Fall Lectures
Book Club
Fall Tours
Adult Education
Green Animals Workshops
Family Programs
Breaking the Bonds of Popular Fashion
Marlise D. Schoeny, Assistant Curator, The Ohio State Historic Costume & Textiles Collection
Thursday, September 27
11:00 a.m., Rosecliff, 548 Bellevue Avenue, Newport
By the late 19th century, women’s fashion was no longer dependent on the shape of the natural human body but relied upon an array of undergarments - chemise, petticoats, hoops, bustles, and corsets – in order to create a highly artificial, idealized silhouette. However a new craze for bicycle-riding, a rapidly growing interest in health standards, and the growing number of women working in factories led many of the nation’s intellectual elites to recognize that current fashions could actually be harmful to women’s health. Suggested solutions to the problem included trousers, reform underwear, bloomers, and artistic dress. These dress reformers – opposed and mocked at the time – eventually prevailed and left a lasting mark on the culture.
Marlise Schoeny is the Assistant Curator for the Ohio State Historic Costume & Textiles Collection, as well as a lecturer in the Fashion Design program at the Columbus College of Art and Design. Marlise has a BA in History from Miami University and a MS in Textiles and Clothing from Ohio State University. She currently manages OSU’s digitization project, fashion2fiber.osu.edu, which includes galleries of garment images, from microscopic images of the fibers to whole garment in-the-round views. In addition to the digitization of collection holdings, her research interests include late nineteenth-century clothing and its role in gender and social identity and how clothing can be used to teach history in public schools.
Advance ticket purchase is required. Preservation Society Members $10 / General Public $15
or call (401) 847-1000 ext 178
Transforming Nature: The Aesthetic Furniture of A. & H. Lejambre
Moira Gallagher, Research Assistant, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Thursday, October 11
11:00 a.m., Rosecliff, 548 Bellevue Avenue, Newport
In recent years, a significant group of Aesthetic style furniture made by the Philadelphia cabinetmaker A. & H. Lejambre has found its way into the collections of many American museums. The group—consisting primarily of occasional tables reminiscent in form of those designed by English aesthete E. W. Godwin—is notable for its use of metal and mother-of-pearl inlay depicting dragonflies, spiders, and other entomological specimens. Although A. & H. Lejambre operated throughout the majority of the 19th century, this sophisticated aspect of their production has yet to be thoroughly investigated. Moira Gallagher will share new research and insights into A. & H. Lejambre and their distinguished Aesthetic furniture.
Moira Gallagher is a Research Assistant for decorative arts in the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her recent American Furniture article “George A. Schastey & Co., Gilded Age Cabinetmakers,” built upon her contributions to The Met’s 2016 exhibition and publication, Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age, which explored the work of the previously unknown cabinetmaker. She is currently working on forthcoming exhibitions and publications focused on the history of jewelry and late nineteenth-century silver produced at Tiffany & Company under the direction of Edward C. Moore. Outside of the museum, Moira serves on the board of the Decorative Arts Society, Inc. She holds a M.A. from George Mason University-The Smithsonian Associates in the History of Decorative Arts and a B.A. (magna cum laude) from James Madison University.
Advance ticket purchase is required. Preservation Society Members $10 / General Public $15
or call (401) 847-1000 ext 178
The Gourmands’ Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy
Justin Spring, Author & Historian
Thursday, October 25
6:00 p.m., Rosecliff, 548 Bellevue Avenue, Newport
During the thirty-year boom in France following World War II, Paris was not only the world’s most stylish tourist destination, it was also the world capital of gastronomic genius. Justin Spring‘s The Gourmands’ Way, is the true story of six American writer/adventurers - A. J. Liebling, Alice B. Toklas, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Alexis Lichine, and Richard Olney - having the time of their lives in the City of Light during this period and, in doing so, forever transforming the way Americans talk and think about food—and the way we eat. Join us for Mr. Spring’s spirited tour through the fabled world of French haute cuisine and the vibrant bohemian and artistic haunts of the Left Bank during the 1950s.
Justin Spring is a writer specializing in twentieth-century American art and culture and the author of two previous biographies: Fairfield Porter: A Life in Art (Yale, 1999) and Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward (Farrar, Straus, 2011). Secret Historian was the recipient of numerous prizes and honors and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Spring's other writing on 20th century American visual art and culture includes monographs and museum catalogues. His independent, interdisciplinary work has been supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship in General Non-Fiction and a Leon Levy Center Fellowship in Biography.
Advance ticket purchase is required. Preservation Society Members $10 / General Public $15
or call 401-847-1000 ext. 178
Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore
Elizabeth Rush, Journalist & Author, Brown University
Thursday, November 1
6:00 p.m., Rosecliff, 548 Bellevue Avenue, Newport
Harvey. Maria. Irma. Sandy. Katrina. We live in a time of unprecedented hurricanes and catastrophic weather events, a time when it is increasingly clear that climate change is neither imagined nor distant?and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways.
In her new book, Rising, Elizabeth Rush guides readers through some of the places where this change has been most dramatic, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, from New York City to the Bay Area. For many of the plants, animals, and humans in these places, the options are stark: retreat or perish in place.
