Grating the Nutmeg

• 222. Cabbage Patch Kids and West Hartford's Toymaker Coleco

  During this holiday season, it seems like the perfect time to bring you the story of one of the bestselling toys ever - Cabbage Patch Kids! Inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2023, Cabbage Patch Kids set every toy industry sales record for three years running from 1983-86, and has become one of the longest-running doll franchises in the United States. How did a Connecticut company produce the hottest toy of the 1980s - and then go broke? The license to produce Cabbage Patch Kids has gone through a record 7 toy companies. This episode is on the Coleco years - the toymaker with their headquarters in West Hartford.  Host Mary Donohue will share her experience buying the dolls and  Natalie Belanger, Grating the Nutmeg producer from the Connecticut Museum of Culture & History, her own childhood experience playing with the Cabbage Patch Kids. It's hard to believe after such a successful toy, but Coleco Industries were bankrupt by 1989.  The Hartford Courant published numerous full-page stories about what had gone wrong. The Courant reported that "With its revenues dropping and its debt mounting, Coleco faced some critical decisions. Toy industry analysts said the company should have  slowed its spending, cut expenses and waited for sales to improve. Instead, Coleco chose to borrow more and spend more, trying to develop a product to rival Cabbage Patch Kids. But the new toys it introduced-Rambo action figures, Furskins stuffed bears, a talking Cabbage Patch doll and Starcom space toys for boys sold only moderately well." Find out more in this episode!   ------------------------------------------ To subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, visit simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored To watch Connecticut's Hidden Gems on YouTube, visit ctpublic.org/watch/local-programming/connecticut-hidden-gems We did it! Thanks to our listeners, Grating the Nutmeg is celebrating our 10th anniversary. With over 200,000 streams, over 200 episodes and heard in over 50 countries, Grating the Nutmeg brings CT's big stories to listeners around the world! We're planning our 2026 calendar now and need your support. Help us celebrate our 10th anniversary milestone by pledging $10 a month or making a $100 donation now on our website at ctexplored.org. History matters-be part of it! This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/   Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky. Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!  

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• 221. New Haven's Lt. Augusto Rodríguez, First Civil War Soldier from Puerto Rico

    More than twenty thousand Hispanic Americans served in the Civil War. When Cuban-born Loreta Velázquez's husband would not allow her to join him on the battlefield, she assumed the role of First Lieutenant Harry T. Buford to be near him. Philip Bazaar, born in Chile, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courageous exploits during the assault of Fort Fisher. The spying efforts of Floridian Maria Dolores Sánchez and her two sisters led to a Union defeat at the Battle of Horse Landing.    Delving into the lives of these individuals, historian A.J. Schenkman, author of Hispanic Americans of the Civil War, published by the History Press in 2025, uncovers this often-overlooked aspect of Civil War history. Hispanic soldiers came from different countries. Mexico had declared its independence from Spain in 1821 and later abolished slavery in 1837. Some soldiers and sailors traced their families to Cuba and Puerto Rico, which were still part of Spain. Or from Spain itself or its other colonies.    In this episode, Schenkman uncovers a bombshell story about New Haven's Augusto Rodríguez, the first known Civil War soldier from Puerto Rico. When this story was published in the Summer 2025 issue of Connecticut Explored magazine, the phone started to ring off the hook. Television news channels and newspapers quickly picked up this remarkable story.  Grating the Nutmeg has covered the courageous Puerto Rican men of the 65th regiment founded in 1899 when Puerto Rico became a United States territory in episode #184 but not someone this early in our military history.   A. J. Schenkman is a New York-based writer. He is a social studies teacher in Ulster County, New York, and a former municipal historian. Schenkman is also author of several books about local, regional, and national history. He currently writes for Litchfield and Dutchess Magazines, as well as the Shawangunk Journal.   To contact A.J. Schenkman, visit his website at https://www.ajschenkman.com/   To subscribe to Connecticut Explored, the magazine of Connecticut history, visit https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/connecticut-explored   To watch Connecticut's Hidden Gems on YouTube, visit https://www.ctpublic.org/watch/local-programming/connecticut-hidden-gems   ------------------------------------- This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/   Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.   Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!  

