Prudence Crandall Museum

Home
United States
Canterbury, CT
Prudence Crandall Museum

Museum is the site of the 1831-1834 Canterbury Female Boarding School; a National Historic Landmark & International Site of Conscience. "Crandall v.

The Prudence Crandall Museum is the site of the Canterbury Female Boarding School and a National Historic Landmark located in Canterbury, CT. In 1832, Crandall, the white principal of the Canterbury Female Boarding School, was approached by a young Black woman named Sarah Harris asking to attend the school. Encouraged by conversations with both Harris and Maria Davis, a Black woman who shared copi

es of the Abolitionist newspaper "The Liberator" with her, Crandall agreed to admit Harris. When residents protested the school’s integration and parents threatened to withdraw their students, Crandall closed her school and reopened in 1833 for non-white students. Students traveled from several states. Connecticut responded by passing the “Black Law,” which prevented out-of-state Black and Brown people from attending school in Connecticut towns without local town approval. Crandall was arrested, spent one night in jail, and faced three court trials before the case was dismissed. In September 1834, a nighttime mob attack closed the school. These events made national and international news in the 1830s and galvanized the burgeoning Abolitionist movement. Many of the students, such as Julia Williams, Mary Miles, and Mary Harris, went on to become educators, reformers, and leaders in their communities. Connecticut" impacted two U.S. Supreme Court decisions and laid the framework for the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Prudence Crandall Museum is a member of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience. Owned by the State of Connecticut, the Museum is operated by the State Historic Preservation Office.

05/25/2026

The Prudence Crandall Museum will be closed Monday, 5/25, for Memorial Day.

05/22/2026

The Town of Canterbury will hold it's annual Memorial Day Ceremony.

05/21/2026

Comic-Con International has nominated "Surrounded" for a Will Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work!!! Wishing Wilfrid Lupano, Stephane Fert, and NBM Graphic Novels best of luck!

05/08/2026

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! The Prudence Crandall Museum is once again participating in the Digital Backpack program, offering a 50% discount on admission to all public and private CT school staff (June--September)!

05/03/2026

The museum opens for the season Friday, May 8th! Get your advance-purchase tickets at the link below--we hope to see you this summer!

Guided conversational tour of the Prudence Crandall Museum, site of the Canterbury Female Boarding School, a National Historic Landmark.

04/29/2026

Printed Protest:
Abolition & Anti-Slavery Materials from the Prudence Crandall Museum Collection

This exhibit, is on display at the Otis Library Atrium in Norwich, CT until tomorrow, April 30.

Artifact: Green Wedgwood Jasperware abolition commemorative tray, 1983.

04/28/2026

Printed Protest:
Abolition & Anti-Slavery Materials from the Prudence Crandall Museum Collection

Sarah Harris Fayerweather kept a close friendship and correspondence with Helen Benson Garrison, wife of William Lloyd Garrison. On June 5, 1863, Helen Benson Garrison wrote to Sarah Harris Fayerweather the following:

“We received a beautiful cake from you previous to the New York meetings, for which we return our most hearty thanks. It came in the best order, and the sight of it daily reminds me how kind and thoughtful you always are…”

Helen Benson Garrison later mentions in the letter wanting to share the cake with “my particular anti-slavery friends.”

Taken from A Profile in Dedication: Sarah Harris and the Fayerweather Family,
by Carl R. Woodward, 1973.

04/27/2026

Printed Protest:
Abolition & Anti-Slavery Materials from the Prudence Crandall Museum Collection

Reverend Samuel J. May’s 1869 "Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict" is an important resource for what happened in Canterbury. A selection from his book was published in pamphlet form as Miss Crandall’s Canterbury School. May also spoke at the Danvers Historical Society (Massachusetts) commemorative meeting of the Old Anti-Slavery Days Proceedings.

Below: Table of Contents for May's memoir, "Recollections of the Anti-Slavery Conflict," 1869.

04/26/2026

Printed Protest:
Abolition & Anti-Slavery Materials from the Prudence Crandall Museum Collection

Sarah H. Southwick, a White woman of Maine, and later Massachusetts, wrote her "Reminiscences of Early Anti-Slavery Days," printed in 1893. In this book she recalls attending the National Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women at Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia, PA, on May 16, 1838. She was there when an angry mob surrounded the building and tore it down. Elizabeth Henly, a Black woman and former student of the Canterbury Female Boarding School, was also attending the convention when Pennsylvania Hall was attacked.

This exhibit follows the APA 7th edition style and grammar guidelines for inclusive, bias-free language.

Address

1 South Canterbury Road (Junctions Of Routes 14 & 169)
Canterbury, CT
06331

Telephone

(860) 546-7800

Website

https://portal.ct.gov/ECD-PrudenceCrandallMuseum

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Prudence Crandall Museum posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Prudence Crandall Museum:

Shortcuts

Want your museum to be the top-listed Museum in Canterbury?