NRF promotes and invests in the architectural heritage of the Newport community, the traditional building trades, and Doris Duke’s fine and decorative arts collections, for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of all.
As a leader in the preservation of early American architecture, NRF supports research and education in areas directly related to its collections and issues of critical concern to the field of historic preservation.
Visit Doris Duke’s art-filled mansion and enjoy panoramic ocean views from the extensive grounds. Open late March to November.
The Vernon House is a site for expansive story-telling, contemporary dialogue, and preservation trades skill-building. Opening July 1, 2023: NRF and Art&Newport are excited to present a group artists exhibition on cards and card playing: Games, Gamblers & Cartomancers: The New Cardsharps
Newport Restoration Foundation holds one of the largest collections of period architecture owned by a single organization anywhere in the United States.
Celebrate excellence in historic preservation efforts within the City of Newport, Rhode Island.
Live amidst history by renting one of our many historic properties.
August 24, 2023, Newport, RI— The Newport Restoration Foundation is announcing the recipients of its annual Doris Duke Historic Preservation Awards for their exemplary projects of historic preservation in Newport. The 2023 awards also seek to highlight innovative approaches to preservation, including new technologies, materials/products, creative adaptive reuse, excellence in practice, climate change adaptations, and similarly progressive concepts.
The Doris Duke Preservation Awards are a collaboration of the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) and the City of Newport. The awards celebrate individuals for preservation, restoration, and rehabilitation projects and educational activities that help protect the historic sites, landscapes, and overall character of Newport County. The awards are juried by representatives from the Newport Restoration Foundation, the City of Newport, and individuals involved in local preservation practice.
For this year’s awards, NRF recognizes the following outstanding projects:
Newport Historic Cemetery Advisory Commission, Newport, RI- Awarded to the Newport Historic Cemetery Advisory Commission (HCAC), a nine-member volunteer appointed commission to assist the city in efforts to preserve, protect and promote Newport’s historic burying grounds. The HCAC’s recent work has focused on improving site access, expanding funding, repairing headstones, and increasing educational content for the City’s eight burial grounds that serve as important historic public spaces.
The Captain William Finch House (c. 1770), 78 Washington Street, Newport, RI- Awarded to Dave and Jenay Evans for the exterior and interior restoration of their 18th-century home. The project fully restored the building from a state of structural disrepair and transformed it into a vibrant home. The project carefully retained the building’s original craftsmanship and detailing while updating the property to code.
Newport Tree Conservancy, Newport, RI– Awarded to the Newport Tree Conservancy for the Heritage Tree Center, a community resource to study, protect, and propagate Rhode Island’s most unique, historic, and at-risk heritage trees. The Center is preserving and propagating the genetic lines of historic trees statewide for public and private planting. It also engages Newport students to expand the community’s involvement in the horticultural process.
The Sailing Museum, 365 Thames Street, Newport, RI- Awarded to the Sailing Museum for the adaptive use of the historic Newport Armory (1894). The project, undertaken in collaboration with the City of Newport and contractor Kirby Perkins, transformed the Armory into a multi-use public and private space in the heart of Thames Street. The project included timely exterior repairs to preserve the building while updating the interior to be a welcoming public space.
“This year’s award recipients represent the wide variety of cultural preservation projects accomplished by individuals and groups across the city.” said NRF’s Director of Preservation, Alyssa Lozupone. “And we are introducing the new President’s Award, for excellence in preservation, which we will announce at the event. We are excited to celebrate community-minded ventures that further educational and social initiatives surrounding heritage and preservation in Newport.”
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NRF President Frankie Vagnone sat down with Newport This Week to discuss the opening of “GAMES, GAMBLERS & CARTOMANCERS: The New Cardsharps” at the Vernon House, the founding of NRF, and the future of the organization’s work in Newport.
Art&Newport and the Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) are pleased to announce the opening of a contemporary art exhibit at 46 Clarke Street, otherwise known as “The Vernon House.” The exhibition is titled “GAMES, GAMBLERS & CARTOMANCERS: The New Cardsharps,” and features the work of seventeen artists who have revisited the storied art historical trope of card play. The free exhibition is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from July 1 to October 1, 2023.
The exhibition, curated by Dodie Kazanjian and Alison M. Gingeras, uses Newport’s historical and contemporary card-playing customs as the basis to explore wide-ranging interpretations of cards and their associated cultures throughout history. Card games have been a mainstay of cultures around the world for centuries, a rich, global history that is reflected in the breadth of work in the exhibition.
