Grating The Nutmeg

  This episode tells the story of one of the women depicted in The Six Triple Eight, a 2024 WWII war drama film by Tyler Perry that tells the true story of the 6888 Central Postal Directory Battalion. Mary Jewel Barlow was one of only three members of the 6888th Postal Directory Battalion who died in service during World War II and one of only four women buried in the Normandy American Cemetery in France. The 6888 was an all-Black, all-female Women's Army Corps battalion. A real young woman from Hartford's North End, Barlow's life and sacrifice deserve recognition. The guest is Orice Jenkins. A renowned member of Hartford's jazz community, Jenkins is also a genealogist and award-winning author originally from Hartford. His research has been featured in The Washington Post, on the National Parks Service website, and the Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. Orice has meticulously researched Mary Barlow and brings that story to us. He is a returning Grating the Nutmeg guest - he was

In celebration of our tenth anniversary, we are bringing you a remastered edition of an episode recorded in 2018 by Dr. Walter Woodward, Connecticut State Historian Emeritus with Dr. Fiona Vernal and former Hartford History Center Program Manager Jasmin Agusto. Dr. Vernal serves on the Connecticut Explored magazine Editorial Board. She holds a BA in history from Princeton University and a PhD. from Yale University. She is an associate professor of history and Africana studies and director of EPOCH: Engaged Public, Oral, and Community Histories at the University of Connecticut. Since this episode was recorded in 2018, Vernal has recorded hundreds of oral histories with members of Greater Hartford's West Indian community. The 2018 exhibit referenced in the episode has long since come down but a new exhibit entitled "Drawn Here: Stories from Hartford's North End" is open now, September 2026 to January 17, 2027, at the Connecticut Museum of Culture & History in Hartford. The exhibit exploresthe migration his

  From the high seas to the town square, we're bringing you the story of a New England family navigating revolution, economic expansion, and nation building. Awakenings and Revolutions: The Harts, Saybrook, and the New Nation is a new look at the residents of the Old Saybrook Historical Society's Gen. William Hart House and the Hart family of Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Moving between the Connecticut River estuary, Hartford, New London, Boston, New York, and as far as Ohio and the West Indies, the story reveals the Harts' surprising connections to major moments of Connecticut's and our nation's early history. Author and historian Elizabeth Normen shares details about the Great Awakening; slavery in the north; the American Revolution and privateering; the West Indies trade, and the birth of the two-party political system in America. From pious ministers to financial fraudsters, the Hart family spent 250 years in Old Saybrook. Normen is the founder and first publisher of Connecticut Explored, the magazine of

  In 2006, Preservation Connecticut, then the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, realized that historic barns across the state were being demolished or allowed to fall down. What could be done to save them? Where were they? How many are there? How can we get people across the state to be interested in barns? All of this was unknown. My guest, Todd Levine, was hired to help answer those critical questions. Todd is currently the Environmental Review officer and Connecticut Freedom Trail Coordinator at the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office of the Dept. of Economic and Community Development.  He is an architectural historian and received his graduate degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design. What did my guest discover about Connecticut's barns? Find more in this episode and by going to Preservation Connecticut's barns website at: preservationct.org/barnshttps://preservationct.org/barns   Hilltop Farm was built by Indian Motorcycle co-founder, George Hendee, starting in 1913, as a

Happy 250th birthday to our nation and 10th anniversary to Grating the Nutmeg! In celebration of our 10th anniversary, we are bringing you a remastered edition of an episode recorded in 2020 with Dr. Walter Woodward, Connecticut State Historian Emeritus. Dr. Woodward takes a new look at the actions surrounding the Revolutionary War execution of State Hero Nathan Hale, and finds there are still some burning questions left to be answered about this hasty and irregular event. It's a story from Walt's book Creating Connecticut: Critical Moments That Shaped a Great State from Globe Pequot Press. As you'll soon hear, when looking for answers about the Rough Justice handed out to Nathan Hale by the British in New York in 1776, where there's smoke, there's fire...   ------------------------ Don't forget to subscribe to Connecticut Explored magazine today-our summer issue is a double-issue celebrating our nation's 250th birthday! And to celebrate Grating the Nutmeg's 10th anniversary, set up your $10 a month donatio

