Titanic - April 15, 1912

Catalog Link

The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912 - 100 years ago. Come to the library this month and check out our display of Titanic books and videos.Check our online catalog for holdings on

Titanic - books and other media for children

Titanic - books and media for adults

Titanic - books for young adults


You can also locate articles from this time period in our historical newspaper databases for the Hartford Courant and the New York Times. Hartford Courant Historical : This archive includes over 280,000 pages of text from 1764 through 1922.
New York Times Historical: The full text of the New York Times from 1851-2005.Another link to explore: Times Topics - Titanic.

March is Women's History Month

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In celebration of Women's History Month, iCONN has assembled a web page with links to free resources from database vendors EBSCO, Cengage Gale, and ProQuest, as well as resources available on the open Web.

iCONN is part of the Connecticut Education Network. It provides all students, faculty and residents with online access to essential library and information resources. It is administered by the Connecticut State Library in conjunction with local libraries in Connecticut. Through iCONN, a core level of information resources including secured access to licensed databases is available to every citizen in Connecticut. You can also visit the CONNECTICUT WOMEN'S HALL OF FAME.

When you come visit the library this month, make sure to check out our display with books on Women's History in front of the main staircase. 

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Abraham Lincoln's Birthday February 12

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States from March 4, 1861 to April 15, 1865. He was born on February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. He died, only 56 years old, on April 15, 1865 in Washington, D.C.

Click here for books and other materials on Abraham Lincoln in our library collection divided by subject headings. Explore an online daily account of Abraham Lincoln's life. Other interesting websites on Abraham Lincoln can be found here.

New York Times Topics - Abraham Lincoln



Lincoln's house in Springfield, Illinois, in Winter.

February - Black History Month

Celebrating Black History began in 1926, when Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard Ph.D., initiated "Negro History Week." Dr. Woodson, a historian, chose the second week in February because it included the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In 1976, the Bicentennial (200th birthday) of the United States of America, the week-long observance was extended to the entire month of February in order to have enough time for celebratory programs and activities. Please see our book display in honor of Black History Month in front of the main staircase.

Books on African-American History in our collection

Statistical data for Black History Month

Profile America - Black History Month (a person for each day of the month)

Resource links from iconn.org (provided by Connecticut State Library)

Holocaust Remembrance Day Observance May 6

"Mayor Scott D. Jackson has proclaimed the week of May 1st through May 8th 2011 as Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust. The Town will host a Holocaust Remembrance Day observance on Friday, May 6th at noon in Thornton Wilder Hall, Miller Library Complex. The ceremony is open to all members of the public. This year’s theme is Justice and Accountability in the Face of Genocide. 2011 marks the 65th anniversary of the verdicts at the first Nuremberg trial and the 50th anniversary of the trial of Adolf Eichmann."

Library materials on the Holocaust by subject headings

Library materials on Adolf Eichmann and his trial

Library materials on the Nuremberg Trial

150th Anniversary of the Civil War

April 12 marks the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War:

"The War started on April 12, 1861, when Confederate Troops fired on Fort Sumter, a U.S. military post in Charleston, South Carolina. It ended four years later. On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattax Court house, a small Virginia settlement." (quotation from World Book Encyclopedia)

Events in CT

Library materials on the Civil War divided by specific subject headings

DVDs on the Civil War in our library

Talking books on the Civil War in our library

Music CDs on the Civil War in our library

VHS cassettes on the Civil War in our library

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, iCONN has prepared a web page with links to rich resources.

50 Years Ago - John F. Kennedy's Inauguration Speech

John F. Kennedy's Inauguration Speech, delivered on January 20, 1961, is widely considered one of the best speeches in American history. View the speech and a transcript through our database AMERICAN HISTORY IN VIDEO. Outside the library, you need your Hamden Public Library card to access.

Another useful database for research on John F. Kennedy is BIOGRAPHY IN CONTEXT. Access this database and others on our library's website under databases. A search for John F. Kennedy in Biography in Context yields (all in full text) 32 reference articles, 713 news articles, 492 magazine articles, 115 academic journal articles, 4 primary sources, and a couple of select websites.

On January 13, 2011, the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston has made available to the public their digitized archive of papers, photographs, speeches, letters, and recordings from his time in the White House. With more than 200,000 pages, 1,500 photos, 300 reels of audio tapes, it is the nation's largest digitized presidential archive.

History Videos on Demand

The Hamden Public Library is now offering history videos on demand. You can now watch a wide assortment of documentaries and archival newsreels from your home computer - all you need is your Hamden Public Library Card!

American History in Video provides the largest and richest online collection of video available for the study of American history—2,000 hours and more than 5,000 titles. The collection's wealth of video and multiplicity of perspectives allows you to see, experience, and study American history in ways never before possible. This collection is an exclusive collaboration with A&E Television Networks and features some of their most important documentaries and series from The History Channel, A&E Network, and Biography. You will also find numerous episodes of the PBS series "The American Experience," as well as Ken Burns's "The Civil War," "The West," and "Jazz."