Each of the artists in GAMES, GAMBLERS, & CARTOMANCERS has created work that engages with the iconography, mythologies, and practices of card play. The artists featured in the exhibition are Tina Barney, Cecily Brown,Francesco Clemente, Elizabeth Colomba, John Currin, Austin Eddy, Hadi Falapishi, Shara Hughes, Rashid Johnson, Sanya Kantarovsky, Karen Kilimnik, Sean Landers, Tala Madani, Rob Pruitt, Walter Robinson, Katja Seib, Katie Stout.
The venue for the exhibition, 46 Clarke Street (otherwise known as “The Vernon House”), is apt for an exhibition reflecting a complex and layered history. The Vernon House has housed generations of Newporters, and it has been witness to the evolution of Newport—from a thriving port-city reliant on the trans-Atlantic trade, to a depressed former economic-center, to the site of urban renewal projects and historic preservation efforts, to the modern, vibrant city today.
Colonization is present in the very fabric of the building and is a thread connecting the Vernon House to a wider conversation about the impact of colonization and globalization (both past and present). Many of the works in the exhibition engage with these same issues, as the evolution of card playing is tied into the history of colonization and cross-cultural exchange.
This is the first time The Vernon House will be open to the public following a multi-year project researching, investigating, and documenting the historic structure and the stories of the people who lived and worked in the house.
“The opening of the Vernon House, for this contemporary art exhibit, is really the first outward step, and a sign of the future, for the Newport Restoration Foundation,” said NRF President Frankie Vagnone. “Our strategic goal is to make NRF a deeply community based cultural organization that is open to a wide variety of voices and interpretation. For this reason, we’re not considering Vernon House as a traditional historic house museum, but rather a place for dialogue, education, and investigations into contemporary storytelling.”
Tickets for the free exhibition are available at www.newportrestoration.org/tickets/
About Art&Newport: Art&Newport is a nonprofit that aims to develop and host a series of city-wide visual arts presentations in Newport, Rhode Island. The goal is to put Newport, with its unique institutions and natural riches, on the map as a place to learn about and share the ideas and visions that only art and artists can provide. Art&Newport will build on and further establish our town’s reputation as a leading cultural destination.
Who was Cato Vernon?
One of our ongoing projects is to discover more about the people who lived, worked, and worshiped in NRF Preservation Properties like 46 Clarke Street—many of whom were enslaved women, men, and children.
While we do not have an illustrated likeness of Cato, he left behind a written record which helps reveal his lived experience.
[Exterior of 46 Clarke Street, 1933]
After the war, like many of those who served in his regiment, he was owed back-pay from the military and he also never received a military pension. In 1793, he was imprisoned in the Newport gaol for his debts and he dictated a letter to William Vernon, his former enslaver, asking for debt relief.
Cato Vernon disappears from the known historical record sometime around 1798.
There is certainly more to discover about Cato’s remarkable life and legacy—not only his service in the Continental Army but also his shaping of the city of Newport through his carpentry work.
For more information about the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, visit BlackPast.Org
Image credit:
Ancestry.com. U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007. Microfilm Publication M246, 138 rolls; NAID: 602384; War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records, Record Group 93; The National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Classification: Full-time (Exempt)
Reports to: President
Job Summary: The Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) is seeking a Development Administrator. The Development Administrator is responsible for establishing, developing and maintaining a fundraising program to support and enhance the mission of NRF to include the following areas: the major gifts program, grants, annual fund, planned giving, corporate and foundation fundraising and special events. This position works closely with the President in all development and fundraising endeavors.
Salary Range: $55,000 – $60,000 (commensurate with experience), medical, dental vision life, insurance, health savings account, 401(k) contribution (not a match), 15 vacation days, 10 sick days, holidays, professional development assistance
Specific Responsibilities
Qualifications
Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and résumé to maeve@newportrestoration.org The position is open until filled. EOE.
This holiday season—whether you are cozy at home or away on an adventure— here are some great ideas to help celebrate the season.
Thank you for supporting the Newport Restoration Foundation and for shopping local. All proceeds benefit NRF and help promote our mission.
Enjoy free standard shipping—as well as free local delivery and free local pickup.
Take the stress out of gift-giving! Your gifts will be beautifully wrapped in paper featuring hand-drawn illustrations and patterning. Select “gift wrapping” during checkout.
*New for 2022*
Holidays in Hawaii Collection: Doris Duke often enjoyed the holiday season at her home in Hawaii, and these products are a nod to the warm and merry holidays Doris and friends spent at Shangri La.
