Well, it's good to know things are looking up somewhere

From today's Hartford Courant:

"The mood is considerably brighter at the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, where, thanks to a well-publicized fund-raising effort, its projected operating deficit of $400,000 is paid off and the organization may end its fiscal year on Saturday with a small surplus."

Read the rest of the Courant article

Visit the Twain House website

Another sad day for Hartford

Is Eddie Perez the first Hartford mayor to be arrested in office? Stay tuned -- still investigating.

In case you wondered about 'Ann Uccello Street'

On Interstate 84 eastbound through the city, the Exit 49 sign used to read "Ann Street." Last fall, it was changed to "Ann Uccello Street," to reflect the renaming of the street after Uccello, who in 1967 became not only the first female mayor in the city's history but also the first woman to become mayor of a major U.S. city. She's also the last Republican to serve as mayor of Hartford.

WFSB-TV still has video of the renaming ceremony, including some of Uccello's remarks, on its website. At 86, Uccello is still going strong. For more on her, visit her bio page on the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame website.

And who was the original "Ann" of Ann Street? According to the very authoritative "History of Hartford Streets" by F. Perry Close (1969, Connecticut Historical Society), it was "(n)amed after Ann Sheldon Goodwin by her sons, James and Nathanial Goodwin, who opened the street through their land in 1814." Originally, the street ran from Main Street to Church Street. Eventually, it was extended southward to Jewell Street.

Hartford prominent in the history of bridge clubs

Yep, it's true. The Hartford Bridge Club, founded in 1931, has been honored by the American Contract Bridge League as the oldest continuously operating bridge club in North America. Thanks to the Hartford Courant's Loretta Waldman for highlighting this in her blog. The club, which meets in the Elmwood section of West Hartford, is still going gangbusters.

Stay in the loop by joining the state historian's list

Connecticut has an official state historian, and his name is Walter W. Woodward, a history professor at the University of Connecticut. You'll find his website here, but the real electronic service he performs is hosting an e-mail group for anyone with questions (and answers) about Connecticut history. Here's how it's advertised:

"H-Connecticut is the electronic communications list created by the Office of the State Historian just for people like us. On H-Connecticut, people can post information, ask questions, express opinions, and share ideas with others who care as much as we do about Connecticut’s past. Best of all, H-Connecticut subscribers include experts from many fields, so no matter what you want to know, chances are an H-Connecticut subscriber can help you get answers. It’s almost like having a Connecticut history think tank on call.

"Subscribing is as easy. Everything is done by email, and it’s absolutely free."

Join H-Connecticut here.

If you have the time, check out Mr. Harrison's very impressive resume. Just about at the very bottom, he notes that he composed two top-10 country songs.

WNPR kicks off 'Basement Tapes Project' with recording of MLK at The Bushnell

Connecticut Public Radio (WNPR-FM, 90.5) has launched "The Basement Tapes Project," an effort to find "long-lost audio gems" and put them on the air. The station invites listeners to scour their basements and attics for records, tapes, or any other audio recording that represents a piece of Connecticut history. (Look under the "Services" tab on the left side of the station website for contact information.)

To prime the pump, the station has posted a recording of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech at The Bushnell in 1959. King, invited by the University of Hartford’s Hillyer College to give a speech on "the future of integration," was just 30 at the time. The U of H has posted an article on the visit, along with audio clips from the speech, the flyer advertising the speech, and King's publicity photo from the period.

By the way, check the Hartford Courant's Capitol Watch blog for Chris Keating's MLK Day entry on the summers a teen-aged King spent working on a Simsbury tobacco farm. It was King's first time out of the segregated South, and his wonder at the different way of life here was apparent in his letters home. The most moving quote: "Yesterday, we didn't work, so went to Hartford. We really had a nice time there. I never thought that a person my race could eat anywhere, but we ate in one of the finest restaurants in Hartford."