Editor\u27s Note

In February of 1783, an infuriated prisoner in Newport Jail furiously wrote in his diary his unmitigated contempt for that Miserable impertinent Rascally Ignorant Mule headed puppy ... who put me to jail. In her article, A Rhode Island Patriot in Newport Jail, Virginia Steele Wood assumes the role of a detective, sifting through scores of contemporary records to discover the identity of the unknown diarist and learn his fate. Since the advent of photography in newspaper journalism, the Newport Daily News has kept the community apprized of progress, difficulties, and activities at the many Newport city schools through the use of pictures. In this issue of Newport History are thirteen photographs from the Newport Historical Society\u27s recent exhibit, Newport Schools in the News, selected by the exhibit\u27s curator, M. Joan Youngken. They document the daily lives of teachers and students in Newport\u27s schools from 1906 to 1965

Editor\u27s Note

The first article in this issue by Bradford A. Becken and Ruth Kennedy Myers looks at the important role Newport played during Parliament\u27s attempt to impose a Stamp Act on the colonies in 1765, and who discovered the mystery upon which their article, Who was John Webber? is based. Also in this issue, in their article, A Pre-Columbian Origin for the Newport Tower Can (Still) Almost Certainly be Excluded: A Reply to Professor Andre J. de Bethune, Jan Heinemeier and Rogne Jungner respond to a critique of their dating of mortar samples from the Old Stone Mill. Finally, I would like to announce the release of a new type of publication by the Newport Historical Society and its Publications Committee: the official Newport Historical Society Internet website. The site can be found at www.newporthistorical.org

Editor\u27s Notes

John M. Carpenter writes about Arthur Leslie Green, who, from about the turn of the century until his death in 1945, purchased, traded, and scrounged for historic relics and architectural artifacts, many from Newport buildings that were in imminent danger of destruction. This was the age of the artifact and the curio, when parts were often considered more important than the whole. Green assembled his collection of relics and architectural fragments on and into the Weaver-Franklin House, which he moved from the Point to Training Station Road in Newport. Also in this issue are the annual reports of the President, Executive Director, and staff of the Newport Historical Society. These seem to grow in length each year, a testament to the ever-expanding role the Newport Historical Society takes in the preservation of the history of Newport County

Editor\u27s Note

This issue of Newport History examines the impact of severe weather in Newport and New England by examining four events: The Hessian Storm of 1778; the Great Gale of 1815; the Year Without a Summer in 1816 ; and the hail storm of 1894. Each of these storms left a mark on the area, figuratively and literally, that grows or shrinks in severity according to the teller of the tale. The material for this article was first presented in spring 2000 by staff members of the Society during its 17th Annual Lecture Series: Weathering Changes: The History of Climate and Storms in Newport and New England. Also in this issue, Frank Snyder recounts the circumstances that led to The Court-Martial of Lieutenant J. B. Carey in 1879 during the Anglo-Zulu War. Carey, a descendent of the Brenton family of Newport, was convicted of Misbehaviour before the Enemy for his actions during a fatal attack on Louis, the Prince Imperial of France

Editor\u27s Note

In past years, study of Newport\u27s role during the Revolutionary War has been limited mostly to well-known events: the occupation of the town by the British, the subsequent sojourn in Newport by the French, and the Battle of Rhode Island. More recently, however, these broad strokes have been supplemented by discoveries and studies related to the details of these events. The feature article in this issue, \u27 A Grand Landscape in Miniature:\u27 Great Rock, Paradise Farm, and the Barkers of Middletown, by James L. Yarnall and Natalie N. Nicholson. The article reveals an elaborate American spy operation orchestrated by Middletown resident, Isaac Barker. From the lofty spine of an outcropping known as Great Rock, Barker used a system of signals to inform American troops across the Sakonnet River in Little Compton of British activities in the area. Also in this issue, what began as a transcription of an item From the Collection of the Newport Historical Society, the occasionally humorous January 25, 1733, issue of the Rhode Island Gazette, ended up revealing the complex and intricate relationship between James Franklin, publisher of the Gazette, and his younger brother, Benjamin. Featured in this issue of the short-lived Rhode Island Gazette is a satirical examination of husband and wife relations, written by Benjamin for the Pennsylvania Gazette, and reprinted by James in his Newport newspaper

Editor\u27s Note

Many readers of Newport History probably have been following the saga of HMB Endeavour in the press of late. D. K. Abbass and the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) believe they have traced the history of Captain Cook\u27s ship of discovery from a coal bearing vessel named the Earl of Pembroke, to the Endeavour, to its ultimate fate as the Lord Sandwich, a British troop transport intentionally sunk in Newport Harbor during the American Revolution. .From sea to air. This issue of Newport History also includes Newport State Airport: A History, by Arliss Ryan. For more than fifty years, a stretch of land in Middletown has been the primary point of entry for people and goods traveling by air to Aquidneck Island. Newport State Airport was the vision of Bob Wood, a barn storming veteran World War II fighter pilot, who built his air park practically by hand

