Since 1976, student papers written on historical Middletown-area topics have been donated to Special Collections & Archives.
The Student Papers About Middletown Collection featuers graduate and undergraduate papers about the history of Middletown, Connecticut and the surrounding area. Topics include politics, labor, commerce, ethnic and racial groups, women's history, and leisure.
Papers for which authors have granted permission for general online access are available to everyone via WesScholar. Papers for which we do not have that permission are available online only to the Wesleyan community. All papers are available in paper form for use in the SC&A Reading Room.
Digitization of these papers was funded in part by Wesleyan’s Service Learning Center.
Submissions from 2012
The Beginning of Middletown's Transition into a Factory Town: The Year 1900, Steven Kovach
The 1940 Election in Middletown, Patrick Moriarty
Title IX and College Athletics: A Case Study of Wesleyan University and Equality, Julie Platt
Submissions from 2008
Middletown and Mental Illness in the Aftermath of Deinstitutionalization, William Tucker
Submissions from 2007
Like a Puzzle with all of its Pieces, Xavier is Complete with Community Help, Anthony Albrecht
Submissions from 2005
The colonization societies: Middletown's forgotten movement, Erica Belkin
Policing a new Middletown: updating the force at the turn of the 20th century, Nickolas Atteraas Garin
Two years of protest: divestment at Wesleyan University, 1988-1990, Quinn Hechtkopf
From Labor Leader to Police Chief: A Biography of Charles Anderson, 1912-1936, Brendan O'Connell
Revolutions in Agriculture in Middlesex County, Connecticut during the Mid 19th Century, Rachel Ostlund
Submissions from 2004
The War that Came Home: The Individuals that personalized the 1918 influenza epidemic in Middletown, Connecticut, Stephanie Savas
Submissions from 2003
George Aylward as Middletown Police Chief, Jawn Morales
Submissions from 2002
Local Relief in Middletown During the Great Depression 1930-1933, Jesse Nasta
Submissions from 2001
Middletown, Connecticut: Summer of 1969 – Civil Disturbances and Community Relations in an American City, Becca Masback
A Constant and Formidable Foe: Joshua Stow and the Fight for Religious Freedom in Connecticut, Dael Norwood
Trials and Triumphs: True Stories of Slavery in Connecticut, Laurie Shaner
Submissions from 1998
Murder in Middletown: Lower Class Life in 1815, Doris Sherrow
Submissions from 1992
Blacks in Middletown Around the 1970's, Matt Hobby
A Comparative Study of the Ethnic Identity of Italian-Americans in Middletown, Connecticut Before and After World War II, Madeleine Lanksy
Submissions from 1990
"Who Can Blot Out the North Star?": The Bemans — Four Generations of Black Abolitionists, Kathleen Housley
Submissions from 1987
Urban renewal and citizen's groups in Middletown, Connecticut, Claudia `. Center
The Creation of a Pluralistic Religious Orientation: The Integration of Jews and Judaism at Wesleyan University, Stuart Svonkin
Submissions from 1986
The printer-publishers of the Middlesex Gazette from 1785 to 1820: an examination of their position in the Middletown community, Sally P. Grucan
Port of Call: An Examination of Aspects of Maritime Commerce in Middletown, Connecticut during the Period 1970 Through 1820, Ronald A. Paffrath
A Flourishing College Will…Build Up a Town: The Twelve Local Trustees of Wesleyan University, 1830 - 1840, Betsy H. Potts
The Frothingham House, Carol Terzini
Submissions from 1984
The 1983 Mayoral Election: Tradition Trumps Change, Charles Riether
Submissions from 1982
Marriage and the Chauncey Name, Ann Hetorilla
Printers, Publishers and Booksellers in Middletown, Connecticut: The Demise of the Independent Craftsman, 1800 - 1850, Charlotte Sonnenblick
Submissions from 1981
Immigrant success: what is it and how does one achieve it?, Margaret Fisher
From the Greek-American Fruit and Candy Company, 1901 to the Middlesex Fruitery, 1981: the assimilation of the Greek-American family, Elaine Xenelis Fuller
Middletown, Connecticut: Ethnic Composition and Residential Distribution, 1850 - 1880, J. Paul Loether
The House That Isaac Built, Daniel Perlstein
A Speculative Study of the Middlesex Theater, Bernard Pitterman
A Profile of Two Irish Families: The Larkins and the Linskeys, Gail Linskey Porteus
The Polish Community of New Britain 1900/1925, Jonathan Shea
Jews in Portland—The Eastern Tinware Community, Doris Sherrow
The Corner of Main and Court… A Turning Point, Doris Sherrow
Submissions from 1980
Twas Not a Time For New England to Dance, Leslie Ann Barr
Americanization of Polish and Italian immigrants in Middletown, Paul Breidenbach
The Lower Washington Street community: an unfinished portrait, Rachel Conescu
The family system in transition: wealth and inheritance practice in Middlefield, Connecticut, 1750-1850, Jan Cunningham
