She brought her own equipment and scanned photographs all morning.
Catherine Vanaria, photographer and educator, used one of her vacation days to help me at that event. Susan Tomanio, director of the Danbury Senior Center, graciously helped me organize a Danbury Fair Memories Day and recruited people to attend. Diane and I spent many a Monday morning together-me madly rifling through files and photographs and her calmly pulling, copying and scanning material for me, all the while reassuring me I was writing a book people would love to read. I am particularly appreciative of the ongoing assistance of Diane Hassan, research specialist at the Danbury Museum and Historical Society Authority. I am grateful to Allen Ramsey, assistant state archivist, Connecticut State Library and Archives Brigid Guertin, executive director and city historian, Danbury Museum and Historical Society Authority and archivist and Special Collections librarian Brian Stevens and assistant archivist Jamie Cantoni at Western Connecticut State University for guiding me in my research. The sample images from these two archives gave The History Press the confidence to issue me a contract. Newtown town historian Daniel Cruson was another friend who provided images of an earlier era: postcards from the turn of the last century newly acquired by the Newtown Historical Society. Curtiss Clark, longtime editor, braved the cobwebs in dark corners of storage to find the earliest Fair Week negatives, set up a light box so I could view them and then squirreled them away for nearly a year while I wrote this book. Scudder Smith, publisher of the weekly The Newtown Bee and my former employer, allowed me unlimited access to the negative archives of the newspaper. I wasn’t comfortable putting out a call for photographs without a contract to back up my request, so I contacted some old friends. When I conceived the idea of writing a book about the Great Danbury State Fair, I didn’t know the publisher would require examples of high-quality photographs from various decades before it would offer me a contract. I am always surprised at the staggering generosity of individuals, especially those who offer up support throughout my expansive marathon projects, such as the writing of this book.
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