Karen Depauw, Research And Collections Associate From The Connecticut Historical Society
Item overview:
Protection from Tragedy: License plate topper, book ends, insurance markers
Response to Tragedy: Hurricane of 1938 Paper Weights
Politics of Tragedy: Civic Center T-shirt and fragments, toll collector’s jacket
Commemoration: 1944 Circus Fire Scrapbook, 9/11 Shadowbox, Lincoln Souvenir
Protection from Tragedy
- License Plate Topper and Hartford Insurance book ends - The idea of Insurance is so common today, we insure our cars, our houses, even our lives. But the idea of Insurance was fairly new when the Hartford Fire Insurance Company was formed in 1810, as America’s first insurance company. Soon after that other insurance companies began springing up around Hartford, eventually giving Hartford the name of the Insurance Capitol of the World.
- Insurance Markers - Early on not everyone had insurance and fire companies were privately, not municipally, owned. It was important to have a marker outside of your home indicating that you held insurance, because without it the fire company couldn’t be guaranteed of payment and may not put out the fire.
Response to Tragedy
- Hurricane of 1938 Paper Weights - When the Hurricane of 1938 struck the state of CT, the citizens rallied around those affected in the form of the Mayor’s Relief Committee. The Committee, headed by Mayor Spellacy, sold these paper weights as an official hurricane souvenir to raise money for victims. They were sold at department stores, office buildings, etc., ranging in price from 25 cents to $25. In less than 2 weeks sales had raised over $2000. The paper weights are made from the wood of trees felled in the storm with a metal plate bearing the seal of the City of Hartford.
The Politics of Tragedy
- Civic Center T-shirt and Civic Center Fragments - On January 18, 1978 the roof of the Hartford Civic Center’s Coliseum collapsed under the weight of heavy snow. The collapse took place early in the morning, just hours after housing over 5000 spectators of a basketball game. Surprisingly, no one was insured in the collapse. Eight lawsuits were filed in response to the collapse resulting in restitution of $12.5 million being paid by the designers, builders, architects, contractors, and suppliers who created the structurally unsound roof; setting a precedence that those individuals involved in the creation of the building can be held financially liable for any structural failure.
- Toll Collector’s Jacket - In January of 1983, a massive tractor-trailer crash at the Stratford toll plaza on I-95 took the lives of 7 individuals. This was not the first crash caused by the tolls, but it would be one of the last. It enlivened a debate concerning the need for tolls on I-95 in CT and eventually resulted in the closing of all CT tolls on I-95. By July 1986 all toll booths in CT were removed. This crash and its debate are still referenced today when the ideas of reinstituting tolls on I-95 come up.
Commemoration
For many people, part of the healing process after tragedy strikes is to commemorate the event to remember the people affected.
- 1944 Circus Fire Scrapbook - On July 6, 1944, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey’s Circus big top caught fire during an afternoon performance. The fire spread quickly due to the paraffin and gasoline mixture so commonly used for waterproofing tents resulting in tragedy that left 168 dead and over 700 injured. In New Britain, 13 year old Jane Wheeler created this scrapbook to collect newspaper articles and commemorate the event.
- 9/11 Shadowbox - When the World Trade Centers collapsed on September 11, 2001, approximately 153 people with ties to Connecticut were killed. Nine-year-old Maggie remembered that day by creating a shadowbox housing two American Flag pins.
- Lincoln Souvenir - On April 15, 1865, Americans across the nation mourned the death of President Abraham Lincoln. This memorial was put together with relics from the event, such as a piece of cloth reported to have wiped the blood from the President’s wound.