Derby Neck Library program offers pictorial views of Valley in 1902

1902 photo courtesy of Connecticut DEEP

Derby Neck Library reference librarian Pat Sweeney offered an interesting presentation last week featuring candid photos of the area taken in 1902.

A friend and I both were captivated by the photos, which had been part of a Derby Neck Library project spearheaded by businesswoman, conservationist, and philanthropist Frances Osborne Kellogg (1876-1956) to record scenes of everyday life.

The photos are owned by the Osborne Homestead Museum at 500 Hawthorne Ave., Derby, Kellogg's lifelong home. The museum is operated by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the photos belong to the state of Connecticut.

Many of the places and buildings depicted are easily recognizable, but not all. Sweeney said the photos are not labeled.

The program also served as a remembrance of the official public opening of Derby Neck Library in January, 1908. Kellogg's father, Major Wilbur Fisk Osborne, was a founder of the library.

Next up: Sweeney will give a PowerPoint presentation at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 16 describing what was happening in the Valley during World War II.
Attendees will learn how local towns worked diligently in the war effort. 

Sweeney will discuss fashions of the era, favorite films, rationing measures, war bond drives, and much more.

The Library is at 307 Hawthorne Ave., Derby.