Show & Tell, featuring "Made in Enfield" treasures from the Enfield Historical Society's Old Town Hall Museum - 7:00 P.M. at the Enfield American Baptist Church, 129 Post Office Road.  Thompsonville and Hazardville got their names from the founders of Enfield's two biggest industries – carpet and gunpowder manufacturing.  But much more was made here during the last 300 years: brooms and clocks; shirts, underwear, and Shaker-style bonnets; plows for preparing farmers' fields and for clearing ice for harvesting; parts for bicycles and cars; carriages, wagons, and even a three-wheeled car; tools and machinery; vast quantities of materials and equipment for our troops in both World Wars.  Many of these items were invented and patented by Enfield's very creative citizens.  Enfield's inventors and entrepreneurs did not limit themselves to the ordinary, however.  Glass burial cases for burying your loved ones in style and "spiritual telegraph dials" for communicating with them in the afterlife were made here too!  Museum staff will bring photos, advertising and artifacts from Enfield's manufacturing past to Show & Tell.  We hope that you will bring something of yours that was made in Enfield.  Did you or someone in your family work in one of Enfield's factories?  Share the story with us.  Do you have a question about Enfield's industrial past?  Don't be afraid to ask! 

Remember - the public is very welcome to this FREE program, so don't be shy!

William Hosley presents John Brown: The Connecticut Roots of an American Legend - 7:00 P.M. at the Enfield American Baptist Church, 129 Post Office Road.  With roots in Norfolk and born in Torrington, John Brown was raised in Connecticut’s Western Reserve (Ohio).  He was the quintessential, puritanical, entrepreneurial, evangelist, a Connecticut type familiar (and in some places reviled) in early America.  The Raid on Harpers Ferry was the news story of the decade and one of the most divisive and influential events in American history.  It paved the way for Lincoln and made the Civil War inevitable. 

This illustrated program provides a fresh, visually-rich interpretation of an epic American story told by Connecticut’s master storyteller and public humanities scholar, William Hosley.  Taking special note of its Connecticut connections, Hosley explores the roots of Brown’s vision and madness, chronicling his influence and influences and unraveling a complex web of local connections that made Brown’s story possible and kept it alive for the century and a half since his death. 

Part history, part travelogue, the program features an abundant array of art and artifacts from public collections in Connecticut and from the Adirondacks to Kansas.  Audiences will learn the events in Brown’s life leading up to Harper’s Ferry and discover how African-Americans, who regarded Brown as a hero and the first white American to walk the talk of racial equality and social justice, kept his story alive.  In the South, he was regarded as a blood-thirsty war monger.  Former neighbors and associates in Ohio, Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts typically “praised the man, but not the deed.”  He was the most divisive figure of the age. 

Bill Hosley is Principal of Terra Firma Northeast, a cultural resource consultant, planner, teacher, writer, and photographer.  He was the former Director of the New Haven Museum and Connecticut Landmarks.  Prior to that, as a curator and exhibition developer at Wadsworth Atheneum, Bill organized major exhibitions including The Great River: Art & Society of the Connecticut Valley (1985), The Japan Idea: Art and Life in Victorian America (1990), and Sam & Elizabeth: Legend and Legacy of Colt’s Empire (1996).  Bill has performed nationwide, written five books and dozens of articles and served as a content specialist for PBS, BBC, and CPTV documentaries. 

Remember - the public is very welcome to this FREE program, so don't be shy!

Annual Meeting & Dinner - Time and location to be announced.  Members will receive invitations with complete details.  Mark the date on your calendar! 

Another great program! - 7:00 P.M. at the Enfield American Baptist Church, 129 Post Office Road.  More details coming soon! 

Remember - the public is very welcome to this FREE program, so don't be shy!

Another great program! - 7:00 P.M. at the Enfield American Baptist Church, 129 Post Office Road.  More details coming soon! 

Remember - the public is very welcome to this FREE program, so don't be shy!