Like sisters, these R.I. historical groups support each other

For nearly 30 years, I’ve been a proud member of the Rhode Island Historical Society.  Some of my friends and acquaintances occasionally ask if I’m still deeply involved in the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association. Yes, I’m a past president and the longtime editor of its journal, The Notes. And I care deeply about both historical organizations.  Like sisters, they encourage and help each other.

I recently completed my 12th year as a board member of the historical society, and remain actively involved.  Just a few weeks ago, my wife, Betsey, and I were thrilled to help celebrate the society’s 200th birthday at its joyous gala.  Where else would I have had a chance to schmooze with Capt. Nicholas Brown?

How and why did I get involved with the R.I. Historical Society, the nation’s fourth-oldest state historical organization?

Soon after moving to Providence in 1987, I surely paid a visit to the John Brown House, the East Side’s grandest Colonial-era home, which in 1941 became the society’s museum.  And I surely began to use the society’s equally impressive library, now known as the Robinson Research Center, on Hope Street.

I also began attending occasional lectures and visiting exhibitions in the society’s third venue, Aldrich House, an important 19th-century residence on Benevolent Street.

And soon I was reading the society’s impressive journal, Rhode Island History. My lengthy article about the design of Woonsocket’s B’nai Israel synagogue, constructed in 1961, was published in the 2000 issue.

In 2009, I was pleased to publish another detailed article, this one about the Egyptian-style gateway to Newport’s Jewish cemetery, which had been ignored by most Jewish and gentile historians.  I have since submitted a few other articles, which have not yet been published.

In 2008, I was invited to become a R.I. Historical Society trustee, and soon thereafter I became a life member.  There was only one other Jewish trustee at the time, Lyle Fain, but there were a few others during my tenure.

Still, it’s true that very few Jews were active in the society, a Yankee fiefdom, for perhaps 125 years!  I believe that the first Jewish officer of the board was Frank Licht, who was elected a vice president in 1980, after he had already served as governor of Rhode Island.  A Jew has not yet been president.

As for staff, my becoming a trustee coincided with Bernard Fishman’s tenure as the society’s first and only Jewish executive director.  Bernard and I have remained friends, even after he became the director of the Maine State Museum, in Augusta.

But the historical society has had more than a few key Jewish staff members.  Probably the first was Nancy Chudacoff, who was a librarian and an editor before becoming the board’s secretary in 1986.  Hilliard Beller was also a talented copy editor.

Currently, there are at least two Jewish staff members: Becca Bender, the curator of moving image and audio collections, and Deborah Krieger, the exhibit and program coordinator at the society’s satellite facility, the Museum of Work and Culture, in Woonsocket, which opened in 1997.

I encouraged Morgan Grefe to seek Bernard Fishman’s vacated position, and she did.  Indeed, Morgan has been stronger and more influential than most board members.

Even before joining the society’s board, I was a trustee of Heritage Harbor Museum, a project that was conceived by the late Albert Klyberg, who was the society’s longtime executive director (1970-’99).

Klyberg dreamed of building a huge new facility in the former Narragansett Electric power plant to celebrate Rhode Island’s history through multiple perspectives.  Heritage Harbor’s three founding organizations were the R.I. Historical Society, the R.I. Jewish Historical Association, and the Black Heritage Society.

Many Jews became enthusiastic supporters of Heritage Harbor, but even with some state funding and within a smaller facility, it could not gain traction.  I hope that a comparable institution will be erected in Rhode Island someday, for the benefit of natives, transplants and visitors alike.

It has probably been forgotten, but the R.I. Jewish Historical Association might not have been established without the R.I. Historical Society’s symbolic and practical support.  For 20 years, starting with its founding in 1951 as America’s first Jewish state or local historical organization, RIJHA’s annual meetings and other programs were held at the august John Brown House, in Providence. Indeed, RIJHA’s founding president, David Adelman, published his first major article about the state’s Jewish history in the society’s journal in 1954, and he received encouragement and assistance from many staff members.

This organizational friendship continued under Al Klyberg’s directorship.  In 1999, while dreaming of Heritage Harbor, Klyberg lectured to RIJHA on the importance of its publication, The Notes, which had begun in 1954.  He called it “a true Thanksgiving Feast,” and his celebratory remarks were published in the 2000 issue.

Klyberg also praised RIJHA’s anthology, “The Jews of Rhode Island,” which was published by RIJHA, Brandeis University and University Press of New England in 2004.  The idea was mine, and I was also thrilled to become the volume’s co-editor.

The simple fact is that the society and the association flourish because, in addition to sharing many similar goals, methods and resources, they have learned to respect and honor each other.  Indeed, to a surprising degree, the sister organizations thrive because of each other.

I have been proud to belong to and help lead and support both organizations.  And I invite you to become involved, or more actively involved.  It is commonly understood that their invaluable work will never be completed – indeed, that it will be best understood generations from now.

GEORGE M. GOODWIN, of Providence, is the editor of Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes.