The Times, RIHS Member Magazine: Spring 2022

SPRING 2022

THE

TIMES

NEW OLD NEWS FROM THE RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

B o a r d

o f

T r u s t e e s

CHAIR

Robert H. Sloan, Jr.

SOMETHING

VICE

by C. Morgan Grefe, Ph.D., Executive Director

CHAIR

Luther W. Spoehr, Ph.D. TREASURER

Peter J. Miniati, J.D., CFP

SECRETARY

Winifred E. Brownell, Ph.D. Michael L. Baker, Jr. CPA Paul A. Croce, Sc.D. Michael T. Eadie Michael Gerhardt Roberta E. Gosselin Scott MacKay Lisa E. Melton, CPCU Maureen Moakley, Ph.D. Alletta Morris Cooper Marcus Nevius, Ph.D. Vanessa Quainoo, Ph.D. Cindy E. Salazar, Esq. Alicia J. Samolis, J.D. Theodore W. Smalletz James Wing Stanley Weiss

EX

OFFICIO

Lane Talbot Sparkman

EXECUTIVE

DIRECTOR

C. Morgan Grefe, Ph.D.

Charmyne Goodfellow, Deputy Executive Director for Finance & Administration Richard J. Ring, Deputy Executive Director for Collections & Interpretation Sarah Jane Carr, Director of Advancement & Public Engagement Anne Conway, Director of the Museum of Work & Culture Geralyn Ducady, Director of Education

TO

CELEBRATE

“Just like you and your mom are really the only ones who care about your birthday, very few people care when your organization has an anniversary.”

–Erica Mills Barnhart, Claxon Marketing 2015 This was the first thing that popped up in my web search more than five years ago when I started thinking in earnest about the RIHS’s 200th anniversary. It has stayed with me ever since, but probably not in the way the author intended.

This quote felt like a challenge. A dare. Oh, no one cares about other people’s anniversaries? Really? You might think this would have made me want to have the biggest 200th-anniversary party possible (which might actually be quite small during Covid).

Rather, it made me want to find as many meaningful anniversaries as possible that we, too, could celebrate. We would be Rhode Island's organizational mom caring about the birthdays of others.

After all, if anyone is in the business of remembering, it’s a historical society.

And, quite frankly, besides extending our mission, I think we could all use some birthday and milestone commemorations to celebrate these days.

We are not, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, neglecting our own anniversary. Only one quarter into 2022 and we have launched two year-long program initiatives: Drink in the History and Inside the Archives. We hosted our 1822 Jubilee open house on March 19th–marking both the origins of the RIHS and the construction of the Aldrich House. We worked with Narragansett Beer to create our 1822 Porter, which I am thrilled to announce is being entered into the World Cup of Beer in the historical beer category.

Keeping the anniversary fun rolling, we debuted our RI historyinspired t-shirt line with the famed Frog & Toad, with more designs to come. We’ve also launched the Rhode Island History Navigator website, and will soon have additional, exciting collections news.

It’s a year filled with program and initiative launches, and I haven’t even mentioned Putting Down Roots, our 25th season of Concerts Under the Elms and, last but certainly not least, the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Museum of Work & Culture!

And it’s only May. But even with so many reasons for the RIHS to celebrate, we were still committed to our vision of partnering with other organizations looking to mark significant milestones in 2022.

We’re delighted to be able to showcase the 150th anniversary of the Roger Williams Park Zoo at our 1872 Jubilee. The Squantum Club is celebrating 150 years, as well, and we have worked with them on behind-thescenes tours of their beautiful campus, in addition to looking forward to our 1922 celebrations. By the way, 1922 is also the year that Rhode Island welcomed its first radio broadcast, which we will celebrate with WHJJ. It was a busy and booming time, which we will also highlight as we celebrate with The Graduate Hotel, also known to many of us as the Biltmore. It, too, turns 100 this year.

Perhaps the biggest anniversary for Rhode Island is the 250th of the burning of the Gaspee. We know that our partners

throughout the state will be marking this day in Pawtuxet Village, as well they should. But we hope that as you wrap up your time in the village, you will make your way to the John Brown House lawn to continue the commemoration and celebrate our actual 200th, because we were, in fact, chartered in the General Assembly on the 50th anniversary of the burning. Our founding and the memory of the Gaspee have been forever linked, and to that end, we will be hosting a new display in the John Brown House Museum about the events around June 9 and 10th, 1772. We are also working with the Newport Historical Society on our second issue of our joint special publication, The Bridge, which will showcase new scholarship on the topic and reexamine some past favorites.

