Events and Programs

Opening Reception

Celebrating Chaplin Artist

Terese Ridgeway (1936-2022)

Saturday, March 11th – 1:00pm (snowdate March 18)

Please join us at the Chaplin Public Library for an opening reception to celebrate the work of longtime Chaplin resident and acclaimed weaver Terese Ridgeway. Light refreshments will be served. The Ridgeway exhibit will be on display in the library through Saturday, April 8th. The library is open Monday and Wednesday 10am-6pm, Friday 2-6pm, and Saturday 10am-1pm.

 

Preschool Storytime

Wednesdays

10:30 -11:30 am

Preschoolers can come hear a story and make a craft. Although this program is aimed at preschoolers, all ages are welcome! Weather permitting, this event will be held outside under the tent. Otherwise, it will be inside the library’s meeting room.

Friends Group Meeting

Third Wednesday of the month- 2:30 pm

(February meeting will be February 22nd)

We have a Friends group! If you are interested in helping the library, please attend a meeting. Please note there will be no meeting in September.

Chaplin Ukulele Band

Wednesdays at 4pm

If you play the ukulele or are interested in learning, consider joining the ukulele group.  No experience required. No ukulele? Join in anyway.  Please call or email for more information.

PROGRAM RECORDINGS

Bicentennial Talk: 

The History of Chaplin Place Names

Watch the recording of Warren Church’s talk!

Join Chaplin resident and local historian Warren Church to learn about place names in Chaplin. Why is it called Bear Hill Rd? Who was Diana of Diana’s Pool?

Bicentennial Talk:

Ruth Snow Bowen, Chaplin Quilt Maker

Watch the Recording of Catherine Smith’s talk!

Chaplin resident and artist Catherine Whall Smith shared the history of former Chaplin resident and artist Ruth Snow Bowen, who lived on Chaplin Street and sold many of her wonderful quilts throughout Connecticut. Each month the library is displaying small fiber art pieces of homes on Chaplin Street paired with a quilt from Catherine’s collection.

National Poetry Month: An Evening with Connecticut’s New Poet Laureates

Recording includes Adelaide Northrop

Listen to Connecticut’s newest poet laureates, including Chaplin Poet Laureate Adelaide Northrop.

Bicentennial Talk: History of the William Ross Library

Recording of Leslie Ricklin and Ingrid Wood’s talk

Chaplin resident Leslie Ricklin and Columbia Town Historian Ingrid Wood discussed the history of the William Ross Library.

Bicentennial Talk: Benjamin Chaplin’s Will

Recording of Gavin Horning-Kane and Brendan Kane’s talk

The 2nd Chaplin Bicentennial talk was a discussion of Benjamin Chaplin’s will. Chaplin residents Gavin Horning-Kane and UConn History Professor Brendan Kane explored the contents of our town benefactor’s will. Since it was written in 1790, the handwriting can be difficult to read. View the will for yourself, try your hand at transcribing a portion of it, and discover a bit about our town’s history.

Virtual Bicentennial Talk – Trouble in the Land of Steady Habits:

The Constitution of 1818

Recording of Walter Woodward’s Talk is available!

In celebration of Chaplin’s bicentennial, Connecticut State Historian Walter Woodward discussed what was happening in our state when Chaplin was taking steps to become a town. Connecticut in 1818 was in many ways eerily similar to Connecticut today: A troubled state, seeking a new direction. This lecture highlights the perfect storm of crises — environmental, economic, demographic, religious, and political — which converged in the middle of the eighteen-teens (1810s) to force the state to rethink the ways it had been conducting its affairs for the previous two centuries.