September 8, 2026

Dear Members,

It's a pleasure to touch base with you as summer comes to a close and we enter the busy fall season here in Newport. September and October are no longer the “off-season”; our City by the Sea welcomes throngs of fall visitors who arrive by land and air—and aboard cruise ships—to enjoy its many attractions, tastes, sights and sounds, and unique history—including our rich Irish history.

This month, the Museum kicks off our 25th Annual Lecture Series on September 23 with a talk by Dr. Scott Spencer, in person and on Zoom. Reservations are required, so please scroll down for the reservation links if you plan to join us.


Last month, you received this lecture flyer in the mail with event details, along with a two-sided orange sheet outlining important updates to the Lecture Series and related membership communications. Because these changes affect how members will receive information about future lectures, please review the sheet if you have not already. You can read or download a copy here.

Next up is a tour of the historic Barney Street Cemetery, established circa 1828, on Saturday, September 26. If you are among our newer members, this is a not-to-be-missed tour, as you'll learn so much about Newport's early Irish immigrant community from Steve Marino, a board member and researcher—and a particularly engaging educator and storyteller.


Our Interpretive Center is open for the 2026 Season through Sunday, October 25. This June marked the 15th anniversary of the Center's opening, and if you've not visited in recent years, I encourage you to stop in and see how much has changed, as noted below.

Thank you for being part of our membership community as we celebrate 30 years of preserving and sharing Newport’s Irish history!


👉 Be sure to scroll all the way down for all our news.

Sláinte,

Deanna

Deanna J. Conheeny

President, Board of Directors

djconheeny@gmail.com

(401) 829-0098- mobile



First Program of 2026-27 Series

~ Our 25th Annual ~

The NYPD Pipes and Drums'
Line-of-Duty Funeral:

How an Irish-American Music Rite 
Started and Spread

 Guest Speaker:

Dr. Scott Spencer

Wednesday, September 23, 6:00 p.m.

Wyndham Newport Hotel

240 Aquidneck Ave, Middletown, R.I.

and Live-Streamed via Zoom

The sonic presence of bagpipes has become a ubiquitous and necessary aspect of line-of-duty funerals and 9/11 memorials, much like “Taps” in military ceremonies honoring fallen soldiers. But the direct line between Irish or Scottish musical traditions and recently invented traditions for those in public service is blurry or imagined.


This presentation will discuss areas in which the porous nature of Irish or Celtic identity – especially in musical settings – allows for a personal identification with the performed identity of a bagpipe band, regardless of one’s ethnicity or heritage, in moments of ceremony, memorialization, and pageantry.


With an eye to the material (bagpipes, kilts, balmorals) and an ear to the sonic spectacle (drone, marches, drums), this discussion will explore the changing nature of identity in this musical performance. The results will include a new perspective on how public traditions form and become vital to different groups of people; the role of performance in assembling and demonstrating heritage; and the importance of sonic spectacle in performing ethnicity and identity.

Dr. Scott B. Spencer is an Assistant Professor of Musicology (World Music) at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, and a Fellow in the USC Society of Fellows in the Humanities. His latest book, Pipers for the Fallen: The NYPD Emerald Society Bagpipe Band, will be published in the Oxford University Press “American Musicspheres” series in the near future. We welcome Scott back to his second talk for our members and friends.


• Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
• Complimentary light hors d'oeuvres and cash bar

Click a link below to sign up.

-In-person admission: $10 per person fee, 
payable by cash or check to MNIH

-Zoom participation: Free

Lecture graphic photo credit:National September 11 Memorial & Museum,photo taken by Chris Goodney.

Our 25th Annual Series is made possible

by generous gifts from those listed below:

Sponsors as of Sept. 8, 2026

Steve Marino leads a tour of the cemetery in Oct. 2024 (photo by Colleen McGrath)

Our popular tour of St. Joseph’s Cemetery, established circa 1828 and known locally as the Barney Street Cemetery—the final resting place of many of Newport’s early Irish immigrants—returns this fall. Learn the fascinating story of this site, central to the history of Newport's early Irish community.

The 30-minute tour will be given on Saturday, September 26, at 1:00 p.m. by local researcher and guide Steve Marino, weather permitting. No fee, but reservations are requested.

The cemetery was restored by the Museum in 1998-99 and continues to be maintained by the organization, thanks to our dedicated volunteers (see list below) and the financial support of you, our members.

To reserve, click the button below to visit the "Historic Cemetery Tours" page on our website. There, you will find a link to reserve a spot on the tour, along with interesting historical information about the cemetery site, including links to videos. You can sign up for Steve's October 24 St. Mary's Cemetery tour at the same time, if you like.



  Questions or Assistance with Reservations?

