JHS Vault

Open House

Monday, June 17

5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

New compact shelving was installed in the vault this spring, thanks to a grant from The Champlin Foundations.  The moveable shelving more than doubles the storage capacity of the climate controlled vault. Visit the vault before the June 17 Town Council meeting.

You can also read about the new shelving in the Jamestown Press and watch the day-to-day installation activities in our on-line presentation as pdf or PowerPoint. 

 WINDMILL and MUSEUM

Reopening June 22/23

2013 Museum Exhibit

"Architectural Styles in Jamestown: 1700-1950"

Exhibit funded in part by a Legislative grant sponsored by
Representative Deb Ruggiero

Improving Signage

at Windmill

How the Jamestown windmill works will soon be easier to understand. The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (RICH) has awarded the Society $11,650 to improve the signage inside the 1787 structure. 

Under the grant, new and more attractive labels will replace the existing ones, and diagrams explaining the working of the mill will be added to relate the labeled mechanism to the actual milling operation. The second level, which was originally used for storage and is now empty, will be turned into a small museum of windmill history. Lighting will be added at all levels and used to call attention to distinctive features of the building and to the operations performed there. 

The schedule calls for the project to be completed by Windmill Day 2014, which is planned for mid-July 2014.

Conserving 18th and 19th Century Documents

In April 2012, the Society received a grant from the Rhode Island Foundation Ott Fund to clean, mend, and place in archival polyester envelopes about 70 18th and early 19th century documents in the collection. A follow-on grant has since been received from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities to conserve another 210 documents.  Read about the documents in the Jamestown Press.

A third grant, awarded by the Rhode Island Foundation Newport County Fund in May 2013, is supporting exhibits of the documents in the Town Hall and the Lawn Avenue school, as well as other exhibits in the library.

Antoinette F. Downing Volunteer Award

Each year, the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission and Preserve Rhode Island honor a “volunteer preservationist who has made a contribution through a lifetime of effort or through a single significant project.” The 2012 award was given to the Jamestown Historical Society and to its generations of volunteers for 100 years of dedication to preserving the history of Jamestown.

Click HERE to see

Jamestown's Steam Ferries: 1873-1969

 Address by Archie Clarke, III

at

JHS ANNUAL MEETING

August 9, 2012

Video courtesy of thejamestownrecord.com

EXPLORE OUR COLLECTION ONLINE
Search our Catalog
Learn more about our Sites

 VISIT US ON YOUTUBE

From the Vault: Episode 3   Tour of Winter Exhibits 2011-12
From the Vault: Episode 2  Tour of the Jamestown Museum, Summer 2011
From the Vault: Episode 1  Jamestown Historical Society History
 

VISIT US IN THE JHS VAULT
Jamestown Town Hall, Lower level
Tuesday and Thursday
9 a.m. til noon

NEW BOOK BY JHS MEMBER 
Objectify China, Imagining America by Caroline Frank 
click here for more information

Visit the JHS exhibits in the Town Hall at 93 Narragansett Avenue.

View the JHS display case in the lobby of the Jamestown Philomenian Library at 26 North Main Road.

2011-2012 Annual Report

COMING TO JAMESTOWN:
YOUR FAMILY’S STORY

For our 100th anniversary, the JHS is collecting the histories of how and when people and/or their families first came to Jamestown. And what has happened since.
• Who in your family first came to Jamestown? When? Where from? Why? What did they do once they got here?
• What is the extent of the family (parents, siblings, cousins, etc.) presence in Jamestown?
• How many generations? How long did they stay? 
• Are they still here? If they left, why did they? Where did they go?
 
THE MORE DETAILS YOU CAN PROVIDE THE BETTER.
E-mail your family’s story to sdmaden@aol.com or 
mail it to Jamestown Historical Society, PO Box 156, Jamestown, RI 02835 or 
call Sue Maden at 401-423-2167. 
Please include contact information, such as email, street address, phone number. 

Photos of families with individuals identified by name and/or family relationship would be appreciated. All information will be added to the JHS collection.