All Things Nora Ephron

Join us for All Things Nora Ephron this fall: film discussions, a book discussion, and an author visit!

We’re screening four film classics based on her screenwriting. All Zoom discussions will be on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm.  View the films at home (check https://www.justwatch.com for options) and join us for a Zoom discussion led by Bob Kagan. Register here for the film discussions

September 4, When Harry Met Sally, 1989. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan star as longtime friends contemplating whether they should take their relationship to the next level. In the film’s iconic scene a Pastrami sandwich has never looked so appealing.

September 11, You’ve Got Mail, 1998. It’s the dawn of the Social Media era and Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan fall in love using the anonymity of email and the Internet. Both are happily unaware that he’s trying to put her independent bookstore out of business at the same time he is romancing her.

September 18, Julie and Julia, 2009. Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and Stanley Tucci sparkle as we follow two true stories. The start of Julia Child’s career intersects with the life of blogger Julie Powell who attempts to make Child’s 524 cookbook recipes in one year.

September 25, Heartburn, 1986. Based on her “autobiographical” novel of the same title, Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson light up the screen in this tale of romance and betrayal as the film follows Ephron’s failed marriage to the philandering Carl Bernstein.

Bob Kagan taught Communications and film at Manchester Community College, Central Connecticut State University and the University of Hartford for over 40 years. He has been leading film discussions at the Avon Free Public Library for the past 7 years.

Please register once for the series, even if you can’t attend each session. Zoom links will go out before the event.

Nora Ephron Book Discussion: I Feel Bad About My Neck & I Remember Nothing
Wednesday, October 9 at 2:00 pm.

Join us in the atrium for an in-person book discussion of two of Nora Ephron’s books, I Feel Bad About My Neck, and  I Remember Nothing.  Read one, both, or just a selection from one or the other. Readers will determine which essays we’ll discuss during the event. Bring your favorite Ephron moments to share! Register here. 

Escape the Politics (for like and hour or so on Tuesdays in October)

Series sponsored by the Friends of the Avon Library. All events are in-person. Programs are free except for the grand finale, which is a ticketed fundraiser for the Friends of the Avon Library. Escape the politics series flyer

October 8, 2024, 2pm: Live Country Music performed by Jim Moore.

Jim is from the Northwest Corner of CT and has been performing in the New England area for the past five years. Early musical influences were Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson. Register here

October 15, 2024, 1pm: Paint and Sip Program

Create a fall scene using tabletop easels and acrylic paint. All supplies will be provided. Enjoy mocktails while painting! No experience necessary; this program is for adults ages 18+. Limited to 12 people. THIS EVENT IS FULL WITH A WAIT LIST.

October 22, 2024, 1pm: The Basics of Chocolate Making

If you simply love chocolate and cooking or would like to learn to make some elegant desserts and chocolates, come to this lecture/demonstration, which will include some basic information about chocolate, the various types, and how to work with it, plus samples and recipes. Limited to 30 people. Register here

October 22, 2024, 6:30 pm: Marilyn Simon Rothstein Book Launch:

Who Loves You Best? Marilyn will be joined in conversation with NYT bestselling author of twenty-five page turners, Kristan Higgins (Look on the Bright Side, A Little Ray of Sunshine) and Amazon bestselling author of comedy-infused women’s fiction Maddie Dawson, (Let’s Pretend This Will Work, The Magic of Found Objects). Laughter guaranteed! Books will be for sale at this event. Register here

October 29, 2024, 2pm: Victorian Gossip Girl (dramatic performance)

Join us for a dramatic presentation by Judith Kalora of History at Play! She’ll portray Annie Adams Fields, sharing stories of her friends: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Register here.

GRAND FINALE! November 5, 2024, 6:30 pm:

The Author’s Guide to Murder: Ticketed Event/Friends Fundraiser

Spend election night with us! Be among the first to enjoy meeting authors Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White, as we host an event to celebrate the release of their new book, The Author’s Guide to Murder. This event has an admission of $30 and includes a copy of the book. Get your ticket here

Save America’s Treasures Spotlight: Pierced Tin Foot Warmer

As we work on our Save America’s Treasures Project, we’ll showcase items we’ve scanned, carefully repackaged with archival products, or discovered within the collection here.

