Gilded Age Games Lecture Series
Beginning in July, our summer lecture series will be held at Rosecliff and virtually live via Zoom. To register, please select attendance option. In-person registration at Rosecliff is limited.
Your support for our FREE virtual and in-person lectures is appreciated
Our virtual lectures are free and registration is open to the public. In order for us to continue these offerings, your support is critical. Please consider making a donation to the Preservation Society by clicking the donation button below. Any amount is greatly appreciated and we are thankful for your continued support.
To view past Virtual Lectures, click here
Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture
Dr. Annelise Heinz, Author, Historian and Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon
June 17, 2021
See Past Virtual Lectures
The Gritty, Grueling, and Wild World of Baseball in the Gilded Age
Edward Achorn, Historian and Author
July 1, 2021
See Past Virtual Lectures
The David B. and Pamela Ford Lecture
Coaching in the Gilded Age
Mary Chris Foxworthy, Historian and Research Writer for the Gloria Austin Collection of the Equine Heritage Institute
July 15, 2021
See Past Virtual Lectures
The Eaddo and Peter Kiernan Lecture
The Annual Fellowship Lecture
MaryKate Smolenski and Catherine Doucette
Thursday, July 29, 6 p.m. ET
In-person at Rosecliff and live via Zoom
As a work of architecture, Hunter House stands as a reminder of Newport’s colonial past. Once a home to elite white families and a site of enslavement for Black Newporters, the property became a historic house museum in the mid-20th century. A re-examination of Hunter House’s collection and history offers new opportunities to interpret the house, and Newport, by detailing lived experiences both within and beyond the structure’s walls. Preservation Society Research Fellows Catherine Doucette and MaryKate Smolenski will discuss their research and re-thinking of the site and how to interpret these 18th- and 19th-century histories for a 21st-century audience.
MaryKate Smolenski earned her MA in History and Museum Studies from Tufts University and studies the British Atlantic World with a particular interest in female Loyalists. She has worked with the GWU Museum and the Textile Museum, the Cambridge Historical Society, and the Newport Historical Society. In 2020, she co-founded the Coalition of Master’s Scholars on Material Culture, an online platform that shares the work of emerging material culture scholars. MaryKate began working for the Preservation Society of Newport County more than seven years ago as a seasonal tour guide and now serves as a Research Fellow working on the reinterpretation of Hunter House.
Catherine Doucette earned her Master’s degree in Art History from The Courtauld Institute of Art. Her research explores the material culture of the circum-Atlantic world during the long 18th century, with a particular interest in the Caribbean. Previously, Catherine interned in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she provided supporting research for the new installation of the British Decorative Arts and Sculpture galleries. Catherine has also held internships at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Catherine is currently a Research Fellow at The Preservation Society of Newport County, working on the reinterpretation of Hunter House.
This lecture is free, but to attend in person at Rosecliff, you must register here. To attend via Zoom, register here.
The Jacalyn and William P. Egan Lecture
The Annual Fellowship Lecture
Sébastien Dutton and Francis Mahon
Thursday, August 5, 6 p.m. ET
In-person at Rosecliff and live via Zoom
Part 1: Sébastien Dutton
Treasures Untold: How Many Wonders Can One Third Floor Hold?
Preservation Society Research Fellow Sébastien Dutton will share results from his two years of research on the third-floor family apartment at The Breakers, a space that has never been open to the public. He will discuss Ogden Codman’s designs and visions for the space and how they were translated to reality, along with furniture, objects, and stories covering the 126 years of its history and possibilities for the future.
Sébastien Dutton earned his Bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Oklahoma Baptist University. His studies focused on Business Administration and French language. In May 2019, he received his Master of Arts in Historic Preservation from Boston Architectural College, where he focused on Gilded Age America. He has interned with the Curator of Collections at Shelburne Farms and has received three consecutive scholarships to attend the Newport Symposium. He has spoken at The Decorative Arts Trust Emerging Scholars Colloquium in 2020 and 2021; the Preservation Society’s spring lecture series in 2020; and the 35th Rhode Island Historic Preservation Conference this past April. Dutton is currently working on digitally mapping the interiors of the Preservation Society’s historic properties and researching the third floor of The Breakers.
Part 2: Francis Mahon
Remembering the Future: A Communal Archive in Digital Space
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The archive, often thought of as a vault or coffin of historical knowledge and memory, is in reality an active and messy place where timelines intersect, history is crafted, and the future is envisioned; what we remember matters. Inspired by the music of Bonnie Raitt, Bimini Bon Boulash, and Amber Mark, Preservation Society Research Fellow Francis Mahon will discuss the colonial origins of our 21st-century archives, the theories behind a “communal archive,” and the creation of the Gilded Age Digital Archive (GADA). He will emphasize that what we remember and what we forget about the past, and what is accessible to the public and what is kept behind closed doors, ultimately transforms the world, our lives, and our futures.
Francis (Fran) Mahon graduated from the University of York in 2020 with a Master of Arts in Historical Archaeology. His dissertation, The City of Time: Archival and Artefactual Explorations of the Colonial Past, argued for a more nuanced understanding of cities, viewing urban environments as both living archives and artifacts. He has experience in historic preservation, archaeology, and archival work, along with two Bachelor of Arts degrees from the University of Delaware in Anthropology and Art History.
This lecture is free, but to attend in person at Rosecliff, you must register here. To attend via Zoom, register here.
The John G. Winslow Lecture
The Golden Age of Newport Yachting
Robert B. MacKay, Historian and Author
Thursday, August 12, 6 p.m. ET
In-person at Marble House and live via Zoom
Newport, a town that can tell many stories, reached its zenith as America’s yachting capital between the world wars when the floating palaces of the nation’s captains of finance and industry formed an argosy of splendor that has never been eclipsed. Join yachting historian Robert MacKay as he reveals the rare images and stories behind the “age of extravagant magnificence” afloat.
Robert B. MacKay is a lifelong sailor and classic boat enthusiast who received his doctorate in American and New England studies from Boston University in 1980. He dates his interest in yachting history to having been a member of Rudy Schaefer’s crew that sailed his replica of the schooner yacht America from Newport to England in 1968. Among his recent books are America by the Yard: Cirkut Camera Images from the Early Twentieth Century (W.W. Norton, 2006), Great Yachts of Long Island’s North Shore (Arcadia Publishing, 2014) and Marine Paintings at the New York Yacht Club (2019). He also wrote the introduction to Phil Moore’s Yachts in a Hurry and was editor of Long Island Country Houses and Their Architects, 1860–1940. He is Director Emeritus of Preservation Long Island and former chairman of the New York State Board for Historic Preservation.
We have been overwhelmed with interest in this lecture, and have reached attendance capacity at Marble House. However, we are still accepting registrations for our waiting list. Please email ProgramRSVP@newportmansions.org your name, email, and number of people who would attend. We are also still accepting registrations to attend via Zoom. Please register here.