Events and Programs

Friends of the Chaplin Public Library

2nd Annual ONLINE AUCTION

Monday, November 25, 10am –

Monday, December 9, 10pm

 

Support your library and community, and bid on items from local vendors, restaurants, farmers, and craftspeople. Starting, Nov. 25th, you can view the amazing selection of items at YourCharityAuction.com/ChaplinLibrary or scan the QR code.

Cookbook Club: Festive Favorites

Monday, December 9th

5:30-7:00pm

 

Do you like to cook? Do you like to try new recipes? Do you like to discuss and share new foods with friends? If you answered yes, consider joining the Chaplin Public Library’s Cookbook Club. The theme for December will be your favorite festive recipes. Please speak with a librarian to sign up. All are welcome!

Cat Cafe

Saturday, December 14

10:30am-12:30pm

Relax from the holiday stress and visit with cats from Paws Cat Shelter of Putnam! Enjoy a cup of tea, coffee, or cocoa while you spend some time with kitties. Please bring along a donation of cat food. Monetary donations and gift cards are also welcome. Donations may also be dropped off before the event. Fostering and adopting information will be available.   

Tea Time Book Chat

Friday, December 22

3:00pm – 4:00pm

What are you reading? Let’s chat about your favorite books this fall. Please email [email protected] to register for this event.

Preschool Storytime

Wednesdays

10:30-11:30am

 Preschoolers can come hear a story, make a craft, and play. This event is held Wednesdays in the library’s meeting room. Although this program is aimed at preschoolers, all ages are welcome!

Chaplin Ukulele Band

Wednesdays – 4:30pm

Join the Chaplin Ukulele Band. No experience required. No ukulele? We have one available for checkout! Stop in and join the fun.

Friends Group Meeting

Third Wednesday of the month- 2:00 pm

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.

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.