Representative Jill Barry Explores Exhibit Featuring Glastonbury Magician
NEWS RELEASE
3/25/2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Representative Jill Barry Explores Exhibit Featuring Glastonbury Magician
Last week, 31st House District Representative Jill Barry made a visit to the Connecticut Historical Society (CHS) to discover some of the special objects and exhibitions that help showcase our state’s history.
CHS leadership, including Executive Director and CEO Rob Kret, and Chief Curator Ilene Frank, showed Representative Barry through some of the Museum’s special exhibitions including Albert’s Odd Jobs: Making a Living in the 1800s, which explores how the Industrial Revolution redefined work and leisure, through the life of a Glastonbury farmer and magician.
“It’s incredible to see how the lives of Glastonbuy residents have changed so drastically with the evolution of technology, yet many of the overarching conversations around labor retain the same themes throughout these periods of history.” Representative Barry observed.
Representative Barry also toured Common Struggle Individual Experience: An Exhibition About Mental Health, Presented by Hartford Healthcare Institute of Living, which explores how society has sought and continues to seek to care for the mind and mental health.
During a special peek behind the scenes, a couple of particularly rare items from the CHS collection that Representative Barry saw were the “Lincoln Flag,” one of five flags that decorated the Presidential box at Ford’s Theater on 14 April 1865, and a rare surviving example of an American Revolutionary War military officer’s uniform coat from a Loyalist (Tory) regiment.
About Albert’s Odd Jobs: Making a Living in the 1800s
On view through April 16th, 2022
Albert Walker was a 19th century farmer – and amateur magician – living in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Through his myriad odd jobs, Walker illustrates a pivotal moment in Connecticut history. Changes in technology, economics, and labor during the Industrial Revolution redefined work and leisure, raising questions that we are still asking today. This exhibit explores those questions, using Walker’s diaries, objects, and ephemera to better understand the personal experience of finding and keeping work in an evolving market, pursuing passions and upholding obligations, and maintaining a foothold in a shrinking industry.
About Common Struggle Individual Experience: An Exhibition About Mental Health, Presented by Hartford Healthcare Institute of Living
On view through October 16th, 2022
Understanding how people have struggled with mental health throughout history helps us support ourselves and each other today. This exhibition explores how society has sought and continues to seek care for the mind and mental health. Letters, photographs, and other artifacts will help share the experiences of Connecticans from the past. Oral history interviews, recorded in 2020 and 2021, will share the perspectives of people today.
The Connecticut Historical Society (www.CHS.org) is a privately funded, independent, not-for-profit educational organization that includes a museum, library, the Edgar F. Waterman Research Center, and the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program. Founded in 1825, the CHS is Connecticut’s statewide historical society, and a Smithsonian Affiliate. At the CHS, we cultivate understanding of the history and culture of Connecticut, and its role in the United States and the world. Through our collections, research, educational programs, and exhibitions we reflect the past, actively engage with the present, and innovate for the future.
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