[vc_row content_placement=”middle”][vc_column][vc_column_text]At the onset of the American Revolution, the colony of Rhode Island had many loyalists to the crown, particularly in Newport since many officers of the British government lived here. The frustration and tension between loyalists and patriots was palpable, even in daily life. As the indignation of the patriots grew, the friction between […]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Thomas Tew, dreaded pirate and local rum namesake, lived a life out of a Daniel Defoe novel. Before Tew was a pirate, he was a respected member of a prominent Newport family, who had a wife and two daughters. Not much else is recorded of his early life before he sails into Bermuda in 1691. […]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In honor of the recent opening of our newest exhibit in the Peirce-Prince Gallery, Tennis in Newport: The Casino and Jimmy Van Alen, we thought it would be appropriate to feature a tennis book this week. Practical Lawn Tennis, published originally in 1893, provides a guide on the basics of the sport for any skill […]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A recent donation of early 20th century children’s books to the Redwood held some well-kept treasures in American education. Among titles like Cherry Ames, Student Nurse and Black Beauty, were some teaching materials from the 1940s, most notably, Our Story Book and Our Picture Book. As the opening page explains: “The purpose of Our Picture Book is to prepare children for reading […]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]General Grant, left center with his hands in his pockets, captured at a Post Office, in September 1861. At the time this photo was taken, General Grant was not yet famous.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] This photograph shows the battlefield where Union Major-General John F. Reynolds was killed in action at Gettysburg. The man on the left is pointing […]
As many of our readers and members are aware, the childhood portrait of Ms. Sarah Peters Bowker Bliss has been a fixture in the Rovensky Room for some time. Coincidentally, she was also an employee of the Redwood, and was married to one of our Librarians, Richard Bliss. She is personally responsible for hand-writing thousands […]
The New York Times began publishing the “Mid-Week Pictorial War Extra” in September1914, three months after the beginning of the First World War, as a Wednesday photographic supplement to its main publication. Very early editions of this periodical featured drawings as well as photographs, and the Mid-Week Pictorial kept running after the end of the […]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Author Susan Coolidge was born Sarah Chauncey Woolsey in Cleveland, Ohio, 1835 to a modestly wealthy family. Sarah was well educated, and very well-traveled. In 1855 the Woolsey family relocated to New Haven, Connecticut, where Sarah and her brothers and sisters spent most of their lives. During her time in New Haven, Sarah became close […]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Two portraits of Henry Collins hang in the Harrison Room. In one he is composed, gentlemanly, sitting at a table with one hand on his leg. He is serious, gazing out past the viewer with the haughty self-assurance that portraits lend their subjects. In the other, he is playful; the hint of a smile on […]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] “Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country to […]
