NEWS

from Central Connecticut State University
Honored as a "Leadership Institution" by the Association of American Colleges & Universities

Media contact: Peter Kilduff, Director of University Relations
(860) 832-1791; Kilduff@ccsu.edu


Elihu Burritt, New Britain’s famed “learned blacksmith,” to be commemorated with new public artwork at CCSU on November 7 at noon

 
NEW BRITAIN – November 5, 2007 -- Central Connecticut State University, home to a lively public art program that has created over 50 murals on campus and in the city of New Britain, will inaugurate its newest work, “Swords to Plowshares,” on Wednesday, November 7, at 12 noon at the campus loading dock near the Vance Academic Center off Manafort Drive.  

Produced by the CCSU Mural Painting class of Fall 2007, the newest piece of campus public art portrays the blacksmith’s shop of Elihu Burritt, the New Britain native who became a citizen of the world and gained international fame in the 19th century.  Born on December 8, 1810, Burritt was apprenticed to a New Britain blacksmith and became a self-taught scholar, reading while tending the shop’s fire.  He mastered Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, Italian and German, and by the age of 30 could read nearly 50 languages.

Mike Alewitz, associate professor of art and teacher of the CCSU Mural Painting class, said:  “Elihu Burritt became an abolitionist, peace activist and internationalist.  ‘Swords to Plowshares’ provides a glimpse into his workshop, where the weapons of war are transformed into instruments of peace.

“In the spirit of Burritt’s life work, this mural is dedicated to the often-invisible immigrant workers here on campus.  As students, faculty and artists, we welcome our new co-workers to our community and express appreciation for the important contribution that they make to our education.”

Dr. George W. Muirhead, retired CCSU history professor and peace advocate, recalled an irony in Elihu Burritt’s connection to Central’s campus:  “New Britain native Paul Amenta, the son of immigrants and a World War II veteran, who ‘beat his sword into a plowshare’ by studying here under the GI Bill, obtained the state funding to pay for construction of the Ellihu Burritt Library on campus.  In the early 1950s, when he was State Senator for the Greater New Britain Area, Paul became chairman of the Senate's Education Committee, and made sure that his alma mater received a good library.  Fittingly, the library was named after Elihu Burritt, another prominent New Britain son who made a mark on the world through education.”

Directions to CCSU are at the University’s website: http://www.ccsu.edu/visit.htm

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