New Haven Independent

At least it used be a hot book.

The linebacker-shaped book in question is Connecticut’s “Blue Book,” the State Register and Manual. The blue and brick-shaped tome of government facts and stat trivia has been published since 1785.

As secretary of the state, Bysiewicz publishes the book. She’s also currently running for governor. Tuesday afternoon she dropped in on Mayor John DeStefano to give him the latest Blue Book, hardcover edition, hot off the presses.

The question is: Will he, and other politicians and voters and activists and curiosity-seekers, still use it? Or will they simple go online to find their Connecti-facts, and leave the Blue Book to join manual typewriters and print newspapers in the dustbin of history?

The “Blue Book” is an almanac of sorts. It contains lists and contact information for municipal and state officials from the State Supreme Court to town chairpersons. It also records — among other things — population and election statistics, histories of town names, and the meaning of the state seal.

State law requires the secretary of the state to publish a new edition every year. It’s also published online in downloadable PDF files.

Once it was an indispensable catalog of vital information and statistics. Now in the 21st Century — when the world’s collected knowledge seems to be just as close as your smartphone — the physical Blue Book just might be obsolete.

But Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz doesn’t think so.

She said as much during her afternoon visit to City Hall.

As she sat in a waiting area inscribing the mayor’s copy of the Blue Book, Bysiewicz explained the significance of the annual report. She first mentioned the book’s dedications section, which is different every year. This front section of the Blue Book offers an annual opportunity to recognize Nutmeggers who deserve appreciation.

This year it honors our Official State Heroine (!).

You may have heard of our State Hero, Nathan Hale. His female counterpart, Prudence Crandall, is less well-known. She was made the official State Heroine in 1995. She’s singled out for special recognition in this year’s Register and Manual because her good deeds of yesteryear have a special resonance with the election of the nation’s first black president.

In January 1833, Crandall closed her academy for white children and reopened it as a school for African-American girls. Facing fierce opposition, Crandall was arrested after special law was created to prohibit her school. Even after the school was set on fire, Crandall kept it open. Then in September 1834, a club-wielding mob ransacked the school and Crandall was forced to close it.

Years later, Mark Twain and other supporters lobbied for her to receive an annual pension of $400. Last year, a statue of her was dedicated at the capitol.

Crandall’s complete story is detailed in the first five pages of this year’s Blue Book. The following pages honor the national champion UConn women’s basketball team.

“There’s a strong female theme this year,” noted Bysiewicz, who once wrote a book about Connecticut’s first female governor, Ella Grasso, to whose former office she has long aspired.

After pointing out the dedications section, Bysiewicz flipped to the back of the book, to what she called the “Birds and Bees” part. These pages of color plates are also published as a separate pamphlet detailing all the official state symbols, from the State Tree (the Charter Oak) to the State Composer (Charles Edwards Ives).

Bysiewicz pointed out that our State Mineral is the Garnet, and the State Animal is the Sperm Whale. (!!)

“You know, there’s a story behind that,” she said.

She didn’t get to tell it, because just then the mayor appeared.

After receiving his freshly inscribed 2009 edition, DeStefano pronounced it a “valuable tool” for contacting state and local officials. (The Blue Book lists all their contact information.)

Asked if he ever turns to the Blue Book to find a phone number, when the Internet is so close at hand, DeStefano said, “occasionally.”

“But most people I deal with in state government, I deal with on a regular basis, so their numbers are already in my cell phone,” he added.

The state is printing 9,500 soft-cover books and 500 hard-cover versions this year, in addition to 15,000 copies of the 16-page color insert, according to Bysiewicz spokesman Av Harris. The total cost should be around $72,000, he said. The state doubled the cost of the books this year, to $20 for the softcover edition and $38 for the hardcover.

The state will probably print fewer next year — not because of Google, but because of ongoing budget problems, according to Harris. He said many facts in the book are not easily searchable on the web, such as town election results and previous holders of state constitutional offices.

Bysiewicz was quick to defend the Blue Book from any charges of obsolescence. “I used mine today!” she said. She said she had looked up some election results.

Bysiewicz would have turned to Section VIII of the Blue Book for election statistics. Deeper in the book, in Section X, there’s a list of the names and contacts of Connecticut’s news publications. Website URLs and email addresses for local newspapers are there. The book makes no mention of online-only news sites.

Answers:
• There are 1,610 barbers in Connecticut.
• You can reach the Second Continental Light Dragoons by dialing (860) 537-1761.
• According to the 2009 Register and Manual, the sperm whale was chosen in 1975 as the State Animal because of its “special contribution to the state’s history and because of its present-day plight as an endangered species.” The sperm whale was the most prized species among Connecticut whalers during the 1800s, when the state’s whaling industry was second only to Massachusetts’.

And another thing: “The sperm whale’s brain is the largest of any creature ever existing on earth.”