Economic history

Abstract In 1838, six Cheney brothers established the Mount Nebo Silk Company in Manchester, CT. The company adopted the family name in 1843. Aided by booming national markets, a protective tariff, and innovative production methods, the company grew into the nation's largest and most profitable silk mill by the late 1880s. The company pioneered the wastesilk spinning method and the Grant's reel. The company reached its peak in 1923, after which it quickly declined due to industry wide overproduction...

Abstract

The Connecticut Women's Educational and Llegal Fund (CWEALF), a non-profit public interest law firm, was founded in 1973. CWEALF helps women gain equality under the law. Its establishment resulted from sex discrimination in mortgage lending, when attorneys from the Status of Women Committee of the Connecticut Bar Association joined forces and worked for the passage of the Connecticut Equal Credit Act.

Abstract The Farrel Company was founded in 1848 in Ansonia, Connecticut, by Almon Farrel and his son Franklin, and made brass and iron castings, wooden mortise gears and parts for water-power plants. By the 1860s the company was producing rollng mill equipment for the rapidly expanding copper and brass industries, and pioneered in the development of processing machinery for the rubber industry. Other items produced included stone and ore crushers, iron rolls (used for milling) and processing...

Abstract

The Office of Price Administration, a federal agency, was established in 1941 by Executive Orders 8734 and 8875. During its existence, the OPA was responsible for setting maximum prices on most products. The OPA and several other agencies were consolidated to form the Office of Temporary Controls in December 1946 by Executive Order 9809 and disbanded in 1947. [Additional materials are located in RG 035 at the Connecticut State Library.]

Abstract In the Spring of 1969, the University of Connecticut devoted a whole semester to the study of the 1930s. An all-campus venture, the project drew on all the resources of the University and brought in distinguished visitors, some of whom had been cultural figures of that decade. Called "The Semester of the Thirties," this experiment in higher education probably brought together more aspects of a decade in cultural, political, economic, and social history than any such project undertaken by a...