Episode
216. Brewing Community: Labor, Alcohol, and Unrest in Industrial New Britain
- Podcast
- Grating the Nutmeg
- Published
- Sep 1, 2025
- Duration seconds
- 1733
- Processing state
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Summary
Immigrants from Lithuania who made their way to New Britain, Connecticut at the beginning of the twentieth century found work in the city's factories turning out tools and hardware. Their weekly routine included work, church and socializing at neighborhood saloons. But major upheavals in American society were happening at the time that affected their lives including the rise of organized labor, the temperance movement, anti-immigrant sentiment, and labor strikes. In this episode, we have two new voices in public history, Central Connecticut State University students Jon Kozak and Nathaniel Smith. They produced the episode as a class project under Dr. Leah Glazier at Central Connecticut State University. This episode reminds us that some of the most interesting history can be found all around you in your own community. A big thanks to Jon Kosak and Nathaniel Smith for their hard work in producing this episode. I also want to thank Dr. Glazier, professor of public history for her help. Contact Jon Kosak at: [email protected] Contact Dr. Leah Glazier at: [email protected] Jon and Nathaniel used a wide variety of local history materials including oral histories and the New Britain Herald newspaper. Museum Collections: The New Britain Public Library Local History Room , The New Britain Industrial Museum , Connecticut State Library , and the Elihu Burritt Library at Central Connecticut State University, specifically their special collections and archive of the New Britain Herald newspaper . Oral Histories: John Skritulsky, had been interviewed by the Federal Writers Project in 1938, by a writer in the FWP's New Britain office by the name of Albert Kayeski. Being Lithuanian himself, Kayeski understood the importance of this ethnic community in telling the story of an indus…