The Colonial Revival must be considered the most characteristic and popular expression of the United States. It pervades all elements of our culture from architecture, furniture and interior decoration, to painting, novels, and Hollywood. The Colonial Revival is not a style nor a movement, but an attitude that looks to early American history for forms, motifs, images, symbols, and details.

Newport, Rhode Island, is especially rich in the formation of the Colonial Revival attitude. In the 19th century architects, writers, and intellectuals were drawn to Newport because of its colonial past and they set about recreating elements for the present day.

The 7th Annual Salve Regina University Conference on Cultural and Historic Preservation will investigate the Colonial Revival in its various manifestations from the early 19th century through today in a variety of media. Presentations will include architecture, gardens, historic preservation, literature, painting, and decorative arts.

Presenters:

Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor, University of Virginia
American Image: The Colonial Revival

Sara Butler, Roger Williams University
The Federal Stamp: Colonial Revival Post Offices in the 1930s

Thomas Denenberg, Wadsworth Athenaeum
Pilgrim Furniture for the Modern Century

James C. Garman, Salve Regina University
“Down at the Old House”: Norman Isham, Maude Lyman Stevens, and the Restoration of the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, 1927-1929

Paul Miller, Preservation Society of Newport County
Oldport Days - The Making of Newport’s Colonial Mystique

Barbara J. Mitnick, Drew University
The New American History Painting: 1876-1930

Kevin D. Murphy, Graduate Center of the City University of New York and Brooklyn College
Picturesque and Refined: The Colonial Revival in Northern New England

Annie Robinson, Boston University
Affectionate Remembrances - Peabody & Stearns and the Useable Colonial Past

Pieter Roos, Newport Restoration Foundation
Vernacular & High Style Colonial Revival on the Streets of Newport: A Walking Tour of Newport’s Historic Point District

Judith B. Tankard, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
Garden Design of the Colonial Revival

An Exhibition and Walking Tour

Seven buildings on the Salve Regina University campus demonstrate the revival of interest in the colonial past that began in Newport during the 1870s. These include the William Watts Sherman house, Althorpe (Founders Hall), the Vinland Farm complex, and the Rodgers Recreation Center. Conference participants will be invited to the University Gallery to view an exhibition of architectural photographs and to take a walking tour of the seven buildings.