9:00 AM Registration Begins: Vendor/Exhibitor Room open; 2026 Literary Award winners and entries on display; light Coffee & Danish

9:30 AM Welcome by Jenny Hawran, CSG President

9:45 AM – “Cloak & Dagger: Revolution’s Secret War” with Eric Chandler.

Spying may be the world’s second-oldest profession, even recounted in the Old Testament. By the time of the Revolution, England already had a long tradition of the Great Game, its tentacles spread through the British Isles and deep within the European Continent. But on this side of the Atlantic, with 13 separate and competing colonies?

Enter George Washington – first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen….and America’s first spymaster.

As the new Commander-in-Chief, George Washington would have to make it up as he went along, through trial and error, sometimes with disastrous results. AMC’s TURN told only part of the story. “Cloak and Dagger – The Revolution’s Secret War” will take you beyond the Culper Spy Ring. We’ll see who spied for love, who for greed, and who for duty.

We’ll explore the who, the how, and the successes and failures of America’s first foray into intelligence gathering and the part it played in the ultimate success of the American War for Independence.

10:45 AM  – Break – Visit vendors

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM  –“Voices from the Docket: Unearthing Connecticut’s Legal Past” with Mel Smith & Damon Munz.

Mel E. Smith: Mel will be providing a broad outline of some of the Connecticut court records housed in the State Library archival holdings. Court record formats will be discussed as well as providing some tips on online access to a wide range of court-related indexes and documents. It is hoped that attendees will have a better understanding of Connecticut court records and their use in adding depth to any family history.

Damon Munz: Step into the courtroom of 18th- and 19th-century Connecticut and discover how court records can unlock powerful insights for genealogical research. Assistant State Archivist Damon Munz shares highlights from the Uncovering New Haven County Court Records project, which processed thousands of Superior and County Court files now accessible through the Connecticut State Library.

This session will feature compelling cases—freedom suits, breach of promise disputes, property conflicts, and even cult trials—that reveal the lives of everyday people navigating the legal system. From enslaved individuals fighting for liberty to women asserting property rights, these records offer genealogists a rare opportunity to connect names and dates to real stories of resilience, conflict, and change.

Attendees will leave with practical strategies for using court documents to deepen family histories and illuminate the social context behind the names in their trees.

12:00 PM Break; Visit the exhibitors

12:15 PM –  Lunch

1:30 PM –  Literary Awards & Door Prizes

2:00 PM – “Criss-Crossing Connecticut and New York: Migrations by Stage Coach” with Pamela Vittorio.

Colonial settlers in Connecticut forged private, public, and country ways that intersected across the state.  The colonists improved Indian trails and built Post Roads from New York to Boston and throughout New York and Connecticut; these roads evolved into more sophisticated turnpikes over time. Before 1840, CT boasted about 120 turnpike corporations, while New York’s routes enabled westward migrations through the Mohawk Valley and from Albany to New York City. The stagecoach business connected at NY and Boston harbors—allowing disembarking passengers to connect to urban and rural settings across New England. Stagecoach stops fanned out from landings along the Erie Canal, enabling both businesses to thrive until the advent of the railroad.

Did your ancestors migration within or out of Connecticut to New York or other NE states? Discover more about nineteenth-century migration paths in and out of NY, CT, and New England through maps, ephemera,  stagecoach company ledgers, and first-person accounts.