196. Connecticut Body Snatchers: Merchandising the Dead in the 19th Century

 

Have you got your Halloween costume ready? Been on any graveyard tours this month? Well, this story for you! I’d never thought of body snatching as having anything to do with Connecticut but as this episode proves, the disappearance of a young women’s body lead to a New Haven riot. I’ll get the details from Richard Ross author of the new book American Body Snatchers, Merchandising the Dead in 19^th Century New England and Washington, DC.

 

Dick Ross is a retired college librarian and professor emeritius from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Order his new book American Body Snatchers, Merchandising the Dead in New England and Washington, D.C. from Amazon here: American Body Snatchers: Merchandising the Dead in 19th Century New England and Washington, D.C. 

Order his book on the Connecticut witch trials here:

Before Salem: Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley, 1647-1663

 

You can hear more about that topic in GTN #39, parts 1-3, here:

https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/39-witch-hunting-in-connecticut-part-1-the-european-prelude

https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/39-witch-hunting-in-connecticut-part-2-the-connecticut-trials-0

https://gratingthenutmeg.libsyn.com/39-witch-hunting-in-connecticut-part-3-interview-with-richard-ross-before-salem

 

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Toast the start of conservation work with the team working to stabilize the 18th-century Réveillon wallpaper adorning the Phelps-Hatheway House. Enjoy exclusive access to the expertise of conservators from Studio TKM Associates, who will explain and demonstrate their work caring for the papers. Attendees of this intimate gathering are invited to learn about the house and its residents while imagining the turbulence of the 1790s as two nations attempted to assert their independence—and their identities.