HPA Names Executive Director

The Hartford Courant reports that the Hartford Preservation Alliance, until now an all-volunteer organization, has hired an executive director. She is Laura Knott-Twine, previously the director of the Small Business Administration Office of Women's Business Ownership at the University of Hartford. Lee Kuckro, a member of the HPA board and head of the selection committee, told the Courant: "Now we have somebody that is on duty every day instead of just people who are working a regular job and trying to squeeze in a half an hour here or there."

Visit the HPA site at www.hartfordpreservation.org

Lecture Series: 'Hot Fun in the Summertime: Travel and Tourism in Connecticut'

For its 8th annual Connecticut Collectors and Explorers lecture series, the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society will focus on the history travel tourism and recreation in Connecticut. The talks will be held at four locations around the state, including the South Congregational Church, at 277 Main Street in Hartford. Here is the schedule for the church:

March 29 -- "America's Old Amusement Parks Survive The Test Of Time"

April 5 -- "Golden Afternoons: The Connecticut River in the Age of Leisure"

April 12 -- "Cruising for Fun Before the Interstates"

April 19 -- "The Ethnic Resorts of Moodus"

April 26 -- "Litchfield’s Seasonal Residents, 1880-1930"

For details, visit the ALS site

Teach Connecticut History in Connecticut Schools

Bill Hosley, former executive director of the Antiquarian & Landmarks Society, makes an impassioned plea in today's Hartford Courant for more instruction of local history in Connecticut schools. Indeed, he thinks it's time for the General Assembly to require it. "I am not fond of more regulations and mandates," Hosley writes in an op-ed piece. "But if we don't teach our kids what Connecticut has done and why it matters, Connecticut becomes just another place with a throwaway culture." Right on, Bill.

Lemuel Rodney Custis: Hartford's First Black Police Officer

He became the city's first black police officer in 1939, but the pioneering didn't end there for Lemuel Rodney Custis. During World War II, he enlisted in the Army and became one of the illustrious Tuskeegee Airmen, the nation's first black combat pilots. He flew 92 missions and received the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism. Custis was buried Saturday in Cedar Hill Cemetery, with military honors. His accomplishments were reported in today's Hartford Courant.

At Trinity on March 16: 'Teaching Lydia Sigourney?'

Before Mark Twain, there was Lydia Sigourney. She was Hartford's best-known writer in the first half of the 19th Century; in fact, according to Trinity College Professor Paul Lauter, she was the best-known American poet of the century, after Longfellow. Eventually, however, her work was dismissed as too sentimental. In the 20th Century she became forgotten, even in Hartford, which had named Sigourney Street after her.

Lauter seeks to revive Sigourney's reputation, arguing that many of her poems--especially those dealing with Native Americans--remain significant. In addition, he points to her participation in the movement to stop the removal of Cherokees from Georgia, noting that the work of those in the anti-Removal movement helped spark both abolitionist and early feminist activity.

At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 16, at the Faculty Club in Trinity's Hamlin Hall, Lauter will present, "Teaching Lydia Sigourney?", a talk on various ways of teaching Sigourney. It's free and open to the public. For more information, see the news release published on the Trinity website.