Newport Restoration Foundation is thrilled to welcome you to our museum properties this August for a variety of free and ticketed programs. Mark your calendars for these upcoming events:
Summer Stories Whitehorne House Museum (416 Thames Street, Newport) Fridays / 10– 11 a.m. Free admission
Listen to storybook readings in the garden and put together a themed craft to take home. This program is recommended for kids aged Pre-K to first grade. Admission to the museum is also free for families with children under the age of 12 on Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon through August 26.
Join the Rhode Island Black Storytellers and Funda Story Camp students for emancipation-themed stories in the Formal Garden. Attendees can bring blankets, chairs, and picnics for the performance. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the program begins at 6:30 p.m.
Funding is provided in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and private funders.
Whitehorne Day: Makers Past and Present Whitehorne House Museum Saturday, August 13 12 – 3 p.m.: Drop in for crafts, activities and more 3-4:30 p.m.: Panel discussion Free admission to the event and museum (advance registration is encouraged)
Drop into the garden at Whitehorne House Museum for an afternoon of free hands-on activities for the whole family including weaving, soap making and printmaking on textiles! From 12 to 3 p.m., the garden will be open for visitors to take part in crafts, activities, and conversations with Newport artists and craftspeople including the Timber Framers Guild, Newport Sea Foam Trading Co., the Saunderstown Weaving School, and Niko Merritt of Sankofa Community Connection.
From 3 to 4:30 p.m., join us in the back garden for a discussion on crafts and makers in Newport from the 18th century to today with historians Keith Stokes and Steve Marino.
Whitehorne Days programming is made possible through major funding support from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an independent state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Council seeds, supports and strengthens public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement by and for all Rhode Islanders.
Second Sundays Prescott Farm (2009 West Main Rd., Middletown) Sunday, August 14 / 12-3 p.m. Free admission
Each month, NRF joins with a non-profit partner to highlight the expansive history and horticulture of Prescott Farm. In August, the Audubon Society of Rhode Island teaches us everything they know about birds! Visitors can also explore the interior of the historic Robert Sherman Windmill, Guard House, and Hicks House, and see what’s in bloom in the gardens, maintained by the University of Rhode Island’s Master Gardeners.
Yoga in the Yard Rough Point Museum Wednesday, August 17 / 6 – 7 p.m. $15- Advance registration recommended
Exhale your stress with a relaxing and re-energizing all-levels yoga class led by Middletown’s Innerlight Center for Yoga & Meditation, set against our expansive ocean backdrop. Attendees must bring their own yoga mat.
Roam Around Rough Point Rough Point Museum Saturday, August 27 / 5-7 p.m. $20, free for Newport County residents
Roam around the house and grounds of Rough Point Museum during this special after-hours event! Explore the Formal and Kitchen Gardens, snap a #camelgram, and see the 2022 exhibition, Inspired by Asia: Highlights from the Duke Family Collection. Complete a different family-friendly craft or activity each month. In August, make camel art in honor of Doris Duke’s camels Princess and Baby!
Tickets are free for Newport County residents. Free round-trip shuttle transportation will be provided from certain locations in Newport; advance sign-ups for the shuttle are required. For more information on free transportation, please contact visit@newportrestoration.org.
Tickets for these events are available at the door and in advance at newportrestoration.org/events.
The Newport Restoration Foundation and the City of Newport are seeking qualified consultants or architectural firms to develop graphics for the City’s Design Guidelines for Elevating Historic Buildings. Specifically, the consultant will produce Appendix A, a set of graphics to include photos, drawings, and/or architectural renderings of appropriate design concepts. The graphics may include, but are not limited to, delineating new and original details in building adaptations, foundation design within a historic context, and streetscape scale and building patterns. The ideal consultant is a preservation or planning professional with a background in architecture, or an architectural firm with a preservation focus.
Please review the RFP here to learn more about the project, consultant selection, and timeline.
