- Autumn
in New England: Tales
and Legends from Connecticut's Past
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- November
14, 2002
- New
Canaan, CT
The
New Canaan Historical Society provided a wonderful setting
for the November 14 meeting of the Fairfield County Chapter
of SLA. Chapter
members and guests toured the superb collections of the
museum. Healthcare
librarians in particular were impressed with the fully
preserved Cody Pharmacy inside the museum! New Canaan
Historical Society librarian Sharon Turo spoke to groups of
visitors about the organization's acquisitions and its
library.
Each
guest received a beautiful bookmark inspired by the autumn
theme with the compliments of New York’s Spring Street
Designs. Following
a sumptuous harvest feast from HayDay Market, storyteller
Ellie Toy entertained us with tales and legends of historic
Connecticut.
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Meeting
attendees enjoy a gourmet meal
catered
by HayDay of Westport
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Storyteller
Ellie Toy entertains and entrances listeners
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One
particularly touching anecdote concerned Sara Bramble, a young
teenage girl from New London who was executed for killing her
child. In
Ellie’s version of the story, it is not at all clear that
Sara was guilty, but 10,000 people turned out with picnics to
witness her execution.
Ellie also told the legend of the Simsbury witch and,
in one of the lighter tales of the evening, she explained the
origin of the giant frogs on the Willimantic Bridge.
Lupe Hernandez of Infotrieve commented later, “I just
moved here from California and this gave me a real feeling for
the New England culture!”
The
beautifully restored WPA murals in the meeting room, the
fascinating museum collections, and the sense of history that
Ellie shared with us combined to create an outstanding
educational and cultural event.
Carol
Harker of EBSCO found it “refreshing to meet with other
librarians and not talk about libraries.
We need to do that once in awhile!”
Holly Furman, formerly of Texaco, noted that it was
“a pleasant change to be able to socialize and network with
colleagues.
It really was a lovely meeting in a great setting.”
Thank
you to all who joined us and helped to make the meeting so
successful.
Special thanks to Janene Batten and Cindy Geremia who
worked so hard to pull the details of this program together.
And we greatly appreciate the support of our sponsor,
Intelligence Data.
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