2026 Awards of Merit

Program Overview

The Connecticut League of Museums recognizes excellence in museum work through its annual Awards of Merit.  The awards recognize institutions and individuals who demonstrate the highest professional standards and who enhance and further the understanding of Connecticut’s culture and history.  The purpose of the awards is to recognize the care, thought, and effort invested in these exceptional contributions to the museum field, and to inspire and encourage others.

This year, we are very proud to announce a robust pool of 23 organizations and individuals recieving awards for a wide variety of achievement in the museum world. 

We hope to welcome all of you for a fantastic evening on October 27, including a fully catered reception, beer and wine, tour's of New Britain Museum of American Art's wonderful galleries, and dozens of Museum professionals and colleagues to mingle with!

The Awards of Merit is a ticketed event which is open to the public, so whether you work in the museum field or just want to come celebrate some excellent work with good food, buy your ticket today!

Date: Tuesday, October 27

Time: 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Venue: New Britain Museum of American Art

Address: 56 Lexington Street, New Britain, CT 06052

Get Tickets

Purchase an Ad in the Awards Booklet 

Get the word out about your organization or business with an ad in the Connecticut League of Museums 2025 Awards of Merit Booklet! This full-color, 5.5 x 8.5" program booklet will be distributed to everyone who attends the 2025 Awards of Merit Ceremony and Reception on October 21 at the Mattatuck Museum. We are expecting approximately 60 to 75 people at the awards ceremony. This is a great chance to highlight your work alongside the best of Connecticut's museums and cultural organizations.

Full-Page Ad ($100): 5 inches wide, 7 inches high

Half-Page Ad ($50): 5 inches wide, 3.5 inches high

Quarter-Page Ad ($25): 2.5 inches wide, 3.5 inches high

Please provide upload a print quality file (CMYK, at least 300 dpi) in a standard image format (PDF, JPG, PNG) when you register. You may pay online or send a check to our office.

Deadline for ads: Friday, October 10, 2025

Buy an Ad

Sponsor the Awards

Show your support for the League by sponsoring the 2026 Awards of Merit. You can sponsor the awards at three tiers, and to show our gratitude for your generosity, each comes with the following bonuses:

$250 Sponsorship

• A quarter page ad placement in the 2026 Awards of Merit Booklet
• Two tickets to the Awards Ceremony
• Recognition as a sponsor at the Awards Ceremony and in the booklet

$500 Sponsorship

• A half page ad placement in the 2026 Awards of Merit Booklet
• Four tickets to the Awards Ceremony
• Recognition as a sponsor at the Awards Ceremony and in the booklet

$1,000 Sponsorship

• A full page ad placement in the 2026 Awards of Merit Booklet
• Eight tickets to the Awards Ceremony
• Recognition as a sponsor at the Awards Ceremony and in the booklet
• The opportunity to say a few words at the Ceremony

Deadline for sponsorships: Friday, October 16, 2026

Sponsor the Awards

This Year's Honorees:

Kathleen Craughwell-Varda, Individual Achievement Award

Kathleen (Kathy) Craughwell-Varda has many titles- consultant; curator; exhibit planner, designer, and installer; author; and grants administrator. She has designed storage, written strategic plans, drafted grant applications, presented educational programs, and assessed countless collections. Her impressive accomplishments span libraries, museums, historical societies, heritage societies, churches, and other organizations across the state. In 2008, she became the Project Director of Conservation ConneCTion where she worked for more than a decade and a half to develop and offer statewide initiatives to meet collections’ needs. Through programs such as Traveling Archivist and Museum Makeover, she has brought practical expertise to at least 135 institutions across Connecticut. One would be hard pressed to think of anyone who has offered as much hands-on help and guidance to Connecticut’s cultural heritage community as Kathy has.

Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, for “The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me”

The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me is the debut of a recurring survey that will be presented at the Museum every ten years and surveys artists living and working in Connecticut. As the state's only institution exclusively dedicated to contemporary art, this series will spotlight current artists and practices emerging from Connecticut. None of the featured artists will have had a solo museum exhibition in the state, and all works will have been created within the last decade.

