The First Engraving, 1775

"The primary cause of the first regular engraving being performed in New Haven appears to have been the battle or action at Lexington. When the news of this affair reached New Haven, Arnold, as has been stated, started with about forty volunteers. Among this number were Mr. Amos Doolittle, and a Mr. Earl, a portrait painter. These young men were, no doubt, powerfully excited by what they saw and heard at the scene of action, and on their return to New Haven endeavored to show to their excited countrymen pictorially the opening scenes of the great contest which had now fully begun."

Interpreting the Rocks of New Haven, by William Zimmer

"The exhibit was organized by Linda Lindroth, a New Haven photographer and assistant professor at Quinnipiac College, who lives across the street from East Rock. 'This exhibition is the product of a search for new spaces and new relationships within the city to show artwork,' says Lindroth, noting that it is the first time that the historical society has hosted an exhibit by living photographers. In an essay in the exhibition catalogue, Amy L. Trout, curator at the New Haven Colony Historical Society, writes, 'More than geographical features, East and West Rocks are symbols of New Haven. As such, they carry meaning beyond what their physical presence implies.' The Rocks have served as a 'backdrop' in artworks documenting the changes in New Haven over the years, she notes."

Night Rainbow New Haven, by Yvette Mattern

"A light sculpture of monumental scale, Yvette Mattern’s Night Rainbow, Global Rainbow New Haven utilized high-specification lasers in each of the colors of the visual light spectrum (ROYGBIV) to create a rainbow emanating from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument at the summit of East Rock Park, and over the City of New Haven. During the four-night projection from April 24 to April 27, 2013, New Haven residents were drawn from one neighborhood to the next, investigating the changes in the cityscape below, as well as in the form itself. The Rainbow was visible from many locations in and around the City, its form dynamic, changing shape depending on the viewer’s position to the origin point of the lasers."

Professional photographer finds iPhone a fun way to capture a moment, by Pamela McLoughlin

"In the exhibit, 'Iphoneography,' local photographer Mike Ross captured an image of the perfectly waving American flag against a blue sky when he ran to Home Depot. One of the pictures in his show is of an interesting parking booth key hanging board that he spotted while doing a job at Union League Cafe. Another is the cool shadow of his grandmother coming back from church in New Haven, along with the shadow of a cat she feeds. There is a picture of an ice cream truck driver on his cellphone that Ross took while walking his dog in East Rock Park. Also featured in the display are a person walking with balloons, an old car covered in overgrown weeds, the shins and feet of a sitting young child wearing Crocs, a person dancing, birds flying over Atlantic City, a shopping cart sign he spotted while at Walmart. 'The iPhone is awesome,' Ross said."

Elm City, by Herbert Randall

"A song-sparrow waited till late with its lay, then mingling, as sunshine and rain, his sweet vesper warble from birches and oak, fused thankfulness over the plain; the lashes of evening drooped over the blue; The lights from a train rumbled by; but day was at rest, as by mother-heart blest, a crescent-moon love-watching nigh. The picture returns like a vision from Faust, dissolves in the mem'ry of night."

We revere thee, Rock, that long has stood.

"East Rock is a bold and beautiful promontory of almost fearful height, near the fine city of New Haven, Connecticut. It commands an extensive and delightful view of the town, the adjacent country to some extent, the bay, and Long Island itself, which resembles a huge confused mass of deep summer clouds, as viewed in the edge of the southern horizon apparently floating over the sound."

New Haven’s Great Park.

"Out of the many hundreds of people who saw Milton J. Stewart's boat lying on top of East Rock, where it was built by him, probably nine-tenths concluded that the boat would never be worth anything except for kindling wood and fully that proportion thought it would get smashed to pieces in being taken down the rock to the water... All there was to it was this: He waited until there was a good fall of snow and then loaded the little ship on to an ox-sled, put bolsters under it to keep it from being damaged during the jolting, and with a pair of horses drew the vessel down the old Rock road, which is as bad as 'the rocky road to Dublin,' and down to the water's edge near Neck bridge."

Bunnell Takes It.

"G. B. Bunnell, who has been known as the successful manager of dime museums, has leased Carll's opera house at New Haven, and announces that he shall produce first class plays, opera, etc., and more than maintain its reputation. He wants it distinctly understood that the management has nothing whatever in connection with the museum... George B. Bunnell takes control of Carll's Opera House on May 1, and from that time it will be known as the Hyperion."

With the Help of a Few Extra Players and a Piano, by Charles Ives

"The Hyperion Theater, located just across the Yale campus on Chapel Street, was another place where Ives found the freedom to try out some of his more adventuresome pieces. The Hyperion was the largest theater in the city, with twenty-five hundred seats, and it was a definite cut above Poli's vaudeville house in the shows… Continue reading With the Help of a Few Extra Players and a Piano, by Charles Ives

New Haven’s Monument Day

"A color lithograph print depicting the winding Farnam Drive that ascends East Rock and the new monument that it leads to. The promotional print is designed as a calendar, and charts the year 1888." -Image courtesy of the New Haven Museum, Documentary Objects Collection, "Farnam Drive and East Rock Monument," Lithograph by J. D. Dewell… Continue reading New Haven’s Monument Day