*New* Whimsical Camel Pillow: These plush pillows feature Bactrian camels Princess and Baby, and are perfect to gift or to add coziness to your home. (Doris Duke was a big fan of comfy and stylish design—and we think this pillow is both in one!)
Gift Sets: Perfectly curated gift sets for a special someone—or yourself! Each set includes a natural homemade soap bar, a hand-poured wood wick candle that crackles when lit, and a natural balm that nourishes and protects lips.
Holiday Collection: Celebrate the holidays with featured ornaments, exclusive products inspired by the museum collections, and special gifts (for you, or to share!)
Ornaments: From the iconic exterior of Rough Point, to an homage to Doris’s passion for jazz, to brightly-colored handcrafted designs, these ornaments are perfect to display at home all year-round.
For Entertaining: Entertain in style (or dress up a cozy night at home) with these beautiful, collection-inspired, eco-friendly napkins, plates, coasters, and guest towels.
Unique gifts for all:
For the book-lover: From Doris Duke’s closets & collections, to historic Newport buildings, inside looks at Rough Point, colonial life & Newport furniture, garden-related stories for gardeners & enthusiasts, and kid-friendly new favorites & classics—discover a book for everyone!
For the decisive decision-maker: Featuring a saying from a pillow gifted to Doris Duke, these items showcase Doris’s sense of humor (and your own!)
For the furniture fan: These items are inspired by Whitehorne House Museum’s collection of exquisitely crafted furniture and the stories of the people who designed, made, and purchased furniture and related crafts.
For your furry friends: Our pets deserve some TLC this winter season (*all products are rated two paws up!)
For the gardener: Stylish & sturdy gardening gloves, beautiful books, hand salve, & more. NRF Estate Gardener approved!
For hardworking hands: Soaps, hand butter, hand salve & more! Everything you need to pamper your hard-working hands. From relaxing to invigorating scents—go ahead and indulge. Locally made with organic and sustainably sourced ingredients.
For kids: Fun, educational, and whimsical products for the littlest explorers, artists, and gardeners.
For restoration buffs: Founded in 1968 by Doris Duke, NRF works to study climate change resilience in Newport, develop new community-oriented programs, preserve our museums and historic buildings, and steward centuries-old properties. You too can join us in supporting this work.
For the yogi: These custom yoga pants are relaxing, comfy, & stylish. Limited quantities!
NRF Museum Store gift cards are also available for use online or in store.
Follow us on social media @nptrestoration or sign up to receive newsletters to stay in the know about new products and new sales.
Our special holiday pop-up is located at Rough Point Museum, 680 Bellevue Ave. Open Fridays- Sundays during the holiday season, beginning on November 25th.
Cheers!
Classification: Full-time (hourly, non-exempt)
Reports to: Chief Operating Officer
Job Summary: We are looking for a focused, industrious, and restoration-passionate accountant, who will play an integral role in maintaining the day-to-day financial records by recording transaction in a timely, accurate and consistent manner. This position specifically works closely with the Tenant Liaison, and the Chief Operating Officer, however they will also enjoy the rest of our supportive and collaborative team.
Salary Range: $55,000 – $65,000 (commensurate with experience), medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, health savings account, 401(k) contribution, 15 vacation days, 10 sick days, and a generous amount of holidays.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
• Reconcile, record and deposit cash receipts • Maintain accounts payables, ensure timely payment of invoices, confirming validity of debt and gathering appropriate signatures • Reconcile bank and investment statements • Prepare and post monthly journal entries • Input biweekly payroll entries • Maintain accounts receivables, predominantly tenant receivables through a property management software package • Respond to tenant and vendor inquiries as they arise • Request and maintain W-9s and liability insurance, as applicable, from vendors • Prepare annual 1099’s • Assist with annual budget preparation under the purview of senior management • Assist with annual audit as well as workers’ comp audit • Prepare quarterly employer 401k distributions and annual 401k reconciliations • Process biweekly payroll during absence of Human Resource Administrator • Monitor and analyze department work to develop more efficient procedures and resources while maintaining a high level of accuracy • Assist with various human resources related projects as necessary • Respond to inquiries from the Chief Operating Officer regarding financial results, special reporting and the like
Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree in accounting, business, or a related field is preferred • At least 5 years of accounting experience, preferably 2 in non-profit accounting • Proficient in the use of QuickBooks desktop version and some familiarity of payroll software • Excellent knowledge of MS Office, mainly Excel • Knowledge of accounting principles and practices • Good judgement, with the ability to make timely and sound decisions • Exercise discretion and maintain confidentiality with regard to sensitive information • Driven, self-motivated, and goal oriented. • Highly organized, analytical thinker with strong eye for detail
If you are interested in this position, please submit a cover letter and résumé to Maeve Sheehan, Human Resource Administrator via email: Maeve@NewportRestoration.org. The position remains open until filled.