American Clock & Watch Museum, for “In Their Words”

The American Clock & Watch Museum’s (ACWM) 2026 exhibition, In Their Words, centers on a series of 30+ oral history interviews with former employees of Bristol, Connecticut’s E. Ingraham Company and Sessions Clock Company. Recorded by author Philip Samponaro between 1995-1997, these interviews preserve firsthand accounts of life inside two of the city's most influential factories/companies/employers.

Using historic photographs of workers and factory life, objects from the museum’s collection discussed in the interviews, and QR codes that allow visitors to hear stories told in the employees’ own voices, this exhibition focuses on the human experience at the center of Bristol’s clock and watchmaking history.

Cinzi Lavin, for A Goodnight Kiss

A Goodnight Kiss is an acclaimed historical drama written by award-winning playwright Cinzi Lavin and produced by veteran TV/film actress Kathy Kelly. Based on a cache of over 90 actual love letters discovered in a Connecticut attic, the play brings to life the deeply moving correspondence between two young New Englanders, Sarah Jane "Jennie" Wadhams (a student in New Britain) and Sergeant Major Frederick Lucas (a soldier and eventual state legislator), whose romance blossomed in the shadow of the Civil War.

The project is highly significant for the Connecticut League of Museums because it transforms archival letters—which are permanently preserved by the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History—into an accessible, living public history experience. It powerfully demonstrates how localized, personal artifacts can be presented to foster a broader understanding of the American experience, civic values, and the human cost of war.

Connecticut Museum of Culture and History, for “Drawn Here: Stories from Hartford's North End”

Drawn Here: Stories from Hartford’s North End explores the migration history and culture of the neighborhood through a series of graphic novels. These stories, developed by Hernan LaFontaine Classical Magnet School students and illustrated by Connecticut graphic artists, blend creative writing and history to examine themes of movement, identity, and belonging. The North End has been home to migrants for hundreds of years. The experiences of the Irish, Italians, Eastern Europeans, Black Southerners, West Indians, Puerto Ricans, and others who have made the neighborhood their home, whether briefly or for generations, add nuance and depth to our understanding of what it means to be American. The exhibition is augmented by voices of community members past and present and objects from the Museum’s collection.

Connecticut Radio Information System, Inc. (CRIS Radio), for CT Revolutionary War Trail / Voices of the Revolutionary War

The Connecticut Revolutionary War Trail and Historical Voices projects represent a unique collaboration of multiple museum curators, historians, archivists, Master’s history students, and CRIS Radio staff and volunteers working together to make history come alive by producing human-narrated accessible audio tours of 14 historically significant Revolutionary War sites and more than 20 historical documents related to those sites. The recordings of the tours and documents are made available at the historical sites with personal smartphones through QR Codes or online at CRISAccess.org. 

Connecticut River Museum, for “Birding on Board”

Birding On Board is an innovative environmental education and citizen science program conceived of and developed by the Connecticut River Museum that transforms the Connecticut River into a living classroom. Aboard the Museum’s 64-foot research vessel RiverQuest, middleand high school students engage in  authentic scientific research while exploring the ecology of one of New England’s most significant waterways. Through experiential learning, bird identification, ecological observation, and scientific data, students develop scientific skills while contributing to real world conservation efforts through eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s internationally recognized citizen science platform.

Connecticut River Museum, for “The Famous Water Machine of Connecticut: How Grit, Determination, and Ingenuity Launched a New Era of Submarine Warfare”

The Famous Water Machine of Connecticut: How Grit, Determination, and Ingenuity Launched a New Era of Submarine Warfare is a special exhibition developed by the Connecticut River Museum to commemorate America’s semiquincentennial. Through original research, historic objects, and an original documentary film created for the exhibition, it tells the story of David Bushnell and the invention that transformed naval warfare: the world’s first combat submarine.

