History

RevolutionsJamie Eves, Windham Town Historian, 17 March 2020I have been thinking a lot about revolutions lately. Partly, this is because I am teaching the American Revolution -- we got it in before the crononavirus crisis switched us from classroom-based to distance learning -- in my three freshman Early United States History classes, two at Eastern … Continue reading Revolutions

Connecticut as a Maker State: The Smith and Winchester Company of South Windham, Part IIIJamie Eves, Windham Town Historian, 28 Feb. 2020This blog concludes our examination of A Century of Pioneering in the Paper Industry. Published in 1928, the book is a short, illustrated history of the Smith and Winchester Manufacturing Company of South Windham, … Continue reading Smith and Winchester, Part 3

Connecticut as a Maker State: The Smith and Winchester Company of South Windham, Part IIJamie Eves, Windham Town Historian, 22 Feb. 2020As I wrote in a previous blog, a package arrived at the Mill Museum recently, containing a historical treasure: a copy of A Century of Pioneering in the Paper Industry. Published in 1928, it … Continue reading Smith and Winchester, Part 2

Connecticut as a Maker State: The Smith and Winchester Company of South Windham, Part IJamie Eves, Windham Town Historian, 9 Feb. 2020A package arrived in the mail recently, containing a historical treasure: a copy of A Century of Pioneering in the Paper Industry. Published in 1928, it is a short, illustrated history of the Smith … Continue reading Smith and Winchester, Part 1

Charlotte Waldo: Connecticut's First Woman Mail CarrierJamie Eves, Windham Town Historian, 14 June 2019One of the great things about working at a history museum is that people are always showing (or giving) you artifacts, stories, and information. You never stop learning. A friend from Ashford, CT, recently gave me a faded photocopy of a tattered … Continue reading Charlotte Waldo, Connecticut’s First Woman Mail Carrier

Amy Hooker: Union OrganizerJamie Eves, Windham Town Historian, 13 June 2019For several years now, I have used bits and pieces of spare time trying to track down information about Amy Hooker, an early 20th-century Connecticut labor leader about whom little is known ... even though she appears in a song by state troubadour Hugh Blumenfeld!"I … Continue reading Amy Hooker

Doing Hard HistoryJamie Eves, Windham Town Historian, 4 June 2019One of the highlights of the year for public historians in Connecticut is the annual conference of the Connecticut League of History Organizations, held this year on June 3 at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. The conference provides a chance to network with other … Continue reading Doing Hard History

The Stories Behind the Artifacts Jamie Eves, Windham Town Historian, 23 May 2019    I love artifacts because they tell stories. The things themselves are interesting, to be sure. And many of them, like most of the quilts in the Mill Museum’s new exhibit, Under Cover Stories, are breathtaking works of art. But it is … Continue reading The Stories Behind the Artifacts

Working Museums Jamie Eves, Windham Town Historian, 19 May 2019 The Windham Textile and History Museum – a.k.a., the Mill Museum – is what I think of as a working museum, meaning that the staff and volunteers are continually engaged in doing actual history. The Museum accepts, preserves, and catalogs new artifacts. It engages in … Continue reading Working Museums