A sampling of resources available from the Manchester Public Library concerning Manchester history, institutions, architecture, local government, industry and authors.
Connecticut Historic Society - Holdings with respect to the Cheney family and Cheney Brothers silk mills of South Manchester, Connecticut at the Connecticut Historical Society: a finding aid. c1994 (R 091.0169 Q)
Brockett, L. P. - The silk industry in America: a history: prepared for the Centennial exposition. c1876 (R677)
Cheney Brothers - A glossary of silk terms; including a short history of its origin, culture and manufacture (Cover title is: Cheney silks; a glossary of silk terms). c1915 (R 677)
Heusser, A.H. - The history of the silk dyeing industry in the United States. (R 677) Bsmt.
Manchester, Herbert H. - The story of silk and Cheney silks. c1916 (R 677 -1924 revision available in circulating copies at Cheney & Whiton).
Cheney, Russell - Russell Cheney, 1881-1945: a record of his work with notes by F. O. Matthiessen. c1947 (759.1 Q) Born in South Manchester, Connecticut, Russell Cheney's work was exhibited extensively throughout the country. The book contains illustrations and the artist's commentary on his work culled from letters to Mr. Matthiessen and other friends.
Matthiessen, F. O. (Francis Otto) - Rat and the Devil: journal letters of F. O. Matthiessen and Russell Cheney. c1978
Cheney, Mary Bushnell - The letters of Mary Bushnell Cheney and Frank Woodbridge Cheney. c1988 (R 920)
Quish, Thomas J. - Who's who in Manchester, Connecticut : Centennial year edition 1923 920 Reference & circulating copies.
Kilpatrick, Archie - World War II history of Manchester, Connecticut. c1946 (R920 Cheney & Whiton)
Crocker, Antoinette Cheney - Great Oaks: Memoirs of the Cheney Family (929.2 Reference & circulating copies Cheney & Whiton)
Adams, Gladys S. - Buckland, the North West section of Manchester, Connecticut. c1995 (pictorial history) Ed. and prepared for publication by Ellen Adams and Charles Fahey 974.621 q Cheney & Whiton Reference & Circulating
Old Manchester - a picture book compiled and written by Milton K. Adams [with photographic reproductions by Anthony J. Thibeau.] c1994 974.621 Q
Adams, Milton K. - Old Manchester II . . . the storytellers [with photographic reproductions by Anthony J. Thibeau.] c1995 974.621 Cheney & Whiton
Buckley, William E. - A History of the Pitkin Glass Works. c1985 R 974.621
Buckley, William Edward - A New England Pattern; the history of Manchester, Connecticut. c1973 974.621 q Cheney &Whiton
Cheney, Margreta Swenson - "If all the great men"; the Cheneys of Manchester. c1975 974.621 Reference and circulating copies Cheney &Whiton
Elsesser, Sarah M. - The Manchester Story c1978 R 974.621 q Cheney &Whiton
Johnson, Erland - The Pitkin Glass Works. c1991 VCASS2 974.621 Pitkin (video)
Lewis, Barbara - Historical and architectural resources survey of Manchester, Connecticut: Main Street and east side neighborhood. c1993 R 974.621 Q
Lewis, Thomas R. - Silk along steel: the story of the South Manchester Railroad. c1976 (R 974.621 Cheney & Whiton - J974.621 Whiton)
Seymour, Herbert Keeney - Growing up with Gramp Keeney: recollections on a New England family in the 1920's and 1930's. c1992 (974.621 Cheney & Whiton)
Spiess, Mathias - History of Manchester, Connecticut by Mathias Spiess and Percy W. Bidwell. c1924 (974.621 Cheney &Whiton)
This is Manchester. Manchester Historical Society ed. 1965 (reprint publication by Manchester Board of Education done for the unit on local history in Manchester schools.) (J 974.621 & R 974.621 Cheney and Whiton)
Thorstenson, Patricia C. - Manchester remembers the home front at war 1941-1945. (includes names of all World War II veterans inducted out of Manchester) c1995 (974.621 Q Cheney &Whiton have reference and circulating copies.)
Williams, Martha E. - The Yankee Bush factory: the story of C. R. Burr and Company, nurserymen of Manchester, Connecticut 1892-1973. (974.621 Whiton)
The town with a heart of gold: a history of the Manchester Road Race [written by Amby Burfoot.] (Reference and circulating copies 974.921 Cheney & Whiton)
Twaronite, Eugene A. - Letter to a Mountain. The author's research and advocacy surrounding his cherished Lookout Mountain (formerly Case Mountain) was instrumental to preservation of the area as open space. (974.621 Cheney & Whiton)
Williams, Alice Farley - Silk and guns: the life of a Connecticut Yankee. Frank Cheney 1817-1907. (B Cheney)
Crocker, Antoinette Cheney - Frank Woodbridge Cheney: two years in China anad Japan, 1859-1861. (written by his granddaughter) c1970 (B Cheney)
This collection consists of booklets, articles, and theses and may be used in the reference room. A selection of interest includes: Spiess, Mathias - "Indian village sites, paths, implements and traditions of the Podunk Indians". ( R974.6)
Church Histories - Booklets concerning history of several Manchester Churches.
