The Connecticut Academy of the
Arts and Sciences is the third-oldest
learned society in the United States. Chartered in 1799 "...to
cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the
interest and happiness of a free and virtuous people..."
Its purpose is the dissemination of scholarly information. For
the past 200 years, the Academy has fulfilled this mission through
lectures and extensive publications.
The Academy
sponsors eight monthly presentations during the academic year
(September-May). These provide an opportunity for both the lay
person and scholar to hear distinguished speakers discuss current
work in the sciences, arts, and humanities. All lectures are
free and open to the public and are announced in university calendars,
local newspapers, and by direct mail to Academy members. They
are held on the campuses of Yale University and Southern Connecticut
State University in New Haven, Trinity College in Hartford, Wesleyan
University in Middletown, the University of Connecticut in Storrs,
and at other educational sites.
In 1810, the
Academy commenced its extensive publication work. Covering diverse
disciplines in the sciences and humanities, these are divided
into three series: Memoirs, monographs or
booklength publications; Transactions, essays in history, economics, mathematics,
archeology, languages, literature, and the natural sciences,
and most recently, interdisciplinary articles; and A Manual of the Writings
in Middle English, the definitive reference
source in this field.