By: Adam Schwabacher    In the mid 19 th  century millions of immigrants moved to the United States to escape poverty, persecution, or to start a new life. During these years most immigrants started to settle in cities like New York and Boston. Overcrowding in cities like Boston and New York were common, so this prompted people to flock to smaller cities like New Haven in order to start a new life and find individual jobs. One of the places these immigrants settled was an area of New Haven called Westville. When these immigrants came they brought over their ideals, culture, and religion. At the time Westville was mostly a Jewish neighborhood. This neighborhood would later be home to Italians, Irish, Russians, Germans, and African Americans. When a group of people start living in one area, these people want to start up their own places to meet and practice religion. For the people who believe in Roman Catholicism that meant they wanted to set up ...

By: Lucas Hoffman British Invasion of New Haven In 1779 the American Revolutionary War had reached its fourth year. The former thirteen colonies of Great Britain were rebelling against the empire. Fighting was taking place throughout the colonies. On July 5 th , a British force of around three thousand soldiers and marines landed in New Haven, Connecticut. The expeditionary force was under command of British G eneral William Tryon. The goal was to disrupt the rebellion taking place in the Connecticut colony. One who had opposed the British since the start of the revolution was Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr, a young officer under George Washington had been forced by illness to retire his command in earlier in the spring of 1779. He was living in Lichfield County, attending law school at the time of Tryon’s raid. George Washington knew that New Haven was a vital port city to the colonies, so he kept in close contact with Ezra Stiles, then president of Yale College . T he British...

One way to track historical change in a city over time is to look at the ways maps trace the evolution of urban space. New Haven is unique in the sense that over nearly four hundred years since its Puritan founding, it retains the original nine square grid set down in 1637-38. At the same time, New Haven has, over the centuries, been remade many times over. Note how its waterfront has changed with industrialization and transportation developments, its neighborhoods bisected and in some cases wholly destroyed by twentieth century urban redevelopment. At City of Elms, we hope soon to launch a website with a cartographic interface that traces the city's changes cartographically, permits students to pin research and writing in primary and secondary sources to these maps, and opens New Haven's history to new audiences in strikingly visual ways. See below, for a taste of these wonderful maps. The Wadsworth Map, 1784 The Doolittle Map, 1817 The Barber Ma...

Elm Arcade, Temple Street, New Haven, Connecticut And who, that ever, on a Sabbath morn, Sent through this leafy roof a prayer to Heaven. And when the sweet bells burst upon the air, Saw the leaves quiver, and the flecks of light Leap like caressing angels to the feet Of the church-going multitude, but felt That here, God's day was holier--that the trees, Pierced by these shining spires, and echoing ever "To prayer!" "To prayer!" were but the lofty roof Of an unhewn cathedral, in whose choirs Breezes and storm-winds, and the many birds Join'd in the varied anthem; and that so, Resting their breasts upon these bending limbs, Closer, and readier to our need they lay-- The spirits who keep watch 'twixt us and Heaven. --Nathaniel Parker Willis, excerpts from "Elms of New Haven" (1841)

During the Spring 2018 semester, the Southern Connecticut State University History Department ran, for the first time, a new course HIS259: Digital New Haven, the beginning of what we hope will be a significant departmental and university initiative bringing together students, faculty, administration, local and regional organization, archives, libraries, public schools, and research institutions. Digital New Haven's City of Elms blog and soon-to-be website will provide students the opportunity to learn digital research, writing, and pedagogy along with the technical skills and informed by the intellectual promise and challenges of the digital humanities to enrich our understanding of New Haven history for our city, community, and beyond. Below is the first iteration of the course syllabus for HIS259. HIS259: Digital New Haven Spring 2018 Dr. Jason W. Smith                   ...