Mail carriers, and the infrastructure that supports them, have been dedicated to completing the connection between sender and recipient from pre-Revolutionary times. Like the postal service, newspapers have been an institution in Connecticut since the eighteenth century. They are represented by images of the offices of the Hartford Courant (originally named the Connecticut Courant), first published in 1764, and the Deep River New Era, which covered the southern part of the Connecticut River valley from 1874-1977. New communication forms resulted in the emergence of new businesses, such as the Southern New England Telephone Company. It also prompted the birth of new institutions: The American Radio Relay League, was the creation of Hartford’s Hiram Percy Maxim, who identified the need to develop a relay system for amateur radio. Commercial broadcasting began with radio and later television, and stations such as WTIC, benefited from the relative immediacy—Andre Schenker’s D-Day broadcast being an example—and in the case of television, the visual impact that the medium afforded viewers. The Connecticut Broadcasters Association represented the industry’s interests and its commitment to uncovering and providing access to information. To find more resources on communication in Connecticut and any related topics, use the topic headings and other keywords within records to extend your searches--terms such as “radio,” “broadcast*,” “television station,” (enclosing phrases in quotes, and using an * to allow for singular, plural or other forms), and the names of individuals, groups, or organizations.