During the sweltering summer months, I was lucky enough to be working in a refrigerator- a clothing refrigerator – hidden away in what was the servants’ quarters on the third floor of Rough Point Museum. Even though the climate-controlled textile collection storage lacks the never-ending ocean view that Rough Point is so famous for, it contains multitudes of other wonders – specifically the fashionable clothing of Doris Duke.
I felt like I had been working alongside Doris this summer, aiding her in organizing her prized possessions, stored carefully to extend their lives well beyond hers. I became accustomed to her style: she was practical but fun, stylish but unique. I was also introduced to all of her favorite designers and makers: Halston, Tina Leser, Taj of India, Star of Siam, Dior, and my personal favorite, surrealist designer Elsa Schiaparelli [i].
Schiaparelli and Doris seem like a match made in heaven. Both were extremely intelligent women who actively rejected the status quo in the quest for their own kind of life and maintained a good sense of humor. For these reasons, it makes sense that Doris had acquired some of Schiaparelli’s more practical designs, swimsuits.
I learned that when Doris liked something, she bought it in every possible color. Specifically, Doris owned three different colors of Schiaparelli’s “Briefer” swimsuit: green, black, and a rainbow-striped print. This design was a collaboration between Schiaparelli and the swimwear brand Catalina that consisted of a convertible two-piece seersucker bikini set that was adjustable for swimming or tanning (See Figure 1). This design gives the wearer options of how high-waisted the bottoms were, and if their top had straps or not (See Figures 2 and 3). This ingenuity was perfect for Doris’ lifestyle, providing coverage and comfort when she was catching some waves surfing, but also some stylish tanning abilities when relaxing on the beaches of Hawai’i.
A sweet and humorous detail on two of the three swimsuits is patches of Schiaparelli’s reinterpretation of the Catalina Swimwear logo, a flying fish [ii]. The first iteration of these swimsuits and the interpretation of the logo was seen in 1948 as the “Official Swim Suit of the Atlantic City Miss America Pageant” before the suits made it to mass production [iii]. The designs on the suits in Doris’ closet have a bit more whimsy to them, with a flying minnow on one of the suits. I like to think that these fun flying fish were part of why she purchased these glamorous swimsuits.
Even though these swimsuits are just a small portion of the giant clothing and textile collection that Doris left behind at NRF, they embody who she was, how she operated, and how she presented herself. The fact that this is a mass-produced design, and also a designer item, speaks to her dueling shopping habits of department stores versus couture houses. With all the money in the world, you would think she would only have purchased one-of-a-kind designer items, but she had a humbleness to her. She knew she was not better than a fairly-priced and well-made item of clothing. Although there are many pieces of clothing in this collection that are couture, they are outnumbered by the number of t-shirts, comfortable caftans, eclectic dance costumes, and tourist treasures that she connected with enough to take home, protect, and save.
By Mel Kennelly, University of Rhode Island intern
Melissa Kennelly is a current Graduate student at the University of Rhode Island perusing her master’s degree in Textile History and Conservation. She obtained her Bachelors of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2020, majoring in Apparel Design with a special interest in dress and textile history. Upon graduation into a global pandemic, she realized that she didn’t want to create more clothing for a world that already has more than enough, which is when she started pursuing a career where she could protect the textiles and clothing that already exist through the artforms of conservation and curation.
References:
[i] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elsa-Schiaparelli
[ii] https://catalinaswim.com/pages/about
[iii] https://thevintagetraveler.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/schiaparelli-for-catalina-swimsuit-1949-part-ii/
Figure 1: 1949 ad for Schiaparelli and Catalina swimsuit collaboration.
Via vintageadbrowser.com/clothes-ads-1940s/30
Figure 2: Green, shirred seersucker two-piece swimsuit by Schiaparelli. NRF 2021.93 - tied
Figure 3: Green, shirred seersucker two-piece swimsuit by Schiaparelli. NRF 2021.93 - untied
Figure 4: Bea Waring (Miss America 1948) wearing the exclusive Schiaparelli and Catalina swimsuit.
