Pictorial Map of Connecticut 1922
History of the Map
In 1922 Marion C. Bridgman painted this map, and Richard Henry Dana, Jr., the architect of the school's original plan, gifted it to the school. Its racist and stereotypical vignettes of Indigenous people conjured a fabricated past. The map tells a fictional story of both the past, present, and future.
Viewing Instructions
As you are looking at the map consider these questions…
First consider these…
Try to observe what you see without comparing it to other things you have observed. What do you notice?
Why do you think the object was made? And preserved?
Consider the map’s characteristics. What role do they play in how you perceive the story of the map?
Now consider these…
What story is the map is telling?
What perspectives are missing?
How might this object provide evidence of ideas, values, and human activity that were distinct during the time the map was created?
Key
A- Loomis Institute: The Loomis Institute was founded in 1874 by five siblings faced with the prospect of no successive generation and became determined to found a school as a gift to other children. The Loomis Institute opened in 1914.
B-Chaffee School: The Chaffee school opened in this location in 1927 due to the division in 1923. The girls division was moved in 1925 and renamed in 1927.
C-Windsor: On September 26th, 1633, the English came to Windsor which became the first English community in Connecticut.
D-Connecticut River: The Connecticut River is the longest river in New England and greatly supported both the Indigenous and Anglo peoples in Connecticut. It was a crucial resource to both groups for hunting and traveling.
E-Plymouth Trading Post: Despite the lack of evidence locating the Plymouth Trading House the map maker chose to identify a spot.
F-”Joseph Loomis’s landing in 1633”: Joseph Loomis arrived in Windsor in 1639 by land not by boat.
G-”Peaceful Indians bringing in Pequot Heads”: This depiction portrays the Pequot as enemies through the maps story.
H-Indigenous People in tepees: Tepees would not have been used in this area as they are a Indigenous Plains tradition. In this area Wigwams and Longhouses would have been used.
I-”Purchase of the land from the Indians in the town of Windsor 1676”: Historical records say the town of Windsor was purchased in 1633.
J-”Execution of Miantonomah by Uncas 1643”:Miantonomoh was the chief of the Narrangansett people. However, Miantonomoh was not murdered by Uncas but by Uncas’s brother Wawequa who was apart of the Mohegan tribe.
K-”Indians bringing corn to relieve the scarcity 1635”: In The Ancient History of Windsor by Henry R. Stiles, Jonathan Brewster who was a resident agent for the Plymouth Company mentions a struggle to grow corn in 1635.
L-”Bissell hiding a fugitive Indian”: In volume 2 of The Ancient History of Windsor by Henry R. Stiles says that John Bissell who was the founder of the Windsor line of Bissells settled in Windsor before 1640 and was heavily involved in the wars between settlers and Indigenous Peoples (page 77 )
M-”Mohawks Receiving Tributes”:In The Ancient History of Windsor by Henry R. Stiles it is said “Two old Mohawks might be seen, every year or two, issuing their orders and collecting their tribute…” (page 104)