By Elizabeth J. Normen
(c) Connecticut Explored Inc. Summer 2009
Subscribe/Buy the Issue!
You’ve waited with bated breath, and now we’re ready to reveal our new name…drumroll, please;
Connecticut Explored.
We’ll implement the change with the next issue. Even with our new name, we’ll be the same magazine you’ve come to love, offering stories that uncover our state’s historical buried treasures and untold tales, connecting our past to our present and future. We’ll now explore what makes us “Connecticans” with a name that embraces the entire state and reflects the sense of adventure and discovery that informs every issue. I’d like to thank the many readers who wrote to weigh in—sometimes quite passionately—on the name change and hope that all of you will stick with us as our journey continues.
You will notice a few changes starting with this issue. While subscription revenue continues to grow (Thank you!), we are not immune from the economic challenges many publications are experiencing. To be prudent and realistic, we have trimmed some non-editorial pages. The table of contents, for example, is back to one page; and we’ve moved the biographical information about our authors to the first page of each article.
Meanwhile, we’re expanding our presence on the Web, adding valuable content to our site, (you’ll be directed to our new site www.connecticutexplored.org when it’s launched) and experimenting with a page on the social networking site Facebook. If you’re on Facebook, search for “Connecticut Explored” and become a fan!
A special note about this issue
This issue was developed in collaboration with the Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library and The Amistad Center for Art & Culture as an adjunct to their Age in America project. Hartford is one of three sites in the U.S. to receive funding for the project from the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services (Go to page 26 for more on What the project is all about.) We thank Brenda Miller, manager of the Hartford History Center, Olivia White, executive director of the Amistad Center, and project advisor Diantha Dow Schull, for their assistance with this issue.
In this issue we explore the aging of the American dream, our impulse to save and record the past through oral histories and collections, and the roles museums can play in keeping us connected to the changing definitions of youth, mid-life, and old age. I find it fascinating to explore, for example, how different a world it was for a 20-year-old in the 1700s—when “20” meant “middle-aged”—as compared to the 20-year-old of today for whom a new term—”adultolescent”—has been coined! Just when did children transition from pint-sized income generators to these so-called adultolescents? Read on to find out!