Subject: CT history museums, including Prudence Crandall, zeroed out
Friends,
Last summer, Governor Rowland and the Connecticut legislature proposed a
44% cut to the Connecticut Historical Commission, which would have resulted
in the closing of the Prudence Crandall Museum and the state's three other
history museums. After a tremendous public outcry, our representatives
backed off and restored most of the funding.
In Tuesday's budget message, the Governor's called for the closing of all
four history museums and elimination of the Historical Commission
altogether, to be consolidated as part of a new commission on Arts, Culture
and Tourism.
There are many painful ironies in this story, not the least of which is
that the Prudence Crandall Museum is being closed in the 200th bicentennial
of the birth of Connecticut's State Heroine, a year of record
attendance. In the year of the settlement of the Sheff v. O'Neill school
desegregation lawsuit, the most important site in the state--and one of the
most important in the nation--in the struggle for equal education for
blacks is being shuttered.
The strong numbers of visitors underscored both the museum's lack of a
visitor's center--which severely limits the size of groups that can be
accommodated at a time--and the house's shamefully dilapidated state, the
result of years of deferred maintenance. This winter, the building was
nominated to the "Eleven Most Endangered" list of the National Trust for
Historic Preservation.
The other museums slated to be closed include the Old New-Gate Prison and
Copper Mine, East Granby (established as a mine in 1707 and converted into
a prison in 1773); the Henry Whitfield State Museum, Guilford
(Connecticut's oldest house and New England's oldest stone house, build in
1639), and the Sloane-Stanley Museum and Kent Iron Furnace Site, Kent
(unique collection of Early American Tools and Implements on the site of an
1826 pig iron furnace).
Like most states, Connecticut has serious fiscal difficulties. In a time
of widespread deprivation and extreme hardship, it may seem frivolous to
argue on behalf of cultural amenities. Just two years ago, however, the
state enjoyed record surpluses; with prudent management, we will see strong
revenues again. But once we lose our heritage, it is gone forever.
Some useful telephone numbers:
Governor John Rowland: 800-566-4840.
Senator Kevin B. Sullivan, President Pro Tem of the Senate:
1-800-842-1420 (email: Kevin.B.Sullivan@po.state.ct.us)
Senator Martin M. Looney, Senate Majority Leader: 1-800-842-1420 (email:
Looney@senatedems.state.ct.us)
Representative Moira Lyons, Speaker of the House: 1-800-842-1902 (email:
Moira.Lyons@po.state.ct.us)
Representative James A. Amann, House Majority Leader: 1-800-842-1902
(email: Jim.Amann@po.state.ct.us)
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