By Jonathan Stankiewicz
CCSU’s Elihu Burritt library will be celebrating the life and work of the man by organizing several events to honor Burritt before and during the bicentennial of his birthday on Dec. 8th.
The library was finished in 1959 and was named after Burritt from a suggestion by the New Britain Herald editor and publisher Robert C. Vance. Others on the short list included Dr. Herbert D. Welte and Thomas H. Gallaudet.
To commemorate Burritt’s 200th birthday the library has planned a few events for everyone to enjoy and will finish with a party on his birthday.
On Sept. 22, at noon, in the Special Collections reading room, there will be an opening lecture by Wendy Chmielewski, Ph.D., a curator of the Peace collection at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.
Chmielewski, an author of several published works including Jane Addams and the Practice of Democracy, will be speaking on Burritt’s connection with women in the peace movement.
Burritt today, is known throughout Connecticut, but also for his work around the world. He was born in New Britain in 1810, and is nicknamed New Britain’s favorite son.
The youngest of 10 children, Burritt had to leave school in 1828 after his father’s death. He decided to apprentice himself to a local blacksmith.
While apprenticing, Burritt was teaching himself mathematics and linguistics, but more hardship hit his family after the family grocery business closed.
Burritt decided to go to Boston for an opportunity to find something to help his family. It is there in Massachusetts that Burritt received a name that stayed with him for hundreds of years, “Learned Blacksmith,” from the governor at the time Edward Everett.
From there Burritt set himself to a future that changed the world, eventually teaching himself 50 languages. He lectured across the country and eventually traveled across the world.
Peace conferences across Europe in the late 1840’s could be Burritt’s greatest accomplishments. All Burritt wanted was peace and he fought for it.
Burritt never married. He wrote over 35 books and articles alongside editing books and publications in his time.
Burritt returned home to Connecticut where he died on March, 6, 1789.
The Special Collections Department is home to many materials about Burritt and his life. The collection has been growing for decades as donations and writings are found.
New Britain’s public library also has a vast collection including “journals, written works, biographies, and papers.”
The centennial of Burritt’s birthday was celebrated throughout the city of New Britain. Everyone came outside and participated.
Looking at pictures of the event, on the front of postcards, the whole city was decorated for the parade and every ethnic group was accounted for.
The postcards can be looked at among the other books and materials that are in the department. All students have to do is ask to see what they need, whether it be a letter or even a copy of Burritt’s almost 6-foot-long will.
On Oct. 21 and 22 there will be a guided tour of the Fairview Cemetery with a visit to Burritt’s grave called Timeless Tales of Fairview Cemetary.
And in November the library staff has another lecture planned by Professor Robert Wolff.
All of the activities culminate on the bicentennial.
For more information students can visit the library’s website at library.ccsu.edu or visit the library.