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• 220. Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Plant: The Promise and Peril of Nuclear Energy

  The Connecticut Yankee atomic power plant was one of the earliest commercial nuclear reactors in New England.  Though it was dismantled at the turn of the 21st century, its legacy remains, both for the landscape of the Connecticut River Valley where it once stood, and for contemporary debates about energy today.  This episode explores the plant's life and afterlife, the activists who opposed it, and the promises and perils of nuclear power in the 1960s and today, through the reminiscences of Paul Gionfriddo, a former state legislator and longtime president of People's Action for Clean Energy, a group that has advocated for conservation and renewable energy in Connecticut since the early 1970s.   This episode is presented by Dr. Amrys Williams and Jon Kozak. Williams is a historian of science, technology,and the environment who serves as the Executive Director of the Connecticut League of Museums.  Her recent research projects have focused on anti-nuclear activism, radioecology, and the public interpretation of nuclear places. Kozak is a graduate student in Public History at Central Connecticut State University and the Communications Manager for the Connecticut League of Museums. His recent research has focused on energy landscapes and the Connecticut Yankee plant.   Their guest is Paul Gionfriddo is a former state representative and mayor of Middletown, a graduate of Wesleyan University, and a retired nonprofit professional.  He has advocated for mental health and renewable energy, and served as President of People's Action for Clean Energy from 1975 until 1999.    For more information, visit these sites:   -Connecticut Yankee website: connyankee.com/ -People's Action for Clean Energy website: pacecleanenergy.org/  -1960s film of the construction of the Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant: youtube.com/watch?v=AiCYVMboju8 -The Atom and Eve, 1960s film promoting CT Yankee plant and atomic power in New England: footagefarm.com/reel-details/communications/telephone/1966---colour-atomic-energy-usa--atom-and-eve ; https://catalog.archives.gov/id/88095  -US Department of Energy Flickr Photo Stream, with many images of the Haddam Neck Plant before and during its operating lifetime: flickr.com/photos/departmentofenergy/10822396434/in/photostream/ -Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company, Haddam Neck Plant Records at the University of Connecticut Archives and Special Collections: archivessearch.lib.uconn.edu/repositories/2/resources/335  -Wesleyan Anti-Nuclear Protests Collection, Wesleyan University Archives and Special Collections: archives.wesleyan.edu/repositories/ua/resources/wesleyan_university_anti-nuclear_protests_collecti  -Connecticut Collections: ctcollections.org/   Production notes -Projector sound effect: cine-projector SFX.wav by Rollo145 -- https://freesound.org/s/220348/ -- License: Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 -Archival audio from: -Gene Starbecker, The Atom and Eve (Bay State Film Production Inc., 1966). -Construction of Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Plant, produced for Connecticut Yankee by Kevin Donovan Films, Glastonbury, CT, ca. 1968. Photo Credit Photo of CY when it was in operation from the Department of Energy.   Connecticut League of Museums: ctleague.org/    This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Amyrs Williams and Jon Kozak.   GTN podcast engineer is Patrick O'Sullivan at highwattagemedia.com/   Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky. Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history.    

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• 219. Transgender History and Connecticut Transgender Pioneer Dr. Alan L. Hart

    The transgender community has struggled to receive recognition and equality.  In this episode, we explore the history of the transgender community over the last 100 years with Dr. Susan Stryker and the life of Dr. Alan L. Hart, a transgender medical doctor working on the forefront of an urgent public health crisis, tuberculosis, in Connecticut. Hart, Director of Connecticut's Office of TB Rehabilitation, is credited with saving countless lives. My guest is Dr. Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History, the Root of Today's Revolution, published in 2017. Transgender History, Third Edition: A Resource for Today's Struggle-and Tomorrow's will be published in Febuary, 2026. Dr. Susan Stryker holds a distinguished visiting appointment at Stanford's Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and is Professor Emerita of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies at the University of Arizona, where she directed the Institute for LGBT Studies for many years. She is the author or editor of numerous articles, books and anthologies. A collection of previously published short works, When Monsters Speak: A Susan Stryker Reader, was published by Duke University Press in 2024. She is also an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker for Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria. In the documentary, you'll meet Dr. Stryker and some of the transgender women and drag queens who fought police harassment at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco's Tenderloin in 1966 three years before the famous riot at Stonewall Inn bar in New York City. You'll find the documentary on Amazon Prime. To contact Dr. Stryker, visit her website at www.susanstryker.net/about For more information on Dr. Alan L. Hart, go to these resources: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trailblazing-transgender-doctor-saved-countless-lives/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12328259/ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272831386_Manifesting_Manhood_Dr_Alan_Hart's_Transformation_and_the_Embodiment_of_Sex_in_Early_Twentieth-Century_Sexology https://college.lclark.edu/live/news/43320-from-the-archives-dr-alan-hart   West Hartford Pride  West Hartford Pride supports, celebrates, and uplifts the LGBTQAI+ Community by providing resources, events, education, and social justice initiatives. Find out more about visiting their website at westhartfordpride.org   Preservatlon Connecticut LGBTQ+ Historic Sites Survey  Preservation Connecticut, in partnership with scholars and activists, has embarked on documenting Connecticut's LGBTQ+ sites. Interwoven through these places are stories of resilience, innovation, and the pursuit of equality that transcend the traditional boundaries of class, race, ethnicity, and religion. If you're interested in learning more or contributing to this survey project, please visit www.preservationct.org/lgbtq. Grating the Nutmeg Three-part LGBTQ+ Series 2025 Connecticut Explored magazine and our podcast, Grating the Nutmeg, have featured many of the heritage trails that mark the important histories and sites of Connecticut's people.  Preservation Connecticut has undertaken a survey of LGBTQ+ heritage sites across the state. Now, Grating the Nutmeg and Preservation Connecticut have teamed up to bring you a three-episode podcast series that pairs new research on LGBTQ+ identity and activism with accounts of the Connecticut places where history was made. The episodes include a thriving vegetarian cafe-bookstore run by lesbian feminists in a working-class former factory town, Episode 212, a transgender medical researcher working on an urgent public health issue in the center of Connecticut politics, Episode 219, and a gay, Jewish, best-selling children's book author in affluent Fairfield County, Episode 215. Connecticut Humanites The 2025 LGBTQ+ Three-part series received grant support from CT Humanities, connecting people to the humanities through grants, partnerships, and public programs. Visit our website to learn about our funding opportunities and capacity building grants. https://cthumanities.org/   ------------------------------------------ Like Grating the Nutmeg? Want to support it? Make a donation! 100% of the funds from your donation go directly to the production and promotion of the show. Go to ctexplored.org to send your donation now. secure.qgiv.com/for/gratingthenutmeg This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at www.highwattagemedia.com/   Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky. Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!

