Newport- see also - S.G. Ward EDITOR'S NOTES THE BUSINESS OF LEISURE: THE GILDED AGE IN NEWPORT The period known as the Gilded Age has continually been of interest to both No other period in Newport history is so evocative as the period known as the the people of Newport and the city's visitors. The trials and antics of the Gilded Age. It takes its name from a satirical novel written by Mark Twain summer colonists made these years particularly vivacious. Stories of parties, and Charles Dudley Warner, and the reference is to the line in Shakespeare's and sports and games flew around the island even after the summer colonists King John "To Gild refined gold, to paint the lily Is wasteful and had departed for their winter homes. It is therefore of no surprise that these ridiculous excess." stories remain on the minds of people today. The coming of the Gilded Age transformed Newport from a seacoast town The article in this issue of Newport History evolved from the text of an struggling to survive the economic devastation of the American Revolution, exhibit, of the same name, at the Newport Historical Society in 1988. Written into a center where some of the wealthiest people in the world flocked every by staff members Daniel Snydacker, Michelle Christiansen, Deborah Walker, summer. These changes in Newport created fortunes for some year-round and Elliott Caldwell the text from the exhibit was condensed and enhanced residents as well, especially in the real estate business. They also brought new with new images and information. jobs for local residents from the construction trades in building mansions to the staff and gardeners at the houses, to retail stores set up to provide Following is a review of IN LIVING MEMORY: A Chronicle of Newport, everything the summer colonists and other visitors needed during their short Rhode Island, 1888-1988 by Eileen Warburton published in 1988. The book is stay in Newport. recommended for additional information on the Gilded Age, and the fifty years that followed. Newport was not alone in being transformed by the Gilded Age. All across America the process of urbanization was taking place at an astounding rate. In 1860, only 1 American in 6 lived in a community of at least 8,000 people. By 1900, 1 in 8 did. The cities were filling up with people from all over the world, as immigrants poured into the United States. The process of immigration began to divide American society, especially in the cities, into an American born group who owned the corporations and a foreign born working class. All these factors changed American cities forever. The living conditions of the working poor were squalid, and the conditions in which they worked became oppressive. Organized labor gained strong footholds all across the land, and there were a number of strikes as a result, including the Great Newport History 62 (1989): Railroad Strike, the Pullman Strike, and the Homestead Strike. These strikes made radical leaders such as Terence Powderly, Samuel Gompers, and Eugene Debs as well known as the "robberbarons" with whom they fought so 97-126 bitterly. As economist Henry George noted in his pioneer work, Progress and Poverty (1879), "There is a vague but general feeling of disappointment; an increased bitterness among the working classes; a widespread feeling of unrest and brooding revolution. There have been few periods in which class conflict was more explicit and threatening than in the Gilded Age. p.97 The Newport Historical Society Page 1 of 4 What's New! The Newport Historical Home Society NHS Bookstore & Gift Shop 82 Touro St., Newport, RI 02840, (401)846-0813, fax (401) 846-1853 Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 9:30-4:30; Saturdays, 9:30-noon Surnames in For research, appointments are strongly recommended Genealogical Collections Welcome to the Center for Newport History! The Collections Facing "East", Facing "West" Museum of Follow Commodore Perry's mission through Newport American and Japanese images of the 1853- History 1854 encounters. How did these cultures see Historic one another? An exhibition at the Newport Sites Colony House in conjunction with the 20th J Annual Black Ships Festival, July 17-27, 2003 Summer Internship Program Historic Tours History and Background Public Programs A Brief History of Newport and the Newport Historical Society. 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Potvin Launched Sept. 1, 1999 MISSION OF THE NEWPORT HISTORICAL SOCIETY http://www.newporthistorical.com/Default.htm 7/30/2004 The Newport Historical Society Page 4 of 4 It is the mission of the Newport County Historical Society to collect and preserve the artifacts, photographs, documents, publications, and genealogical records that relate to the history of Newport County (including Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, Tiverton, Little Compton, and Jamestown); to make these materials readily available for both research and enjoyment; and to act as a resource center for the education of the public about the history of Newport County, so that knowledge of the past may contribute to a fuller understanding of the present. http://www.newporthistorical.com/Default.htm 7/30/2004 Library Special Collections Page 1 of 12 What's Library Special New! Collections Home Artisans & The Newport Historical Society=s Library Special Collections consists of more than Antiques 1,500 linear feet of manuscript materials, including merchants= records from the 18th Fair 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 NHS history collection, town and city records, and a unique collection of diaries and Bookstore & journals. The materials encompass the full range of social and cultural diversity that Gift Shop makes Newport County unique. 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