Newport Mansions News

Headlines of the Week From the Desk of Trudy Coxe This Week's Highlight of the Collection: Located in a bedroom closet in the 3rd floor servant quarters of The Elms, this enshrined figure of Jesus and the Sacred Heart, c. 1900, is original to The Elms and was purchased with the house in 1962. Housed in a carved wooden frame, the painted statue is surrounded by flowers and a stenciled background. The homecoming celebration at Rosecliff last Sunday for Heather Abbott, the young Newport woman who was wounded in the Boston Marathon bombing, was an inspirational event. About 300 people attended, including Governor Chafee, Senators Reed and Whitehouse, Congressmen Cicilline and Langevin, and Attorney General Kilmartin. We all were mesmerized by Heather's courage and positive attitude as she recovers from the loss of part of her leg. The PS donated the use of Rosecliff for the party. Be sure to sign up for the June 6 lecture by International Council member Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor and Chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of Virginia. He'll share with us the genius of Richard Upjohn, architect of Kingscote and other Gothic-inspired cottages and churches. The lecture starts at 6 p.m. It will also be a chance for you to meet our new Director of Museum Affairs, Dr. Laurie Ossman. She'll be introducing Dr. Wilson. You also won't want to miss our June 19 lecture by Caitlin Emery, our Research and Interpretation Coordinator, on some of the lesser-known treasures in the Preservation Society's collections. That's at 11 a.m. at The Elms. You can sign up for both lectures by contacting Brittany Hullinger at ext. 154. Mark your calendars for the Annual Meeting on June 13. We'll be honoring four people with our annual Laurel Awards: Bob & Wini Galkin for volunteerism, in honor of their outstanding support and advocacy on the PS's behalf; Jeff Daly for artisanship, for his visionary design of our exhibit at the Winter Antiques Show; and Norey Cullen for horticulture, for her impassioned advocacy for Newport's gardens and landscapes. The Annual Meeting will be held at Rosecliff, starting at 6:00. Alyssa Lozupone, who has just graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with an MS in historic preservation, has accepted the position of Public Policy Fellow for the next year. She'll be joining us in July. Speaking of the Fellows program, we hope you'll join us for a special luncheon and tour of The Elms Carriage House on June 19, to learn more about the Scholars Center and Fund for Fellows. Supporter Eaddo Kiernan has agreed to make a few remarks about why the Fellows Program is important.

The co-chairs of our Summer Venetian Masked Ball at The Elms on August 3--Barbara Chapman, Monique Coleman, Amanda Fischer, Kate Hamilton and Alice Ross--are doing fantastic work and planning a great, fun evening for us. We are very grateful to all those who are supporting the Ball at the level of $5,000 or more. Those who have purchased benefactor and patron tables recently include: The Berwind Fund Office, Mr. and Mrs. William P. Egan II, Mrs. Alfred S. Wilsey, Mrs. Alexander Cushing, and Mrs. George Edward Ford. Social media continues growing as an important tool for us to communicate with our various constituents. It's time for you to join the conversation if you haven't done so already! In just the past 7 days, we reached 17,582 people through our 3 Facebook pages. Congratulations to our friends and colleagues at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, who achieved accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums this week. They join the PS, the Newport Art Museum, RI Historical Society, Slater Mill and the RISD Art Museum as the only accredited museums in Rhode Island. Only about 1,000 of the estimated 17,500 museums in the entire country are accredited. "I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning; I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak, because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it. We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did." - Benjamin Harrison Peace on Memorial Day, TC