Spring 2023 Newsletter
It all started in Providence with Seril Dodge, a clockmaker and silversmith from Pomfret, Conn., and his nephew Nehemiah Dodge. Seril’s shop, near the corner of North Main and Thomas Streets in Providence, was one of the first in Rhode Island to sell jewelry. When Seril returned to Pomfret in the late 1790s, he turned […]
401 Gives Fundraising Event 2024
This year, the Peace Dale Museum of Art and Culture will again take part in 401Gives, an opportunity for Rhode Islanders to unite around causes in which they truly believe. Last year, more than 13,000 Rhode Islanders helped raise $3.1 million for 507 nonprofit organizations. We hope that you, your family, and your friends will make a donation to help […]
Fall 2022 Newsletter
Before the American Revolution, Britain dominated the worldwide trade in enslaved human beings. In a move intended to strike an economic blow to Great Britain, the American colonies agreed to stop participation in the slave trade. In April of 1776, the colonies resolved to stop trading with Great Britain and all of its territories, and […]
Spring 2022 Newsletter
Before the American Revolution, Britain dominated the worldwide trade in enslaved human beings. In a move intended to strike an economic blow to Great Britain, the American colonies agreed to stop participation in the slave trade. In April of 1776, the colonies resolved to stop trading with Great Britain and all of its territories, and […]
Revolutionary War Privateers and the British Slave Trade
September 24, 2022 | Donna Grady Revolutionary War Privateers and the British Slave Trade John Brown of Providence was a wealthy and powerful merchant. He had financed slaving voyages. He also had experience financing privateers— privately-owned vessels licensed by the government to capture and sell enemy vessels and their contents. After the Continental Congress prohibited importation of […]
George E. Matteson: The Man and His Maps
October 19, 2022 | Donna Grady George E. Matteson: The Man and His Maps Born in Scituate in 1902, George E. Matteson was a forest ranger for decades. But he is best remembered as an extraordinary map maker who embedded the folklore of rural Rhode Island into his precise and exquisitely detailed maps. Paul St. Amand, […]
Museum Celebrates its 130th Anniversary
During our annual Trash or Treasure fundraising event at the Dunes Club on September 25, 2022, State Senator V. Susan Sosnowski presented our Board of Trustees with a Rhode Island Senate resolution congratulating the museum on its 130th anniversary. Pictured left to right are appraiser Thomas Tomaszek, Senator Sosnowski, Board of Trustees President Lisa Fiore, […]
The Memory Pile Tradition
November 26, 2022 | Donna Grady The Memory Pile Tradition On Thursday, December 1, anthropologist Timothy Ives will talk about the many historical written descriptions of memory piles and their implications for archaeology. Dr. Ives, formerly the Rhode Island state archaeologist, will consider why this practice has long fascinated European-American observers. Since early colonial days […]
Fall 2021 Newsletter
Who was Mary Williams? If you live in Rhode Island, you know who Roger Williams was. But you probably know little or nothing about his wife Mary, who lived in a time when the vast majority of women left no trace of themselves other than their children. View Full PDF Newsletter
Spring 2021 Newsletter
Stone heaps, or spiritual symbols? One of the most polarized debates in the world of archaeology today concerns ceremonial stone landscapes, groups of stone structures built by Native Americans for religious purposes. Are they spiritual places that must be preserved as the cultural heritage of Indigenous people? Or are many actually fields of stone heaps […]