Fairfield Museum and History Center, for “Fairfield in 1776: Revolution & Resilience” and “Portraits of Fairfield”

On May 14, 2026, the Fairfield Museum and History Center (FMHC) in Fairfield, CT opened Fairfield in 1776: Revolution & Resilience and Portraits of Fairfield, two exciting new exhibitions marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In addition to the expansive scope of covering stories from Revolutionary Fairfield through the present day, the two exhibitions have an ambitious footprint, taking over one gallery and the Fairfield Museum Commons, a communal space where people gather both historically and today. Fairfield in 1776 presents a unique opportunity for visitors to step back in time to discover life in colonial Fairfield and to follow the anxiety, fear, and tough decisions that Fairfielders of all backgrounds faced during the American Revolution, while Portraits of Fairfield reinforces the importance of capturing personal narratives, showcasing Fairfield’s multi-faceted community and celebrating the different people who call Fairfield home in the present day. Both exhibitions were also designed to integrate all of the themes from the America 250 | CT Commission, establishing a 250th commemoration at FMHC that includes and welcomes a variety of voices and perspectives.

Fairfield University Art Museum, for “For Which It Stands...”

For Which it Stands…(January 22 - July 25, 2026), created and presented by the Fairfield University Art Museum, was an exhibition that explored depictions of the American flag from across the past century, from WWI to the present day. The treatment of the flag in the works selected for this exhibition ranged from uncomplicated patriotism to open interrogation of who the American flag represents and whether justice is truly available to all. Organized to coincide with the commemoration of our nation’s 250^th anniversary, the exhibition examined the ways artists have used the American flag to communicate ideas about our history and our identity through our most potent and enduring symbol.

Greenwich Historical Society, for “Greenwich Celebrates America's 250th”

In 2026, the Greenwich Historical Society (GHS) opened its third and final exhibition commemorating the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Fashioning America: 250 Years of Greenwich Style, the Historical Society’s first fashion exhibition (April 22, 2026 – January 10, 2027), was curated by Director of Preservation & Collections and Senior Curator Kathy Craughwell-Varda. Fashioning America chronicles the evolution of American fashion and how these styles reflect changes in American society and culture. For 250 years, the ideals of the American Revolution, as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, have helped shape our national identity—and these enduring principles are reflected in the fashions we have worn throughout history and choose to wear today. The clothing in this exhibition is drawn primarily from the Greenwich Historical Society’s collection with many pieces exhibited for the first time, as well as pieces lent by the Fairfield Museum, Port Chester Historical Society and Bruce Museum, in addition to private collectors.

Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center, for “The Declaration in Context: A Founding Document Close Reading”

“The Declaration in Context: A Founding Document Close Reading” is an impactful, interactive, civics-aligned school program developed by Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center (KTM&HC) in 2025, designed to bring compelling museum resources and strategies to the classroom. It was initially developed as part of KTM&HC’s initiative to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. KTM&HC collaborated with curriculum specialists and teachers from Ridgefield Public Schools (RPS) to ensure the program substantially supported social studies curricula. Over the 2025-26 school year, KTM&HC brought “The Declaration in Context” to all RPS 8th and 5th graders, as well as students in other CT and NY towns. Through hands-on activities, close readings, and inquiry-based discussion, students gained a deeper understanding of the Declaration and its profound impact on people in the 18th century and today.

Kent Historical Society, for “Homespun Kent: Revolutionary Households”

The Kent Historical Society (KHS) is proud to nominate our summer and fall exhibit, "Homespun Kent:  Revolutionary Households” for a Connecticut League of Museums Award of Merit for 2026.  Through this America 250 celebratory program, we share our large collection of spinning wheels, period appropriate needlework and other homespun textiles, as well as loaned pieces from area museums and community members.   We provide an examined timeline - outlining both local and national events - of the decade leading up to the Declaration, and the complicated evolution of a new, independent nation. In a changing economy, independence began at home with a rigorous effort towards self-reliance.  Many decades after the Declaration of Independence, John Adams was asked about the start of the Revolution. He replied by saying, But what do we mean by the American Revolution? Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people, a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. 

Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum, for “Bulls of Wall Street: High Finance, Power, and Social Change in Victorian America”

Bulls of Wall Street: High Finance, Power, and Social Change in Victorian America opened on September 4, 2025, as the first exhibition following a nearly three-year mechanical upgrade construction closure at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum. This exhibition examined and illuminated the origins of Wall Street finance, an industry that contemporary America accepts as an institution, but which was new, controversial, and volatile in the 19th century. It explored the life experiences of LeGrand Lockwood, the first owner of the Mansion, as a self-made man of business who amassed a tremendous fortune trading railroad stocks through his Wall Street brokerage firm, Lockwood & Co., and became one of America’s first millionaires. The Lockwood’s lives reflected the rising capitalist class fostered by railroad expansion and rapid industrialization that ushered in the Gilded Age.

