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| MUSEUM EXHIBITS IN 2009 | |
The First Baptist Church of Mansfield: Celebrating 200 Years!Located on Spring Hill at the geographic center of the town, the First Baptist Church has played a major role in Mansfield's history, and its members have made prominent contributions to local government, business, industry, culture, and society. The exhibit, designed to complement a series of 200th Anniversary events at the church, will include many artifacts, photographs, documents, and narratives of church members and friends through the years. The Village of GurleyvilleIn its heyday in the mid-1800s, Gurleyville was a thriving community with two silk mills, a gristmill and saw mill, its own church, a school and three stores. The exhibit includes a wide variety of photographs and artifacts related to the village and its industries. It also provides information on two noted men who hailed from Gurleyville: Charles Emory Smith, who was the U.S. minister to Russia from 1890 to 1892 and Postmaster General from 1898 to 1902, and Wilbur L. Cross who served as Governor of Connecticut from 1931 to 1939. The Gurley Family of MansfieldGurleyville owes its name to Ephraim Gurley who established a successful tool manufactory on the Fenton River in 1808. However the first Gurleys who settled in Mansfield in the early 1700s lived four miles northwest in the area known as “The Ravine.” This exhibit traces the history of the Gurley family in Mansfield and also recognizes George H. Gurley whose bequest 30 years ago established the Mansfield Historical Society’s endowment fund. Textiles in the home, 1800 & 1900A new display in the museum’s kitchen area focuses on textiles in two time periods, 1800 and 1900. In the earlier kitchen, domestic textile production of wool, linen and silk are illustrated, including spinning, weaving and the use of natural dyes. The 1900 kitchen examines the 19th century technological changes that relegated the spinning wheel and loom to the attic and led to the development of new textile crafts in the home. A Celebration of Mansfield’s BarnsLast year the Town’s Agriculture Committee partnered with the Mansfield Historical Society to document Mansfield’s fast disappearing barns. This effort was part of a statewide project coordinated by the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation. The Agriculture Committee and Historical Society also sponsored a barn photography contest. This exhibit includes selected materials from the barn survey project, the photography contest entries, and historic photographs from our collection.
Ann Galonska, Museum Director |