Everyone knows the thrill of opening up an old trunk in an attic, or pulling up floorboards in an old house, and finding an old newspaper tucked away. Every item in an old newspaper is fascinating once enough time has gone by, whether it's the ad for groceries that cost one-tenth of what they cost now, or the colorful language that reporters used to drum up interest in local crimes and scandals.
One of the newspapers you have access to online (with your Stratford Library card) is the historical Hartford Courant newspaper, which literally includes article beginning in 1764 and goes to 1922. While today the Hartford Courant focuses on the Hartford region, in the first 100 years of its life the Courant was "the" major newspaper for Connecticut, and covered all regions, including Stratford.
Searching for the keyword "Stratford" in the historical Courant database brings up some very interesting old items.
In this 1768 letter to the editor (shown at the top of this post), a resident of New Milford is complaining that a recent story in the paper about a gang of counterfeiters had falsely identified the criminals as coming from New Milford. Not so, says the letter-writer -- they were arrested in New Milford, but the miscreants were actually residents of Stratford.
If you'd like to explore the historical Hartford Courant yourself, click on this "Get it online" logo at the library's website and then choose "Search by subject." The historical Hartford Courant is listed under "Current events and news," and also under "Genealogy."
No comments:
Post a Comment