Mattatuck Museum, for “Free to Be Art Exhibition”

Free to Be was an art exhibition in late 2025-early 2026 that illuminated the boundless creativity of artists on the autism spectrum. This exhibition was a collaboration between the Mattatuck Museum and The Social Chase and showcased the unique perspectives and extraordinary talents of these artists, offering a window into their world through a diverse array of artistic expressions. Each piece in Free to Be reflected a personal journey, celebrated the freedom to explore, create, and express oneself, embracing the rich spectrum of human experience and the infinite ways we perceive and interact with the world. Through their creativity, the artists featured in this exhibit invited visitors to understand and appreciate the world from a new vantage point, emphasizing that art is a universal language that transcends boundaries and connects us all.

Museum of Connecticut History, for “Connecticut's Revolution”

Connecticut’s Revolution is a year-long (July 4, 2026 – July 9, 2027) comprehensive exhibition that examines Connecticut’s role in the American Revolution and the founding of the nation. The exhibit is open to the public free of charge during the Connecticut State Library’s (CSL) regular hours of Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum has also successfully gained permission to have the museum open one Saturday per month for the duration of the exhibit.
Connecticut’s Revolution explores the ideas and experiences of the people who made history: Connecticut’s soldiers and statesmen, Patriots and Loyalists, painters and printers, farmers and sailors—men, women, and children from America, Europe, and Africa. To try to see the world through their eyes, the Museum of Connecticut History’s (MCH) exhibit team has drawn on the tens of thousands of documents and objects in the Connecticut State Library’s museum, archival, and printed materials collections. Some of these materials make it possible to retell old stories in new ways, others make it possible to recover previously untold stories. Taken together, they reveal how Connecticut changed during this revolutionary time and how Connecticut, in turn, changed the world.

New Haven Museum, for “Pronounced Ah-Beetz”

“Pronounced Ah-Beetz” transforms a familiar food into a fascinating story about immigration, family, entrepreneurship, neighborhood identity, and the enduring character of the Elm City. The exhibition traces the journey of pizza from its humble origins in Italy—where it served as an inexpensive food for workers—to its transformation as an everyday food in the United States and, ultimately, its distinctive expression as “apizza” in New Haven. 

At the heart of the exhibition is New Haven's legendary “Big Three”: Frank Pepe's, Sally's Apizza, and Modern Apizza. Their stories are intertwined through generations of Italian-American families, changing neighborhoods, and the evolution of a culinary tradition that has become synonymous with the city. The exhibition explores how Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napoletana helped establish the local tradition as the largest pizzeria in the country in 1936, and how Sally's Apizza emerged from that family lineage, and how Tony's Apizza on State St. eventually became Modern Apizza. 

Office of the State Historian, for “Objects of the Revolution”

“Objects of the Revolution” is a free, public, statewide history exhibit presented as a series of thirty-eight signs that share stories about the American Revolution in Connecticut. Drawing from seventeen different archives, each sign features a historic object, artifact, or document, and uses it to illustrate an important Connecticut story. A canteen recalls a soldier’s service, for example, while a British broadside warning against treason marks the revolution as a civil war; a battlefield sketch shows the fight’s front lines, while a veteran’s emancipation contract suggests the stakes of a war fought in the name of liberty. Curated by Connecticut State Historian Andy Horowitz in collaboration with the Design Center Studio at the University of Connecticut and the Connecticut Department of Transportation, the signs are displayed for the semiquincentennial year in train stations, bus stations, and service plazas. Taken together, the series offers a highly-visible exhibit, focused on primary sources, about how Connecticans of all stripes helped to give the American Revolution its shape.

Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine, for The Slippery Truth: Prisonbreak at New-Gate

How does a historic prison—once the site of inhumane confinement for Loyalist captives during the American Revolution—contribute meaningfully to America’s 250th anniversary? Old New-Gate Prison & Copper Mine turned to theatre to illuminate this complex past and explore the early foundations of the nation’s justice system. The Slippery Truth: Prisonbreak at New-Gate draws directly from primary sources to recount the true story of a 1781 Loyalist escape. Through nuanced dialogue and a layered narrative, the production invites audience members to rethink familiar Revolutionary history and reflect on its contemporary relevance.

Ridgefield Historical Society, Ridgefield Pride, Ridgefield High School Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and Susan Ferentinos, Ph.D., for the Ridgefield LGBTQIA+ Oral History Project

The Ridgefield LGBTQIA+ Oral History Project was a two-year, community-centered collecting and public humanities initiative led by the Ridgefield Historical Society in partnership with Ridgefield Pride and student volunteers from the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) at Ridgefield High School. Supported in part by Connecticut Humanities, the project was created to address a gap in Ridgefield’s historical record. Although the Historical Society had accumulated more than 200 oral history interviews on subjects ranging from World War II to the COVID-19 pandemic, none documented Ridgefield history from an LGBTQIA+ perspective.

Sherman Historical Society, for “Roger Sherman: A Key Figure in America's Revolutionary Story”

To commemorate America's 250th Anniversary, the Sherman Historical Society (SHS) created and presented Roger Sherman: A Key Figure in America's Revolu8onary Story, a major interpre?ve exhibit celebra?ng the life, legacy, and extraordinary achievements of Roger Sherman, the Founding Father for whom the Town of Sherman was named just nine years aHer his death.

Stanley-Whitman House, for “Who Gets To Remember," A Ninth-Grade Primary-Source Experience

Who Gets to Remember? reimagined the ninth-grade museum field trip as a sustained exercise in historical inquiry. Over four days in May 2026, 288 Farmington High School ninth-grade World History students worked with the same primary sources, landscapes, silences, and interpretive choices that confront historians, archivists, and curators.

Building on Stanley-Whitman House’s earlier Connecticut League of Museums Award of Merit-winning Tunxis Land and Water Memory Tour, and developed in close collaboration with Farmington High School teachers, the program moved students through six stations across Farmington’s historic landscape: a river confluence, two cemeteries, a garden and foodways station, the archive, and the c. 1720 house itself. Rather than receiving a finished narrative, students examined deeds, a bill of sale, an enslaved child’s grave, and a Native student’s Latin letter. They learned to ask why a record survives, who is named, who is missing, and how historic sites and museums shape public memory.

Windsor Historical Society, for “For the Common Good: 250 Years of Windsor Civic Life”

To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Windsor Historical Society’s exhibit For the Common Good: 250 Years of Windsor Civic Life celebrates the bold, creative, and determined ways residents shaped civic life in Windsor over the last 250 years. Using stories aligned with themes taken from the Declaration—Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—as well as a call-to-action video produced with Windsor Community Television, visitors discover how generations of Windsorites worked, protested, volunteered, and celebrated together to build a stronger more inclusive community.

About Our Host: The New Britain Museum of American Art

The New Britain Museum of American Art (https://nbmaa.org/) is the first institution dedicated solely to acquiring and presenting American art. Spanning four centuries, its collection reflects the richness and complexity of the American experience, bringing established narratives into conversation with new voices and perspectives. From the colonial era to the present, the collection traces significant developments in American art through painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, and illustration, and includes Thomas Hart Benton’s celebrated mural series The Arts of Life in America. Through its growing collection, dynamic exhibitions, and engaging programs, the Museum creates meaningful encounters with American art that foster curiosity, creativity, and lifelong learning.

On hosting the Awards this year, Lisa Lappe, NBMAA's Chief Operating Officer, says: “We are honored to welcome the Connecticut League of Museums’ Awards of Merit celebration to the New Britain Museum of American Art...As a museum deeply rooted in New Britain and connected to communities across Connecticut, we value the League’s role in bringing museums together to share ideas, resources, and best practices. We are stronger as a field when we collaborate, learn from one another, and celebrate each other’s successes. This evening is a wonderful opportunity to recognize the people and organizations whose work strengthens Connecticut’s vibrant cultural community.”