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Community Corner

Connecticut History in Four Episodes at Simsbury Free Library

Join the Simsbury Free Library for the final lecture in a series exploring Connecticut’s rich historical past, covering our history from 200 million years ago to modern times, with a focus on the process of change – how we evolved from Native American landscape to Puritan colonies, from Puritan to Yankee, from Yankee to American, from farm community to mill village, and from textiles, clocks, and guns to the “arsenal of democracy.”
 
The final lecture in this series is Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 1:00 p.m. “Not So Steady Habits: Changing Demographics (1820-1950)”

The first two lectures, “The Face of Connecticut:  From Proto-North America through the Colonial Era (2 million years ago – 1763)” and “The Provision State:  From the Revolution to the New Constitution (1763-1818)” can be viewed at www.simsburytv.org by searching for History of Connecticut.

About the Speaker
Tom Ratliff is a former English and Social Studies teacher who writes historical fiction for young adults. An expert on Connecticut History and the Civil War, he has a master’s degree in Early American History.

Mr. Ratliff is the co-author of the six-volume Matty Trescott series (written with Carole Shmurak under the pen name Carroll Thomas), and has written non-fiction books for young readers on the Civil War, the Pony Express, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the American Revolution, as well as graphic novelizations of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Last of the Mohicans, and Jack London’s White Fang. His serialized stories for young readers have been published through the Newspapers in Education program in several states.
 
For the past 20 years, Mr. Ratliff has taught at Central Connecticut State University in both the History and Secondary Education Departments. Currently he is teaching online for the community college system and writing a book about Connecticut’s role in the American Revolution.

RSVPs are requested via email (simsburyfreelibrary@gmail.com) or phone (860-408-1336).

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