The last piece on the inmates of the Connecticut state prison at Wethersfield in 1860 discussed their gender and race; this piece discusses the crimes for which they were convicted. To repeat from before, there were 179 inmates, 12 of them female. The Census marshal also, in accordance with his instructions, reported the crimes for … Continue reading Census 1860: Wethersfield State Prison: Crimes
Census 1860: Census Marshals are People Too
I've been skimming a lot of 1860 census pages lately, and one thing I've noticed is that despite the detailed instructions, the census marshals still have to exercise judgment in a number of areas. Since I'm focusing on African-Americans, I've noticed that some marshals didn't identify any mixed-race people (known as "mulattoes" to the Census). … Continue reading Census 1860: Census Marshals are People Too
Census 1860: Wethersfield State Prison: Gender and Race
So I’m developing a new database from the 1860 U.S. Census for Connecticut, and last week I ran across the pages for the state prison, which was in Wethersfield at the time. Some of these data are interesting – at least to me – so here’s a post about them! Oh, and this is also … Continue reading Census 1860: Wethersfield State Prison: Gender and Race
Tact and the primary school teacher (1881)
One of the benefits of doing public history is the opportunity to research things that I never would have thought to look into on my own. For example, last year I was asked to research the history of a school. In addition to finding information about the building itself, my remit also included the educational … Continue reading Tact and the primary school teacher (1881)
Advice from 1791
Wow, a year and a half since my last post. But I have an excuse: I was very busy finishing my dissertation! And then after that I was in a state of intellectual collapse. I'm feeling better now, though, thank you. Last week I was over at the Connecticut Historical Society, researching sermons (more on … Continue reading Advice from 1791
Puffy Omelet from the Culinary Arts Institute (1950)
You've probably never heard of the Culinary Arts Institute, but in the 1940s they produced an endless stream of single-topic cookery pamphlets, like this one: Not a lot of information about the CAI or its Director (and editor of the booklets), Ruth Berolzheimer, is available. Back in 2008, though, a Chicago reporter did some digging … Continue reading Puffy Omelet from the Culinary Arts Institute (1950)
Kristen Noble Keegan, Historical Geographer 