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• 218. Connecticut in the Industrial Revolution: Making Buttons in Cheshire

  A button sounds like a very ordinary thing. But button production in Cheshire was part of Connecticut's pioneering role in the precision manufacturing revolution of the nineteenth century. According to connecticuthistory.org, button production began with pewter buttons in the mid-eighteenth century but quickly turned to brass in the early nineteenth century.  By 1860s, machines in the Scovill Brass factory in Waterbury produced 216,000 buttons per day. This type of industrial production volume for an everyday necessity such as buttons propelled investors and entrepreneurs to establish companies such as the Ball & Socket Manufacturing Company. But what were the benefits and costs of Cheshire's industrial development during Connecticut's Industrial Revolution?   Cheshire's Ball & Socket factory has been transformed into a community arts center as we discovered in Grating the Nutmeg episode 167. New Lives for Old Factories.  But its industrial past has not been forgotten-new research by noted historian Elizabeth Fox has been shared with the public in outdoor signage and a feature story in the Fall 2024 issue of Connecticut Explored. Fellow historian Agnes Wnuk has been researching the history of the factory and its effect on Cheshire. My guests Elizabeth Fox and Agnes Wnuk today will share what they've uncovered so far! Elizabeth "Betsy" Fox is a retired museum consultant. She lives in Cheshire and has been involved with Ball & Socket Arts as a volunteer for over ten years. She has also written some great articles for Connecticut Explored magazine. Historian Agnes Wnuk has been involved in preservation work at museums and libraries.   Ball & Socket Arts will present a public program on the oral history project and button production at 6:30pm on Nov. 13th, 2025 at the Cheshire Public Library. Get  more information here: ballandsocket.org/events/2025/11/13/pushing-buttons-collecting-oral-histories-about-ball-socket-manufacturing Did you know Waterbury, CT has been a hub of button-making for over 200 years? Buttons aren't just functional; they're miniature works of art! Opening October 12, Beau McCall: Buttons On! is the first-ever retrospective of the renowned textile artist known as "The Button Man," showcasing his striking wearable and visual art created entirely with buttons. The exhibition is complemented by the Mattatuck Museum's impressive Button Gallery, home to over 20,000 buttons, offering a unique blend of creativity and history through January 4. Get more information here: https://www.mattmuseum.org/exhibition/beau-mccall-buttons-on/   ------------------------------------------ If you love Connecticut history, be sure to support Grating the Nutmeg by bidding on some fabulous one-of-a-kind experiences in our online benefit auction! History matters! Get more information here: www.ctexplored.org/2nd-grating-the-nutmeg-auction/   To listen to our episode on Ball & Socket Art's transformation, stream free here: https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/167-new-lives-for-old-factories-cheshires-ball-socket-arts   This episode of Grating the Nutmeg was produced by Mary Donohue and engineered by Patrick O'Sullivan at https://www.highwattagemedia.com/   Follow GTN on our socials-Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky.   Follow executive producer Mary Donohue on Facebook and Instagram at West Hartford Town Historian. Join us in two weeks for our next episode of Grating the Nutmeg, the podcast of Connecticut history. Thank you for listening!

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