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Preservation Works: Saturday, April 27, 2013 |
>>Click here for a pdf of the conference program<<
Preservation works by creating jobs and revitalizing communities. Preservation works by restoring the buildings and neighborhoods where working people live, play, and earn a paycheck. Preservation works by interpreting the history of labor in Rhode Island. And preservation works by maintaining and improving public works like historic roads, reservoirs, art, bridges, parks, and bicycle trails.
Home base for this year’s conference is West Warwick, which is celebrating its centennial in 2013. Walks through Arctic and Phenix villages, visits to industrial monuments like Royal Mill, and rides along the Washington Secondary Bicycle Trail will showcase the best of Rhode Island’s youngest town. Wherever you go or whomever you meet, you will learn about the ethnic heritage of West Warwick’s people—Italian, Portuguese, Jewish, Ukrainian, French-Canadian, Polish, Swedish, Irish, and others. Tours outside West Warwick’s borders will venture to Coventry, Scituate, Cranston, and Warwick to sample the varied landscapes and architecture of the Pawtuxet River Valley.
Conference sessions will examine how preservation works and what we work to preserve. Following the keynote address on how industry transformed southern New England’s economy, politics, and society in the 19th century, we will look at how the Pawtuxet River Valley was transformed. Sessions about about the art and architecture of the Works Progress Administration, the Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island’s historic bridges, and the legacy of Interstate 95 will highlight public works projects. A session devoted to re-starting Rhode Island’s rehab tax credit will highlight the power of preservation to get our state back to work. Other session topics include the conservation of stained glass windows, the archaeology of the earliest Rhode Islanders, and state-of-the-art libraries in historic buildings.