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President's Letter
Hello Everyone,
I have just returned home from a very rewarding first annual Watchemoket Square Day: rewarding because of the many contacts EPHS made with people who love that area, rewarding because of the many members who contributed time and expertise to the St. Mary’s meeting and the Day itself, and rewarding because it was delightful to spend time in St. Mary’s, that little Gothic style church which is obviously well loved by its parishioners. There was a big group of walkers ready for Dave Kelleher and Ned Connors at 10:00AM and, at the ringing of the church bell, they stepped out to explore the area. A comment from one person: “I’ll never look at a building the same way again. What I lot I learned!” Ned and Dave got in two tours before the rain and we thank them for their enthusiasm for this project.
Inside St. Mary’s, Bob Carlin, videographer, got set up in a corner of the sanctuary for a trip down memory lane with George Amaral, Adrith Andrade, Ginny Berwick, Burt Chase, Gordon Hubbard, Andy Valerio, and moderator Maggie Dooley. They each described growing up in or visiting the area and an hour later they wrapped up what we hope will be just the first session of the memories. We estimate there were about 500 years of memories to tap in that group! Our tremendous thanks to Bob for his generous donation of time.
While the taping was happening, other volunteers, Miriam Kenney, Jeff Faria, and Nancy Moore, greeted visitors, ran the power point and Andrade family film (so much more than a “home movie”), gave out EPHS info, and sold our book, “Images of America” which was of great interest. Many people visited our exhibit and spent time with our volunteers, swapping stories and asking/answering questions. It was a satisfying first attempt at celebrating the Watchemoket area and the anticipation of a second WSD is already in the air.
At St. Mary’s, Maggie Dooley pointed to the new Dell laptop which was powering Kristina Calia’s power point and said, “That laptop hasn’t been idle since we bought it, has it?” And indeed it hasn’t, thanks mostly to the techie work of Jon Moore who helped choose it, set it up when it arrived, installed the Past Perfect Archival System and burned DVDs of the Andrade film. His work and that of our web master, Reinhard Wohlgemuth, helped everything run smoothly on WSD. We need to acknowledge the persistence of our curator, Edna Anness, and her insistence that we needed to be operating in the 21st century. Over this year, she and our intern, Kris Calia, will be entering the entire artifact data amassed over the years into Past Perfect. The retrieval of information will be spectacularly easy and efficient once they are done. And of course, the funding for the laptop and the archival system was possible through the generosity of Clint and Lura Sellew, founding members of the Society.
Please remember that, in the interest of saving money, we now combine November/December and January- March Gazettes. We haven’t fallen asleep at the editors’ desk. We look forward to seeing you at both the Chip Bishop talk and the special holiday turkey shindig. Your contributions to the feasting table are always mouthwatering.
OTHER THOUGHTS:
Our great thanks to the folks at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church for use of their sanctuary for both, our October meeting and for WSD. Wendy and Gordon Hubbard, Claudia Pimental and Sue Dearnley were extremely helpful. It was great to be able to test our material for WSD and to hear Ned Connors and Dave Kelleher talk about their upcoming tours. We appreciated the warm welcome.
And more thanks go to our RIC student intern, East Providence resident Kristina Calia. Kris is working with Edna this year on a number of museum projects and her first one is the power point “Watchemoket Square: Then and Now”. We presented this show at the October meeting and it was the focal point of our presentation for WSD. Well done!
How many members does it take to keep the boiler running at Hunt House on a stormy Sunday? Apparently that number is four. Kris Rose and Nancy Moore were the advanced guard which certified that the boiler was indeed not running. Bob Tewksbury and Earl Berwick Jr supplied the “know how” to get it up and running again. Our great thanks to them all.
The popularity of our publication “Images of America: East Providence” on Watchmoket Square Day leads us to remind you all that the book has a fantastic section about the Square area. If you are looking for a present for someone who grew up there or has special feeling for the place, why not present them with a copy? We will have copies at the next two meetings and you can order one by calling 438-1750. The book sells for $20.00 and of course EPHS gets royalties from all sales.
Have you visited our Web Site ephist.org lately? Our web master has added photos and a storyline about the Smithsonian meeting at Weaver. Check it out at “Past Events”.
NEWS FLASH!
East Providence has a brand new national historic district. It is official – the Phillipsdale Mill Village National Historic District has been designated so by the Federal government. Our congratulations go to the following: the Planning Department, led by Patrick Hanner, the Historic District Commission with members Edna Anness, Ned Connors (chair), Claudette Field, Stephen Greenleaf, David Kelleher, Nancy Moore, and the preservation leadership at the State level who sent the nomination on to Washington. Our members and the Phillipsdale residents are to be commended also for speaking up for this nomination. Preservation in action! Also, thinking back at least ten years now, thanks to the Historic Properties Commission, chaired by Dave Kelleher, who got the idea to the “Dare we suggest” stage in the first place.
And, looking ahead to other possible districts in the City, it was obvious to those of us who prepared tours and historic material about the Watchemoket area for WSD, that we do have enough of a historic fabric left from 4th Street to the water to consider taking another project to the “Dare we suggest?” stage. Ned Connors and Dave Kelleher planted the seeds of that idea on their tours and our power point made a strong statement. At our October meeting Ned showed his power point presentation, mainly of the business district, which will be reviewed by State preservationists this November.
Nancy Moore, President
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From the President's desk . . . 