July 2024: Pierced Tin Foot Warmer

What’s better than thinking about cool fall nights in the middle of summer?  “If you were travelling in cold weather you would hope to have a foot warmer of some kind in your unheated carriage, sleigh, or train compartment. In the 17th and 18th centuries a pierced metal carrier for hot coals was a common solution for anyone who could afford one. They went on being used in the 19th century, while other styles of foot warmer came along too.” (Learn more here) View the full listing of this item here

June 2024: Northington Town Records

Before Avon incorporated in 1830, it was called Northington, and was part of Farmington.  We’re digitizing the oldest records of Northington, 1752-1831, and uploading them to the CT Digital Archive. The Farmington Libraries maintain the originals; our librarians are sorting through the data to find patterns, common names, and overlapping details. The first United States census didn’t occur until 1790–so these records give us a snapshot of Northington’s population before then.  Explore the collection here

Late April 2024: Hadsell’s Violin

Listen to Michael of Seery Strings (https://seerystrings.com/) play the Hadsell violin, restored by his company after years of disrepair. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xILapGgg5dI) This violin is an Amati copy, post WWI, and it belonged to Clinton Hadsell (1871-1947), Avon resident. Donated by a descendant in 2006, the violin is one of many items from the Hadsell family. Learn more about their family by viewing our digital collection here: http://hdl.handle.net/11134/150002:19842. The violin is on display in the history case of the Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Rd., Avon, CT, 06001 through the month of May, 2024.

Photos of the violin before:

Photos after restoration:

April 2024: Moving Day!

After months of work, the Avon Historical Society’s collection of items from 1800-1900 were moved out of storage and into their permanent location at the Avon History Museum.  Special thanks to the Avon Public Works Department, who helped move over 100 boxes into their new home.  All of the items in the collection can be viewed here. 

March 2024: Let’s play checkers, let’s play chess

One of the coolest examples of recycling, repurposing, and crafting (all modern words, we know) that we’ve come across is this wooden box lid that doubles as a gameboard. One side says, “Hadsell, Avon, Conn” and the other side is painted with black boxes to allow for chess or checkers. We can date it to the late 1800’s/early 1900’s, based on what we know about Clinton and Frank Hadsell. Which would you play?

January 2024:  Care to have lunch in a porringer?

If you lived in Colonial New England, your main meal may be served in a porringer, a round bowl made of pewter or silver, with a handle on one side.

Learn more about the history of this unique item here, and view the entry from our collection here

December 2023:  Ice skating, anyone?

It’s winter, it’s cold, and the local ponds have frozen over. If it’s the 1800’s, the options for ice skates include styles like these:

In the late Victorian Era,  “people were advised to “not carry a stick, a muff, or anything that will impede the use of your arms while skating [and to] never throw stones onto the surface of a sheet of ice on which you are anyone else can possibly wish to skate.” Read more about the rules of skating, including the use of skating sleds by new skaters, click here.  This is just one of the many items in the Avon Historical Society’s collection. 

November 2023:  Coffee Grinder

It’s an everyday activity that crosses time: preparing a cup of coffee.  This everyday object was donated by Miss Susie Wilcox, and was presumably owned by the Wilcox Family.  It’s painted white (not original), and says “Golden Rule Blend Coffee, the Finest Blend in the World” Citizen’s Whole. Co., Columbus, Ohio, on the front.  One can smell the beans and hear the crunch of the grinder, and imagine what the family is discussing as they enjoy their first cup of the day. View the listing here.

July 2023: 1901 Signature Pillow

We’ve been busy entering items from the Avon Historical Society’s collection into CT Collections, the new online catalog system that they’ve joined.  ConnecticutCollections (CTCo) is a project of the Connecticut League of History Organizations (CLHO). A customization of CollectiveAccess software, CTCo provides heritage and arts organizations of any size with a tool to help them to both privately manage and publicly share their museum and archival collections. Learn more here

One of the treasures in the Avon Historical Society’s collection is this pillow dated March 4, 1901.

This pillow contains over 50 signatures, from names we all recognize: Bishop, Case, Chidsey, Ellsworth, Miller, North, and Woodford.  Over a dozen of the names are male; the rest are female.  Each person signed their name; then it was embroidered. Bits of personality show through: bold loops, dramatic capital letters, and clusters of family members who autographed together.

What was the event? Was it a wedding, a birth, or an anniversary? Was someone moving, and this was a keepsake to remember Avon? We’re curious about the stories this pillow has to tell.

Multiple pictures are of the pillow are available here.

April, 2023: Guy Thomson’s (1791-1845) Recipe Book

Hand written, with few measurements and no baking times (or temperatures), this collection of recipes also includes home remedies, making it snapshot of home economics in the 1800s.  The recipe for “Measles, to draw out” says to scrape the husk from the peach tree. Simmer it in cider. To be given hot or can be taken… and then the entry just ends.

