John Brown House Museum: Yankee Magazine Editors Choice Award

First we were a  Local Treasure  in the January-February 2012 issue of Yankee Magazine, and now the museum has been mentioned in the new “Best of New England Issue” of Yankee Magazine.

We’ve always thought that the John Brown House Museum was a great place to visit, where you can learn so much about Rhode Island history, and see so many amazing objects and hear so many wonderful stories. We’re delighted that Yankee Magazine agrees, and hope you’ll be inspired to visit us soon.

~Kirsten Hammerstrom, Director of Collections

Making the News

Thanks to our neighbor up Hope Street, ecoRI.org, the news about the Society’s recent IMLS grant award and plans to install a geothermal HVAC system at the Library caught the interest of WPRI Channel 12′s Green Team reporter, T. J. DelSanto on Monday.

You can watch the news clip here: RIHS Green Technology

New look, same schedule

The John Brown House wore scaffold of steel, planks and mesh for a few seasons.

Now it’s the Library’s turn.

We’re  still here under all the scaffold that has gone up over the past week and a half, and we’re still open the same hours:

Wednesday-Friday, 10 to 5, and the second Saturday of each month, 10 to 5.

We’re told the work should take about 8 weeks once it begins in earnest. When it is done, we will have a new slate roof, relined gutters in the Toncan metal cornice, and repaired masonry. This is just the first step in the process of renovating the Library to improve the condition of the building and the long-term preservation of our collections.

There’s really nothing more important to us than the Society’s collections (and our staff and members and patrons!), but all the work we do, from exhibitions to articles and lectures to public programs, depends on our collections.  Roof replacement and masonry repairs (and the scaffold to make the work possible) is just another part of the preservation and access process.

The work is funded in part by grants from the Champlin Foundations of Rhode Island and the Save America’s Treasure’s program of the National Park Service.  We are grateful for their support.

~Kirsten Hammerstrom, Director of Collections

Great Grant News!

Someday, all this will be happening in the RIHS Library basement. And we're delighted!

In October, the RIHS applied for a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the Conservation Project Support program; the funds we asked for were to match money and staff time for replacement of the Library’s aged HVAC system with a new, geo-thermally based system. The grant awards were to be announced in mid-April, and after a conversation with an IMLS grant officer on April 5, I’ve been haunting their website.

Today, I am delighted to announce that the IMLS has awarded the RIHS $127,653 for the HVAC project. We still need to raise additional funds, but this award brings ever closer to the day when we will drill the wells and install the new air handling units to provide the most optimum environment possible for the amazing treasures in our collection.

Thank you, IMLS!

From the IMLS website project description:

The Rhode Island Historical Society will purchase heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning equipment as part of installing a geothermal environmental and humidity control system to protect the collections stored in its 1874 building. This environmental control system will provide a stable environment for the archival, manuscript, graphic, printed, and media collections, which include more than 600,000 items. Museum staff expect to see decreased variations in temperature and relative humidity throughout the building and to realize energy savings over the course of the first full year of operation. This project will also increase access to collections as they are moved to better locations, publicize the Society’s preservation and conservation efforts, and increase public awareness of the Society’s work to preserve Rhode Island’s history.

If you would like to contribute to this worthy project, please contact the RIHS Development Office or the Director of Collections.

~Kirsten Hammerstrom, Director of Collections

Bag A Squirrel

Here at the RIHS, we’re working on a year of interpretive programming built around the theme “Rhode Island at War,” selected in part because this year is the bicentennial of the War of 1812, and a sesquicentennial of a Civil War year.

In recognition of this theme, we have updated our popular Squirrel Book Bag, and accoutered him with canteen, shoes, hat and musket appropriate for service with a Continental Regiment. The squirrel himself is drawn from the carved squirrel that perches atop a pedestal above the chimney breast in the Southwest Parlor of the John Brown House Museum (the room with squirrels in the wall paper).

Perhaps the squirrel a little cheeky, and yes, we are nuts about history, but the theme is serious, and we’re looking forward to lectures, panel discussions, exhibitions, and other exciting programs that examine Rhode Island’s experience in war, and of war, from many perspectives.

Bags are $8 at the RIHS Library and at the John Brown House Museum. All proceeds will benefit the collections and programs of the RIHS. A very limited number of the original, Reading Squirrel bag are still available, but call  (401) 273-8107 x 12 to confirm availability.

