Mattatuck Historical Society

It is my great pleasure to highlight the achievements of the mattatuck museum curatorial department this past year. Things continue to be busy as we present strong exhibitions, develop our collections in accordance with our collecting plan, and meaningfully engage with the community. In staffing news, natalie dequarto, assistant curator, left the museum in february 2024. While we were sad to see her go, we were happy to welcome becca lo presti to the department as assistant curator in may of 2024. We also grew our staff. This year, the mattatuck was selected to participate in the third cohort of the art bridges fellowship, an initiative aimed at creating opportunities in the field for people from historically underrepresented groups. Julie francois joined the mattatuck as art bridges fellow in august 2024 for this three-year fellowship. With these two new hires, the curatorial department is now five people strong, also including wayne eldred, collections manager/registrar, frances martin, archivist/librarian, and keffie feldman, chief curator. The mattatuck continues to present a robust and engaging exhibition schedule that tells important stories while reflecting our community. We mounted 14 unique exhibitions this fiscal year. Most of these shows were internally organized, which allows us to tailor them to present local artists, engage with relevant topics, and respond to the community. Sea change | see change (january 21 - may 19), for example, featured six local artists whose work engages with the climate crisis and its effect on the ocean. Exhibitions like (re)work it women artists on women's labor (january 21 - may 19) and stitching the revolution: quilts as agents of change (may 19 - august 25) drew on works in the mattatuck collection and supplemented with loans from other institutions, galleries, and artists to explore themes that resonate with our audiences and speak to the contemporary social and political moment. Significantly, stitching the revolution received a connecticut league of museums 2024 award of merit for its "melding of art and history, past and present, with real political stakes." in addition to the large-scale exhibitions we organize for changing gallery spaces, this past year the department presented several smaller installations in the history and upson galleries. To celebrate the 75th anniversary of hubbard-hall, a stalwart waterbury business, frances martin organized an installation about the company's history. Martin also organized a spotlight exhibition of ted williams ephemera from a recent donation (m-124). To highlight the mattatuck's success in participating in museum exchange, a digital platform for art donations, we installed in the upson gallery several recent works acquired through the platform. Finally, in august 2024 the mattatuck welcomed three georgia o'keeffe paintings for a year-long loan from the cleveland museum of art through art bridges' partner loan network (pln). The series, o'keeffe in conversation, unites the mattatuck museum's collection with o'keeffe's life and work through common themes. The first pairing of this spotlight exhibition, no. 1, flowers and landscapes (august 17 - november 17), showcases artists who tackled similar subject matter to o'keeffe and, like o'keeffe, also occupied marginalized spaces in society. The previous fiscal year we celebrated two milestones in an effort to address some of the long-term consequences of settler-colonialism and the institution of slavery. In december 2022 the mattatuck successfully repatriated its first native american object to its community of origin. In a moving ceremony, a ceremonial turtle-shell rattle that had been in the collection since the 1960s was returned to the seneca-cayuga tribe of central oklahoma. September 2023 marked the tenth anniversary of the burial of fortune, the enslaved man whose bones were housed at the mattatuck museum. Organized in collaboration with martin begnal of riverside cemetery and spearheaded by natalie dequarto and frances martin from the mattatuck, we held a powerful community ceremony. Natalie and frances also reinstalled the section on fortune in the history gallery to update and expand the interpretation of his story. The museum continues to increase our holdings in significant ways. Working with the collections committee and the board of directors, we continue to strategically add to our art, history, and archives collections, with significant attention to recognizing and representing contributions by underrecognized creators. During the past year we added 135 new art and history pieces through gifts and acquisitions, filling gaps in the collection and increasing its depth and diversity. Significantly, among these new acquisitions were a large gift of outsider art (40 objects), and works by young women of color, including "the watchers" by akea brionne and "oculus (brown, black, navy, teal)" by nafis m. White. Participation in museum exchange, a platform pairing donors and institutions, has continued to prove fruitful. Five of our proposals to museum exchange were successful and we received four additional objects through the platform outside of the proposal process. We also added 23 new objects and collections to the library and archive. Many of the new acquisitions have been on view through rotations in the collection galleries and showcased in our changing exhibitions. With a rich and growing collection, innovative exhibitions, and engaging programming, exciting things are happening at the matt.

