CT Humanities awards $20,000 to the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum

The Connecticut Humanities has awarded $20,000 to the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum for a Public Presentation Grant in support of the planning of the new exhibit, Bulls of Wall Street: High Finance, Power and Social Change in Victorian America.

“We are very thankful to the Connecticut Humanities for supporting this very important exhibit,” said Patsy Brescia, LMMM Chairman of the Board of Trustees, “and to all our State legislators for their continued efforts and support for our treasured institution.”

The exhibition, curated by Kathleen Craughwell-Varda, will explore the financial world of LeGrand Lockwood and his illustrious peers—Vanderbilt, Gould and Fisk—and the social and economic similarities and differences between Gilded Age American Finance and today’s. The exhibition will also examine the struggles and successes of minorities on Victorian era Wall Street, such as black Americans and women, who may have redefined the course of history and American culture.

Ms. Craughwell-Varda has been an independent museum consultant and curator for over 25 years for several local and regional organizations including the Greenwich Historical Society, Greenwich, CT; Caramoor House Museum, Katonah, NY, and Litchfield History Museum, Litchfield, CT, to name a few.

“The Board of Trustees and I are truly grateful to the Connecticut Humanities for this very generous grant, which will launch the planning of a thought-provoking and innovative exhibit on 19^th century American finance,” said LMMM Executive Director Susan Gilgore. “We are very excited to bring to life the Mansion’s history with this focus and during this pivotal era, and offer an in-depth and novel exploration on American finance to communities throughout the region.”

The planning of the exhibit, Bulls of Wall Street, will be developed with the help of several outstanding expert advisors who will support Ms. Craughwell-Varda’s research and findings: John E. Herzog, who spearheaded the expansion of Herzog, Heine, Geduld, Inc. into the third-largest NASDAQ market maker in the country, founder of the Museum of American Finance in NYC, and author of, A Billion to One; Prof. Janice Traflet, Ph.D. M.B.A., Howard Scott Research Professor of Management, Bucknell University, and author of, Nation of Small Shareowners: Marketing Wall Street After the Second World War, Johns Hopkins, 2013; Consultant Archivist Steve Wheeler, Archive Director of the NY Stock Exchange from 1986 to 2015; and Challis Professor of HistoryatThe University of Sydney, Australia, Shane White, award-winning author of,Prince of Darkness, The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street’s First Black Millionaire, which has been optioned by actor Don Cheadle.

Connecticut Humanities, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, supports cultural and historic organizations that tell the state’s stories, build community and enrich lives. Learn more by visiting www.cthumanities.org.

The Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum is located at 295 West Avenue in Norwalk. Tours are offered Wednesdays through Sundays, at noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. For more information on tours and programs, visit www.lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, e-mail info@lockwoodmathewsmansion.com, or call 203-838-9799.