Events and Programs

 

Cookbook Club: Simple and Easy Recipes

Wednesday, September 27th – 5:00 pm

Do you like to cook?

Do you like to discuss and share new foods with friends?

If you answered yes, consider joining the Chaplin Public Library’s Cookbook Club. This month we will be making Simple and Easy Recipes.  Registration is required. If you are interested in joining, please speak with a librarian.

History of Tower Hill Preserve Talk

Saturday, September 30th – 1:00pm

Join Chaplin resident and local historian Warren Church to learn about the history of the Tower Hill Preserve, with a special musical performance by Warren and Friends.  Light refreshments will be served by the Friends of the Chaplin Public Library.

Tea Time Book Chat

Friday, October 13th – 3:00pm

What have you been reading this summer? Join us for a cup of tea and share your favorite books. Weather permitting, we’ll meet outside under the tent. Please email [email protected] to register.

FREE Seed  and Plant Swap

with Jean Vose

Saturday, October 28th

Swap seeds, and share stories and skills as you plan for the 2024 gardening season! Bring your favorite open-pollinated or heirloom seeds to share. Plant swap includes perennials, flowers, and herbs. Please bring them in pots with appropriate identification markers. Even if you don’t have seeds to share, join in anyway.

Jean Vose, certified horticulturist and Master Gardener will be available to share information about the how’s and why’s of saving seeds, their importance, how seed saving relates to food security, and the best sources for seed. Informational brochures will be available.

Preschool Storytime

Wednesdays

10:30am

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

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.

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.

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.