192. More than Dinosaurs: The New Peabody Museum of Natural History
Release Date: 08/01/2024
ENCORE: Our Top 10 Most Streamed GTN Episodes
Grating the Nutmeg
ENCORE: Our Top 10 Most Streamed GTN Episodes! Have you explored all these amazing Connecticut stories? #1. #2. #3 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10
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200. Erector Sets, Trains and New Haven’s Toymaker A.C. Gilbert
Grating the Nutmeg
We did it!! This is our 200th episode of Grating the Nutmeg! Thanks to our listeners, we have travelled across the state during every time period to bring you vivid, fascinating stories from our state’s history. Become a podcast subscriber to get notified every time there’s a new episode! During this holiday season, it seemed like the perfect time to bring you the story of Connecticut’s biggest toymaker! Of all the toys that are enshrined in the National Toy of Fame, two stand out as having solid Connecticut connections, the Cabbage Patch doll and the Erector...
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TOP 5 of 2024!
Grating the Nutmeg
TOP 5 DOWNLOADED EPISODES FOR 2024 Don’t miss these episodes! #1. #2. #3. #4. #5.
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199. G. Fox and Company Department Store and the Holidays
Grating the Nutmeg
In the mid-20th century, Hartford's G. Fox and Co. was one of the most successful family-owned department stores in the United States. Today, many Connecticans have fond memories of visiting G. Fox at the holiday season -- marvelling at the Christmas Village atop the marquee and meeting Santa in Toyland. In this episode, Natalie Belanger and Jen Busa of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History talk about the history of the store, owner Beatrice Fox Auerbach's commitment to customer service, and the holiday traditions that so many customers still remember. You'll hear...
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198. Entwined: Black and Indigenous Maritime History
Grating the Nutmeg
We all know a little about New England and Connecticut’s European maritime history. Dutch traders came to North America to trade for beaver pelts and English colonists came to start new communities such as Hartford. But a new exhibition at the Mystic Seaport Museum doesn’t rehash this history - it looks to reveal African and Indigenous perspectives on water and the sea. Entwined: Freedom, Sovereignty, and the Sea is an exhibition that surveys the interplay of maritime histories through Indigenous, African, and African American worldviews. On view until Spring...
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197. Mark Twain and the American Presidents
Grating the Nutmeg
Early voting has already started in the 2024 presidential election and I just couldn’t resist the suggestion by my guests to explore what Samuel Clemens alias Mark Twain, Hartford’s greatest Gilded Age humorist, had to say about the United States presidents. Was Twain the John Stewart or John Oliver of his day? Known for his sharp wit and scathing satire, what presidents met with his approval? Corruption, national identity, the power of big business, and America’s global role were just as contested then as they are now. His funny, insightful observations about the presidents...
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196. Connecticut Body Snatchers: Merchandising the Dead in the 19th Century
Grating the Nutmeg
Have you got your Halloween costume ready? Been on any graveyard tours this month? Well, this story for you! I’d never thought of body snatching as having anything to do with Connecticut but as this episode proves, the disappearance of a young women’s body lead to a New Haven riot. I’ll get the details from Richard Ross author of the new book American Body Snatchers, Merchandising the Dead in 19th Century New England and Washington, DC. Dick Ross is a retired college librarian and professor emeritius from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Order his new book...
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195. George Griffin: Revealing the Life and Likeness of Mark Twain’s Butler
Grating the Nutmeg
Most people know something about Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Clemens. After all, he wrote his most famous books while living in Hartford, Connecticut. His 25-room house on Farmington Avenue cost over $40,000 in 1874 dollars. Raised as a child in Missouri, he became world famous for his wit and humor both in print and on stage. But what if the man who served as Twain’s butler for 17 years had a story that was just as powerful and gripping as Twain’s? In today’s episode we are going to meet that man, George Griffin. Twain scholar and collector Kevin MacDonnell's...
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194. Revolutionary War Hero Lafayette Makes a Triumphal Return Tour
Grating the Nutmeg
In this episode, you'll hear about the remarkable life and legacy of the man that Lin-Manuel Miranda called "America's favorite fighting Frenchman," the Marquis de Lafayette. This month marks the 200th anniversary of Lafayette's visit to Connecticut, part of his so-called "Farewell Tour" of America in 1824. Natalie Belanger of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History spoke with Julien Icher of the Lafayette Trail about the Marquis' role in the American Revolution, and how his farewell tour 50 years later helped Americans to reflect on how far they'd come. Check out The...
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193. Radical Connecticut: Labor Strikes!
Grating the Nutmeg
Author Steve Thornton asks “Who really makes history”? In his new book, Radical Connecticut: People’s History in the Constitution State, co-authored by Andy Piascik, guest Steve Thornton tells the stories of everyday people and well-known figures whose work has often been obscured, denigrated, or dismissed. There are narratives of movements, strikes, popular organizations and people in Connecticut who changed the state and the country for the better. Unlike a traditional history that focuses on the actions of politicians, generals, business moguls and other elites, Radical...
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Have you ever discovered that one of your favorite places is being renovated? Like your grandmother’s kitchen, your favorite restaurant, or even a museum, and you worry that the charm or the appeal of the place might be gone after the renovation? Podcast editor Patrick O’Sullivan and Producer Mary Donohue went to just such a place, the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale in New Haven. We had both been to the museum many times before the pandemic. But, the newly-reopened Peabody Museum is not just better, it’s fantastic!
The massive dinosaur and prehistoric fossil collections in the Burke Hall of Dinosaurs are what every schoolchild remembers from a fieldtrip. The renovation has created new space for exhibiting more of its cultural, anthropological, and other scientific collections, including never-before displayed artifacts and contemporary art. For example, one intriguing new area was the History of Science and Technology gallery that included Yale’s first microscope — purchased in 1734. Just this summer, the Hall of the Pacific has opened with artwork, photographs and artifacts that celebrate the cultures of Pacific Islander communities.
With a $160 million dollar bequest, they’ve increased the size of the museum from 30,000 to 44,000 square feet, added 5 classrooms, new galleries and a study gallery for faculty and students to use. The space is bright, inviting and provides visitors a place to sit down or bring lunch. Maybe the two things that will have the biggest impact in the future is that the museum is now completely free to visit. They have also worked hard to correct old, outdated information as well as to interpret the artifacts in a way that acknowledges their history more fully and authentically.
The guest for this episode is David Skelly, Director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History and Yale Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Our thanks to David Skelly and Steven Scarpa, Associate Director of the museum’s Marketing & Communications Department for making arrangements for the podcast recording as well as a fabulous tour.
Don’t forget that the museum admission is now free! You can reserve timed entrance passes on the museum’s website to help you plan your visit. https://peabody.yale.edu/visit
And once you’re in New Haven, don’t forget that the Grove Street Cemetery from Grating the Nutmeg episode # 186 is just blocks away - or check out the New Haven Museum’s new Amistad gallery!
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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/ Follow GTN on our Facebook, Instagram and Threads pages.