Background
The Newport community has historically been affected by significant flooding in low-lying areas in part due to its proximity to Narragansett Bay and some neighborhoods’ development upon filled-in marsh lands. However, flooding, hurricanes, and high tides in these coastal neighborhoods are only intensifying as a result of climate change. Many of these neighborhoods are included within the Newport Historic District and represent a significant collection of 18th- and 19th-century buildings, including National Historic Landmarks.
In 2016, NRF hosted the first Keeping History Above Water™ Conference to specifically discuss climate change and building adaptation in Newport’s historic coastal neighborhoods. Case studies from the conference informed strategies for building adaptation and resiliency in historic communities threatened by sea level rise. Since then, Newport’s Historic District Commission has concluded that the best policy for long-term preservation in these neighborhoods is to support voluntarily elevating structures.
In January 2020, the Newport Historic District Commission adopted the Design Guidelines for Elevating Historic Buildings. The guidelines apply towards all contributing and non-contributing buildings within the Newport Historic District—a collection of nearly 400 properties. The guidelines include four considerations to guide commission and applicant thinking in reviewing elevation projects for historic buildings:
Streetscapes and Context Consideration
Site Design Consideration
Foundation Design Consideration
Architecture and Preservation
The guidelines also include a definition section and three appendices:
Appendix A: Graphical Support to Building Elevation Design Concepts
Appendix B: Additional Flood Mitigation Options for the Homeowner
Appendix C: Landscape Best-Practices and Recommendations Related to Flood Mitigation and Building Elevation
When the guidelines were adopted, the Commission intended for the creation of appendices at a later date. Both NRF and the City felt graphic support for Appendix A was critical for applicants and commissioners to visualize proposed adaptations alongside the written guidelines. Visualizations will be an important tool for historic homeowners in Newport as well as serve as a model for other historic communities looking to articulate adaptation strategies.
Submission
The deadline for submission of proposals is August 19 by 5 p.m. A mandatory pre-proposal conference will be held for all interested applicants on August 5 at 10 a.m. via Zoom. Proposals must be submitted electronically as a single PDF document.
Newport Restoration Foundation is excited to welcome you for events at our museums this July. Rough Point Museum, Whitehorne House Museum, and Prescott Farm will offer a variety of free and ticketed programs for all ages and interests. Please mark your calendars for upcoming special events including:
Join us for our monthly outdoor art performance series on the grounds of Rough Point. In July, Lydia Perez and Yoruba 2, an award-winning and nationally recognized traditional music and dance group will perform Puerto Rican folk music and other Caribbean rhythms in the Formal Garden. Visitors can bring blankets, chairs, and snacks to enjoy during the performance. Grounds open at 6 p.m., and the performance begins at 6:30 p.m.
Summer Stories Whitehorne House Museum (416 Thames Street, Newport) Fridays / 10– 11 a.m. Free admission
Listen to storybook readings in the garden and put together a themed craft to take home. This program is recommended for kids aged Pre-K to first grade. Admission to the museum is also free for families with children under the age of 12 on Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon through August 26.
Whitehorne Day: Restoration and Conservation Whitehorne House Museum Saturday, July 9 12 – 3 p.m. : Drop in for crafts, activities and more 3-4:30 p.m.: Collective Perspectives panel discussion Free admission to the event and museum (advance registration is encouraged)
From 12-3 p.m., visitors of all ages are invited to drop in for a fun afternoon celebrating restoration and conservation. Explore how NRF carpenters perfectly match centuries-old carvings during the restoration process and try your hand at cleaning historic objects with our museum staff. Visitors can also meet craftspeople, experts, and shop owners who work in the restoration and conservation fields.
From 3-4:30 p.m., join us in the back garden for a Collective Perspectives panel discussion featuring Director of Museums, Erik Greenberg; Director of Preservation, Alyssa Lozupone, NRF Mill Supervisor, Peter Raposa; and Tom Newbold from the Landmark Facilities Group. The panel will discuss the day-to-day work of historic preservation at NRF and also share findings of our recent, National Endowment for the Humanities-funded study of the Whitehorne House Museum.
