"Pettaquamscutt Historical Society: A 50-Year Retrospective"
Open through October 20, 2009
Guide to the Exhibition (reprinted from the exhibit booklet)
Welcome to Pettaquamscutt Historical Society: A 50-Year Retrospective. The exhibits are designed by decade, each with a special theme and artifacts from the collection that reflect what was important to the founders of PHS and the people of the Pettaquamscutt Purchase region.
In 1957, the founders decided to form an historical society, growing to 87 charter members that first year. At the time there was a nationwide movement toward preserving historic villages, and the new organization participated in setting the boundaries of the Kingston Historic District.
The Society had no home to call its own until 1960, when the State conferred ownership of the Washington County Jail (the building had served as a jail until 1958 and then as offices for URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography).
The rest of the story unfolds in the first floor gallery and throughout the smaller exhibition rooms on the second floor and in the upper level jail cells. The following pages provide information about the objects on display.
The Society would like to acknowledge and thank the donors and donor families who have made this exhibition possible by entrusting their family heirlooms to us for safekeeping, research, and display.
These objects, which reflect the lives and livelihoods of the region—from farming, to war, to industry, to fashion, to education, to the arts, and preservation of sites, continue to inspire the Society in its mission of stewardship, to preserve the past for today and tomorrow. We look forward to your visit.
