Rare Footage Of Grace Moore—

Town Historian’s Annual Lecture

To Cover What’s Old That’s New

Newtown Historical Society will open the 2011 programming year with the annual presentation by town historian Dan Cruson, on Monday, January 10, at 7:30. The program will be in the community room of C.H. Booth Library, 25 Main Street.

Mr Cruson’s lecture this year will be “What’s Old That’s New.” The presentation will showcase newly found photographs and historical incidents from Newtown’s past, including some of the latest discoveries of photo material of the 1920s and earlier. These images will include the last of the early Newtown High School football teams of 1911, after which the town took a break from the sport, accompanied by a photographic survey of the town’s teams from the beginning in 1898 until 1911.

Continuing the sports motif, Mr Cruson will also offer a look at photos and share stories of the first track team, and early efforts in the realm of baseball, as well as later Sandy Hook Athletic Club teams. In a slightly different vein, guests will hear of and see the student drill team of 1918-19. In addition to newly found material, the pages of The Newtown Bee and early high school yearbooks will provide sources.

Breaking from the sporting world, Mr Cruson also plans to revisit the spectacular murder of Andrew Peck, which took place in the southwest corner of town in 1888. In an abrupt change of pace, the presentation will conclude with showing a short film of Newtown’s 1939 Memorial Day parade, which led to the dedication of the Peace and Liberty (now usually called the Soldiers and Sailors) Monument at the head of Main Street. This event was the only time that famed opera singer Grace Moore sang publicly in Newtown, and she appears in this rare film footage.

Dan Cruson is a former teacher of anthropology and local history at Joel Barlow High School. He is currently president of Connecticut Archeological Society, and has collaborated with the archeology program at Western Connecticut on several occasions.

As town historian, he has also researched and written extensively about Newtown and Fairfield County. He is a past president of Newtown Historical Society, and currently serves as a trustee.

Newtown Historical Society programs are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the presentation. For further information, call the society at 203-426-5937.