(bright music) - [Narrator] There's a pair of boxing gloves here that speaks to the empowerment of women.

We'll delve into the local music scene and remember a local group that hit the big time.

And later, a look inside the Newport Historical Society's collections, spanning several centuries of documents and artifacts.

This is "Treasures Inside the Museum."

(bright music) (bright music continues) (music fades) (thoughtful music) Museums are where we as a society collect and preserve objects and materials of cultural and historical value.

It's where we go for an experience that combines education, cultural enrichment, and personal growth.

Each exhibit, each artifact tells us a story.

The Cape Verdean Museum is dedicated to celebrating the history and culture of Cape Verde and Cape Verdean Americans.

The collections here include artifacts, photographs, and crafts from all over the world that have been curated into exhibits about the rich tapestry of the Cape Verdean people.

- When people come to the museum, they'll learn not only about Cape Verdeans, and it's important for Cape Verdean Americans to learn about Cape Verde, the country that their ancestors came from.

It's also important for Cape Verdeans who come from Cape Verde to learn about the history of Cape Verdeans in America.

But also it's important for people who are not Cape Verdean to learn about us and to learn that there's a multiplicity of ethnicities in America and we're all part of the same pot, and we have more things alike than we have differences.

(calm music) - [Narrator] There is a collection of maps here and the role they played in the development of the New World.

One such map views the world from a unique perspective.

- This is a 1680 sea chart.

It's a Dutch sea chart, and in this map, Cape Verde is more or less like in the center, even though it's a little south, in the center of of the world.

And it shows the west coast of Africa, here's Cape Verde right here, this is Brazil, and way up here a little bit is Cape Cod.

Over here, the West Indies.

And the important part about this map is this map was established or was done prior to the division of Africa by the European entities.

And so we don't see Angola, South Africa, and so forth.

We see the names of the tribes or ethnic groups that were present in Africa at that time.

These were the peoples that were taken to Cape Verde as slave.

Some were kept in Cape Verde and some were exported to the West Indies and to the Caribbean.

(thoughtful music) We're very proud to have it.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] There are exhibits here that tell the immigrant story.

Many came with only what they could carry in search of a better life.

The names on this ship's registry may look familiar.

Other collections include finely-woven baskets and handcrafted pieces that are generations old.

The museum even has an exhibit of an often overlooked Jewish community that came to the islands fleeing oppression in Portugal in the 15th century.

But when anti-Semitism followed, many resigned to practicing their faith in secret.

By the end of the 17th century, that community had all but disappeared.

There are other religious artifacts on display for visitors to examine, as well as a doll collection and textiles of historical significance.

- What we're looking at here is the panu terra.

A direct translation would be cloth of land or cloth of the land.

But it's very important to Cape Verdean history because it goes back to the origins, if you will.

The panu terra is a symbol and still very recognized today in Cape Verdean culture, 'cause as you know, the slaves were brought from the mainland to Cape Verde, and a lot of them were weavers.

So the professional weavers made this, and at the time this was also used as currency, where so many of these could purchase a slave.

The cotton was grown in Cape Verde and the colors come from the mountainous islands of Cape Verde where they get the dyes.

And at that time, the darker the color, the more value the panu had.

Another interesting aspect about the panu terra is that when the weavers came, it was the men who actually did the weaving and the women did the dyeing.

This was donated to the museum by Pedro Pires, who was the first prime minister of Cape Verde.

When visitors come here, I often tell them something they can relate to, like the kente cloth in Ghana.

This is the same for Cape Verde, the panu terra to Cabo Verde.

(upbeat music) (music stops) - [Narrator] Cape Verde has always been a seafaring nation.

Many of the early immigrants to the United States found work in the large whaling industry in southern New England.

Perhaps lesser known is the fact that many others found work in the cranberry bogs in the area.

- What we're looking at right here are cranberry scoops.

They were used in the cranberry industry about the 1910s, 1912s, around that time, and even later than that.

When Cape Verdeans came to America on the schooners and they landed in the Boston, New Bedford, Providence area, one of the important jobs that was available to them was working on the cranberry bogs of Cape Cod, because the cranberry bogs were looking for workers, and Cape Verdeans being accustomed to agricultural work, they readily adopted to that.

These scoops are very heavy, and they were used in the bogs.

They didn't flood the bogs like you see on television today, but they had to go into the bogs, into where all the pricklies and cranberries grew, and they would scoop up the cranberries.

The cranberries would go in here and then they would drop them into the boxes.

And then they counted the boxes, and that's how the people got paid.

People who worked in the cranberry bogs, they would leave their homes in Providence and New Bedford and go down to the Cape and live in houses that were attached together.

We call them barracas or barracks, and they lived communally.

And they didn't get paid until the end of the year.

But that's how Cape Verdeans accumulated their money and were able to buy land and their homes and sustain themselves through the year.

This was really hard work.

When people come to the museum who have worked in the cranberry bogs, they very often will get down and demonstrate to us how they scooped and will tell us stories about the years working in the cranberry bogs.

