, use, and material composition. For the social scientist or the business historian, the business transactions reveal interpersonal relationships and business enterprise, including employment concerns, complaints about products and services, methods of introducing new processes and products, and availability of goods and services. For the art historian there are many fine examples of letterheads typical of the period. Some materials are water damaged and stained, but legible.
Edwin O. Smith High School Records, 1998-0294
In 1955, the Connecticut General Assembly authorized funding for the construction of a junior-senior high school in Mansfield, Connecticut, to be administered by the University of Connecticut. The school opened in the fall of 1958 and remained a division of the UConn School of Education until the summer of 1987. The collection includes blueprints, administrative records, and correspondence.
Coalition for Assisted Living Records, 2011-0015
The collection contains minutes, reports and correspondence pertaining to the work of town residents to establish an assisted living facility in Mansfield, Connecticut.
Account Books Collection, 1979-0001
The collection contains account books and ledgers detailing the financial activities of Connecticut farmers, storekeepers and businesses. The books fall into three categories: farmers, storekeepers and businesses. Individuals or companies include, among others: Benjamin Brown, Marshall J. Collins, John Fitch, Charles Harding, Edmund Howe, E. Lathrop, B. Lathrop, Daniel M. Lester, James Lincoln, Collins and Company, Edward Dakin, Lucius Gurley, William Runkle, William B. Morgan, Duckworth's, Bank of Commerce and Willimantic Linen Company. Unidentified materials include a journal from a store on a wharf and a tanner together in one volume, the journal of a gristmill and the account book of a general store in Mansfield Center, CT.
Eaton Farms Development Collection, 2002-0028
The collection contains materials that chronicle the struggle against the proposed development of the Eaton farmland as well as the appeals to the Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Mansfield to make changes to the zoning regulations in order to preserve historically significant and ecologically fragile land. The collection is comprehensive in terms of covering the resistance to the proposal, but although it contains some documents related to the developer's side of the dispute, it is fairly biased towards the opposition.
Charles G. Hall Papers, 1979-0006
The Charles G. Hall Papers contain correspondence, diaries, family papers, scrapbooks, photographs, publications, and other papers, relating to Hall's personal life, student days at Connecticut Agricultural College, activities as doorkeeper of Connecticut House of Representatives, state politics, events at University of Connecticut, and family affairs.
Connecticut Historic Preservation Collection: Mansfield files
The collection consists of archaeological surveys, historical and architectural surveys, documentation studies of properties, and maps, produced for the Connecticut Historical Commission by archaeologists and historians.

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