NEWS + STORIES
Listening to the Silence: A Close Reading of Encounters with Windsor’s Native People
A rhetoric scholar reexamines Windsor’s early growth through land deed transactions between the Native people and English settlers.
Daughters of the American Revolution in Windsor
2019 marks the 125th anniversary of Windsor's Abigail Wolcott Ellsworth Chapter of the DAR. For the occasion, we are republishing this history of the national and local DAR organizations. It originally appeared in The Windsor Town Crier newspaper in December, 1916.
The Oliver Ellsworth Homestead Museum
In 1903 the Connecticut Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) acquired, restored, furnished and opened the Oliver Ellsworth Homestead in Windsor, Connecticut. It’s a milestone that represents the beginning of the landmark-as-museum phenomenon in Connecticut.
The Princess and Her Vases
Princess Julia Grant Cantacuzène Speransky was a charter member of and museum collections donor to Windsor Historical Society. She was also a descendant of Windsor founder Matthew Grant.
History Detective
When we receive donations for our museum and archives collections, one of the first tasks we undertake is to determine the importance of the objects and figure out if and how they fit into the history of our town. While that is simple enough to say, the process can be painstaking, alternating between fulfilling and frustrating, but always fascinating.
Unseasonable Night Walking
In 1711, Connecticut outlawed walking “in the night season” to discourage people from being out at night drunk and making a commotion. The following 1770 document from our collection reflects this law in action. It's a detailed and vivid formal complaint about some late-night shenanigans, unappreciated by the victim of those shenanigans.