Fall Midterm
This term we have begun the research into Civil War soldiers from the
Gunnery. We began by researching into Charles P. Goodyear by reading
his letters and looking for information over the web. The result has
been a wealth of information, including accounts of his childhood,
information putting him as an officer in the 9th Colored Infantry, up to
his obituary. We’d also begun preliminary work on Romulus Loveridge,
who was a good friend of Goodyear, and who also followed (or vice versa)
in his footsteps. We have also gathered the letters of Frank Wells,
John O’Brian at this time, and also have a contact in Helen Currie Davis
for information regarding Frank Boudinot. At this time, we believe
that the paper will focus primarily on Goodyear, and possibly one or two
others, one of which will be Romulus. Plans have been made to visit
the Litchfield Historical Society, The Connecticut Historical Society,
and possible plans include visiting the New Milford Historical Society
and a regimental historian from the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery.
Research will also soon be done into black regiments with a hopeful
focus on the 3rd and 9th colored infantry. Over all, progress has been
mostly smooth, and over the next month it is likely to pick up even
more.
Winter Midterm
The first half of the Winter term is generally used to begin the
writing process of the Gunn Scholar Paper. However, it was decided that
this winter would begin with a trip to Yale to visit the archives and
conclude research on Romulus Loveridge, a Yale alumni. Then, after that
trip was concluded, the course of action was to figure out how exactly
the project should be presented. Within this debate, it was decided
that the letters were to be the center of the paper, as it is letters
that give the true life to this, and many previous, projects. Then, a
brilliant idea came from Mr. Alter to present the project as an
interactive website, which is now officialy where the project is going.
This is both an experiment, and a risk, but it is one that the Gunn
Scholar is more than glad to take. It is a risk because, while a paper
comes with a strongly defined thesis and purpose, the website takes on
the further role of educating people, and must be approached in an
entirely different manner. Also, Zack has begun to spend his Friday
block in the Gunn Memorial Museum to work as a sort of intern, and to
help with the design of the future Civil War exhibit, which the website
is planned to be a part of. Looking forward, with the basic design of
the website done, Zack is ready to begin the process or writing
connecting articles that bring light and perspective to the letters of
Charley Goodyear.
Winter End of Term
It has been a very long winter. Between a record setting January for
snow, a huge amount of school work, and the effort put into the
successful Winter Musical, I’m amazed that any work got done at all
really. However, work has been done. The website has been the primary
focus of the term, with a special focus on the annotations and
explication of the letters. Since the letters are the main draw of the
project, the most visual part, and the most important part, almost all
effort has been put there. If I had to give a percentage how complete
we are with that part of the project, I would give it an 80% complete.
The plan is to complete the website, letters and biographies included,
by the end of the Spring Break. I am also busy now working on a design
for the exhibit at the Gunn Memorial Museum. Over the past winter term,
I helped to transcribe a record of Washington Soldiers which has been a
great help to both my project and the museums. Over the break, we will
continue to work on the exhibit. The Spring term will involve the
conversion from website to written material. Also, it will be the
beginning of a series of appearances around the state that I have been
signed up for. I’m especially looking forward to the History Bites
presentation at the Gunn Memorial Museum on May 19th.