Elizabeth Rush’s journalism has appeared in the Washington Post, Harper's, Guernica, Granta, Orion, and the New Republic, among others. She is the recipient of fellowships and grants including the Howard Foundation Fellowship, awarded by Brown University; the Andrew Mellon Foundation Fellowship for Pedagogical Innovation in the Humanities; the Metcalf Institute Fellowship; and the Science in Society Journalism Award from the National Association of Science Writers. She received her MFA in nonfiction from Southern New Hampshire University and her BA from Reed College. She lives in Rhode Island, where she teaches creative nonfiction at Brown University.
Advance ticket purchase is required. Preservation Society Members $10 / General Public $15
or call 401-847-1000 ext. 178
The History of Christmas in New England
Kenneth C. Turino, Manager of Community Engagement & Exhibitions, Historic New England
Thursday, November 29
6:00 p.m., The Elms, 367 Bellevue Avenue, Newport
What IS a traditional Christmas? Kenneth Turino traces the development of Christmas in New England from the time it was outlawed in 17th century through the beginning of the 21st Century when all the trappings of a “traditional”Christmas were in place. Many of the customs which we take for granted as part of the current holiday festivities and religious celebrations are actually a product of recent history. Learn how Christmas was transformed from an illict gathering to a rowdy celebration to a consumer-driven, family-centered event. Among the topics discussed are how the Christmas tree became popular, halls were decked, and Santa Claus came to town.
Kenneth Turino is Manger of Community Engagement and Exhibitions at Historic New England, the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive regional heritage organization in the country. Mr. Turino oversees community engagement projects throughout the six New England states and is responsible for the traveling exhibitions program at HNE. Prior to coming to Historic New England, Mr. Turino was Executive Director of the Lynn Museum, in Lynn, Massachusetts, and has worked at a number of historic houses including the Paul Revere House in Boston. and is a Trustee of the House of Seven Gables in Salem. He frequently consults on interpretive planning and community engagement projects at historic sites. Ken holds a Masters of Arts in Teaching, Museum Education, from the George Washington University and is an adjunct professor in Tufts University Museum Studies Program, where he teaches a course on the future of historic houses.
Advance ticket purchase is required. Preservation Society Members $10 / General Public $15
or call (401) 847-1000 ext 178
Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore
Saturday, November 3
10:30 a.m., Isaac Bell House. 70 Perry Street, Newport
Author and journalist Elizabeth Rush will lead the discussion on her recent book about the increasingly devastating effects climate change is wreaking on our coastlines. This widely praised work is both a critical assessment and a shimmering meditation on vulnerability and on vulnerable communities, and on how to let go of the places we love. Important and timely.
Advance ticket purchase is required. Preservation Society Members $10 / General Public $15
or call 401-847-1000 ext. 178
Architectural Travel Tour & Luncheon:
The Mark Twain House & Museum and Harriet Beecher Stowe Interpretation Center, Hartford, CT
Saturday, October 13
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Please note: Motorcoach departs from 424 Bellevue Ave, Newport
Hartford’s Mark Twain House (at right), a striking architectural tour de force designed by ecclesiastical architect Edward Tuckerman Potter in 1873 and built in the American High Gothic style, was the home of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) and his family from 1874 to 1891. Few who’ve seen it ever forget it. One Clemens biographer has called it "part steamboat, part medieval fortress and part cuckoo clock." Clemens’ next door neighbor was Harriet Beecher Stowe, famed author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and her house is now open to the public as a museum and interpretation center. Join fellow history, architecture, and literary buffs for tours of these two important national landmarks. Lunch (included) will be served at the Mark Twain House.
Advance ticket purchase is required. Preservation Society Members $95 / General Public $115
or call (401) 847-1000 ext 178
Photographing Architecture & Interiors with Your iPhone
Jan Armor, Professional Fine Art Photographer
Saturdays, 3 Sessions:
November 3, 10:00 a.m. - Noon, Chateau-sur-Mer
November 10, 10:00 a.m. - Noon, The Isaac Bell House
November 17, 10:00 a.m. - Noon, Kingscote
Are you interested in improving your photo skills but confused by all the digital options now available? Fine art photographer Jan Armor will lead a three-session, hands-on workshop that will have you photographing like a pro with just your iPhone. The class will explore and photograph three of the Preservation Society’s architectural treasures. An iPhone is required for this class.
Admission is limited. Advance ticket purchase is required. Preservation Society Members $75 / General Public $95
Call (401) 847-1000 ext 178
Pumpkin Decoupage
Abigail Stewart, Education & Interpretation Specialist, The Preservation Society
Saturday, October 20
10:30 a.m. - Noon, Green Animals Topiary Garden, 380 Cory's Lane, Portsmouth
Enjoy the best of autumn at Green Animals Topiary Garden with a garden walk and pumpkin decorating! We'll decorate our pumpkins with colorful leaves and greens that you will collect on our garden walk. Open to families of all ages.
Advance ticket purchase required, limited to 24. Materials fee $15
or call 401-847-1000 ext. 178
Harvest Centerpiece Workshop
Saturday, November 17
10:30 a.m. - Noon, Green Animals Topiary Garden, 380 Cory's Lane, Portsmouth
Get an early jump on your holiday decorating! Learn how to create your own fresh centerpiece for Thanksgiving.
Advance ticket purchase required, limited to 24. Materials fee $40.
or call 401-847-1000 ext. 178