The museum also offers a range of adult-focused programs and tours, including lectures, art workshops, paint nights, theatrical performances, and musical events, as well as a virtual and in-person outreach initiative called matt on the go. In partnership with the alzheimer's association of connecticut, the memories @ the matt program provides engaging virtual gallery tours tailored for individuals with dementia and early-stage alzheimer's, along with their caregivers. Additionally, the museum hosts wellness programs featuring weekly yoga, tai chi, and mindfulness sessions. Through its creative and age-appropriate educational offerings, the museum connects with audiences of all ages, backgrounds, and interests. In the twelve months ending september 30, 2024, over 3,000 adults participated in these programs.

Library & archives october 2023-september 2024: this past year the library and archives focused on increasing access to the archival and library collections. We published 15 new finding aids to the connecticut archives online. 120 out of 146 archival collections have finding aids, 68 of which are published and 53 of which are in progress. The archivist made oral histories available on the public portal and is creating workflows to upload digitized archival items to the connecticut digital archives (ctda). While not actively adding to the library's collection, we had four individual donations of art and history books. The library is also updating its online catalogue, and there are currently 2267 books searchable through tinycat and the museum's website. The library and archive is used by both amateur enthusiasts and scholars alike in areas of historical research, art history investigation and genealogy. Last year, the museum assisted with approximately 110 regional and national independent research requests through phone, email, and in- person research appointments. The number of in-person research appointments increased from 12 the previous year to 28 this year. Within the museum, the archivist provided images for social media and other department requests totaling 20 separate collaborations. The archivist collaborated with curatorial, education, and marketing to create the following museum and museum-adjacent content: october 2023-february 2024, september 2024: researched and wrote mattatuck mondays for social media december 2023 - worked with marketing to select and scan archival materials for valentine's day card for gift shop march 2024- researched and curated hubbard hall installation in the history gallery. March 2024 - gave tour to nj highschool students about the story of fortune. May 2024 - researched and curated ted williams exhibition. Assisted with the writing, revision, and physical fabrication of gallery didactics. July 2024-worked with education interns to research kay sage and alexander calder for upcoming exhibitions and gallery tours. August 2024 - provided research and materials for the waterbury 350th celebration merchandise and freebies. The library and archive expanded its collection in the last year. Through purchase we added letters and advertising materials to our chief two moon collection (m-64) and a large collection of rosalind russell movie memorabilia and ephemera (m-137). There were 24 unique donors to the archive this past year. Donations ranged from small donations of one photograph to entire collections. In addition to the roslind rusell collection, the other largest addition to the archives was the waterbury hospital school of nursing collection (m-130) which includes three manuscript boxes, 1 newspaper box, 73 yearbooks, and 1 cookbook. This collection was made possible by the waterbury hospital and former waterbury hospital school of nursing alumni association president norma mcgrath, who has been a driving force for the collection of archival materials and historical objects related to the nursing school. The archive benefited from the hard work of our wonderful interns and volunteers. In spring 2024 the archives had two interns from simmons university, emily gentile and mickey dichele. Emily re-housed the neighborhood project oral history collection (m-69) materials from the curatorial workroom, put them in acid free folders and boxes, arranged the collection, and started a provisional finding aid. In addition to this, emily processed and created a finding aid for the waterbury ethnic groups and neighborhoods collection (m-54). Mickey created finding aids for several smaller collections including: the native american collection (m- 48), the children's book collection (m-55), the dance card collection (m- 50), and the trade card collection (m-45). This summer, sophia dell'anno was our philip benevento history intern and meticulously processed, arranged, and wrote a detailed finding aid for the american society for metals/materials collection (m-117), which is now up online through connecticut connections online. Anabelle penney, a student volunteer from mcgill, assisted in revising and writing transcripts for the african american oral history project. Finally, pam caldwell continues to be an unparalleled asset to the continued success of the archive. She is a wonderful volunteer who has inventoried 12 out of the 15 boxes of backlogged archival donations and accrual. Pam also assisted with research for archival patrons and helped inventory and arrange large unprocessed collections such as the scovill manufacturing collection (m-5l). The library and archive will continue to work on providing open and equitable access to all by arranging, describing, and digitizing archival material. Additionally, the archive will continue to collect items and collections related to local history with an emphasis on artists, women, minorities, and underrepresented voices in the community.