Hear Susan Campbell talk about her new Frog Hollow book

Susan Campbell got to know the city’s Frog Hollow neighborhood as a longtime reporter and columnist for the Hartford Courant. Now she has poured that expertise into a new book that delves into the neighborhood’s long history as a hotbed of industrial, political, and cultural change. You can meet Campbell and buy a copy of her book, “Frog Hollow: Stories from an American Neighborhood,” at the Barnes & Noble UConn Hartford Bookstore today from 6 to 8 p.m.

If you can’t make it to B&N, you can still hear Campbell discuss her book on “Where We Live,” the Connecticut Public Radio talk show. Here’s the recording  of today’s show, on which she was a guest.

Publisher Wesleyan University Press gives this description of the book:

Frog Hollow: Stories from an American Neighborhood is a collection of colorful historical vignettes of an ethnically diverse neighborhood just west of the Connecticut State Capitol in Hartford. Its 1850s row houses have been home to a wide variety of immigrants. During the Revolutionary War, Frog Hollow was a progressive hub, and later, in the mid-late 19th century, it was a hotbed of industry. Reporter Susan Campbell tells the true stories of Frog Hollow with a primary focus on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: the inventors, entrepreneurs and workers, as well as the impact of African American migration to Hartford, the impact of the Civil Rights movement and the continuing fight for housing. Frog Hollow was also one of the first neighborhoods in the country to experiment with successful urban planning models, including public parks and free education. From European colonists to Irish and Haitian immigrants to Puerto Ricans, these stories of Frog Hollow show the multiple realities that make up a dynamic urban neighborhood. At the same time, they reflect the changing faces of American cities. Features 40 illustrations.

You may also buy the book on Amazon.

Capital Community College hosting local history lectures

Capital Community College will kick off its Hartford Studies Lecture and Discussion Series on Thursday, January 25, with a public talk by historian William Hosley, who will outline how local art, architecture, and archives can “attract talent and foster innovation and teamwork” in Hartford.

The lecture begins at 7 p.m. in the Centinel Hill Hall Auditorium of the college, which occupies the former G. Fox & Co. department store at 950 Main Street. The auditorium is on the 11th floor.

Hosley’s talk will be the first in a series of four lectures on city history, with the other three held on the last Thursdays of February, March, and April. The series, curated by Hosley, is co-hosted by the Hartford Heritage Project and College Foundation as part of  Capital’s 50th anniversary commemoration.

Hosley is a cultural resource development and marketing consultant, historian, preservationist, writer, and photographer. He was formerly director of the New Haven Museum and Hartford-based Connecticut Landmarks, where he cared for a chain of  house museums, including Hartford’s Butler-McCook and Isham-Terry houses. Prior to that, he served as curator and exhibition developer at Wadsworth Atheneum, where his exhibit “Sam & Elizabeth: Legend and Legacy of Colt’s Empire(1996) helped spawn the Coltsville National Park.

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