New Britain for Sound Money
This silk ribbon, part of the New Britain Industrial Museum’s civil and political history collection, helps tell the story of a series of divisive presidential elections from over a century ago...
National Spring Bed Co. Burns… Again!
As many of you know, there was a massive fire Tuesday night on the corner of Columbus and High Street. Popularly known as the Polar Building today, and remembered variously as the location of Superior Ball Bearing, Connecticut Photo Engraving Company, and more...
More Than One Hundred Years of Beer!
It started in 1903, when the John Zunner Health Beer Company (also known as the Consumers Brewery) and was founded by John Zunner of Hartford. The brewery, erected on Belden Street, was only in operation for fourteen months, during which time lager, ale and porter were all brewed...
On this day 138 years ago…
…Charles K. Hamilton was born!
Charles Keeney Hamilton (May 30, 1885 – January 22, 1914) was an American pioneer aviator and daredevil. Born in New Britain, he grew up on Seymour St. and was a “noted scamp” during his school days...
The Patent: from Classical Antiquity to Modern Industry
When we think of invention, often we picture the invention process– coming up with an idea, creating a prototype for that idea, patenting the invention, and then going to production.
A patent, or a government grant to an inventor of the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention...
New Britain’s Notable Women: Martha Parsons, Businesswoman
Born December 6, 1869 in Enfield, Connecticut, Martha A. Parsons was a trailblazer for women in business, making herself absolutely indispensable in her work.
She attended Enfield High School, then stenography training and took a job at the Morgan Envelope Co. in Springfield...
On This Day in 1813…
George M. Landers was born!
Happy birthday to George Marcellus Landers: born on this day in 1813 to Marcellus and Marietta Hoyt Landers, George was a politician, businessman, and a profoundly influential figure in the city of New Britain...
New Britain’s Notable Women: Lena Candee Bassette, Suffragette and Political Leader
Best known for her work as a suffragette and local political leader, Lena Candee Bassette (1872-1957) was born in Oran, New York on June 18, 1872. She was one of five children of Ralph Candee and Anne Sarah Housley, and from the age of eleven was raised in Houston, Texas by her aunt and uncle...
New Britain’s Notable Women: Connie Wilson Collins, Civic Leader
Connie Wilson Collins (1928-2013) is considered one of New Britain’s greatest civic leaders and labor activists. Born in New York and raised in New Britain, she began her career in 1951 at Landers, Frary, & Clark and quickly became active in the plant’s union, United Electrical Workers of America Local 207. Later, she rose to the position of Union President...
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918: Spanish Flu in New Britain
As we enter into the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the words ‘unprecedented times’ ringing in our ears, it’s easy to feel as though we’ve never gone through anything like this before. However, just over one hundred years ago, we did: the influenza pandemic of 1918, or the Spanish Flu pandemic swept across the globe, leaving devastation in its wake...
Lest We Forget: Remembering New Britain’s Servicemen and Women
New Britain's manufacturing community contributed much more to America's armed conflicts than just equipment and uniforms made here in our factories: thousands of men and women from New Britain served in the armed forces. This year, we remember those who served with just some of their faces, taken from our digital archive...
New Britain’s Women in War: Real Life Rosies
Who were the real Rosies of our WWII factories and production lines? And even earlier, the thousands of American Red Cross nurses who served the nation in World War I? NBIM’s digital archives provide us with a look back at these women doing crucial jobs to support war efforts throughout the first half of the 20th century...
NBIM Celebrates Black Innovators: The Kitchen Inventions That Shaped New Britain’s Industries
Connecticut boasts its fair share of inventors, but did you know that many of the products that were produced in New Britain’s factories were invented by Black Americans? These innovators may not have lived in Connecticut, but they still made an impact on New Britain’s industrial legacy...
NBIM Celebrates Black Innovators: Bridgeport’s Lighting Visionary
Lewis Howard Latimer, born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1848, was the only black member of Thomas Edison’s research team. His work was crucial to the development of the lightbulb, and without it, we would not have modern lighting as we know it today...
NBIM Celebrates Black Innovators: The Black Dressmaker who Transformed Ironing
Sarah (Marshall) Boone was born enslaved in New Bern, North Carolina in 1832. She married very young (only 14 or 15!) and moved to New Haven after her freedom was purchased, ostensibly by her new husband, a freedman. They had eight children and had relocated to Connecticut by 1856, six years before the start of the Civil War...