CT Historical Update

Gloria Whiting from Harvard and Kelly Arehart from the College of William and Mary are spending three weeks each at the Connecticut Historical Society. As usual, the Fellows make use of our resources in interesting ways. Gloria is pouring through 17th and 18th century court records for clues on family relationships among slave families in Connecticut. Kelly has benefited from our recently completed backlog cataloging project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. There was one bill we discovered just before her arrival that provided excellent details on what materials were purchased for an individual's funeral, including preserving fluid. Kelly also was in awe of the corpse preserver! Her topic, obviously, is the development of the funeral industry.