182. Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution
Release Date: 03/01/2024
187. Derby's Charlton Comics: "No Other Place Like It"
Grating the Nutmeg
Did you know that comic books were invented in Connecticut? Well, sort of. There are lots of precedents for printing texts with images. But the origin of mass market comic book printing is 1930s Waterbury, where Eastern Color printing began by re-publishing comic strips from newspapers in magazine form. Eventually they partnered with Dell publishing to print the first original content American comic books. But today’s episode takes us a ways down Route 8 from Waterbury to Derby. From the 1940s to 1991, Derby was the home of Charlton Comics, unique for being a one-stop shop that...
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186. New Haven’s Pioneering Grove Street Cemetery
Grating the Nutmeg
It’s Spring in Connecticut and this episode is part of our celebration of May as Historic Preservation Month. Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven is the first planned cemetery in the country. The design of Grove Street Cemetery in the 1790s pioneered several of the features that became standard like family plots and an established walkway grid. It is also one of the most beautiful places in Connecticut and is designated as a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service. It is on the Connecticut Freedom Trail. Executive Producer Mary Donohue’s guests are...
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185. Connecticut Industries Unite for WWII Victory: Pratt, Read & Co Gliders
Grating the Nutmeg
In this episode, we uncover a Connecticut World War II story that features airplanes without engines. Sound crazy? You’ll learn how these engineless gliders helped beat the Nazis. Executive Producer Mary Donohue will also talk to the author of a new book that details the role that over 45 Connecticut companies played in producing the ammunition, weapons and machines that the United States needed as part of the massive war effort during World War II. Her guests today are Connecticut author Sharon Cohen and Melissa Josefiak, Executive Director of the Essex Historical Society....
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184. The Borinqueneers: Puerto Rico’s Men of the 65th Regiment
Grating the Nutmeg
In this episode, we celebrate and commemorate National Borinqueneers Day coming up on April 13th. It recognizes the bravery, service, and sacrifice of the 65th Infantry Regiment, a United States Army unit that consisted mostly of soldiers from Puerto Rico and the only segregated Latino unit in the United States Army. But the honor and fidelity of the men of the 65th came into question in 1952 during the Korean War when 91 regiment members were arrested and tried for desertion and disobeying orders. How could this happen to such a distinguished and decorated unit of the...
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183. Margaret Rudkin of Pepperidge Farm
Grating the Nutmeg
One of the most recognizable food brands in the world got started in a kitchen in Fairfield, Connecticut. In this episode, Natalie Belanger chats with historian Cathryn J. Prince about Margaret Rudkin, the woman who founded Pepperidge Farm. Read Prince's full-length article about Rudkin on the Connecticut Explored website here: Natalie Belanger is the Adult Programs Manager at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. You can see the Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook in their current exhibition, , open now through September 8, 2024....
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Celebrate Women’s History Month with Grating the Nutmeg
Grating the Nutmeg
March 1st marks the start of Women’s History Month. To celebrate, we’ve gathered a sampling of five episodes that share the incredible stories of Connecticut women throughout history. Click on the links below, and then press play on the next page for your next good story. We hope you enjoy these episodes and are inspired by the great women of Connecticut history! : In 1969, women were permitted entry to undergraduate study at Yale for the first time. However, they did not enjoy the same experience as their male peers. Isolated, singled out as oddities and sexual objects,...
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182. Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution
Grating the Nutmeg
Are they pirates, profiteers or legitimately authorized extensions of George Washington’s almost non-existent American Navy? We’ll find out with guest historian Eric Jay Dolin, author of Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American RevolutIon. Dolin will underscore an element missing from most maritime histories of the American Revolution: a ragtag fleet of private vessels — from 20-foot whaleboats to 40-cannon men-of-war helped win the war, including some 200 from Connecticut. Armed with cannons, guns, muskets, and pikes, thousands of privateers tormented the British on the...
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181. Hartford and the Great Migration, 1914-1950
Grating the Nutmeg
181. Hartford and the Great Migration, 1914-1950 In the February 4, 2024 issue of the New York Times, journalist Adam Mahoney describes the Great Migration as a time when millions of Black people left the South to escape segregation, servitude and lynching and went North in search of jobs and stable housing. In this episode, host Mary Donohue will discuss Hartford and the Great Migration with Dr. Stacey Close. Connecticut Explored’s book African American Connecticut Exploredpublished by Wesleyan University Press has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Dr. Close served as one...
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180. Colonial Connecticut: Sugar, Slavery and Connections to the West Indies
Grating the Nutmeg
Although Connecticut sometimes seems like such a small, isolated place on the map, it was connected to the far-flung, complex, cosmopolitan British empire even in the 17th century. This year on Grating the Nutmeg, we’re going to explore Connecticut’s maritime history with episodes on Colonial Connecticut’s trade with the British colonies of the Caribbean, privateering during the American Revolution and the whaling ships sent around the globe in the nineteenth century. Connecticut’s maritime entrepreneurs made fortunes by sending ships to sea and employed sailors,...
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179. Connecticut’s Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Hated Man
Grating the Nutmeg
179. Connecticut’s Benedict Arnold: America’s Most Hated Man This is our first new episode for 2024 and we’ve got some big news! Thanks to you-our listeners-we had 30,106 downloads in 2023! That’s our best year ever! We have brand new Facebook and Instagram pages under Grating the Nutmeg-please follow us and you’ll get behind the scenes photos, sneak peeks of new content, and info on how to purchase our new merchandise! In today’s episode, we discuss one of the most well-known sons of Connecticut and one that is one of the most perplexing! My guest is Jack Kelly,...
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Are they pirates, profiteers or legitimately authorized extensions of George Washington’s almost non-existent American Navy? We’ll find out with guest historian Eric Jay Dolin, author of Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American RevolutIon.
Dolin will underscore an element missing from most maritime histories of the American Revolution: a ragtag fleet of private vessels — from 20-foot whaleboats to 40-cannon men-of-war helped win the war, including some 200 from Connecticut. Armed with cannons, guns, muskets, and pikes, thousands of privateers tormented the British on the Atlantic and in bays and harbors on both sides of the ocean.
Eric Jay Dolin is the author of sixteen books, including Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, a topic we look forward to exploring in an upcoming episode of Grating the Nutmeg. Rebels at Sea was awarded the Morison Book Award for Naval Literature, conferred by the Naval Order of the United States, and was a finalist for the New England Society Book Award. His forthcoming book, to be published in May, 2024, is Left for Dead: Shipwreck, Treachery, and Survival at the Edge of the World. Dolin lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with his family.
Thanks to my guest Eric Jay Dolin. To find out more about his work, go to www.ericjaydolin.com.
Today’s episode is the second in our 2024 series on Connecticut’s maritime history-I hope you’ve had the chance to listen to episode #180 on Colonial Connecticut and the West Indies. If you love these seafaring tales, you’ll find dozens of stories to read on our website at ctexplored.org under the Topics button here: https://www.ctexplored.org/travel-transportation/
Eric Jay Dolan’s presentation at the New Haven Museum is now available on their YouTube channel was part of New Haven250, an ongoing series of programming developed to complement America250. Culminating with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the series will highlight inclusive, local, and lesser-known stories, connecting past and present. Follow their Facebook page to find out more about upcoming programs.
Watch the taped presentation by author Eric Jay Dolan on the New Haven Museum’s YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpELt9K7u2TcAx6JHlsD62w/videos
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This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O’Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/
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