Whitehorne Days programming is made possible through major funding support from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an independent state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Council seeds, supports, and strengthens public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement by and for all Rhode Islanders.
Second Sundays Prescott Farm (2009 West Main Road, Middletown) Sunday, July 10 / 12 – 3 p.m. Free admission
Each month, NRF joins with a non-profit partner to highlight the expansive history and horticulture of Prescott Farm. In July, the team from West Place Animal Sanctuary visits the farm.
Yoga in the Yard Rough Point Museum Wednesday, July 13 / 6 – 7 p.m. $15- Advance registration recommended
Bring your yoga gear and join us for a relaxing and re-energizing vinyasa yoga class led by Middletown’s Innerlight Center for Yoga & Meditation, set against our expansive ocean backdrop.
Jazz on the Lawn Rough Point Museum Thursday, July 14 / 6 to 8 p.m. $20 – Advance registration recommended
Celebrate Doris Duke’s affinity for jazz music and Newport’s special connection to the art form! Settle in on the grounds of Rough Point and listen while the Mar Fayos Project jams on the terrace. Mar Fayos, a vocalist from Barcelona, and her band will perform an exciting mix of traditional jazz and jazz fusion. Complete your evening with a curated charcuterie box from locally-owned Bellevue Boards! Add a box (or more than one) to your ticket order and pick it up at check-in.
Roam Around Rough Point Rough Point Museum Saturday, July 30 / 5 – 7 p.m. $20, Newport County residents are free!
On the last Saturday of every month, explore the house and gardens after hours. Newport County residents receive FREE admission! This July, make a sand castle just like Doris Duke did as a kid! Free transportation will be provided from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center and Florence Gray Center in Newport; advance sign-ups for the shuttle are required. For more information on free transportation, please contact visit@newportrestoration.org.
For more information, visit newportrestoration.org/events.
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
Thank you for following along throughout Preservation Month as we shared updates on our preservation projects and the people who make them possible. One of our largest undertakings is the preservation of the William Vernon House. In this final video in our Behind the Walls series, we take a look back at all we have learned from the Historic Structure Report, and what remains ahead for this important part of Newport’s history.
With the support of the community and friends like you, we are able to continue our mission to preserve and protect Newport’s architectural heritage. Thank you again for caring about historic preservation.
There’s still time left to give to NRF this Preservation Month! Please consider making a gift today to support our preservation efforts. Make a one-time gift, or have greater impact by joining Restoration Partners, our monthly giving program. Thank you for protecting historic resources in our community!
With profound sadness, Newport Restoration Foundation shares the news of the passing of our former Director of Preservation, Robert Foley. His passion and dedication to NRF helped shape our organization.
Prior to his time at NRF, Robert was an active member of Operation Clapboard, a Newport-based organization founded in 1963. Operation Clapboard was a grassroots project and was the first serious effort to recognize and save Newport’s eighteenth-century architectural treasures. Though the project only lasted a few years, Operation Clapboard saved 40 buildings and helped raise awareness about Newport’s historic structures.
When Doris Duke founded NRF in 1968, she hired Robert to document the restoration process of properties across Newport. From 1968 to 1974, he took thousands of pictures in one of the first concerted efforts to document existing conditions in the preservation field. Many of his photographs are still used by NRF today and are featured in Extraordinary Vision: Doris Duke and the Newport Restoration Foundation, which Robert co-authored.
During his career, Robert worked as a NRF archivist and later became Director of Preservation. He referred to the role as his “dream job.” He led the preservation crew through both daily maintenance and full-scale restorations. His involvement from the very beginning helped to perpetuate the historic trades in Newport and solidified NRF as a preservation leader.
Robert retired in 2016 after more than 50 years of preservation efforts in Newport. Contributions in his memory can be made to the Seamen’s Church Institute.
