N. N. Hill documents at the Connecticut Historical Society Library

[Robert Watrous]

I was recently at the Connecticut Historical Society. The Connecticut Historical Society was very accomodating. The people there were very nice. They had the materials all pulled out for me in advance of my arrival. The library cart with the materials on it was so impressive I took a picture of it. Other researchers said with a smile, I'm glad that's not my cart! The N.N. Hill ledgers were in a great shape for being 100 plus years old. The leather bindings had held up well. There were also stacks of letters and other papers in boxes. They let me look through any and all of it at my pace. My contact was: Barbara Austen, Florence S. Marcy Crofut Archivist 860-236-5621 x251 Connecticut Historical Society, [e-mail]

The ledgers are listed under Gong Bell in their catalog. http://www.chs.org/library/msscoll.htm

I saw in one ledger the names Watrous, Gong Bell, East Hampton Bell Co. Harris, Ives, and many other toy makers. I could tell what the wage rate was, how many pounds of which toys were being cast for Gong Bell ( a surprise since I didn't expect Gong Bell to be having N N Hill do their casting), every employee's name, and exactly when my relative Clifford M. Watrous, went to work at N N Hill. For some reason Watrous Mfg. Co. bought hundreds of pounds of wingnuts from N. N. Hill, yet I don't know of any toy they made that used a wingnut. In four hours I was only able to scratch the surface of the documents available. I went through two ledgers and photographed numerous pages I found of interest. I'll have to go back to Hartford to look at the rest of the N. N. Hill collection, and then see what they have at the Connecticut State Library.

Life is good,
Bob

[BellToyBoy]

I recently revisited the Connecticut Historical Society to follow up on my research into this collection. Five hours only got me a small way through this treasure trove of bell manufacturing and bell toy making history. I found my distant relative, Clifford M. Watrous, in the time sheet ledgers from 1896 through 1903. I'll be going back, hopefully soon. From the time sheets on can piece together the employees there at this time, how many hours a week they worked, and what they were paid.

Life is good,

Bob