Historic New Haven Trials and So Much More: Whitney Literary Society to Debut at New Haven Museum

New Haven, Conn. (December 19, 2025) –While July 4, 1776, is considered the birthdate of America, it is the events prior to and since that define much of our shared history. On Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 5:30 p.m., the New Haven Museum will debut the Whitney Literary Society, an informal, bimonthly book discussion delving into that colorful history, and focus largely on New Haven which was once the center of governance, education, trade, and culture in Connecticut. Free with museum admission. Registration is required, register here. Snow date Thursday, February 5, 2026.

A Pictorial History of Raynham & Its Vicinity 1900

“This book group is ideal for New Haven enthusiasts who are eager to explore the city's history and want to experience that history firsthand with original documents and manuscripts,” says Librarian Emma Norden, who researched and developed the project. Each Whitney Literary Society event will include a discussion of a book and either an up-close viewing of materials in the New Haven Museum’s vast collection, a visit from an author, or a guided tour of a related exhibit. Visitors may register to read and discuss any or all of the books.

The year-long series will progress through the Puritan, colonial, and industrial eras into more contemporary New Haven history. The first discussion will include several chapters from “The Case of the Piglet's Paternity: Trials from the New Haven Colony, 1619-1963” by Jon C. Blue, which explores judicial trials in the early New Haven Colony. “These stories of real people are riveting,” Norden says, “Especially chapters 24 and 30, which involve indentured servitude, and divorce, which was highly unusual in the 1600s.” The event will include a rare viewing of the original town records of New Haven.

On March 26, 2026, the series continues with “Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London,” by Connecticut author Eric Lehman. Norden notes that interest in Arnold has increased in recent years, and Arnold’s life, career, and motivations will be popular topic on the state and national level. The discussion corresponding with Lehman’s book will include a showing of the Whitney Library’s impressive Benedict Arnold Manuscript Collection.

Also in the series will be “Captive of the Labyrinth,” by Mary Jo Ignoffo, the first full-length biography of Sarah Winchester of New Haven, who was the subject of the movie “Winchester,” starring Helen Mirren. Other books in the series are: “Pizza in New Haven,” by Colin Caplan, “Griswold V. Connecticut: Contraception and the Right of Privacy,” by Susan Wawrose, and “Murder in Model City: The Black Panthers, Yale, And the Redemption of a Killer,” by Paul Bass and Douglas W. Rae.

The Whitney Literary Society is offered in partnership with the New Haven Free Public Library, allowing easy access to the books in the series. Registrants can opt to have The Whitney Library reserve a copy of each book at the main branch of the New Haven Free Public Library. For questions and additional details email library@newhavenmuseum.org.