Via https://twitter.com/liamwbz/status/1004103435401285633
Figure 5: Close-up of flying fish design on green swimsuit 2021.93
Figure 6: Close-up of flying fish design on black swimsuit 2021.92
Summer tends to be intern season at NRF’s museums—a time when we welcome one or more up-and-coming museum professionals to the organization to develop new skills, meet new people and learn about the varied and interesting work of museums. Internships are often a critical step in introducing potential museum professionals to museum work. They are a central part of most training programs in collections and conservation work. After all, where else can one get experience in handling, cataloging, and conserving a diverse range of museum art and artifacts? I began my career in museum work with a summer internship, and that experience led to my first paying job in the field. These opportunities are so important in determining whether or not someone enters the museum field, that one of my colleagues once wryly noted that “The best way to get a job in a museum is to have a job in a museum (or an internship).” And yet, for some students, especially students from marginalized communities, internships are hard to learn about and harder still to enter into.
While there are many reasons for this last point, one indisputable factor is how many museum internship opportunities favor students with observable privilege and resources. For example, most internship opportunities across the field tend to be unpaid or low paying, nor does the staff that creates the program typically have time for the outreach necessary to communicate with specific communities of students. The economics of internships often fail to take into account the transportation needs of those who may be unable to afford a car. And sadly, those interns who are selected to join an institution a great distance from their homes often find out that they cannot afford the living expenses in a new place even for a few months. Many museum internships prove more expensive for the intern than for the institution that offers them, and since race and class tend to be inextricably bound up in American society, the structure of a lot of museum internships tends to exclude most potential interns from underserved communities.
Some institutions have done terrific work in helping undergraduate students of color and others overcome the significant barriers to learning about and partaking in museum internships. In Southern California, the Getty Foundation has supported a multicultural internship program across the region, providing funds for institutions willing to bring in summer interns from previously underrepresented minority communities. The Ford Foundation is doing similar work with early career curators at a national level, and as an occasional reviewer for National Endowment for the Humanities’ grants, I can tell you that museums in places like San Jose, Newark, NJ, Pittsburgh, and other sites are creating programs that account for the needs of previously excluded groups in their intern programs.
As a longtime participant in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work, I brought my experience in creating these opportunities to NRF. In late 2020, I reached out to several of my colleagues locally and regionally to help me create NRF’s first DEI program, and this year, I am delighted to note that we will be hosting our second such intern. NRF engages with a wide variety of interns, including an internship for graduate students engaged in the field of conservation.
Meet Our Interns
Brian Villa is a history major at Rhode Island College and President of its Latin American Student Organization. He is also a McNair Scholar (a national program that prepares traditionally underrepresented students for Ph.D. programs), and finally, he is our DEI intern. Brian is excited to connect with others within the field. He looks forward to encouraging other students to explore museum opportunities.
We are equally fortunate to welcome a second undergraduate intern to the fold this summer. Her name is Emi Zeyl, and she is an art history major at URI. Emi is looking forward to the various learning opportunities this internship offers and is interested in NRF’s community engagement initiatives.
Our graduate intern is Mel Kennelly, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and a graduate student in textile conservation at the University of Rhode Island (URI). Mel is working with our Senior Curator, Kristen Costa, on cataloging, photographing, and rehousing the Doris Duke fashion collection from Shangri La and doing 2023 exhibition research.
We are delighted to have these talented young professionals join us this summer and look forward to having them share what they learn with you.
Bringing these interns together from different backgrounds, different schools, and with different personal histories and asking them to work and learn together has been a longstanding dream of mine. For many years, I have created educational programs that enliven the study of history and make the learning of that subject a more active and engaging process, but I have always lamented the fact that that work has tended to focus on a single student or group of students from one school at a time. I believe that success in any career depends on creating a widespread and diverse network of colleagues. And in Rhode Island, where it is only a slight exaggeration to say that you are less than six degrees of separation from anyone who works in the local and regional museum field, such networking is both essential and easier to accomplish than in a big city like New York or Los Angeles.
Brian’s, Mel’s, and Emi’s internships are just the first part of the network building. As part of our program, we connect our interns to other museum professionals in the region, including Akeia de Barros Gomes, Senior Curator at the Mystic Seaport Museum, and Lorén Spears, Executive Director of the Tomaquag Museum. Our interns will travel to both institutions to meet with Akeia and Lorén as well as other members of their staff and their seasonal interns, and sometime this summer we will welcome staff and interns from Mystic and the Tomaquag to Newport. I hope that these experiences will help connect a diverse range of potential museum professionals to the local and regional museum world and each other.
We invite you to come to Newport this summer to meet our interns and other staff and visit our museums. Both Rough Point and the Whitehorne House Museum are now open for the season, and we can’t wait to see you.
By Erik Greenberg, Director of Museums, Newport Restoration Foundation