For the past two years, we have all seen quite a bit of history being made. We have an opportunity this year not only to commemorate but also to celebrate the past, while thinking deeply about what we chose to remember and why. I'm looking forward to looking back.

I leave you with this: how will 2022 be remembered? What headlines will find their way into scrapbooks? What will start and what will end? And when will it become "history"?

When I think about a quote that best encapsulates our approach to our 200th anniversary, with all due respect to Erica Mills Barnhart, I'm more inclined to the immortal words of Kool & The Gang, when they sang: “There's a party goin' on right here. A celebration to last throughout the years. So bring your good times, and your laughter too, we gonna celebrate your party with you.”

Dance at the Arcadia Ballroom, ca. 1950.

Photograph by Martin J. Taber, Jr.

And I hope to see you, in person or online, to remember our pasts together.

Expanding the Immigration Story at

the Museum of Work & Culture

by Connor Mathis, Communications Coordinator

For 25 years, the Museum of Work & Culture has told the story of the men, women, and children who came to the Blackstone Valley with the hope of providing a better life for their families. This story has been told through the lens of the French Canadian immigrant experience at the turn of the 20th century, with 70% of Woonsocket’s population identifying as FrancoAmerican by 1920.

While first and second-generation Franco-Americans, along with many communities whose families arrived in the United States in the same period see themselves reflected in the Museum’s exhibits, Woonsocket’s immigration story has continued to evolve.

Exhibit & Program Coordinator Deborah Krieger (left) and Family & Youth Education Coordinator Rachael Guadagni (right)

According to a 2019 estimate from the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 14% of households in Woonsocket speak Spanish, making it the second-most spoken language in the city after English. In addition, Rhode Island’s 2021 Kids Count Factbook reports that nearly 27% of school-aged children in Woonsocket identify as Hispanic or Latino. These changes to Woonsocket’s population raise the question of how the Museum can best respond to ensure that the entire community can feel reflected when visiting.

According to the US Census, the number of Rhode Islanders identifying as Hispanic or Latino rose from 130,655 people in 2010 to 182,101 people in 2020. This community now represents 16.6 percent of the state's population, up from 12.4 percent in 2010.

Deborah Krieger and Rachael Guadagni, two of the most recent additions to the Museum’s team, are each working to create new programs and educational offerings at the Museum that respond to this need.

Together, they are collaborating with Marta Martinez, Executive Director and Founder of Rhode Island Latino Arts, who is assisting with the projects and facilitating connections between the museum and Rhode Island’s Latino community.

Krieger, the Museum’s Exhibit & Program Coordinator, is working to bring Smithsonian Institute’s panel exhibition Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program 1942-1964 to the Museum’s changing gallery this summer. Bittersweet Harvest explores the federal program that brought Mexican laborers to the United States in the wake of World War II. Krieger hopes to use the panel exhibit as a base to tell a larger story about Latinos in New England, Rhode Island, and Woonsocket through a supplemental exhibit and related programming.

Krieger sees the next exhibit as a natural fit, not only as it relates to the Museum’s stories of immigration, but also labor, saying: “I think it is important to place different types of labor that aren’t just mill labor into this context.”

Meanwhile, Guadagni, the Museum’s Family & Youth Education Coordinator is working to remove language barriers by expanding Museum tour offerings.

Currently, the Museum’s panels are available in French, as well as English, with French language tours also being available upon request. Guadagni is hoping to make the same true for Spanish speakers and is currently working with partners to translate the Museum’s docent manual into Spanish, the first step toward offering Spanish language tours.

Stressing the importance of increasing access to the museum, Guadagni wants to embrace those who may currently feel left out of the Museum’s story.

“There are a lot of people who do not feel like museums are places that reflect their histories or reflect them…or that they aren’t welcoming to them," says Guadagni. "By offering tours in Spanish we are meeting a large population in RI where they are, and making MoWC an accessible space for a whole group of people who would have otherwise felt excluded from the museum simply due to their language. We are working to continue this idea through Deborah's exhibitions and work with Marta to tell stories about Woonsocket that reflect this population, a population that hasn't been highlighted much at MoWC in the past. We hope that these changes and developments will open MoWC as a space for education, discussion, and community for the many Spanish-speaking populations in northern Rhode Island.”

