We should soon see some of the Hagaman Library's archival photographs posted on the Connecticut Treasures website-
http://cslib.cdmhost.com/ctlibs/home.php
This is a wonderful website for anyone interested in seeing historical photographs of Connecticut.

The website is provided by the Connecticut State Library and Library Connection, a non-profit cooperative of 27 academic and public libraries. The Project has assisted libraries in digitizing selected items from their collections, making them available to the public through the Internet. Below are a selection of East Haven photographs that we should soon be able to view on the "Treasures" website. The photograph album from which they were taken was put together by Donald Chidsey with additional commentary by John T. Brereton.

















1917 Postcard of an East Haven Fire Department Fire Engine

























Closed trolley car facing east on Main and High Streets in 1895.
























Drum Corps in front of the Eliza Thompson House, 1880s






























The Samuel Bradley House built in 1792





Main Street, East Haven facing East

Then- Old and New

Mr. Nick Bagnoli obtained several copies of photographs from the Trolley Museum. This close-up of one of the photographs- a view of High Street, Main Street and Thompson Avenue, seems representational of the change from the then former mode of transportation to the new.

Old Houses of East Haven

We hope to soon see photos such as the above photograph of the Jedediah Andrews House from Donald V. Chidsey's Old Houses of East Haven as part of the Connecticut Treasures initiative discussed in the May 28th, 2010 post. Library Journal published a short article on the project in the November 19th, 2010 issue, http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/home/887872-264/in_connecticut_a_small_model.html.csp

Stephen Bradley's Bridge

There was an interesting occurrence this past month concerning The History of the Village and Town of East Haven Connecticut from the First Grant of Land in 1644 to 1873 by Reverend Daniel Havens. An inquiry was made as to information on the bridge down by the Old Mill on Lake Saltonstall. Haven's section on bridges gave a good introduction in the History:



"Another bridge was built over Stoney River near the Iron Works, now known as Stephen Bradley's Bridge."



In the table of contents for the chapter on bridges entry number 48 is listed as " Rebuilding of Stephen Bradley's Bridge over Stoney River ordered by town." However, the chapter ends at number 36. The following entries are not there. I had been using the typewritten copy of the History, so I turned to the notebooks that were transcribed from Haven's original handwriting. The notebook also ended at number 36. I then called James Campbell at the New Haven Colony Historical Society, which holds the original document. He was kind enough to send over both a fax and to also mail a photocopy. But Haven's handwriting is extremely difficult to decipher (as shown below) so, for the moment, the text remains a mystery.

Metadata for Old Houses of East Haven

The metadata for the Digitization Project, facilitated by Library Connection and the Connecticut State Library is in the process of being written for the work, Old Houses of East Haven by Donald V. Chidsey. The Hagaman Memorial Library is entering the data into an Excel template to be submitted to Library Connection. Scans of each of the houses will also be sent. The information will be made available through the Internet. We are looking forward to making this work available to the public through this project.

Hagaman Library Contributes to Treasures of Connecticut Libraries Project

The Treasures of Connecticut Libraries Project is an online partnership between the Connecticut State Library and Library Connection, a non-profit cooperative of 27 public and academic libraries. The Project will enhance already standing digital collections of the Connecticut Humanities Council databases such as, Connecticut's Heritage Gateway, http://www.ctheritage.org/ the Encyclopedia of Connecticut History Online, http://www.ctheritage.org/encyclopedia/encyclopedia.htm and Connecticut History Online, http://www.cthistoryonline.org/cdm-cho/index.html.

The Hagaman Memorial Library's contribution to the project will be Old Houses of East Haven by Donald V. Chidsey, a page of which can be seen in the photograph above. The work written by Mr. Chidsey in 1934, consists of text and photographs of houses and landmarks of East Haven. In the preface the author states:
"The following account gives a brief history of East Haven's old houses, as well as the Old Stone Church, the Green and the Iron Works from the time of origin to the present time. It contains, in simple language, those events and incidents connected with each place which are of chief importance and general interest. This booklet is designed primarily, as a reference for those who may be interested in ascertaining the names of the owners of the few old places still remaining in East Haven. A knowledge of the history of the folk now gone forever who once lived in these old houses will perhaps create a deeper respect upon the part of the present generation for past generations who were the founders and builders of our town."

We are excited about The Digitization Project, an opportunity provided by the Connecticut State Library and Library Connection, a non-profit cooperative of 27 academic and public libraries. The Project will assist libraries in digitizing selected items from their collections, making them available to the public through the Internet. We will be choosing items from the library's archival collections as well as working with items provided by the East Haven Historical Society.

We have selected Old Houses of East Haven a compilation by former town historian, Donald V. Chidsey as our first item for digitization. Old Houses is of public interest as it contains photographs and information on historic structures of East Haven, such as the photograph of the Stephen Dodd house shown above. Our intent is to honor Mr. Chidsey's efforts to make this information available as he, in his own words, expressed:

"It has been the purpose of the author in part to gather first hand from East Haven's oldest residents detailed accounts of the old houses and the folk of yesterday who lived in them. In this way it has been possible in some instances to obtain accounts of human interest that took place in this old town in the days of long ago."

There are two versions of the Old Houses of East Haven, the manuscript and the typewritten versions. Each has its own attributes. Among other differences, the manuscript version contains a hand drawn map (shown below) which locates where the houses stood in East Haven. The typewritten version contains actual photographs of the buildings.

The digitized project will make the attributes of both of these versions available through the Internet.