Faith and Fortune

Steven Ujifusa

Steven Ujifusa is a historian with a passion for telling stories of the American experience. His third book, The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia’s Jews on the Eve of World War I, tells the story of Eastern European Jewish immigration to America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was named by Publishers Weekly as one of the best books of the year and by National Public Radio as a “Book of the Day.” He is also the author of Barons of the Sea: And Their Race to Build the World’s Fastest Clipper Ship and A Man and His Ship: America’s Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the SS United States. He lives in Philadelphia, PA.

Geoffrey Paul

Geoffrey Paul is a long-time resident of Essex, Connecticut, who has immersed himself in the history of his hometown since childhood. As a teenager, Geoffrey worked in local antique shops, where he learned the power of objects to tell stories and to recover history lost to time. Geoffrey later graduated from Rollins College with a degree in Economics and Business, and then pursued a career on Wall Street. But his passion for history was always present, and he spent subsequent decades researching local history, seeking out descendants of local families and bringing objects and archives of relevance back to Essex. This lifelong study has allowed Geoffrey to make meaningful contributions to the written history of the area and to provide many popular lectures and presentations. Objects from Geoffrey’s collections have been loaned to or acquired by numerous institutions including the Winterthur Museum, Connecticut Historical Society, Yale University Art Gallery, Peabody Essex Museum, Florence Griswold Museum, Connecticut River Museum, and others. His activities, together with other family members, have also included the acquisition and preservation of numerous historic properties such as the Griswold Inn and the Captain Henry and Amelia Champlin home in Essex.

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