What Is Good History?

Everyone learned at least some history in school, whether it was the cute story about George Washington telling the truth about chopping down a cherry tree, or more advanced studies about politics, economics, and war.

Traditional history has focused on the story of society's elite, the top tier leaders who made history, but there's so much more to history than that.


So what is history, and how should it be told?

Race Relations in 1914

An interesting debate played out in the editorial pages of The Republican newspaper in February, 1914. James E. Kefford, a prominent businessman and a founder of the local branch of the Negro Business League, took offense at the paper's demeaning description of African Americans and apparent embrace of Jim Crow laws in an editorial published on January 31, 1914. The letters and editorials that ensued reveal much about racial discrimination in Waterbury during that time.

Waterbury's Frank Pepe

There's more to the Frank Pepe name than pizza. In 1910, Frank Pepe was the name of a successful grocery business in Waterbury.

Frank Pepe advertisement, Waterbury Republican, 10 May 1911
(Silas Bronson Library microfilm)