The remedy for asthma is to “put salt into a bottle of brandy as much as can be dissolved. Use from the bottle for an adult; one tablespoonful with two spoonfuls of boiling water three times a day.” There are no instructions for children!

There’s a recipe for rusk, which none of us had ever heard of.  Rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or twice-baked bread (think of biscotti, croutons, or melba toast).

There are at least eight entries involving lemon or citron. Citron is a large fragrant citrus fruit that resembles a “huge, rough lemon”. There are a dozen or so entries for cake, including an eggless one, which sounds appealing given our 2023 egg prices…

If anyone wants to attempt these recipes, the reference librarians will be happy to taste test them! View the entire recipe book here.

Let us know if you decide to knit the cape, as well….

The Avon Library has scans of this item; the original is retained by the donor. Ephemera found in the recipe book was also scanned, and appears after the actual notebook pages. (#2022-016)

The table to contents/headings of Guy Thomson’s recipes and entries:

Loaf cake, Lady cake, Sponge cake, Coffee cake, Rusk, Poor man’s cake, Orange cake, Family [?] cake, Silver cake, Lemon Tart, Cream Pie, Cream Lemon Pie, Orange Pie, Cream Cake, Mrs. Stove’s Layer Cake, Sweet pickles, Lemon tarts, Eggless cake, Taffy, Butter Scotch [sic], Plain rice pudding, Graham Bread, Pop Corn Balls [sic], Remedy for Asthma, White mixture, Measles—to bring them out, Washing fluid, Liquid ammonia, H [?] soup, Dyes: yellow, Watermelon pickle, Citron, Insect pickle, Scalloped oysters, Citron preserves, Frosting for cake, Salad dressing, Corn patties, Biscuits, Sweet apple pickle, Crab apple pickle, Citron preserves, Citron sweet pickles, Grape [?], Polished furniture, Blue on cotton, Green on cotton, Red on cotton, [to color] crimson, Sore throat, Cramp in legs, Feet-ache, Delicate cake, Royal Baking Powder insert, Recipes from Egg-o-Gene, Duryeas’ improved corn starch recipes, Cape (yarn), Tapioca, [?] dumplings, Lemon Custard Pie, Fleishman’s selected recipes brochure

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February, 2023:  On Saturday, February 18, 2023, the Avon Historical Society and Avon Congregation Church showcased the recent donation of a quilt from the Woodford family. What started as a showcase for one textile became a “Quilt Reunion”, as shown in the pictures below.  We’re excited to showcase the textile work of women in Avon during the mid 1800’s. Full details/history on the quilt from Sophia, including all of the names of the women who worked on it, are available here. 

This quilt was a gift to Sophia Woodford, and has been donated to the Avon Historical Society by descendants of the Woodford family.

Pictured left to right: Peter Morgan, Eleanor Morgan, Chris Kraus, Mary Ann Antoniazzi, Martha Petrovick, Dave Petrovick, during the “Quilt Reunion”.

This quilt was a gift to Adaline Woodford; notice the star in the center:

Adaline also quilted this pink and orange quilt:

Sophia created this quilt out of dress fabrics; the back says, “To Ellen Bill from Aunt Sophia 1897”

Visitors used magnifying glasses to view the signatures within each quilt block:

After an audience of 85 had viewed the quilts, they were carefully repackaged by Terri Wilson, Avon Historical Society President, for storage:

January, 2023: Using our new overhead scanner, we scanned a delicate sketchbook from the 1800’s that belonged to Carrie Woodford.  Her name appears inside the front cover, C.A. Woodford.  She is the daughter of CR and Harriet Woodford, and lived from 1857-1921. Carrie is the youngest of six children, and according to Janet Carville, one of our favorite Avon residents, she “was the “housekeeper”, as the others had either died or gone on with their professions. She was a brilliant artist, but never sold her paintings as far as Janet knows. 

Peruse Carrie Woodford’s sketchbook by clicking here

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Avon Library receives a Save America’s Treasures Grant, in the amount of $50,016

Left to right: Michael Howser and Greg Colatti, CT Digital Archive; Rob Berman, Avon Library Board member; Lisa Berman, Friends of the Avon Library President; Donna Gianini, Avon Library Board member; Joan Resikin, Vice President, Friends of the Avon Library; Tina Panik, Reference & Adult Services Manager, Avon Library; Heddy Panik, Avon Historical Society Board member and history room volunteer; CT U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal; Glenn Grube, Avon Library Director; State Representative Eleni Kavros DeGraw; Terri Wilson, Avon Historical Society President; Nora Howard, Town Historian; Brandon Robertson, Avon Town Manager; Barbara Ausiello, Avon Town Council.

