Interview with Elinor (Nora) Howard
Date22 March 2025
Mediumborn digital audio file
DimensionsDuration: 39 Minutes, 51 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineCommunity History Project Collection
DescriptionAudio file of interview with Nora Howard. She was interviewed by Olivia Benson on 22 March 2025 in Avon, CT.
Nora Howard was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in her life.
Nora Howard of Avon, CT, discusses change through the eyes of a public, local, and church historian and how change has impacted her community.
Howard is an American Studies scholar of both Hampshire College and George Washington University, where she earned her bachelor's and master’s degrees, respectively. After working in other towns and states in various museums and historical societies, she returned to her hometown of Avon, Connecticut, to begin a long career in preserving and recording local history, citing the “infectious” determination and spirit of those she works with. Now working with the Avon Historical Society and being the Avon Congregational Church’s resident historian, Howard is a key figure in understanding the value of public and local history.
Howard begins by highlighting that change is ever-present throughout her life and career and how everyone is “always a part of it,” whether they realize it or not. As a local figure, Howard details a project she has been working on, focusing on the memorial stone of Private Leverett Holden, a black Civil War soldier from the 29th Regiment. This project recontextualizes Avon’s small-town history and connections to larger events and acts as an example of the kinds of change brought about by local history.
While Howard stresses the good that can come from change, she also acknowledges that not all change can be favorable; mentioning possible budget and curriculum costs, Howard speaks about having to “applaud” and “mourn” the different changes that come one’s way. Watching how communities, events, landscapes, and institutions shift over time gave Howard a strong connection to this “lifelong profession” of being a historian and embrace the “magic” that comes from community-based and local history.
Nora Howard was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in her life.
Nora Howard of Avon, CT, discusses change through the eyes of a public, local, and church historian and how change has impacted her community.
Howard is an American Studies scholar of both Hampshire College and George Washington University, where she earned her bachelor's and master’s degrees, respectively. After working in other towns and states in various museums and historical societies, she returned to her hometown of Avon, Connecticut, to begin a long career in preserving and recording local history, citing the “infectious” determination and spirit of those she works with. Now working with the Avon Historical Society and being the Avon Congregational Church’s resident historian, Howard is a key figure in understanding the value of public and local history.
Howard begins by highlighting that change is ever-present throughout her life and career and how everyone is “always a part of it,” whether they realize it or not. As a local figure, Howard details a project she has been working on, focusing on the memorial stone of Private Leverett Holden, a black Civil War soldier from the 29th Regiment. This project recontextualizes Avon’s small-town history and connections to larger events and acts as an example of the kinds of change brought about by local history.
While Howard stresses the good that can come from change, she also acknowledges that not all change can be favorable; mentioning possible budget and curriculum costs, Howard speaks about having to “applaud” and “mourn” the different changes that come one’s way. Watching how communities, events, landscapes, and institutions shift over time gave Howard a strong connection to this “lifelong profession” of being a historian and embrace the “magic” that comes from community-based and local history.
Object number2024.79.20
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting, gathering items of the recent past as well as from events happening today. This program developed community historians to identify, document, and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut, and to share these experiences during a series of community presentations. The project focused on the theme "Redefining Moments of Change." Conneticans share stories of people or events who have changed their lives or how they have sparked change in the lives of others.Cataloging Note: Digitization and access to this collection is supported by a Congressionally Directed grant through the U.S. Department of Education.
Subject Terms
- Avon
- People of color
- Oral history
- Interviews
- Oral narratives
- Women
- Avon (Conn.)
- Avon Congregational Church (Avon, Conn.)
- History
- Research
- COVID-19 Pandemic (2020)
- Volunteers
- Avon Historical Society (Avon, Connecticut)
- Avon Free Public Library (Avon, Connecticut)
- Town historian
- United States. Army. Connecticut Infantry Regiment, 29th (1864-1865)
- United States. Army. Connecticut Infantry Regiment, 29th (1864-1865)
- Holden, Leverett, 1825-1877
- United States. Army. Connecticut Infantry Regiment, 29th (1864-1865)
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- Born Digital Audio
- Community History Project U.S. Department of Education grant
- Redefining Moments of Change Collection
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