The "Peoples of Connecticut" Project was begun in 1974 under a grant from the Ethnic Heritage program, Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The goal of this program was to increase awareness, within Connecticut secondary schools, of different ethnic groups. Using curriculum guides and other instructional materials, the project endeavored to provide teaching and learning tools for discovering the cultural diversity of Connecticut's residents./n
The collection contains a wide variety of materials more specifically detailed in the series descriptions. All aspects of the project are documented in the collection from the working papers of the grant to the published curriculum guides and bibliographies. Reference and resource materials pertinent to the ethnic groups represented by Connecticut's residents are included in Series IV-VII. The collection also includes some general reference materials pertaining to these ethnic groups in the United States, as well./n
Series IX-XI include similar information to that found in Series I-III. The later series appears to be materials added at a later date and not integrated into the processed collection.
The records of the Western Massachusetts locals and district councils of the UBCJA documents the rise of unionization among carpenters in the Connecticut River Valley since the 1880s. This collection represents a merger of separate accessions for the District Councils in Springfield (MS 110), the Pioneer Valley (MS 231), and Holyoke (MS 108), along with post-merger records for Local 108. In general, each has been maintained as a distinct series.
Oral history with the Gagnon family, part of the Franco-American community in Springfield since 1953. Topics include their participation in Franco-American activities at St. Joseph’s Church, their interest in Franco-American studies, and what nationality means to them, as people with roots in America, Canada, and France.
Collection includes statutes and by-laws, minutes, administrative records, correspondence, financial records and receipts, scholarship records, publications, records of programs and events, and artifacts and ephemera.
This First Communion certificate was tucked behind a framed Baptismal record. Note that the language for the Baptismal record was French. Eight years later, at the same church, the First Communion record is in English. There was also another priest, albeit Franco-American as well, named Fr. Troie.
James' Franco-American mother made the frame for the baptismal record. Her family name was Houle, also spelled Rule. The baptism took place on July 10, 1928 at Assumption Church in Redford, NY. The priest was Fr. Laramee. Godfather (Parrain) was ? Lanctot. Godmother (Marraine) was Lina Fecteau.
Assumption Church was consecrated on August 15, 1855, the Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary. Every year on August 15, a community picnic was held by the parish. It continues today on the 3rd Sunday in August. The masses were said in French until Irish parishioners complained. Then bilingual masses were held, followed later by separate masses. There was also a parish school whose teachers and administrators were nuns from the Order of the Holy Cross from St-Laurent, Quebec. The church was Sallaz Academy.
Letter found in the wall of the rectory of the Roman Catholic priest in Redford, NY. It is in French and written by a young woman who says that she is "compelled by law" to return to Montreal. It was found in the wall along with a linen with a cross on it.
