University of Connecticut ||
Laura Katz Smith
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center
I am Curator for Business, Railroad, Labor and Ethnic Heritage and Immigration Collections with Archives & Special Collections of the University of Connecticut Libraries. We are located at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs. The business collections provide evidence of Connecticut's long history as a leader in manufacturing and industry and include information about such long-standing and important Connecticut businesses as the Southern New England Telephone Company, American Hardware Corporation of New Britain, and Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company of Manchester. The labor collections hold the records of labor unions and labor activists. They can aid researchers in gaining a more complete understanding of the people who made the state's businesses successful. The railroad history collections provide documents, photographs, maps, annual reports, and financial records of southern New England's most pervasive rail line, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, formed in 1872 from the merger of the Hartford & New Haven Railroad and the New York & New Haven Railroad. Until its collapse in 1969, when it was absorbed by Penn Central, the "New Haven Railroad" dominated passenger travel and the transfer of freight in the region. A special note for railroad genealogists: Genealogists frequently contact Archives & Special Collections for railroad personnel information. While such information is often found in corporate records, this is not the case for the railroad history collections. Our collections hold virtually no information about personnel who labored with the railroad. A special note for clock, silver, and tool collectors: Collectors frequently contact Archives & Special Collections for information on the history and value of their collectibles that were made by the businesses represented in the business history collections. The collection has no materials that can address this issue, and we recommend collectors refer to collectible publications for the information they need. I maintain lists of sources for business, railroad, ethnic history, and labor history research at other institutions in the United States. As a member of the Education Committee for the Connecticut History Online project I created a page of links to digital collections of historical resources for children and teens. I am also curator for the Connecticut Historic Preservation Commission Collection, a set of architectural/historical and archaeological surveys created by the Connecticut Historic Commission and held at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. A searchable database to the surveys is available at http://chpc.lib.uconn.edu/. Please note that to view the surveys users still need to come to the Dodd Research Center reading room. Contact InformationLaura Katz Smith
This page is maintained by L. Smith. |