What's the first thing you do when you want to take a trip? Look through Instagram to find things to do? Or Yelp for restaurants that serve local cuisine? Today travelers can follow social media influencers and websites that promise to give you an insider's look at places to stay or the best discounted hotel rates. But for Black travelers in the Jim Crow era through the 1960s, it wasn't easy to find places to eat or stay overnight. In this episode, we are going to talk about two national guides for Black travelers, both published beginning in the 1930s, and places that were included from New London, Connecticut.  Our guests, Nicole Thomas and Tom Schuch, are part of the team that produced the New London Black Heritage Trail, designated as one of 20 Connecticut History Gamechangers by Connecticut Explored magazine in 2022.  Nicole Thomas was born and raised in New London. She is the Assistant Site Administrator at the Hempstead Houses Museum for Connecticut Landmarks and is instrumental in the interpretation

In this episode, you'll be introduced to John Hooker, a Hartford lawyer, judge, and abolitionist as well as a reformer for women's rights. Hooker was the president of the anti-slavery committee in Hartford, published the Charter Oak anti-slavery newspaper with the Connecticut Anti-Slavery Society of Hartford, and co-authored with his wife Isabella Beecher Hooker, the state bill in 1877 that gave married women more control of their property. Why isn't he better known?    Our guest for this episode is Erika Slocumb, Director of Interpretation & Visitor Experience at the Stowe Center for Literary Activism. Erika is a scholar of Black history. She received her BA in Social Justice Education, her MS in Labor Studies, and she expects her PhD in African American Studies in the fall of 2026—all from University of Massachusetts Amherst.   Be sure to go to the Stowe Center's website at stowecenter.org/blog/ to read Erika's new blog post about John Hooker.  Plan to attend the Nook Farm Lawn Party and Fourth of July

In 1955, a group of disabled young adults living at New Britain Memorial Hospital signed a letter declaring their intention to seek out "adventuresome living for the physically handicapped." They formed a nonprofit called New Horizons and set out on a thirty-year journey to raise money and navigate legal barriers in order to realize their most cherished dream: a housing complex for the disabled, run by the disabled. In 2026, New Horizons Village in Farmington turns 40. In this episode, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum gives you a capsule history of the New Horizons movement and speaks with current residents and staff about what New Horizons means to them.  Many thanks to our participants: Patricia Robothom, Gary Strickland, Chuck Hutchins, Jen Carver, and Pam O'Neil. Special thanks to Stephanie Tetreault for her assistance in facilitating these interviews! The story of New Horizons is featured in the Connecticut Museum's newest exhibition! The Museum is marking the 250th anniversary of the Declarat

Famine Irish, lace-curtain Irish, shanty Irish: the Irish Diaspora has shaped Connecticut's European immigrant history from the 1840s.  Traces of Irish history and culture in the state are not only found in archival and artifact collections but also through the historic buildings, neighborhoods, and cemeteries that stand across the state. Whether they were immigrants, expatriates, refugees, or indentured servants when they arrived from Ireland, 14 percent of Connecticut's current residents claim Irish ancestry.   In today's episode, we take you to a new exhibition, A Journey of Hope: The Irish American Immigrant Experience curated by Ireland's Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield now on exhibit at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum. The exhibit has about 30 art pieces on view ranging from a 1714 map of Ireland to contemporary paintings completed in 2019. For anyone who's watching The Gilded Age television show, a trip to the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion will immerse you in French Second Empire grandeur of the type

If you are driving in Bristol, Connecticut-maybe you're going to Lake Compounce Amusement Park - and suddenly you spy a cluster of huge satellite dishes, you might wonder if space aliens had really landed. But what you've discovered is the home base of ESPN - originally entitled the Entertainment & Sports Programming Network - shortened to ESPN in 1985.   Every year tens of millions of fans watch ESPN but 47 years ago, a 24-hour sports television cable network was considered a wild and impossible idea. Our guests on this episode are the authors of the new audiobook SPORTS HEAVEN: The Birth of ESPN  published by Hachette Audio on April 7, 2026.   Historian Mike Soltys was hired in the summer of 1980 as a college intern by ESPN's founder, Bill Rasmussen, and served 43 years in ESPN's corporate communications department, the last 20 as a vice president. He returned to ESPN in 2024 as a part-time Historian.  Mike is serving as producer of a documentary Sports Heaven: The Birth of ESPN and co-author of  the

