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Fun, Fascinating and Made in the Elm City:From Clocks to Lollipops
1900 was a good year for New Haven. The first hamburger sizzled at Louis? Lunch, the Candee Rubber Company in Wooster Square produced nine million pairs of rubber shoes, and Kickapoo Indian Worm Killer was available and purported to work minor miracles on ?unbidden guests? for only $5 a bottle. The ?From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven,? exhibition at the New Haven Museum, highlights these and many more fascinating and fun products that were, and some that still are, produced in the Elm City. The exhibition runs through September 3, 2016.
From the Colonial era to the present day, New Haven has produced an astonishing variety of goods, including hardware, carriages, automobile parts and accessories, firearms, corsets, clocks, carpeting, rubber overshoes, clothing, musical instruments, and candy - just to name a few. Many of the city?s factories served a national and even international market. The harbor was an important avenue for bringing in raw materials; railroads brought improved distribution of goods. Today, New Haven factories produce goods for the automobile, aerospace and electronics industries, and foodstuffs such as spaghetti sauce and bread. ?From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven? features more than 100 objects, advertisements, trade cards, photographs and more from the New Haven Museum?s collections, offering a wide-ranging and sometimes humorous look at the production of consumer goods in New Haven over the past three centuries.
Along with a multitude of products came a barrage of advertising, and a number of choice samples are featured in ?From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven.? Bad advertising was not a 20th-century phenomenon, as proven by the following gem from 1895. An ad for King?s Dental Parlors, at 819 Chapel Street, it is ironically titled, ?Painless Poetry?:
If you have a tooth
Extracted or filled
By Dr. King?s Painless Method
You will never try
The old painful way again.
Also highlighted in ?Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven,? are some interesting firsts. Although the topic is a subject of some debate, New Haven is documented as the site where the first lollipop was created. It was also home to the erector set, the hamburger, the mass-production of wooden matches, and even the Mounds candy bar.
Shortly before the Civil War, two products became readily available to residents of New Haven: hand-rolled cigars and beer. F.D. Grave began producing the aptly named ?Judge?s Cave? cigars in New Haven in the 1880s, and remained in the city for almost 100 years before moving to North Haven. Beer became a major industry with the arrival of German immigrants in the mid-19th century. By 1894 there were seven breweries in town, including the Hull Brewing Company, which remained until 1977.
?From Clocks to Lollipops: Made in New Haven? was organized for the New Haven Museum by guest curator Elizabeth Pratt Fox, "The vast amount of products produced in New Haven over time is mindboggling,? she says. ?Today, New Haven produces everything from engine parts that allow airplanes to navigate the world to hotdogs enjoyed across the nation. This exhibition is a sampler of the types of good produced here and gives the visitor a glimpse of the breadth of manufacturing in the Elm City." A museum and historic-site consultant, Fox has assisted institutions with exhibition planning and implementation, institutional planning, and collection assessments. Prior to forming her own consulting practice, she worked at the Yale University Art Gallery, Connecticut Landmarks, Wadsworth Atheneum, and The Connecticut Historical Society. Her projects have won awards from the Connecticut Humanities Council, Decorative Arts Society, and AASLH. Fox holds a B.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma, and an M.A. in art history from Tulane University.
The exhibition also reflects the city-wide evolution of industry and the arrival of immigrants. The New Haven population at the dawn of the 20th century was 108,000, with 28 percent foreign born and arriving daily for jobs in everything from baking powder to bed springs.
About the New Haven Museum
The New Haven Museum, founded in 1862 as the New Haven Colony Historical Society, is located in downtown New Haven at 114 Whitney Avenue. The Museum is currently celebrating 150 years of collecting, preserving and interpreting the history and heritage of Greater New Haven. Through its collections, exhibitions, programs and outreach, the Museum brings 375 years of New Haven history to life. For more information visit www.newhavenmuseum.org or Facebook.com/NewHavenMuseum or call 203-562-4183.
Fun, Fascinating and Made in the Elm ...Date and Time
Monday Aug 22, 2016
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM EDTvaries, see web site for details
Location
New Haven Museum, 114 Whitney Ave.
Fees/Admission
varies, see web site for details
Website
Contact Information
Donna Wardle
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