VOLUME 19/NUMBER 1/Winter 2020 – 2021
$6.25
Connecticut Explored
CONNECTICUT HISTORY, ONE GOOD STORY AFTER ANOTHER
IN THIS ISSUE: Making Waves on the Air > Advocating for Spelling Reform > Fab Fonts > Mark Twain’s Sticky Invention > Doughboy Art > The Medium and the Message
On the cover: Hiram Percy Maxim, c. 1920s. Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library. See story, page 44.
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CONTENTS
pg 9 Hog River Journal: Our Readers Still Love Print—But Virtual is Good, Too
by Elizabeth J. Normen
pg 10 Letters, etc.
pg 13 From the State Historian: Women’s Letters Kept Family Connected
By Walter W. Woodward
14 Norman Ives and the Art of the Letter
A love of typefaces launches a career.
By Charles T. Clark
20 Communicating with the Spirits
Theodate Pope pursues the scientific study of life after death.
By Melanie Bourbeau
26 Mark Twain and the Phenomenon of Scrapbooks
Samuel Clemens took scrapbooking to a whole new level.
By Ellen Gruber Garvey
Pg 32 The “Cave Dweller’s Life”
The inscriptions Connecticut doughboys left behind in World War I.
By Christine Pittsley
35 Memories of Starting WHC-TV
The early days of community-access television.
By Muriel Fleischmann
Pg 40 Noah Webster: A Way With Wurds
Noah Webster was on a mission to change how Americans spell.
By Jennifer DiCola Matos
Pg 42 A Brief History of Connecticut Gay Media
By William J. Mann
Pg 44 Amateur Radio and the American Radio Relay League
By Grace Burchard
Pg 48 Site Lines: Coy Takes the Telephone to the Masses
By Elizabeth Holt
Pg 50 CT History for Kids: What’s Your Story?
Pg 51 Spotlight: Events & News from Partner Organizations
2020 Connecticut Center for the Book Finalist in the “Spirit of Connecticut” category for Venture Smith’s Colonial Connecticut
2017 Bruce Fraser Friend of the Social Studies Award, Connecticut Council for the Social Studies
2014 Connecticut League of History Organizations Award of Merit for African American Connecticut Explored
2010 Award of Merit, Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation
2005 Wilbur Cross Award, Humanities Program of the Year, Connecticut Humanities Council
2003 Jeffery S. Czopor Award, Hartford Preservation Alliance and Preservation Week Committee
PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY
Connecticut Explored Inc.
In collaboration with its organizational partners list at right
Elizabeth Normen, Publisher
Jennifer LaRue, Editor
Mary Donohue, Assistant Publisher
John Alves, Art Director
Editorial Board:
Dawn C. Adiletta, independent scholar
Stacey Close, Eastern Connecticut State University
Catherine Fields, Litchfield Historical Society
Joan Jacobs
Briann Greenfield, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
Eugene Leach, Trinity College
Matthew Warshauer, Central Connecticut State University
Sally Whipple, Old State House
Walter Woodward, State Historian, University of Connecticut
Connecticut Explored (ISSN: 1553-3689) is published quarterly by Connecticut Explored Inc. © 2020 Connecticut Explored Inc. and mailed to members. Connecticut Explored is protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner without written consent. Membership/subscriptions are $25 per year for four issues. To subscribe or note a change of address go to ctexplored.org or write to Connecticut Explored, P.O. Box 271561, West Hartford, CT 06127-1561. Articles and essays published in Connecticut Explored are works of journalism and not the official policy of Connecticut Explored Inc. or its organizational partners. Connecticut Explored Inc. and its organizational partners assume no responsibility for the content of advertisements.
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