We at Connecticut Humanities made a new friend this week when a woman all the way from the United Kingdom reached out to us about our ConnecticutHistory.org project. It seems at the end of World War II, the U.S. military stationed in Europe sold leftover supplies to civilians there rather than pay the expense of shipping the materials back to the United States. Among these materials were extra silk parachutes. Our new friend, Laurel, who lives in Scotland, was going through her attic this weekend and came across the old silk baby clothes her mother made for her out of the parachutes she purchased from the U.S. Army. The fabric still had the stamp on them from the Cheney Brothers silk manufacturing company in Manchester, Connecticut, and she was thrilled to find our article on the Cheney Brothers mill and to learn all about the origins of this cherished piece of her family’s history.

ConnecticutHistory.org is your home for stories about Connecticut. With new content each week, you can explore the rich history of the Nutmeg State and get connected to the historic places and primary source images, documents, and objects that tell CT’s stories.