Eli Whitney Museum

On February 10th, 1994, The Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce will open an exhibition of the innovations that mark The Chamber’s 200 year history. The Cotton Gin was among this nations first patents. New Patents are still filed each week. Patent connect invention to development and manufacturing. 200 Years of Innovation will explore the story of invention through patented and unpatented discoveries that surround New Haven‘s commerce and history. Cotton gin, mortise lock, truss bridge, cork screw, stone crusher, carriage spring, telegraph, processed rubber, match book, lever action rifle, bicycle crank, toy motor, lollipop, Silly Putty, metronome, artificial heart... to mention but a few.

200 Years of Innovation will feature models that work, models that make the inventor’s process come alive. One corner of the exhibition will encourage the next generation of inventors to record their ideas.

The Chamber invites its members and interested friends to help tell its story. Do you know of inventions or innovations with origins connected to New Haven? How can we display these ideas at work? We welcome the wild along with the wise: the dripless hotdog bun along with the cellar hatch cover. We welcome the simple along with the scholarly, the little along with the large. Please ask your colleagues or check your basement and call Judy Pitcher at The Chamber, 787.6735.

The Eli Whitney Museum was established in 1979 on the site of Whitney’s 1798 armory. Whitney is remembered not for the erudition of his Yale education, but for the practical discoveries of his work shop. The Museum’s exhibition and education programs explore the self-guided independent practical inventiveness called Yankee Ingenuity.