Making It Home: Connecticut After the Vietnam War

"Rebellious" exhibition extended! Now on view through November 29. Learn more.

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Making It Home: Connecticut After the Vietnam War

Opens March 18, 2027

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Stories of return and arrival, of homecoming and home making, in Connecticut in the years after the Vietnam War. 

On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon. This moment is often used to mark the end of the Vietnam War. But for the war’s veterans, and for the millions who fled Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos as a result, the effects of the conflict are ongoing. Making it Home: Connecticut After the Vietnam War shares stories of return and arrival, of homecoming and home making, in Connecticut from 1975 through today. 

Making It Home explores how veterans, refugees, and their families found and formed spaces of support, connection, healing, and fulfillment as they made Connecticut their home. Drawing heavily from community interviews and oral histories, the exhibition examines how different spaces—from veterans’ centers to places of worship—contribute to home making for individuals and their communities. By layering personal stories on top of places that are all around us, Making it Home encourages visitors to see Connecticut through a different lens and consider the spaces that support their own sense of home.

Story cloths reflect both the Hmong embroidery tradition (paj ntaub) and the experience of Hmong refugees during the Vietnam War. Thousands of Hmong fled Laos after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Hmong story cloth, 2006-2011. Connecticut Museum Collection, Gift of Boua Tong Xiong and the Hmong Community of Connecticut, 2015.200.4.
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Story cloths reflect both the Hmong embroidery tradition (paj ntaub) and the experience of Hmong refugees during the Vietnam War. Thousands of Hmong fled Laos after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Hmong story cloth, 2006-2011. Connecticut Museum Collection, Gift of Boua Tong Xiong and the Hmong Community of Connecticut, 2015.200.4.

Cortland “Corky” and Yukiko “Yuki” Field stand in front of their Middletown home in 2010. Field served as a rescue helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. Connecticut Museum Collection, gift of the Field Family, 2026.40.53.
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Cortland “Corky” and Yukiko “Yuki” Field stand in front of their Middletown home in 2010. Field served as a rescue helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. Connecticut Museum Collection, gift of the Field Family, 2026.40.53.

Ronald and Wilma Holmes go sledding with their son James (Hoang Tien Mung) in East Hartford in 1974. Originally from Biên Hòa in South Vietnam, James was adopted by the couple after Ron met him in an orphanage while serving in Southeast Asia. Collection of the Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library.
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Ronald and Wilma Holmes go sledding with their son James (Hoang Tien Mung) in East Hartford in 1974. Originally from Biên Hòa in South Vietnam, James was adopted by the couple after Ron met him in an orphanage while serving in Southeast Asia. Collection of the Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library.

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Location

One Elizabeth Street
Hartford CT, 06105

860.236.5621

 

Museum Hours:

Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 5 pm, Thursday until 8 pm
Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm

Research Center Hours:

Tuesday-Saturday 12 pm - 5 pm, Thursday until 8 pm
Always by appointment only.