Learned, Eileen R. - "Historical study of the growth of the ninth district school system in Manchester, Connecticut under the influence of Cheney Brothers". (August 1966 thesis presentation) (R 974.621)
South Manchester Fire Department Histories 1897 - 1957 - compiled by Douglas L. Welch
Sutherland, John F. - "Of mills and memories: Labor management interdependence in the Cheney Silk Mills"; "The world of Manchester's silk workers" and "Cheney Brothers was the world: migration and settlement in Manchester, Connecticut".
In addition to the above holdings, the Manchester Public Library maintains reference files containing news articles, pamphlets and booklets regarding local history, events, and organizations. Topics of interest include: Cheney Hall and Cheney Mills district, education and the Manchester Road Race.
The Reference department maintains the Charter. a listing of local officials on various boards and committees, yearly Budgets and Annual Reports for Town of Manchester. The Manchester High School yearbook, SOMANHIS, is available for most years from 1932 to present.
Visit the Town of Manchester on the Internet at: http://www.TownOfManchester.org
The Reference Department maintains an index to newspaper articles concerning Manchester in addition to the following newspaper holdings:
South Manchester News: March 10, 1893 - July 12, 1924 (on microfilm)
Manchester Evening Herald: 1882-1923 (these years are on microfilm which is badly damaged and not inclusive). July 1, 1934 - June 28, 1991 (microfilm)
Journal Inquirer: January 1991 - ongoing (microfilm).
Past and present
Ann Benson - The Plague Tales. A 21st century researcher digging at a burial sitefor victims of the 14th century bubonic plague releases bacteria which sets a global epidemic in motion. The futuristic novel parallels the 14th century experience of the plague with that imagined in the 21st and sounds a warning concerning antibiotic resistant diseases. Benson was formerly employed as a product development consultant designing needlepoint and cross stitchpatterns and has published three books on glass beadwork.
Zita Christian is a Manchester resident and author of three romances set in the West: Band of Gold , First and Forever, and Just a miracle.
David, Gerry and Sue Hardy - Fifty hikes in Connecticut: from the Berkshires to the coast by Manchester residents, David, Gerry and Sue Hardy (a revised edition of 50 Hikes in Connecticut by longtime Manchester residents Gerry and Sue Hardy. (917.46 Hardy)
Dorothy Horwitz - We will not be strangers: Korean War letters between a M.A.S.H. surgeon and his wife (B Horwitz). The book is a collection of daily letters exchanged by the author and her husband, who were newlyweds separated during the Korean War. The author is a retired Manchester Community Technical College professor and was a Mellon Fellow at Yale University from 1985-1986. Her husband, Mel, was formerly a surgeon and now is a lawyer employed as a consultant in health law.
Jean Marzollo - Halfway down Paddy Lane . The author was born and raised inManchester. Her book concerns a 15-year-old girl who is transported in time to the 1850's to experience life as an Irish mill-worker. The story's setting, the fictional town of North Lancaster, was based on the north end of Manchester, Connecticut. Many streets mentioned in the book actually exist as named. A sampling of the author's children's fiction titles includes: Slam dunk Saturday, Rebus treasury, Soccer Sam, Valentine cats, I spy: a book of picture riddles, Ten cats have hats: a counting book, and Amy goes fishing. Children's nonfiction titles include: In 1776, Happy Birthday Martin Luther King, In fourteen hundred ninety-two, and Superkids. The Library also owns Ms. Marzollo's Fathers & babies: how babies grow and what they need from you from birth to 18 months. (306.8742)
Emily Neville Cheney - Born in Manchester, the daughter of Howell Cheney and Anne Bunce Cheney; the author of several children's books including: It's like this. Cat, The Seventeenth-Street Gang, Traveler from a small kingdom, China year. Bridge, and Garden of broken glass.
David Pesci - Amistad. The author is a public relations associate at the University of Connecticut and a freelance writer. Amistad is his fictionalized account of the Amistad rebellion of 1839 and subsequent trial and acquittal of the Africans involved.
Theodore Powell - The long rescue . A suspense filled account of the fight for survival of the crew of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition in the Arctic of 1883. (919.8) Powell, a former director of the Town of Manchester, also wrote The school bus law: a case study in education, religion and politics. (379.175)
Ron Roy - A former teacher at the West Hill School in Rocky Hill and instructor at the Institute of Children's Literature, Mr. Roy is a Manchester author who has written many children's books and is currently working on a series of children's mysteries. Children's fiction owned by Manchester libraries includes: Whose shoes are these?, Whose hat is that, Three ducks went wandering, Thousand pails of water, Million dollar jeans, Chimpanzee, Awful Thursday, Avalanche! , and Frankie is staying back. Mr. Roy's Nonfiction titles include: Big and small, short and tall (J 596.04) , Move over, wheelchairs coming through! (J362.4) and What has ten legs and eats cornflakes? a pet book. (J 636.08)
Rhea Talley Stewart- Fire in Afghanistan: 1914-1929; faith, hope and the British Empire. The author was a journalist and Manchester resident. Her book documents the rise and fall of Afghanistan's revolutionary King Amanullah, his attempts to free his country from British rule and efforts to bring it into the modernity of the twentieth century. 958.104
Laura E. Williams- The Long Silk Strand: a grandmother's legacy to her granddaughter. A story of a girl's love for her grandmother and the power of memories to sustain relationships and wisdom through time. It is written in the manner of a folktale, with illustrations which evoke it's Japanese setting. The author lived in Manchester and was a teacher at Manchester High School. jj Williams