Hartford's Italians, Daria D'Arienzo
The second great awakening in Middletown: a paradox in progress, Gerry Early
A survey of Middletown newspapers in the 1820s, Ken Edelstein
A study in depth of Italian wedding photos of Middletown families, Sheila Wrang Farrell and Annette DiMauro Grimaldi
Urbanization and the female-headed household, Middletown, Connecticut, 1790-1850, Susan M. Frentz
The rise and decline of welfare capitalism and the emergence of a union in Ivoryton, Connecticut: 1900-1941, Tom Furrer
The founding of the Middlesex Hospital 1895-1905, Josephine Barry Golec
The Irish in Middletown: the pre-famine generations, Ben Hanley
The social condition of women in early nineteenth century Middletown and America, Patricia Head
The Ideology of Mobility: A Study of Irish Economic Mobility and Group Assimilation in Late Nineteenth Century Middletown, Connecticut, Keith Douglas Krakaur
Lumber, Shipbuilding and the Early Connecticut River Trade, Bret Laurent
A Preliminary Study of the Brownstone Quarrying Industry in the Town of Portland, Connecticut, J. Paul Loether
Quiltmaking in Connecticut 1750-1850, Diane Mac Lean
The Famine Generation: The Middletown Irish in the 1850's, Marche Milano
The Hall Family: A Study in the Patriarchal System 1650 - 1850, Peg Morton
Yellow Fever in Middle Haddam, 1796, Lucy Potter
Joshua Stow: A Nineteenth Century Rebel, Carol D. Schulz
Middletown Temperance 1816-1846, Bob Sweeney
Untitled, Joel Tillinghast
American Social History: A Study of the Rich in the City of Middletown in 1860, unknown
Middletown's Blacks 1800-1840, Daniel Veroff
A Middletown Italian-American in Show Business: Tony Pastor 1909-1969, Leon F. Vinci
Different Shades of Green: A study of Irish-American Institutions in Middletown Connecticut, 1880-1915, Barry Wilder
Middleton Masons 1796-1826, Barry Wilder
The Mortimer Cemetary in Middletown's Transition (1815), Regina Wrubel
Submissions from 1979
Music and Dance in Middletown, Connecticut in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries, Leslie Ann Barr
The Starr family of Middletown, Connecticut; a study in social mobility and social experience, John Barry
Middletown, Connecticut, 1820 - investigations and discoveries of its women and its social order, Susan M. Frentz
Working Mens Societies in Middletown Connecticut: The Franklin Society of 1829-1831 and the Mechanics Society of 1832-1836, Patricia Neuman
Joshua Stow: Local Scapegoat, Corinne Sternberg
Submissions from 1978
Minds, minstrels and melpomene at Middletown's McDonough, Phyllis Bruce
The career of the Continental Vocalists and the life of its co-founder William Dwight Franklin, a Middletown, Connecticut resident, Phyllis Ruth Bruce
A social analysis of blacks in Middletown, 1850 to 1880: as uncovered from the manuscript census, John Campbell and Jessica Lacy
William Brenton Hall: a biography, Katherine Cruse
Elizabeth Bigelow, Daria D'Arienzo
"The relationship between social history and historical archaeology: the mercantile community of Middletown, Connecticut.", Brenda Ellen Gray
The development of industry in Middletown, Connecticut with and emphasis on the post Civil War economic boom, R. Barrett Gross and David Engstrom
The Social Characteristics of the Middletown Political Elite 1900-1920, M. Meranze
Middletown Artisans, 1810, Katie Norment
The Short and Obscure Historical Geography of Maromas, Ted Pena
A Demographic Profile of Early 19th Century Middletown, Connecticut: A Statistical Analysis, Steven Peretz
The Courageous Captain and The Rise and Fall of Middletown's Military Academy, Steven E. Post
The Connecticut Industrial School For Girls, 1870-1920: Legal assumptions and social class expectations, Ellen Staley
A Biography of Richard Alsop the 3rd of Middletown, Connecticut, born 1789 died May 29, 1842, Frank J. Tarallo
The Professionalization of Middletown's Physicians 1868-1918, Virginia Torczon
Submissions from 1977
Middletown and the Civil War: who prospered?, Christopher Berlew
Irish immigrants in Middletown, Connecticut: 1830-1860, Casey Blake
A method of ascertaining the identity of small and medium-size farmers, Craig Borders
The celebration of Christmas and the Fourth of July in Middletown, Connecticut, Kimberly W. Carrell
Services and societies in the First Church of Christ Middletown, Conn. 1870-1890, Julia Anne Chandler
The development of American public education and the Middletown experience from 1870 to 1920, Jan Cunningham
The Millers of Middlefield, Jan Cunningham
Voluntary associations and the Y.M.C.A in Middletown 1885-1911, Rachel Helfer
Railroads and economic development in Middletown 1865-1880, Anne F. Hennigan
A Prospographical Study of State Legislators from Middletown, 1860-1910, Timothy S. Hollister
The Interrelationships of the Merchant Careers of Five Alsops and Economic Changes 1750-1878, Alan Joachim
The Black Population of Middletown 1790-1850, Carlton Odim