Guadagni hopes to have Spanish tours ready for National Hispanic Heritage Month which begins September 15.

Pictured on opposite page: Bracero laborers working a field in Salinas, California. Photo by Leonard Nadel, 1956.

Courtesy Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

KELLY HOUSE MUSEUM CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT Re-contextualizing the Blackstone River Valley

by Geralyn Ducady, Director of Education

The Education Department is reaching the culmination of a two-year-long endeavor with rangers at the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park to develop lesson plans and field trip activities for fourth graders visiting the Captain Wilbur Kelly House Transportation Museum.

Located in Lincoln off the Blackstone River Bikeway, the museum shares the story of Kelly, who captained international trading vessels and was an investor in the Blackstone Canal and a cotton mill that would go on to become the Lonsdale Mill. While the museum uses Kelly’s story to chronicle changes to transportation and enterprise, other stories such as the history of the surrounding Ashton Mill Village, the immigrants who came to call the village home, and how their lives were shaped by the canal have gone largely untold.

In order to create educational materials and resources that would address these themes, Director of Education Geralyn Ducady partnered with the Cumberland School Department and Lincoln Public Schools to meet with fourth-grade teachers in spring 2021 to learn about their current curriculum and what they would like to see reflected in the lesson plans.

EnCompass Update

During the summer, Geralyn worked with teachers Christina O’Brien and Christine Costa to develop eleven history and STEM-based lessons.

Lessons include primary resource analysis of photographs of workers, including children, analyses of primary resource documents, water testing of the Blackstone, learning about project ZAP – a major cleanup of the river in 1972, and oral history activities. The lessons are designed to be a mix of in-class and onsite field trip experiences for a holistic look at this local history.

Ducady met with Cumberland and Lincoln teachers for a second time this winter to review and share feedback on the lessons which are currently being finalized. All fourth-grade teachers in Lincoln and Cumberland will be attending workshops this spring to learn how to use the set of lessons in preparation for implementation in the next school year.

In addition, project coordinators will be working with illustrator MJ Robinson to develop a new Junior Ranger booklet for the Kelly House and property. The booklet will be ready for the public by the spring season in 2023.

at two virtual workshops to introduce the

You will want to check out the updates to

module and share other research on the topic.

EnCompass, our online sourcebook of Rhode Island

This winter, we added a new essay titled “Black

History. Last fall, we published a new module,

Baseball in Rhode Island,” written by Dr. Robert

“Underground Railroad in Rhode Island,” thanks

Cvornyek. The essay, featuring a primary source

to a grant from the National Park Service’s National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom program, administered by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Local scholar Dr. Elizabeth Stevens wrote the essays for the module and spoke to teachers

letter from Harry Fearson asking to play with the Suits, has been added to our module on African American Civil Rights in Rhode Island. You can find EnCompass on our website: rihs.org under "Education."

Pictured: Elizabeth Buffum Chace, anti-slavery activist

VOLUNTEERS WITH COMMON SENSE What One RIHS Volunteer Found In Our Rare Book Collection

by Richard Ring, Deputy Executive Director for Collections and Interpretation Volunteers are often crucial to the work that we do in collections, especially when the volunteers happen to have expertise in the precise areas in which we work.

Joanna Katsune is a perfect example. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Joanna was drawn to the East Coast and came to Rhode Island for a job as a cataloger at the Brown University Library. She began cataloging art exhibition catalogs and artists’ books and over the years expanded to special collections and rare printed material at the John Hay Library. Her career at Brown spanned 34 years, and we are so fortunate that in her retirement she has chosen to offer us the benefit of her time and experience.

Joanna is cataloging the Society’s outstanding collection of items printed in Rhode Island from the first imprints of James Franklin Sr. in 1732 up until 1800.

Among these are editions of Thomas Paine’s famous Common Sense, first published on January 10, 1776, by Robert Bell in Philadelphia and an immediate bestseller —going through at least thirteen printings and selling over 150,000 copies within three months. It was the single most influential pamphlet among hundreds produced during the Revolutionary War. Four editions were printed in R.I., three by John Carter in Providence and one by Solomon Southwick in Newport.

Joanna is also interested in cataloging a humbler sort of pamphlet than political tracts. Far more people read (and used) the yearly almanacs than would ever read Thomas Paine. They were issued by every colonial American printer in tens of thousands of copies.

