The Connecticut Historical Society has posed a question to Nutmeggers: “If an object could define Connecticut, what would it be?”

A Native-American arrow point? A vintage streetcar from an old trolley line? A maple syrup tap from a maple tree?

All of the above have been suggested by state residents as “Connecticut-defining objects” for CHS’s upcoming “50 Objects/50 Stories” exhibit. CHS is currently crowdsourcing for the exhibit, which will run at its location at 1 Elizabeth Street in Hartford from May 19 to Oct. 24. CHS will accept suggestions for objects through April 30, and they will appear online at www.chs.org/50objects until the close of the exhibit. Ultimately, 50 objects will be selected for the exhibition.

According to CHS’s website, “The objects in the ... upcoming exhibit and online gallery, Connecticut: ‘50 Objects/50 Stories,’ will bridge centuries, locations, ethnicities, and cultures, each detailing a distinct personal experience, idea, or action. Objects may come from the CHS collection, from other collections around the state, and from personal collections.”

In addition to Connecticut State Historian and University of Connecticut history professor Walt Woodward and Stacey Close, associate vice president for equity and diversity at Eastern Connecticut State University, CHS is partnering with several organizations on this project, including the Connecticut River Museum in Essex and the Institute for American Indian Studies, among others.

To date, the “50 Objects/50 Stories” online gallery boasts dozens of suggested Connecticut-defining objects, spanning centuries and reflecting a vibrant and diverse history. From a split cane beater of a loom reed made by Ezra Huntington in Norwich to a statuette of Nathan Hale by Bela Lyon Pratt and the dress worn by Julia Chase-Brand, the first woman to run the Manchester Road Race in 1961, the objects reveal the many ways Nutmeggers envision the “essence” of their state and its historical legacy.

CHS welcomes and encourages such diversity, stating, “The object can be old or new; personal or owned by an institution or someone else; evoke a family experience or a community; or represent an idea or action, symbolic or literal.”

Among the submissions with a southeastern Connecticut link is one from Timothy P. Chaucer who suggested a collection of whaling almanacs printed in New London in the 1840s by Nathan Daboll. The volumes list details of the many ships coming and going from Mystic, Stonington, New London, as well as Nantucket and Greenpost. L.I., including ship name, captain, sail dates and tonnage, according to the submission notes.

Diana Atwood Johnson of Old Lyme suggested the Charter Oak memorial monument in Hartford, which marks the site of the original “Charter Oak” tree, in which residents hid from British troops a royal document granting Connecticut the right to govern itself.

Tom Breen, of Manchester, suggested the arm of St. Edmund, housed at Enders Island in Mystic, as a Connecticut icon.

Jamie Eves, of the Windham Textile and History Museum in Willimantic, proposed the museum’s vintage Electric Boat work coveralls for the “50 Objects” exhibit.

Eves notes, “The stenciling on the back of these work coveralls proclaim that the worker who wore them worked for the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics — a designation created in 1955.”

For more information about the exhibit, to suggest an object for consideration, and to view the suggested objects to date, visit ww.chs.org/50objects; send email to ask_us@chs.org or call (860) 236-5621. All 50 objects will be announced when the exhibit opens on May 19.