Connecticut U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and Connecticut State Representative Eleni Kavros DeGraw visited the Avon Free Public Library today (10/17/22) to congratulate them for their 2022 Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Save America’s Treasures Grant. This grant, in the amount of $50,016, will cover a two year project, beginning in November 2022.  This award is part of $24.25 million in Save America’s Treasures grants to fund 80 projects in 32 states and the District of Columbia.  Save America’s Treasures, funded through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), provided $356 million to more than 1,326 projects between 1999 and 2020. Requiring a dollar-for-dollar private match, these grants have leveraged more than $500 million in private investment and contributed more than 16,000 jobs to local and state economies. 

The Avon Free Public Library will use this federal grant to preserve and digitize objects relevant to the agrarian history of Avon. Their existing collection consists of 298 linear feet of historical material and includes cataloged books, as well a map cabinet with over 276 geographic maps. Nearly 20,000 items have been digitized for the CT Digital Archive .  This two year project will focus on digitizing collections of the Avon HIstorical Society from the National Register’s  Pine Grove Historic District consisting of four 19th-century farmsteads, a late 18th century house, and a restored Gothic Revival schoolhouse, and the separate National Register’s Avon Congregational Church, designed by local architect David Hoadley. 

This agrarian grouping is representative of Avon, Connecticut’s history, as reflected in the artifacts held within the archives, which contain ledgers, tools, clothing, household items, and photos from the Thompson and Woodford families who settled this area. The Woodford farm was established in 1666 and is one of the oldest farms still operating in Connecticut. Other names associated with Avon’s dairy, poultry, and tobacco farms were Alsop, Buckland, Colton, Delbon, Distin, Gold, Silver, Stone, Strong, Thompson, Watson, Westerman, and Viti.  

Farms, mills, blacksmith shops, taverns and dry goods stores began to punctuate Avon’s landscape during the mid 19th century. In the heart of this historic district is the Pine Grove Schoolhouse, built in 1865, which remained in use until 1949. The students and families from West Avon’s Pine Grove area comprise the majority of this project. Their photos, ledgers, journals, land deeds, books, household items, tools, and ephemera showcase the connections between residents and detail daily life during this era. 

 “The goal of this project is to connect all of the artifacts within our collection digitally, so that patrons and researchers can experience 24/7 access to Avon’s complete story as they explore life in the 19th century,” said Tina Panik, Project Director. 

The federal grant will expand the organization’s capacity by hiring an archivist to help assess, organize, store and digitize approximately 1,000 items from the Avon Historical Society’s collection, integrating access to materials within both the library and historical society’s collections.  

“These 1,000 items need professional archival assessment, storage, conservation, and digitization. These artifacts are temporarily housed in a climate controlled storage facility, as their home location, Schoolhouse #3, is in the process of a renovation, making this the perfect time to complete the work,” said Terri Wilson, Avon Historical Society President. 

Glenn Grube, Avon Library Director and Grant Administrator added, “The same dozen or so names populate our archives throughout the 1800-1900s, framing Avon as a New England town with a deeply interconnected social history.  Previously neglected from our archive projects, this segment of Avon’s history that incorporates the Pine Grove Historical District and Avon Congregational Church deserves our attention, preservation, and digitization focus.” 

Those interested in loaning items for scanning or donating items from the agrarian history of Avon to enhance the collections of the Avon Free Public Library or the Avon Historical Society can email historyroom@avonctlibrary.info for further instruction. 

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)  is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Our vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov 

Poverty: A Community Conversation

This fall, we’re hosting a series funded by the  Avon Greater Together Community Fund, in collaboration with the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and Avon Friends for Equity.

This post will be updated as details are confirmed. All events are free to attend, and will be held in-person at the Avon Free Public Library, 281 Country Club Rd., Avon, CT 06001, unless indicated as a virtual event.

Poverty: lecture and discussion with Dr. Beth Merenstein

Join us for a lecture and discussion featuring Matthew Desmond’s book, Poverty.  This event will be led by Dr. Beth Merenstein, with audience questions moderated by Carrie Firestone.  Copies of Poverty are available at the reference desk on the first floor of the Avon Library. Please read before this event!

About Poverty, by America: In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond educates us as to why poverty exists in America, how it touches all of us, and that there are ways to help eradicate poverty and create equity, starting with understanding the current crisis. 39% of Connecticut residents struggle to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Many in town might not realize that, in Avon alone, roughly 5% or 1,000 residents live below the poverty level. This series draws on history, research, and original reporting to show that the more we understand the reasons behind these numbers, the more able we are to change the old model that keeps poor people poor. Join us for these programs to unpack the ideas in this book and become more informed as a town to do something about this. More details and register here. 