"...you not only see what was important in that year, but how the owner...interacted with the information." -Joanna Katsune

The New England Almanack, or, Lady's and Gentleman's Diary (Providence, RI: John Carter, [1780]).

Not only did they include the calendar and weather predictions, but also astrology, poetry, mathematics, business data, geography, medicine, cooking, and religious and moral advice, even etiquette. People also wrote in them, using them as diaries, account books, or simply memo books (see illus.)

Joanna loves cataloging because “it’s a way of describing that brings out the item as a relational object, not just the text.” With some of these almanacs, “you not only see what was important in that year, but how the owner that had this almanac interacted with the information.” We are pleased to give Joanna the opportunity to continue working with the material she has spent a career learning about and describing, and happy to reap the benefits of her experience.

From left to right: Connor Mathis, Patricia Suess, and Sarah Carr

GET TO KNOW: THE ADVANCEMENT AND

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT TEAM In the last year, what was once known as the Advancement department has experienced a major transformation. Now called the department of Advancement and Public Engagement, it has a new team and has come to include RIHS's public programming, in addition to communications, membership, and fundraising. Sarah Carr leads the department with Connor Mathis and Patricia Suess rounding out the team. Together, they hope to bring positive energy to the RIHS and a renewed focus on what it means to engage with the community post-pandemic.

Sarah Jane Carr, Director of Advancement & Public Engagement What do you see as your ambitions for the Advancement & Public Engagement Department?

humbling to be here for this chapter. Right now, my primary ambition is to create an environment that inspires each of us to bring the best of ourselves every day. If we do, hopefully, that feeling will be infused into everything we create for and with the

Carr: How many pages do we have? I have so many

community, and that work will be work worthy of

hopes for what we can achieve, but the magic of our

support.

department is that I have such a limited amount to ultimately do with what that will look like. The stories, interests, ideas, and needs of our community

You have an entirely new team working with you.

How would you describe the A/PE department?

will determine how that takes shape. And our

Carr: Energetic. Compassionate. Thoughtful.

community is an entire state that seems to only

Everyone brings such verve to what we do. Honestly,

attract endlessly compelling people. With so much to

it sometimes feels like our offices are actually

share, we are lucky to have 200 years of momentum

humming. But that energy is paired with true

behind us. So many people have given the best of

sincerity in how we care about our partners,

themselves to bring us to this moment and it is

members, and one another.

How has your previous role as Assistant Director at

How do you come up with content for the RIHS social

the Museum of Work & Culture affected how you

media accounts?

approach your current role?

Mathis: Some of the best ideas we come up with are born from having conversations with my team, our research team, or people who work at our other sites.

Usually when multiple people think an idea is interesting or funny, our followers do as well!

Carr: I will never be able to say enough about how much I learned during my time at the Museum. But what truly makes the MoWC unique is the sense of community. From the very beginning, it was always clear how much Anne [Conway, Director] made the community central in all of our work. Whether it was

Patricia Suess, Advancement Coordinator

selecting a vendor, choosing program topics, or striving to improve accessibility, all of the work was

As the newest member of the department, where

done with the community at its heart. The impact of

do you find yourself in the dynamic?

that approach is extraordinary. I am so lucky to have

Suess: It is exciting to be part of a team that

spent six years witnessing firsthand the sense of

encourages growth. We instantly connected and the

belonging that comes from people seeing their

acclimation process has only been positive. I believe

history being honored and shared or having their

our collaboration will bring forth change in

needs accommodated so they feel genuinely

ourselves, within the organization, as well as our

welcomed. I can't imagine any response other than a

community. It is refreshing to join a group of people

desire to proliferate that feeling, which is what I hope

with an objective to create new relationships while

our department is able to do.

advancing our mission.

What are your hopes for engaging with RIHS

Connor Mathis, Communication Coordinator What do you think is the role of social media in a historical society?

Mathis: I love the idea of promoting community education outside of traditional settings. I believe social media is an incredible opportunity to do this, reaching all different types of learners of different ages who might not feel comfortable in a museum setting or at a talk. I believe promoting history in an approachable (and fun) way is the best way to turn followers into patrons or members.

Do you have any plans for new types of content from the RIHS for the 200th year?

Mathis: I believe there are multiple different mediums and avenues for the RIHS to explore. Tucked away in our archives are thousands upon thousands of stories to tell, and I don’t think that images with text are the best way to tell all of those stories.

members in the future?