Start watching>

Top Historical Fiction

Booklist recently compiled a list of Top Historical Fiction Books: All Other Nights by Dara Horn focuses on the role of Jewish Americans in the Civil War, The Coral Thief by Rebecca Stott takes place in post-Napoleonic Paris, The Devil's Dream by Madison Smartt Bell is about a Confederate general in Tennessee, Four Freedoms by John Crowley takes place in an American aircraft plant during WWII and describes everyday life at home, Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow is about two brothers in early 20th century New York, No Less Than Victory by Jeff Shaara is the final volume in the author's WWII trilogy which focuses on historic individuals and anonymous GIs, Parrot & Olivier in America by Peter Carey is about the French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville, Pearl of China by Anchee Min is a fresh interpretation of Pearl S. Buck's life.

June 12 Tom Sawyer Day in Hartford, CT

Saturday, June 12, 2010 is Tom Sawyer Day in Hartford, CT.

On the beautiful grounds of the Mark Twain House and Museum you can get a taste of Tom's boyhood adventures with free events organized just for kids and families from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tours of the Twain House will be available for a fee - or check out our library's pass to the Mark Twain House and Museum and get a discount (available to Hamden residents with valid library cards).

Tom Sawyer Day is part of Hartford's Magical History Tour, which also involves The Amistad Center for Art & Culture, and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center. All three locations will have a full day of family activities, including games, music, crafts, theater, cake, and many, many more. There will be a free shuttle between the sites all day for maximum free fun for all ages.

Dresden Firebombing 65th Anniversary

On February 13, 1945 Allied firebombing caused a firestorm that destroyed the city of Dresden and killed 135,000 people.

On the left is a picture of the Frauenkirche/Church of Our Lady which was built in the 18th century but destroyed in 1945 during the firestorm. It was completely rebuilt and opened again in 2005 after 13 years of reconstruction.

We have in our collection two books on this event:
The Destruction of Dresden by Ira C. Eaker and Dresden, Tuesday, February 13 by Frederick Taylor. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. wrote the famous novel Slaughterhouse-five.

Two extraordinary women

Two extraordinary women passed away this January.

Miep Gies was born on February 15, 1909 in Vienna and died January 11, 2010 in the Netherlands, aged 100. She was the last survivor of Anne Frank's protectors and the woman who preserved her diary. Miep was employed at Otto Frank's company and helped hide the Frank family for 25 months from the Nazis in Amsterdam. The Gestapo raided their hiding place on Aug. 4, 1944 and Anne left her diary behind. When Miep found the diary she hid it unread, hoping that one day she could return it to Anne. But only Anne's father Otto Frank survived the concentration camps and returned after World War II and so she gave it to him. The diary was first published in 1947.

Freya von Moltke was born on March 29, 1911 in Cologne and died January 1, 2010 in Norwich, Vermont, aged 98. She was the widow of Count Helmuth James von Moltke, who as a member of the anti-resistance movement in Germany was hanged by the Nazis in 1945. She hid her husbands' documents and letters in the beehives of their estate in Kreisau/Krzyzowa , now part of Poland and in 1990 published them as "Letters to Freya". In 1990 Kreisau became an international youth meeting center for European understanding.

Fall of the Berlin Wall 20th Anniversary

On November 9, 1989, twenty years ago, after weeks of civil unrest and widespread peaceful demonstrations, East-Germans were allowed to travel freely to West-Berlin and West-Germany, resulting in the opening of the Berlin Wall. The Wall, the concrete barrier erected by the East-German government in 1961, separated West-Berlin from East-Berlin and East-Germany for more than a quarter century. Click here for some interesting websites on the history of the Berlin Wall from the Librarians' Internet Index. For a fascinating glimpse of Berlin in the 1920s, check out on DVD the documentary from 1927 titled BERLIN SYMPHONY OF A GREAT CITY. For books on the history of Berlin and the Berlin Wall, click here.

Anne Frank 80th Birthday Anniversary

On June 12 Anne Frank would have turned 80 years old. She was born on June 12, 1929 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. In 1933 her family moves to the Netherlands which is invaded seven years later by the German army in 1940. On her 13th birthday in June 1942 Anne receives a diary. The next month, in July 1942 the family goes into hiding and lives for two long years in a Secret Annex at the back of a warehouse in Amsterdam. In August 1944 the residents of the Secret Annex are betrayed and arrested. In September 1944 they are transported to Auschwitz concentration camp. In October 1944 Anne and her sister Margot are transported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In January 1945 Anne Frank's mother, Edith Frank, dies in Auschwitz-Birkenau. On January 27, Anne Frank's father, Otto Frank, is liberated from Auschwitz by the Russian army. In March 1945 Anne and Margot die within days from each other at Bergen-Belsen. A friend of the family, Miep Gies, found Anne's diary after the family's arrest. She plans to return it to Anne after the war. But in October 1945 Otto Frank receives a letter, confirming that his daughters died at Bergen-Belsen. Miep Gies gives the diary to Anne's father who decides to publish it. In the Summer of 1947 the first 1,500 copies of Anne Frank's diary are published. It is considered the best known memoir of the Holocaust. Please check out our book displays about Anne Frank and her diary.