~Kirsten Hammerstrom, Director of Collections

Register and Read

Have you been pining for JSTOR? I know I have, and I was delighted by the Early Journal Content.  (That’s  free online access to content  in JSTOR published prior to 1923 in the United States and prior to 1870. AS JSTOR says,  This “Early Journal Content” includes discourse and scholarship in the arts and humanities, economics and politics, and in mathematics and other sciences.It includes nearly 500,000 articles from more than 200 journals. This represents 6% of the content on JSTOR.” Read about it here.

But everything else was inaccessible, though tantalizing in search results. Now, JSTOR will make more content available to individuals who do not have JSTOR access through an institution. This is still limited access (even if content wants to be free, content providers have to eat and pay for bandwidth) but it is a fantastic step forward.  “Register & Read includes approximately 75 journals from more than 40 publishers, a subset of the content in JSTOR. This includes content from the first volume and issue published for these journals through a recent year (generally 3-5 years ago).” Find out more here.

A search of available content turns up a range of citations:

Internal Factors Influencing Egg Production in the Rhode Island Red Breed of Domestic Fowl. III  
H. D. Goodale
The American Naturalist, Vol. 52, No. 618/619 (Jun. – Jul., 1918), pp. 301-321

Child Labor Law, Rhode Island  
Grace Sherwood
The American Political Science Review, Vol. 4, No. 2 (May, 1910), pp. 212-213

An Account of a Meteor Seen in New England, and of a Whirlwind Felt in That Country: In a Letter to the Rev. Tho. Birch, D. D. Secretary to the Royal Society, from Mr. John Winthrop, Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge in New England  
John Winthrop
Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 52, (1761 – 1762), pp. 6-16

Accessible history: that’s always a good thing.

~ Kirsten Hammerstrom, Director of Collections

Newspapers Conquer America!

Ever dreamed you could visualize the growth of the Newspaper Trade across the country? Well our day has come. This video is based on data from the Library of Congress U.S. Newspaper Program, of which RIHS was a key participant during the 1980′s and 1990′s.

The Growth of US Newspapers, 1690-2011 from Geoff McGhee on Vimeo.

The first newspaper printed in the Rhode Island Colony was the short-lived Rhode-Island Gazette, printed in Newport by James Franklin from September 27, 1732 to May 24, 1733.  Providence’s first newspaper was William Goddard’s Providence Gazette, launched October 20, 1762 and ceased on May 11, 1763 “in the face of poor support and general indifference on the part of the people of Providence”  (McMurtrie, Beginning of Printing in R.I., 1935). The oldest still in print is the Providence Journal, evolved from the Providence  Daily Journal, and General Advertiser which was established in 1829.

The RIHS Library holds the largest collection in the State of Rhode Island Newspapers on microfilm and in hard copy.  Examples of newspapers in over ten different languages are in the collection representing the communities that have built the tapestry of Rhode Island’s people. Newspapers are still collected here at the Library today for posterity and for the research needs of future generations.

psb

A Helping Hand

The American-French Genealogical Society sent out a request for assistance recently. The AFGS has been extremely busy with new and returning members, many of whom have been doing research at the AFGS Center in Woonsocket.

While this is great news, the AFGS is short-handed, and reports that it is difficult  to have enough experienced researchers on hand to help their newest members learn the ropes. So, in an effort to help spread the word, we’re asking our local and regional readers on behalf of the AFGS: Can you lend a hand?

The AFGS is open 11 AM to 4 PM on Mondays, 1 PM to 9 PM on Tuesdays, and 10 AM to 4PM on Saturdays. Any help you can give would be welcome, so please contact Jan Burkhart at AFGS, P.O. Box 830, Woonsocket, RI, 02895-0870 or misskoko@aol.com and she will contact you to arrange a time.

A few hours a week, or a month, can make a big difference in helping new members get started—and stay excited—about their research.

The Moment is at Hand

The Historical Society’s book sale starts this evening at 5:00 (and runs to 8:00). Tomorrow’s hours are 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Don’t miss the chance to pick up some fun books.

40%, As Long As It Isn’t a Toy

If you’ve ever wondered what the import tariff on tallow candles, tamarind juice, or any number of other goods (including those not beginning with the letter ‘T’) in 1923 was, you’ll want to pick up a copy of Vandegrift’s United States Tariff, 1922 at the RIHS Booksale on December 3rd and 4th. It’s a great place to learn that it would have cost you an extra 30% to get a toy tambourine into the country.