THE STATEWIDE ADVOCATE FOR HISTORIC PLACES
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A Message from the Preserve Rhode Island Staff
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Preserve Rhode Island's mission is to protect Rhode Island’s historic places, and an important part of this work is protecting sites that reveal the difficult realities of our past and shape our communities today. These times require us to examine our individual roles and responsibilities as citizens and our role as an organization in confronting institutional and individual racism and inequity. Preserve RI intends to be purposeful in adding an equity lens to our work and to amplify those organizations who are leading the way on issues of equity. We will find ways to understand, listen, and speak up from our position as leaders in preservation and contributors to our history’s interpretation.
To do this we need to learn and grow. One tool that we are integrating into our regular staff discussions is this a resource from our museum colleagues at The National Museum of African American History and Culture:
“Talking About Race”
web portal. W
e hope you find it as useful as we do at PreserveRI.
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Record Number of Nominations Received for the 2020 Rhody Awards!
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The request for nominations went out earlier this spring and to our delight, we received an overwhelming response — more nominees than ever! A thrilling declaration that preservation is alive and well in little Rhody.
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Virtual venue for this annual Preservation Celebration
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are presenting the 2020 Rhody Awards
virtually
this year, but the excitement and cheers will be real for the people who’ve poured their sweat, ingenuity, and determination into saving Rhode Island’s historic places.
Tune in to celebrate Preservation on Sunday, November 15th.
We’ll broadcast the award ceremony live on Capitol TV (accessible via local cable and online) from the meticulously restored Statehouse House chambers. We offer a variety of Sponsorship Opportunities and welcome your participation.
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Rhode Island Statehouse, Providence, RI
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No,
we urge your participation!
Please help us make the 2020 Rhody Awards the best ever by becoming a sponsor.
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Aquidneck Stone Wall Initiative: Call for Volunteers
Aquidneck Island, RI
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If the pandemic cooperates, our volunteer program is scheduled to begin in July.
To comply with state guidelines for group gatherings and social distancing, volunteer opportunities will be more limited than previously anticipated.
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Glen Farm, Portsmouth, RI
Won’t it be great to go by this site and, instead of this crumbling remnant of a wall, see it restored?
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If you are interested in learning more about becoming a volunteer to restore stone walls, please join us for a virtual information session on
Monday, June 22 at 5:30 PM
. RSVP by contacting
Donna Dunn
,
Volunteer Coordinator at PSNC, by e-mail at
ddunn@newportmansions.org.
Donna will follow-up with an on-line invitation for the session.
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Show you care about preservation. Become a Preserve RI member today. By joining us, you’ll add your voice to our advocacy for historic preservation across Rhode Island. What’s more, your membership will help fund the advocacy, leadership and expertise for historic preservation that we share with preservation groups and historic sites from Woonsocket to Westerly.
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We recently spoke with
Catherine Zipf, Preserve RI member since 2013,
about why membership matters to her.
“As Executive Director of the Bristol Historical & Preservation Society, I am keenly aware of how critically important Preserve Rhode Island's statewide advocacy is. No community is an island--Preserve RI coordinates our preservation efforts and keeps RI on the forefront of best preservation practice.”
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What do you do with an under-utilized House Museum?
Tune in to the webinar
Letting Go of Your House Museum
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Joseph Spaulding House, 30 Fruit Street, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
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These days, many house museums struggle to sustain themselves (and the issues they face have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 crisis).
Case in point: the Joseph Spaulding House in Pawtucket. This small, charming house in Pawtucket was not working out as a museum and was using up limited funds.
Preserve RI's Executive Director Valerie Talmage,
along with
Barbara Zdravesky
of the
Preservation Society of Pawtucket
, will share this story and discuss new uses for historic house museums. This on-line workshop will offer practical guidance on the process of putting historic sites to new uses in practical ways to protect historic building and unique places.
Letting Go of Your House Museum
will run from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm on June 16.
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Scenic Third Beach Project
Middletown, RI
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"Paradise Valley", Middletown, RI
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Since the 18
th
Century, noted artists came to Paradise Valley in Middletown RI to paint idyllic landscapes. In the modern world, this spectacular landscape is dominated by telephone poles and power lines. But it doesn’t have to be that way as we demonstrated in 2017 with the burial of utility lines along Second Beach Road. Now we’re at it again…
The project will eliminate 77 utility poles and bury utilities along a 1.2-mile stretch of roadway. The community will benefit from a beautifully restored landscape as well as from improved resiliency during hurricanes, coastal storms and flooding. Work is anticipated to begin later this month.
The Coalition hopes that people who love Paradise Valley and Third Beach will also support the project by contributing gifts, large and small.
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Good News for Historical Sites:
Phase Two of Re-Opening RI allows us to welcome the public again.
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It has been a challenging three months, but some relief has been announced. Phase II of Rhode Island's reopening is underway, and it allows partial re-openings of historical and cultural sites.
The state of Rhode Island is allowing historical/cultural establishments to begin limited outdoor operations and, under certain circumstances, related indoor operations. Indoor and outdoor gatherings and events must limit groups to 15 people who observe the social-distancing guideline of six feet of separation.
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Preservation News Articles
Articles listed by Area or Town
Barrington
Block Island
Exeter
Glocester
Hopkinton
Jamestown
Middletown
Narragansett
Newport
North Smithfield
Pawtucket
Providence
South Kingstown
Tiverton
Warwick
Westerly
Woonsocket
Regional Articles
Statewide Articles
National Articles
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You Make A Difference!
Your support of PRI ensures that historic places remain vibrantcontributors to our state’s quality of life.
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