Suess: My goal at RIHS is to listen. My role as Advancement Coordinator is to take notice of community needs by advocating membership inclusivity. Understanding the perspective of others to better share the past, enrich the present, and inspire the future.

How does it feel beginning to work at an organization in its bicentennial year?

Suess: Joining the RIHS during its bicentennial is a little overwhelming, however I view it as an opportunity to challenge myself. It is truly an honor to be involved with a cultural institution that recognizes education is key to development. With great knowledge and support, comes collaboration and innovation.

THE RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S

Bicentennial Celebrations SPRING & SUMMER PROGRAMMING

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These landmark celebrations themed around the 50-year milestones leading up to our bicentennial are intended to engage as many Rhode Islanders as possible in a variety of styles. Events for this season include:

On Saturday, June 11, an 1872 birthday party on the Great Lawn of the John Brown House Museum.

This free afternoon will include history-inspired ice cream flavors created by makers from across the state, period lawn games and music, as well as celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the burning of the Gaspee and the 150th of the Roger Williams Park Zoo. On Thursday, August 25, a 1922 gala at the Squantum Association celebrating Rhode Island in the roaring 20s. The event will feature a dive into prohibition, as well as centennial celebrations for the birth of Rhode Island radio and the Biltmore Hotel.

S E I R E S

Y L H T N O M

DRINK IN THE HISTORY

INSIDE THE ARCHIVES

A monthly series pairing RI beverage companies with history talks. Upcoming partners include:

A free monthly series pulling back the curtain on our collections. Upcoming programs include:

MAY 26: Rhode Island Spirit Co.

MAY 15: Olmsted 200 & Putting Down Roots

JUNE 25 & 26: Greenline Apothecary

JUNE 22: Teen Advisory Board Raids the Archive

JULY: Sons of Liberty

JULY: Revolutionary War Papers

AUGUST: Little Maven Lemonade

AUGUST: MoWC Flowing Through Time

SEPTEMBER: Sowam's Cider Works

SEPTEMBER: Archives Across RI

Our Great Thanks to our 200th Jubilee Sponsors

Presenting Sponsor

Supporting Sponsor

HISTORY ROCKS

RIHS

1822 THE RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY 2022 Celebrate 25 Years of Concerts Under the Elms

In honor of our bicentennial celebrations, we are so excited to collaborate with Frog & Toad on an exclusive line of t-shirts celebrating Rhode Island’s history and spirit of rebellion and irreverence.

The shirts take their visual inspiration from classic rock

Join us Thursdays at 6:30pm on the Great Lawn of the John Brown House Museum for beautiful summer evenings featuring new music and old friends.

t-shirts while paying homage to famous moments from Rhode Island’s history.

The initial series of three launched on April 8th

June 30

with a tee highlighting

Eight to the Bar

Leland Baker Trio

As selected by RIHS Members

As selected by the RIHS Board of Trustees

July 14

July 21

the Gaspee Affair in the

July 7

style of Led Zeppelin’s 1977 North American tour shirt.

This was followed by the launch of the second shirt on Friday, April 22.

Frog & Toad proprietor Asher Schofield with the Gaspee Affair t-shirt

Atwater-Donnelly As selected by our Jubilee Sponsors

Timeless As selected by the Teen Advisory Board

This historical mashup features imagery from the Sex Pistols "God Save the Queen," but instead pictures Charles II, who granted RI's charter in 1663, allowing the colony the right to God Save Rhode Island t-shirt design

August 4

The Good Living Band

The Narrow River Band

As selected by the Museum of Work & Culture Preservation Foundation

As selected by the RIHS Staff

self govern and practice individual religious freedom.

The final design for the spring is due to be released on May 6 and will feature a homage to the Dorr Rebellion in the style of the 1967 eponymous Doors album.

All proceeds from shirt sales benefit the RIHS. Designs are available at Frog & Toad's Hope Street location in Providence or their website frogandtoadstore.com.

July 28

Food Trucks Return in 2022!

SPONSORED BY

Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Providence, RI Permit No. 617

110 Benevolent Street | Providence, RI 02906

Aldrich House

Mary E. Robinson Research Center

John Brown House Museum

Museum of Work & Culture

110 Benevolent Street Providence, RI 401-331-8575

121 Hope Street Providence, RI 401-273-8107

52 Power Street Providence, RI 401-273-7507

42 South Main Street Woonsocket, RI 401-769-9675