I've got a story about an artist that I've been obsessed with for years. In this episode, Patricia Hoerth Batchelder talks about her new biography of Evelyn Beatrice Longman, The Woman Who Sculpted Golden Boy, Thomas Edison, and Other Monuments. Poor, motherless at five, and uneducated after elementary school, Longman made the highly ambitious claim at nineteen that she could create monumental sculpture. The book tells the story of how she created beauty, moved into upper class society, and succeeded in a field of art that was overwhelmingly dominated by men. Ms. Batchelder has worked for The Washington Star and written for The Tulsa Tribune before co-writing her father's memoir. She is married to Nathaniel Horton Batchelder III, the grandson of sculptor Evelyn Beatrice Longman Batchelder. Look for Evelyn Beatrice Longman, The Woman Who Sculpted Golden Boy, Thomas Edison, and Other Monuments by Patricia Batchelder and published in 2025 on Amazon or at your favorite bookstore. It's also available at the publi

  Last year, in Episode 217, listeners were introduced to Hannah Smith. Born in 1767, Hannah was the matriarch of the non-conformist Smith Family of Glastonbury. In the 2020s, her diaries inspired Leonard Raybon, a music professor at Tulane, to compose an original mini-musical based on her writings. You can view the debut performance of "Hannah and Her Daughters"  here.    This episode focuses on the next generation of the Smith family. Hannah Hickock married Zephaniah Smith of Glastonbury in 1786, and their marriage produced five daughters. Two of the daughters became nationally famous in the 1870s, around the time of the Bicentennial, for their stance in favor of women's suffrage. Natalie Belanger is joined by Diane Hoover, Education Director of the Glastonbury Historical Society, who told her about the Smith sisters' upbringing, their many talents, and how the two youngest became involved in the suffrage fight – in a protest that centered around their pet cows. You'll also hear about Julia Smith's achie

  Grating the Nutmeg is 10 years old! In celebration of our 10th anniversary, we are bringing you a remastered and re-edited edition of an episode we recorded in 2016 at the New Haven Museum with Alfred Marder, Judge Andrew Roraback and his father Charles Roraback. This compelling first-person interview with Alfred Marder shares his experiences as a defendant in New Haven's Smith trial. Mr. Marder died in 2023 at the age of 101. He was defended by civil rights attorney Catherine Roraback, an inductee in the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame. In 1954, 32-year-old Alfred Marder was arrested in New Haven along with several others under the Smith Act for allegedly working to overthrow the US government. After a lengthy trial, during which he was defended by the celebrated civil rights lawyer Catherine Roraback, he was acquitted. Hear Mr. Marder tell in his own words what he was fighting for and what it feels like when the full power of the state, federal, and local government is aimed at you. This episode of Grat

Connecticut is a small state that has had a huge national impact. In this episode, we celebrate someone that we are proud to say was born in Connecticut and went on to be a pioneering historian in Black history. Dr. Lorenzo Johnston Greene received his BA in from Howard University in 1924, his MA from Columbia University in 1926 and his Ph.D. in 1942. He was born in Ansonia, Connecticut. We can learn more about his family from the 1900 federal census record. His father Willie was born in 1858 in Virginia before the end of slavery, and his mother was born in West Virginia in 1870. Both came to Connecticut and by the time Lorenzo was born in 1899, he had five older brothers and sisters. The census states that both of his parents can read and write and their children are in school.  By the time of the 1920 census, Lorenz has two older brothers who work in a brass mill.   What made Lorenzo want to go to college and become a historian? When did he work with Dr. Carter Woodson, the "Father of Black History" and wh

  At first glance, alcohol and racial equality might seem unrelated—but for Black activists, the temperance movement was a powerful vehicle for social change. In this episode of Grating the Nutmeg, Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum chats with Mackenzie Tor about her research into Black temperance activism in 1830s and 1840s Connecticut. Mackenzie talks about how people like Maria Stewart, James Pennington, and the Beman family used temperance as a strategy for civic inclusion. Through their words and organizing efforts, from newspaper columns to church halls, abstaining from the bottle became a radical tool for political belonging in the hands of Connecticut's Black communities. She also discusses the flip side of this – how accusations of intemperance could be wielded to bring down successful Black men, like New Haven's William Lanson, when their business and civic ventures threatened the power of white elites.     Mackenzie, a PhD Candidate in History at the University of Missouri, did research fo

