Business and Industry
From Connecticut’s earliest agricultural commerce through the might of the industrial age to today’s leading companies, our state’s natural and human resources have shaped local and national history. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Connecticut brought diverse commodities, such as furs, produce, timber, and iron, to international markets. This skill for supplying and moving goods earned Connecticut the nickname “The Provision State” for its aid to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The 19th century brought mills and factories, manufacturing everything from textiles to edge tools and cars. Now, aerospace, bioscience, and other technological ventures add to an economic base that still includes farms and businesses more than a century old.
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- Object: Brown’s gun harpoon used for whaling – Smithsonian National Museum of American History
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- Photograph: Beckley Furnace, East Canaan, Connecticut – University of Connecticut Library Archives and Special Collections
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- Document: Employee record cards for Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company, many immigrants listed – University of Connecticut Library Archives and Special Collections
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- Photograph: Field-workers, Goodrich Tobacco Farm, near Gildersleeve, Conn., photograph by Lewis Hine – Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
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- Document: Cheney Brothers’ Educational Charts – University of Connecticut Library Archives and Special Collections
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- Photograph: Inspection of small parts of pistols at Colt’s Patent Fire Arms Plant, Hartford, Conn. – Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
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- Photograph: New Haven Railroad locomotive 1313 – University of Connecticut Library Archives and Special Collections
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- Photograph: S-64 “Skycrane” First flight, May 9, 1962 – Bridgeport History Center
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- Photograph: Vivien Kellems’ proposal for Fashion Academy Award: Best-dressed woman in war industry – University of Connecticut Library Archives and Special Collections
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- Advertisement: Aetna Casualty and Surety Company – Connecticut Historical Society
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- Photograph: Women welders at the Landers, Frary, and Clark plant in New Britain, Connecticut – Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
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- Photograph: A.I.W. AFL-CIO strike at LaPointe Industries, Inc., Rockville, CT, November 27, 1973 – Hartford Public Library
