In 1669, thirty-eight freemen of the New Haven Colony signed a covenant to form a new plantation amongst the rolling hills and valleys east of the Quinnipiac River. With the official incorporation established the following year, Wallingford grew from a 17th-century colonial farming village into a thriving and diverse community. It was witness to the Revolutionary War and a pioneer in the Industrial Revolution, and it produced leaders in religion, arts, and politics. Robert Wallace and Samuel Simpson, who introduced silver manufacturing, and Moses Y. Beach, founder of the Associated Press, called Wallingford home. Their philanthropy helped expand schools, churches, and public services. Although the original footprint of the colonists has changed over the centuries, a stroll through the town reveals its richly preserved history. Impressive architectural styles line the streets, from 17th-century saltbox homes to Beaux-Arts mansions and Gothic Revival churches. Center Street Cemetery holds the final resting place of Wallingford's early settlers, and many of their names have left an indelible legacy.

Wallingford lies nestled among the hills along the valley of the Quinnipiac River in Connecticut. Its first settlers were 38 planters and their families, who arrived in 1670. The land proved to be productive for farming and orchards. Many years after its founding, Wallingford flourished as a center for the making of silver hollowware and flatware. With names such as Wallace, Simpson, Rogers, Elton, Hall, Miller, International Silver, the Community (a commune, which later joined the Oneida, New York community), and later Boardman, Wallingford became known throughout the country. Unique areas of Wallingford such as Yalesville, Tracy, Pond Hill, North Farms, and Cook Hill sprang up, taking on the names of the people who started businesses and farms there. Today, although most of the farms and the silver industry have disappeared, Wallingford still has a thriving industry and rural expanses. Revering its heritage, the community has worked hard to achieve this balance as it has gone forward to meet the challenges of the present and future.

A Town & Country Must-Read Book of Spring 2024 “Fashion, photography, and pop culture aficionados will be captivated” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) by this riveting dual biography of the McLaughlins—identical twin sisters who became groundbreaking magazine photographers in New York during the glamorous golden age of the 1930s and ’40s. In Double Click, author Carol Kino “has interwoven a biography of the McLaughlins with an authoritative, detailed history of fashion, the art world and photography in midcentury New York” (The Wall Street Journal). The McLaughlin twins were trailblazing female photographers, celebrated in their time as stars in their respective fields, but have largely been forgotten since. Here, in Double Click, Carol Kino brings these two brilliant women and their remarkable accomplishments to vivid life. Frances was the only female photographer on staff in Condé Nast’s photo studio, hired just after Irving Penn, and became known for streetwise, cinema verité-style work, which appeared in the pages of Glamour and Vogue. Her sister Kathryn’s surrealistic portraits filled the era’s new “career girl” magazines, including Charm and Mademoiselle. Both twins married Harper’s Bazaar photographers and socialized with a glittering crowd that included the supermodel Lisa Fonssagrives and the photographer Richard Avedon. Kino uses their careers to illuminate the lives of young women during this time, an early 20th-century moment marked by proto-feminist thinking, excitement about photography’s burgeoning creative potential, and the ferment of wartime New York. Toward the end of the 1940s, and moving into the early 1950s, conventionality took over, women were pushed back into the home, and the window of opportunity began to close. Kino renders this fleeting moment of possibility in gleaming multi-color, so that the reader cherishes its abundance, mourns its passing, and gains new appreciation for the talent that was fostered at its peak. Pulling back the curtain on an electric, creative time in New York’s history, and rich with original research, Double Click is cultural reportage and biography at its finest.

Wallingford lies nestled among the hills along the valley of the Quinnipiac River in Connecticut. Its first settlers were 38 planters and their families, who arrived in 1670. The land proved to be productive for farming and orchards. Many years after its founding, Wallingford flourished as a center for the making of silver hollowware and flatware. With names such as Wallace, Simpson, Rogers, Elton, Hall, Miller, International Silver, the Community (a commune, which later joined the Oneida, New York community), and later Boardman, Wallingford became known throughout the country. Unique areas of Wallingford such as Yalesville, Tracy, Pond Hill, North Farms, and Cook Hill sprang up, taking on the names of the people who started businesses and farms there. Today, although most of the farms and the silver industry have disappeared, Wallingford still has a thriving industry and rural expanses. Revering its heritage, the community has worked hard to achieve this balance as it has gone forward to meet the challenges of the present and future.