During this holiday season, it seems like the perfect time to bring you the story of one of the bestselling toys ever - Cabbage Patch Kids! Inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2023, Cabbage Patch Kids set every toy industry sales record for three years running from 1983-86, and has become one of the longest-running doll franchises in the United States. How did a Connecticut company produce the hottest toy of the 1980s - and then go broke? The license to produce Cabbage Patch Kids has gone through a record 7 toy companies. This episode is on the Coleco years - the toymaker with their headquarters in West Hartford.  Host Mary Donohue will share her experience buying the dolls and  Natalie Belanger, Grating the Nutmeg producer from the Connecticut Museum of Culture & History, her own childhood experience playing with the Cabbage Patch Kids. It's hard to believe after such a successful toy, but Coleco Industries were bankrupt by 1989.  The Hartford Courant published numerous full-page stories about what ha

  More than twenty thousand Hispanic Americans served in the Civil War. When Cuban-born Loreta Velázquez's husband would not allow her to join him on the battlefield, she assumed the role of First Lieutenant Harry T. Buford to be near him. Philip Bazaar, born in Chile, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courageous exploits during the assault of Fort Fisher. The spying efforts of Floridian Maria Dolores Sánchez and her two sisters led to a Union defeat at the Battle of Horse Landing.    Delving into the lives of these individuals, historian A.J. Schenkman, author of Hispanic Americans of the Civil War, published by the History Press in 2025, uncovers this often-overlooked aspect of Civil War history. Hispanic soldiers came from different countries. Mexico had declared its independence from Spain in 1821 and later abolished slavery in 1837. Some soldiers and sailors traced their families to Cuba and Puerto Rico, which were still part of Spain. Or from Spain itself or its other colonies.    In this episode,

The Connecticut Yankee atomic power plant was one of the earliest commercial nuclear reactors in New England.  Though it was dismantled at the turn of the 21st century, its legacy remains, both for the landscape of the Connecticut River Valley where it once stood, and for contemporary debates about energy today.  This episode explores the plant's life and afterlife, the activists who opposed it, and the promises and perils of nuclear power in the 1960s and today, through the reminiscences of Paul Gionfriddo, a former state legislator and longtime president of People's Action for Clean Energy, a group that has advocated for conservation and renewable energy in Connecticut since the early 1970s.   This episode is presented by Dr. Amrys Williams and Jon Kozak. Williams is a historian of science, technology,and the environment who serves as the Executive Director of the Connecticut League of Museums.  Her recent research projects have focused on anti-nuclear activism, radioecology, and the public interpretation

  The transgender community has struggled to receive recognition and equality.  In this episode, we explore the history of the transgender community over the last 100 years with Dr. Susan Stryker and the life of Dr. Alan L. Hart, a transgender medical doctor working on the forefront of an urgent public health crisis, tuberculosis, in Connecticut. Hart, Director of Connecticut's Office of TB Rehabilitation, is credited with saving countless lives. My guest is Dr. Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History, the Root of Today's Revolution, published in 2017. Transgender History, Third Edition: A Resource for Today's Struggle-and Tomorrow's will be published in Febuary, 2026. Dr. Susan Stryker holds a distinguished visiting appointment at Stanford's Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and is Professor Emerita of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies at the University of Arizona, where she directed the Institute for LGBT Studies for many years. She is the author or editor o

A button sounds like a very ordinary thing. But button production in Cheshire was part of Connecticut's pioneering role in the precision manufacturing revolution of the nineteenth century. According to connecticuthistory.org, button production began with pewter buttons in the mid-eighteenth century but quickly turned to brass in the early nineteenth century.  By 1860s, machines in the Scovill Brass factory in Waterbury produced 216,000 buttons per day. This type of industrial production volume for an everyday necessity such as buttons propelled investors and entrepreneurs to establish companies such as the Ball & Socket Manufacturing Company. But what were the benefits and costs of Cheshire's industrial development during Connecticut's Industrial Revolution?   Cheshire's Ball & Socket factory has been transformed into a community arts center as we discovered in Grating the Nutmeg episode 167. New Lives for Old Factories.  But its industrial past has not been forgotten-new research by noted historian