WilburCrossThanksgiving1

This is a film from 1938 of my great grandfather, Wilbur Cross. He was a Democratic Governor of Connecticut from 1931 to 1939 and was also a well-known literary critic, was Professor of English at Yale University and the first Dean of the Yale Graduate School, from 1916 to 1930. He was also the editor of the Yale Shakespeare, edited the Yale Review for almost 30 years and wrote several books, including Life and Times of Laurence Sterne (1909) and The History of Henry Fielding (1918), and several books on the English novel.
He is credited with passage of several items of reform legislation during his tenure of governor, which included measures related to the abolition of child labor, and instituted a minimum wage rate. Also there was legislation that authorized governmental reorganization, and improved factory laws. He also endorsed legislation that authorized funding for the rebuilding of the Connecticut State College, which included the construction of the first campus library, named the Cross Library. After retiring from public service, he continued to stay active in his writing and research projects.
Wilbur Cross High School in New Haven, Connecticut, Wilbur Cross School in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Connecticut's Wilbur Cross Parkway and Wilbur Cross Highway were named in his honor, as was the Wilbur L. Cross Medal for outstanding achievement in professional life, awarded by Yale. The first campus library at the University of Connecticut (then Connecticut State College), built with bond revenues authorized during Cross's governorship and opened in 1939, was named for Cross in 1942. Wilbur Cross's autobiography, Connecticut Yankee, was published in 1943.