Documents: Holiday Greetings from Afar
by Carolyn Wakeman Featured image: Harry Hoffman holiday card, White [...]
Cooking in Old Lyme: A Woman’s Highest Mission
by Carolyn Wakeman Feature Image: Lyme Receipt Book, printed by G. [...]
Documents: Holiday Greetings
Old Lyme’s artists often chose nocturnal scenes for the original drawings and etchings they sent as holiday cards. See a selection of these greetings sending holiday cheer.
Documents: Sketches in an Autograph Book
Midway through Rev. William B. Cary’s leather-bound autograph book, Florence Griswold (1850–1937) and her sisters inscribed their names. They also contributed finely detailed sketches displaying their varied musical and artistic talents.
Documents: Griswold Family Letters, Part 1
An extensive collection of letters at the Florence Griswold Museum chronicles the relationship between a successful packet ship captain who spent months at sea and his often disconsolate wife. Written from 1840 to 1858, the correspondence between Captain Robert Harper Griswold (1806–1882) and Helen Powers Griswold (1820–1899) provides fascinating glimpses of community life in Lyme while tracing the journey of a captivating young “belle” from courtship and marriage through the joys and trials of motherhood. The earliest of Helen’s collected letters, written soon after their engagement, pours out her devotion but also hints at lingering uncertainty.
Documents: Women Reading on Lyme Street
A simple hand-stitched notebook, its marbled paper cover faded over the centuries, records the religious, educational, and charitable purposes of Lyme’s earliest women’s organization. Mid-way through the construction of a new Meetinghouse at the foot of what is now Lyme Street, ten ladies from the town’s prominent families gathered in 1816 to establish a reading group.
Old Lyme Women Oppose Suffrage
Women in Old Lyme debated the merits of granting women the right to vote. Read more to learn about a Connecticut town's role in suffrage, anti-suffrage, and the ratification of the nineteenth amendment.
A “Little Scene” from Miss Florence
by Carolyn Wakeman Featured photo, above: Florence Griswold, "Moonlight." Postcard [...]
Documents: Holiday Greetings
When local artists exchanged holiday cards, they often sent original etchings or woodblock prints of the surrounding landscape, or lithographic reproductions of their paintings.
Profiles: Daphne Ely (1891-1981)
Daphne Ely was a resident of Lyme and active community member, but before settling down in the town where her ancestors had settled, Daphne lived in Hartford and documented her life from 1911-1914 in her scrapbook. She was also an avid collector of newspaper clippings, local advertisements, and invitations to social events, and her scrapbook details four years in the life of a Hartford socialite in the early 20th century.
Exhibition Note: Old Lyme’s Concert Band
Carolyn Wakeman Featured Photo: Unidentified artist, A Massachusetts Militia Bandsman, ca. [...]
Landmarks: The Disappearance of a Lyme Street House
Carolyn Wakeman Featured Photo: Joseph Perkins house, ca. 1890, showing apple [...]