Editor\u27s Note

This special double issue of Newport History contains a complete description of the Society\u27s collections, assembled for the first time in a single space. Joan Youngken, the Society\u27s Deputy Director for Collections, contributed the sections on museum collections, and photographs and graphics collections; Bertram Lippincott III, the Society\u27s Librarian, wrote about the library collections; and Ron M. Potvin, Curator of Library Special Collections, describes the Society\u27s manuscripts and archives. The introduction was written by the Society\u27s Executive Director, Daniel Snydacker. · This issue of Newport History is intended as a guide to the Society\u27s collections for use by researchers, and stands alone as a chapter of the community\u27s history

Editor\u27s Note

Before Newport became a fashionable summer resort, it was a gathering place for scientists, intellectuals, and artists, including a group of progressive New England landscape painters, including William Morris Hunt and John La Farge. Lesser known within this group was John Chandler Bancroft, the son of historian and diplomat George Bancroft, who maintained his summer residence at Roseclyffe in Newport. As an artist, John Chandler Bancroft\u27s application of scientific theories of color and light to his painting helped influence a generation of artists, including La Farge, Winslow Homer, and Thomas Eakins. Perhaps frustrated with his inability to translate effectively his theories to his own painting, Bancroft turned to business and became wealthy through his investments in the Calumet and He1ca mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He was also one of the first collectors of Japanese prints, amassing a large collection that now resides in the Worcester Art Museum. Despite these accomplishments, he is barely remembered today. Also in this issue is an article by the Society\u27s Librarian, Bertram Lippincott III, about The Rhode Island Settlers of Monmouth County, New Jersey. In the 1660s, a group of about eighty first and second generation Rhode Island settlers pulled up stakes and moved to the marshes and plains of East Jersey. The reasons for this are tied to the mobility of early settlers of Rhode Island and their persistent desire to seek land, economic opportunity, and freedom of worship. The Monmouth patent guaranteed rights to its new settlers, including liberty of conscience, a reminder that the ability to practice faith according to one\u27s own beliefs was an important idea in the shaping of early America. Barely twenty-five years after the establishment of this principle in Rhode Island, it was being spread successfully by its adherents

Editor\u27s Note

Before Newport became a fashionable summer resort, it was a gathering place for scientists, intellectuals, and artists, including a group of progressive New England landscape painters, including William Morris Hunt and John La Farge. Lesser known within this group was John Chandler Bancroft, the son of historian and diplomat George Bancroft, who maintained his summer residence at Roseclyffe in Newport. As an artist, John Chandler Bancroft\u27s application of scientific theories of color and light to his painting helped influence a generation of artists, including La Farge, Winslow Homer, and Thomas Eakins. Perhaps frustrated with his inability to translate effectively his theories to his own painting, Bancroft turned to business and became wealthy through his investments in the Calumet and He1ca mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He was also one of the first collectors of Japanese prints, amassing a large collection that now resides in the Worcester Art Museum. Despite these accomplishments, he is barely remembered today. Also in this issue is an article by the Society\u27s Librarian, Bertram Lippincott III, about The Rhode Island Settlers of Monmouth County, New Jersey. In the 1660s, a group of about eighty first and second generation Rhode Island settlers pulled up stakes and moved to the marshes and plains of East Jersey. The reasons for this are tied to the mobility of early settlers of Rhode Island and their persistent desire to seek land, economic opportunity, and freedom of worship. The Monmouth patent guaranteed rights to its new settlers, including liberty of conscience, a reminder that the ability to practice faith according to one\u27s own beliefs was an important idea in the shaping of early America. Barely twenty-five years after the establishment of this principle in Rhode Island, it was being spread successfully by its adherents

The Collections of the Newport Historical Society: Library Special Collections

The Newport Historical Society has been collecting manuscript materials for more than 150 years, dating back to its days as the Southern Cabinet of the Rhode Island Historical Society in the 1820s. When the Society was chartered in 1854, its collections began to grow dramatically. Today, the Society\u27s Library Special Collections consists of more than 1,500 linear shelf feet of manuscript and archival materials, including merchants\u27 records from the 18th to the 20th century, church records for fourteen congregations, log books for dozens of ships, family papers for hundreds of Newporters, an extensive African-American history collection, town and city records from the 17th to the 19th century, and a unique collection of diaries and journals. The materials encompass the full range of social and cultural diversity that makes Newport County unique