Pettaquamscutt Historical Society Museum Collection
The artifact collection and library content was initiated in 1958 by donations from local residents' personal ancestral items of Early American history.
Marjorie Webster Schunke,(1905-2002) a historian was instrumental in gathering the archived historical materials in the library and wrote volumes of printed research on local genealogy, sites and cemeteries.
On loan to Pettaquamscutt Historical Museum by his family, William Russell Sweet (1860-1946) carved in 1896 a hutch cabinet themed upon the poem "The Song of Hiawatha" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published 1855. William Russell Sweet greatly admired the American Indian and depicted their lifestyle in some of his art pieces. William Russell Sweet carved many wood pieces including wall plaques, tables and chairs each of individual themes; such as the Sweet Coat of Arms, New England sea shells as quahogs and scallops, maple leaves, nuts and berries, textile weaving patterns, and animals. His great grandson, Carson Young Sweet Ferri Carson Grant has placed on loan several other artworks to the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society Museum in RI.
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William Russell Sweet's carved hutch cabinet 1896.
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William Russell Sweet's carved hutch cabinet 1896- panel view.
The 14-by-6-foot mural depicting a white overseer and black slaves in 18th century Narragansett, RI, entitled "The Economic Activities of the Narragansett Planters", the painting's subject matter—slavery—disturbs some people, while others argue it's important to remember southern Rhode Island's plantation past. The mural was painted by Rhode Island native and renowned illustrator Ernest Hamlin Baker in the 1930s, as part of the federal government's Work Projects Administration. It hung for nearly 60 years in the Wakefield, RI post office, until the post office closed in 1999.
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