Past and Present Exhibitions

Gallery Hours: Thursday-Saturday, 11:00am - 4:00pm

Current Exhibit:

Keeping Stamford Healthy: The History of Medical Practice in Stamford 1641-1970! Learn about the history and beginnings of St. Joseph’s, Stamford Hospital, local pharmacies of yesteryear and much more. Next year's gala theme ties in with our exhibit and will be held on May 9th. Stay tuned for venue and honoree details!

Past Exhibits:

The Baby Boomer Exhibit

Fabric of Stamford - Women Costumes and Textiles 1860 to 1960

Stamford at 375

Traveling Exhibits

Made possible by a grant from
For information about the exhibits and its display availability, contact the Society at 329-1183 or e-mail us at .

Recent Exhibits

How We Say Goodbye: Funerary and Mortuary Practices in Stamford

Spotlight: From the Dark Corners of the Attic

Forging a Community:Â Stamford on the Gridiron and on the Diamond 1860-1975

P.O. High Ridge Connecticut: The Evolution of a Country Village

The portraits in this exhibit span a time period from the 1830s to the 1970s and present a panoramic view of changing costumes, hairstyles, facial hair and degrees of formality. With few exceptions the subjects were Stamford residents. With the coming of the railroad to Stamford in 1849 and the resulting influx of immigrants, the town became the site of flourishing new industries and of more people who could afford to commission a portrait. Some of these portraits were painted by local artists. Of key importance was the ability to capture the likeness of the sitter, although a slight enhancement was not looked upon unfavorably.

Earlier Exhibits

(Made possible by a generous grant from F.D. Rich Company )

Digging up Stamford: An Archaeological History of Stamford, Connecticut, from 11,000 BP to the Present

The exhibit featured material recovered from archaeological sites excavated within the bounds of Stamford, with both prehistoric and historic components. The goal of the exhibit was to show how much can be learned of the past through items of material culture or artifacts (any item made or used by humans) in conjunction with the study of written materials where they are available. In many cases no historic materials are available and the past must be reconstructed solely through archaeological evidence.

There was a presentation of the Native American materials recovered in Stamford along the shore and from area rockshelters. The Society is indebted to Ernest Wiegand of Norwalk Community College for serving as Guest Curator and for making available to show much of this material. He was the principle investigator at many of the sites mentioned.

The Red Gallery presented the historic period and included material excavated from the Societyâ€™s own Hoyt-Barnum House as well as from other sites around Stamford. Whenever possible, materials from the Societyâ€™s collections were integrated into the exhibit so as to show what the pieces found in a dig would have looked like complete.

â€œPride and Patriotism: Stamfordâ€™s Role in World War II,â€ takes visitors to the frontlines and along the home front in Stamford. The most recent Society exhibit, Portrait of a Family: Stamford through the Legacy of the Davenports, sought to illustrate the history of Stamford through the efforts of one family; in a similar way, this exhibit tells the story of Stamfordâ€™s experience during World War II through the lives of individuals who participated abroad as well as in the war effort at home. The individual experiences give exhibit viewers a more personal, intimate experience and appreciation of how the war affected peopleâ€™s lives directly.

The exhibit includes exclusive, first-person accounts from veterans who are Stamford residents. There are representatives from all branches of the services as well as womenâ€™s divisions: the WACS and the WAVES. Stamford veterans were found in all the theaters of the war. In addition, â€œPride and Patriotismâ€ uses loaned weapons, uniforms, photographs, and artifacts to tell veteransâ€™ stories. Loaned or society-owned items and objects trace the central role that local companies played in war efforts and reflect daily home-front life. A poster gallery, drawn from the Societyâ€™s World War II-era collection, offers visitors a snapshot of the U.S. Governmentâ€™s efforts to attract and encourage public support for the money, material resources, labor, and day-to-day sacrifices needed for a successful war effort.

Syndicated cartoonist Mort Walker, creator of â€œBeetle Baileyâ€and other popular comic strips, was honorary chair of the exhibit. We are gratetful for his permission to reproduce images from his 1945/46 scrapbook for both the exhibit and this online version, in addition to the loan of other artefacts.

The online version of the exhibit strives to present not only the veteransâ€™ stories beyond the excerpts shown in the galleries, but also to display images of objects they lent us for the exhibit â€“ or in some cases donated to the Society â€“ as well as their photos. The battle pages include links to related Internet sites for the more curious. We have added several interviews and biographies, relevant to displays and other references in the exhibit, from the book â€œAn American Town Goes To Warâ€ by Tony Pavia, 1995, with the authorâ€™s kind permission.

The exhibit chronicles the history of Stamford through the lens of one of its most important and influential families, the Davenports.

A number of exceptional objects are on display, including Davenport family silver, two William & Mary armchairs belonging to Rev. John of Stamford and Rev. Noah Welles, Davenport Empire chairs and an Empire sideboard, textiles, and portraits of members of the Davenport family. While the majority of the material in the exhibit comes from the Society's collections, other objects and manuscripts are on loan from various institutions as well as from the Davenport family.

The Society has received a from the for the Davenport Exhibit. Kudos to all involved in making the exhibit happen!