Federal Government Awards $150,000 Grant to Preserve Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

The federal government has awarded a $150,000 grant to preserve the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center collections in Hartford.

The center features a National Historic Landmark that was once the home of the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" author. She lived in the house for the last 23 years of her life.

The center's collections contain about 6,000 objects and more than 200,000 manuscripts, pamphlets, books and images.

The federal funding matches the center's investment of more than $400,000 to buy and install a new mechanical system, make climate and environmental control improvements and install fire detection and protection at the center.

U.S. Rep. John Larson says the funding will help the center protect her works and collections.

Harriet Beecher Stowe's presence in the 19th-century Hartford drew others to live in what was then the nation's preeminent literary community. Since 1968, visitors from all over the world come to Hartford to walk in the footsteps of the woman whose words changed the world.

In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe change the world with Uncle Tom's Cabin, her ground-breaking and best-selling anti-slavery novel. Stowe recognized slavery's injustices and was compelled to speak out. As a woman of the 19th century, Stowe had no right to vote or to hold office, yet she gave public voice to her convictions, turned the tide of public opinion and became the most influential American woman of the 19th century.

The Stowe Center's programs and activities are energized by Stowe's example. As a 21st-century museum and program center, the Stowe Center connects Stowe's issues to the contemporary face of race relations, class and gender issues, economic justice and education equity.

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