A Visual History: Industry, Society, and Social Mobility
In Hartford
Ms. MasopustConnecticut Historical Society
University of Connecticut
What do these terms
mean?
Warm-Up
• Individually, in three sentences:1. What does “manufacturing” mean?
2. What did Hartford manufacture in the past? Specific products?
3. What impact does manufacturing have on a city?
6 minutes.
A Story of Manufacturing In Hartford: 1877-1900
Hartford, 1877
For a business to be successful: “it must mold an innovation into a
sellable product.” (Epperson)
The Manufacturer: Albert A. Pope of the
Pope Manufacturing Co.Innovation
Our Setting: 436 Capitol Avenue, Hartford CTThen: 1905
Today: 115 years later
The Short Story…in short1877: Albert A. Pope Imports Bicycles from England 1878: Pope Establishes
the Pope Manufacturing Co., maker of the Columbia bicycle, on Capitol Ave. in Hartford
1903-1906: The Pope Manufacturing Co. manufacturers motorcycles
1890s: The Pope Manufacturing Co. begins to make automobiles
Your Task:
• In Groups of 3 or 4: – You will visit 5 stations containing artifacts related
to the history of the Pope Manufacturing Co.
• Using the Guided Questions on your handout, analyze the link between the Bicycle Industry, Society, and Social Mobility in Hartford and America at the turn of the Twentieth Century.
Groups: 10 minutes at each station
Group 1: Mark Twain’s “Taming the Bicycle”
Group 2: Pope Manufacturing Co. Advertisements
Group 3: Photographs of cyclists.
Group 4: Article about a cycling superstar from the Turn of the Twentieth Century.
Group 5: Article about a cycling superstar from the Turn of the Twentieth Century.
Artifact Analysis:
Advertisements
Mark Twain: Hartford’s
Privileged Class
“Get a Bicycle, you will not regret it if you live” (Taming the Bicycle).
What does this short story tell us about social mobility?
President Theodore Roosevelt, Hartford, 1902
Hartford Wheel Club Racing Team, 1886
Colt Park, Hartford, 1915
Danbury, 1892
This is not a photograph from Hartford. Why did I include it?
172 Main Street, 189?
188-?
Pierce’s “The Fastest Men” Major Taylor: Cycling Pioneer
• http://www.majortaylor.com/
Impact (and answer to our Warm-up): What impact does manufacturing have on a city?
•What: what is this artifact an image of?
•Identify: Who might the individuals in the photograph be?
•Now that you know that the individuals are_____________________________, what story does this photograph tell about the link between manufacturing and society?
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