Today in 1788, the delegates at the Connecticut state convention ratified the United States Constitution by a vote of 128 to 40, making Connecticut the fifth state to join the Union. While certain states, most notably New York and Virginia, remained skeptical of the new Constitution and required lots of convincing in order to…
January 8: Washington Gives the First State of the Union Address, Dressed in Connecticut’s Finest
As the first President of the newly-formed United States of America, George Washington was acutely aware that his his every decision would be scrutinized, and his every move would set a precedent for how the nation’s future chief executives should act. As a firm believer in the republican principles laid out in the new…
January 7: Connecticut’s One-Day-Only Governor
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO HEAR AN AI WRITTEN AND AI NARRATED VERSION OF TODAY’S STORY. This is an experiment in seeing how artificial intelligence can be applied to public history. The AI participants (Chat GPT AND Eleven labs) were prompted by curator Walt Woodward to write and narrate new stories based on…
January 6: A Wartime Departure From an Ancient Tradition
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO HEAR AN AI WRITTEN AND AI NARRATED VERSION OF TODAY’S STORY. This lis an experiment in seeing how artificial intelligence can be applied to public history. The AI participants (Chat GPT AND Eleven labs) were prompted by curator Walt Woodward to write and narrate new stories based on…
January 5: A Can-Do Connectican Invents the Can Opener
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO HEAR AN AI WRITTEN AND AI NARRATED VERSION OF TODAY’S STORY. Comments invited to walt@uconn.edu, and thanks for listening. In the early 1800s, responding to Napoleon’s request to find a more efficient way to feed his armies in the field, French inventor Nicholas Appert discovered that heating…
January 4: A Girl with Soaring Ambitions.
CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO HEHEAR AN AI WRITTEN AND NARRATED VERSION OF TODAY’S STORY. HERE, THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY MEETS CONNECTICUT’S PAST. Comments invited to walt@uconn.edu. In the heady days of early American aviation, when tales of plucky pilots and ingenious innovators were a dime a dozen, few pilots stood out…
January 3: Hunger Pangs – Glastonbury Grocery Stores Run Out of Food
Today in 1943, concerned and sometimes panicky homemakers in Glastonbury flocked to area farms seeking potatoes, eggs, poultry and vegetables to feed their families. The food rush came following weeks of increasing food shortages that had culminated in the sudden closure of several local grocery stores the day before, after they simply ran out…
January 2: Interstate 95, “The Connecticut Turnpike,” Opens — & the Headaches Begin
January 2nd is a date bound to provoke strong feelings among our state’s road warriors. Today in 1958, the Connecticut Turnpike — better known now as Interstate 95 — first opened to the public. The national route of the interstate largely paralleled the path of U.S. Route 1, a major north-to-south highway stretching from Maine…
January 1: A Brand New New Year’s Day
CLICK THE LINK BELOW to hear today’s story as narrated by an AI announcer created by ELEVENLabs. Today in 1752, Connecticans woke up to the realization that January first was, and henceforward always would be, New Year’s Day. The year before, and for 597 years before that, both in Old and New England,…
December 31: The American Revolution’s First Year Ends in Disaster
The first year of the American Revolution against British oppression had gotten off to an unexpectedly positive start. The American “Minute Men’s” effective resistance at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775 had been followed both by a surprise Connectican-led takeover of the strategically important British Fort…
December 30: Mutiny at “Connecticut’s Valley Forge”
When Americans think of the hardships faced by starving, shivering Continental Army troops during the harsh winters of the Revolutionary War, they usually remember the infamous winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in 1777–1778. What few realize, however, is that the eastern division of the Continental Army under the command of General Israel Putnam…
December 29: A Timely Move in a Great Depression — Preserving America’s Golden Age of Sail
The village of Mystic, Connecticut — which is actually not its own town, but a borough straddling the two towns of Groton and Stonington — has been associated with sailing, fishing, and shipbuilding for hundreds of years. The village’s earliest shipbuilding enterprises date to the late 17th century, when English settlers set up shop…