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Check Presentation Event to be Held at New Haven City Hall on Monday, August 25.
By ANSON C. SMITH
The Greater New Haven Labor History Association has been selected as the Connecticut recipient of a $1000 Historic New England 2014 Community Preservation Grant to expand its current traveling exhibit, Our Community at Winchester: An Elm City Story. The check will be presented to the organization by a Historic New England representative on Monday, August 25 at 3 p.m. in the atrium of New Havens City Hall, 165 Church Street, where the exhibit is currently showing. Former Winchester workers and Labor History Association members will attend to accept the grant.
The exhibit tells the stories of workers at the U.S. Repeating Arms Company (Winchester) plant, which closed and left New Haven in 2006. Labor struggles, workers culture within the plant, and the impact of the plant on the larger community are described in 33 panels, many of which feature text and photos from oral histories of former workers. Were thrilled that this grant will help to fund the research and production of eight more panels based on workers stories, said Joan Cavanagh, the exhibit curator and the Labor History Associations Director.
The core of the exhibit comes from photographs and documents from the International Association of Machinists Local 609 records held in the Labor History Associations archives, supplemented by oral history interviews with retired Winchester workers conducted by Association volunteers. Local 609 represented workers at the plant from 1956 until its closure. Images from earlier years as well as from workers lives in the community are culled from personal memorabilia and employee newsletters. Historic New England is a museum of cultural history that collects and preserves buildings, landscapes, and objects dating from the seventeenth century to the present and uses them to keep history alive and to help people develop a deeper understanding and enjoyment of New England life and appreciation for its preservation. Among its programs, the organization provides grants of $1,000 each to one Affiliate member organization in each of the six New England states, consistent with its strategic agenda goals for regional focus, visibility, and heritage preservation. Our Community at Winchester was displayed at Gateway Community Colleges New Alliance Art Gallery from December 2013 to April 2014 and from May to June at Science Park on Munson Street, where it was featured on a walking tour sponsored by the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. After leaving City Hall on August 27, it will spend September and October at Higher One, on the site of the main building of the old factory, before traveling to other venues through the city and state. For more information, contact joan@laborhistory.org.Click here to follow Daily Voice Bridgeport and receive free news updates.