Contact Ann Arnold at (401) 841-5493 or tpm1@earthlink.net

We are grateful to all those who volunteered for one or more

Barney Street Cemetery work sessions so far this season, 
under the direction of Cemetery Committee Chair Jack McCormack:

• Larry Bartley • Steve Marino

• Mary Ellen Bronson • John Quinn

• John Carroll • Ann Arnold

• Joan Galvin • Rick O'Neill • Barbara O'Neill

• Deanna Conheeny • Jack McCormack • Larry Davis

• Mark Thompson • Ben Smith



If you haven’t visited lately, don’t forget to stop by the Museum’s Interpretive Center at 648 Thames Street, just south of Narragansett Avenue, before we close for the 2026 season.


We’re open noon to 5:00 p.m., Thursday through Sunday, until October 25.


We also welcome private and group tours at other times, by appointment.


Our knowledgeable and engaging volunteer docents and Salve Regina University intern help visitors learn about Irish immigration to the Newport area and the contributions of individuals of Irish descent to the community from the colonial era to the present. Exhibits include photographs, artifacts, and more. While you’re there, don’t miss our new interactive digital exhibit, Tracing the Tides, and its newest feature, "Notable Irish Newporters."


Parking and public transportation information, a map, and directions can be found midway down the Home page of our website: NewportIrishHistory.org

Admission to the Center is free for Museum members and by donation for non-members. For more information, please write NewportIrishHistory@gmail.com

THANK YOU, MUSEUM DOCENTS!
Our thanks to the following who have worked one or more shifts
 thus far this season at the Interpretive Center:

*Interpretive Center Manager #Salve Regina University intern

April 1, 2026, marked the start of the Museum's new Fiscal Year, 
so members with Annual Memberships were 
asked to submit their dues: $30 Individual / $40 Family/Household.
(Those with Life Memberships do not owe annual dues.)

THANK YOU to everyone who has already paid their dues for the current membership cycle!


If you have an Annual Membership and have not yet submitted your dues, you can renew online NOW by clicking the "Membership Renewal" button below.

You may also call Ann, who 
will be happy to help you 
renewby phone.

Have questions about your membership status?

Please contact Ann at tpm1@earthlink.net or (401) 841-5493 
before making a payment, and she'll get right back to you.

Please do not send payments or other correspondence to our seasonal Thames Street Interpretive Center address.



Our colleagues at Historic Music of Newport invite you to their "pop-up' museum exhibit, hosted by the Newport Protective Club on Wednesday, September 16, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Stop in and view an exhibit celebrating the Irish musicians who came to Newport and the music they made while in the city. From Fort Adams Bandmasters to early Irish concerts, learn about the city's Irish musical history.

We're told the Club also offers great sandwiches and light snacks for purchase, along with a full range of beverages. 
(No club membership, admission fee, or purchase is required to view the exhibit.)


Questions? Contact Mark Stickney at Mark@HistoricMusicofNewport.org

September 26, Sat., 1:00 p.m. - Barney Street Cemetery Tour#

October 20, Tues., 6:00 p.m. - Lecture*
The Irish Famine Immigrant Experience in North American Quarantines

Speaker: Loretto Harrigan Leary

Writer, educator, and historian pursuing a PhD at Trinity College Dublin, with research focused on Irish American Famine memories and memorials.

October 24, Sat., 1:00 p.m. - St. Mary's Cemetery Tour#

November 17,Tues., 6:00 p.m. - Lecture*
Voyage of Mercy: The USS Jamestown, the Irish Famine, and the 
Remarkable Story of America’s First Humanitarian Mission

Speaker: Stephen Puleo

Historian and award-winning author of eight narrative history books, including “Voyage of Mercy” (St. Martin’s Press, 2020)

Dec. 12, Sat., noon-4:30 p.m. - Annual Christmas Open House 
Details: NewportIrishHistory.org/events-calendar/Christmas-open-house/

# Details, reservation links: https://newportirishhistory.org/historic-cemetery-tours/
* Details and links to reserve for in-person or Zoom will be posted on the 'Lectures" page of our site closer to the event.


QUESTIONS? Write NewportIrishHistory@gmail.com

Museum of Newport Irish History
Established 1996

a 501c3 non-profit organization

Mailing Address:

PO Box 1378, Newport, RI 02840

Interpretive Center:

648 Lower Thames Street, Newport RI 02840

Email: NewportIrishHistory@gmail.com

Click Here for Museum Board of Directors Contact Info. and list of deceased board members, fondly remembered.

The MISSION of the Museum of Newport Irish History is to tell the story of the Irish immigrants and their descendants in Newport County and the surrounding area from the colonial era to the present. It also seeks to preserve artifacts and mementos relating to their experiences and facilitate

research on Irish history and heritage.