Film Screening & Panel Discussion of Fighting for Home

Saturday, September 28, 1:00 pm.

Join us for a screening of Fighting for Home: How Housing Policy Keeps Connecticut Segregated, followed by a panel discussion.  This program is a bonus program in our Poverty: a community conversation series.  The legacy of exclusionary zoning and redlining imposed a painful divide we see today in our state’s current housing crisis. Our towns and cities are segregated by race and class because of systemic barriers that have persisted over time. Witness the struggle and determination of those fighting for change.  Running time, 57 m, 36s.  Panel discussion members will be announced soon!  More details and register here

The Economics of Wealth Inequality in Connecticut (virtual event)

Tuesday, October 15, 2024, at 6:30 via Zoom.

Join us for a panel discussion on the Economics of Wealth Inequality in Connecticut, moderated by Tina Panik. Our panelists include Janée Woods Weber, Executive Director of She Leads Justice, and Keith Phaneuf, Budget Reporter for the CT Mirror.

More details and register here. Zoom links go out the day before the event.

Housing in Connecticut: a panel discussion

Thursday, October 24, 2024, at 6:30 pm

Join us for a panel discussion of Housing in Connecticut, moderated by Avon resident Carrie Firestone. Our panelists include:

Peter Harrison of Desegregate CT, Ginny Monk of CT Mirror, and CT State Representative Eleni Kavros DeGraw. 

More details and register here.

Plus one more panel discussion that we’re still designing!

Unearthing History: 2024 Virtual Lecture Series

Unearthing History: The discovery of a 12,500 year old Paleo-Indian site along the Farmington River in Avon. Join us for a virtual series of lectures, sponsored by a grant from the Lower Farmington River and Salmon Brook Wild and Scenic Committee that will cover the many aspects of archaeology, with a focus on the Brian D. Jones Paleo-Indian discovery in Avon, Connecticut. All events begin at 7:00pm EST on Zoom.

This 2024 VIRTUAL HISTORY SERIES is sponsored by Avon Historical Society, Avon Free Public Library and Avon Senior Center, in partnership with the Avon Land Trust, Farmington River Watershed Association, and the Institute of American Indian Studies in Washington, CT.

Times are EST: Eastern Standard Time.  Events are free to attend. Webinars will be recorded; links appear at the end of this post and are available on the Avon Library’s YouTube Channel.

View the full 2024 series flyer here

September 19 –– Use and Sources Of Ohio Hopewell Fossil Shark Teeth, presented by Katherine Sterner, Ph.D., RPA; Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, & Criminal Justice; Director, Baltimore Community Archaeology Lab.  Learn more about Katherine here.  

Fossil shark teeth recovered from Ohio Hopewell sites represent a quintessential example of an exotic good representative of the Hopewell Interaction Sphere. As with most artifacts, the primary questions asked of fossil shark teeth in archaeological contexts are (1) what were they used for and (2) where did they come from? Register here

October 10 or 17 (TBD) – Update on the Brian D. Jones site in Avon, CT since discovery in 2019 presented by the team at Archaeological and Historical Services, Storrs, CT.  October is Archaeology Month in Connecticut, so this presentation will be 90 minutes with time after for Q&A.  (NOTE:  This may be a hybrid event if the CT DOT and Archaeological and Historical Services wish to use this month as a formal public final presentation on the site.)

Completed programs:

March 7  – The History of Archaeology in CT with Emphasis on Native Americans, presented by Nicholas Bellantoni, serves as the emeritus state archaeologist with the UCONN State Museum of Natural History and is adjunct associate research professor in the Department of Anthropology. He will take the audience through the history of archaeology in CT bringing it up to present day with new discoveries and the process during the work at the BDJ Site.   Watch the recording here

April 11  – Bioarchaeology in North America: Ethics, Issues and Where the Field Stands in 2024, presented by Alex Garcia-Putnam, PhD, University of New Hampshire.  He will talk about the field, basics of bioarchaeology, the lack of skeletal remains found in the United States and some of the reasons for, and implications of, that lack of data.  Watch the recording here

May 9  – Foraging in the Paleoindian Period: A Macrobotanical Analysis (tentative title), presented Katharine Reinhart, Project Archaeologist/Botanical Analyst, Archaeological and Historical Services, Inc, Storrs, CT. She will focus on the analysis of plant evidence from different sites to learn what they ate and where they found it.   Register here

Questions? Email Terri Wilson, President Avon Historical Society, president@avonhistoricalsociety.org