Our annual Día de Muertos Community Celebration returns for 2026 on Saturday, October 24 @ 11 am – 4 pm, FREE and fun for all ages! Experience the sights and sounds of Día de Muertos/Day of the Dead, with all-ages arts activities, mariachi music and Mexican folk dance performances, delicious food for sale by food…

Navigating the Creation of Our Nation Virtual Presentation! The years before, during, and after the Revolutionary War were a time of transformation. In this virtual presentation, historian Elizabeth Normen will discuss her new book, Awakenings and Revolutions: The Harts, Saybrook, and the New Nation.  Elizabeth will talk about how one colonial Connecticut family navigated the times—from…

Chills and Treats Looking for something different to do for date night? Bring your sweetie (or bestie!) to the museum for a behind-the-scenes look at some of the weirdest and creepiest items in our vaults (corpse preserver? Check. Devil puppet? Yup. Haunted painting? Uh-huh.) Then relax and create a fun Halloween-themed craft to take home…

Journey to Prehistoric Connecticut Free Journey to the past right in your own backyard! Families will learn how to recognize dinosaur tracks and prehistoric plants that still live in Connecticut today, dig for replica fossils of Connecticut dinosaurs, and then create their very own fossil to take home! This program is FREE and great for…

Rebellious Exhibit Tour What does the Declaration of Independence mean to you? Our new exhibition, Rebellious, reflects on moments throughout Connecticut history when its people came together, pushed back, and sparked change to pursue their own visions of life, liberty, and happiness in America. Join us on selected days this summer and fall for a guided tour…

Black & Off Black: The Minstrel Tradition in New England Free Virtual Presentation! Blackface minstrelsy was a popular form of entertainment during the nineteenth century. The latter part of the century saw the rise of African American minstrels touring along Vaudeville circuits into New England. How influential was minstrelsy to entertainment in New England? Were…

Teacher Workshop: Connecticut and the American Revolution Are you looking for ways to incorporate primary sources about the American Revolution into your classroom? Are you wondering how Connecticut contributed to the American Revolution? In this workshop, teachers will learn about the Museum’s vast American Revolution collection, go behind-the-scenes into Collections Storage to see documents and…

Unsung Mother of American Literature Free Virtual Presentation! Please note that this Lunch and Learn will take place on a Thursday! Who was Lydia Sigourney? Why is she not more well known among generations of Hartford residents and other readers? Come learn more about how Hartford’s own Lydia Sigourney helped transform American culture in the early…

Newcomers to Nutmeggers: Jewish History in Greater Hartford Join us on November 19 for a panel discussion about how and why thousands of Jewish immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe made the North End of Hartford their home in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. What were the push and pull factors that drew Jewish…

Behind-the-Scenes Tour: Remembering G. Fox & Co. $15 Join us for a behind-the scenes tour at the Connecticut Museum to see our collection of memorabilia from Hartford’s most iconic department store. Our archives contain hundreds of goods sold over the years at G. Fox & Co., ranging from wedding gowns to toilet paper! You’ll also…

Sign of the Times $20 Gather in our spectacular tavern sign exhibition for some historic tippling!   Mixologist and tavern enthusiast Tim Cabral, owner of The Ordinary in New Haven, will talk about colonial era drinks as he mixes up a few samples to taste.  Try your hand at tavern games, a scavenger hunt, and a fun craft, or just enjoy your drink…