(calm music) (calm music continues) It was a gentleman by the name of Lewis Hine who documented child labor, who took many pictures of the Cape Verdean children working in the cranberry bogs that we have to augment the scoops in our exhibit.

(calm music) (calm music continues) Every time we have somebody who comes here who worked in the cranberry bogs, they say, "Oh, I've got this at home," or, "I've got that at home," and they often will bring something to add to our collection.

(calm music) (music fades) - [Narrator] The Cape Verdean Museum has a research library and a sizable collection of photographs that chronicle the lives of previous generations.

Life is also documented in the many paintings on display, as well as a collection of practical pieces from the homes of ancestors.

Music has always been a huge part of the Cape Verdean community.

There are a number of exhibits here that honor the music of Cape Verde and the Cape Verdean people.

Traditional instruments from the islands are on display as a tribute to the musicians who played them.

Other more contemporary instruments honor Cape Verdeans who found success playing in the US.

- Music and Cape Verdeans are almost synonymous.

Everywhere you walk in this museum, music will be represented.

We have the Constantine, which we call the gaita, from Code di Dona, who's known as one of the fathers of the style of music called funana.

Also we have another piece from Bana, who's also a major figure in Cape Verdean music from Cape Verde.

And then we come to the United States and adapt to the music with the most similarities, which happens to be jazz.

Paul Gonsalves, who was a member of the Duke Ellington band and played with all the jazz greats, as well as Horace Silver, who affected jazz a lot in the '50s with this new style of jazz.

Everywhere you walk in this museum, music will be represented.

- [Narrator] The most treasured piece of the music collection, however, comes from a local musical family that struck gold in the 1970s.

- This piece is one of the pieces we have the most pride in here in the museum, because it's the first Cape Verdeans who actually won a Grammy Award here in the United States, the Tavares brothers.

And the connection to the museum is the same as the connection to the history of Rhode Island, Massachusetts.

In Cape Verdean history, they're pioneers.

Showing what most Cape Verdeans do here, work hard to succeed, and this Grammy is another symbol of the success of Cape Verdeans in American history.

This Grammy really represents the Cape Verdean experience, if you will, because this Grammy is a centerpiece.

But we also have a instrument that their grandfather brought from Cape Verde Islands and passed down to their father and then passed down to the youngest Tavares, which we now have as a part of an exhibit here.

It's nice that we have the whole circle, from their journey from Cape Verde, all the way to here, to winning a Grammy.

- [Narrator] Another point of pride at the museum comes from a local woman who could really pack a punch.

- Kali Reis is from East Providence.

She is a middleweight woman's boxing champion, and she is part Indigenous and part Cape Verdean.

About five years ago, she visited the museum when we were in East Providence because she wanted to know more about her Cape Verdean roots, and she very nicely donated these gloves to us.

Really nice 'cause we have other gloves by men, but these are important to us because they're from a woman.

And Kali has gone from being a boxer to being a movie actress.

And recently she was up for an Emmy for a best supporting role in the "True Detectives" program that was on television.

So we're very proud of Kali.

She's been here several times, and she's very proud of her Cape Verdean roots as well as her Indigenous roots.

(energetic music) Consider them a treasure because I think when we have girls, we talk about empowerment.

We don't have to talk about it, we can just show them the gloves, and it demonstrates that women can do everything.

They can even become boxing champions.

And because she looks like many of the young ladies that come here, they can identify with her.

- [Narrator] Through the years, the Cape Verdean Museum has hosted dignitaries as well as local families looking to deepen an appreciation of their own cultural roots.

- Everybody that comes to this museum finds something to relate to, whether it's a photograph or an object, whether it's in the cranberries or the whaling.

Everybody finds something to relate to, whether it's music or whatever.

So it's kind of fun to find those relationships sometimes.

(bright music) (bright music continues) - [Narrator] Generations of Cape Verdeans have settled in southern New England, and at the museum, they celebrate their history, past and present.

(bright music) (music fades) (calm music) In 1854, the Newport Historical Society was established to collect and preserve the history of the area.

- The work that we do here is focused on telling the history of Newport County.

- [Narrator] To do that, the society oversees several properties in Newport, including a Resource Center, which is home to thousands of important objects and collections.

There is also exhibit space, including the attached Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House that was restored in 2009.

- This church, Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House, was designed by Richard Munday, who also designed Trinity Church.

So as you're standing in this space, this architecture is very familiar for tourists and people who are coming to Newport.

The Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House was a separate building.

Right now it's a fully incorporated building that's connected to the Newport Historical Society's Resource Center, which is connected to a separate building which houses all of our collections, our collection storage, and also where our research library is.

Originally there would've been church pews in the middle of the room, and so it has now become an exhibition space and used for a multitude of different purposes.

- [Narrator] Hanging in the center of the room is a rare early American clock that has been uniquely ornamented.

- This is a William Claggett wall clock that was made in 1732.

It's a really remarkable clock.

It was made specifically for this meeting house and connected to the church.

So when the parishioners came in, it's a unique form for William Claggett.

William Claggett came to Newport in 1716.

The clock was one of his earlier pieces, and it's a really unique piece for a couple of reasons.

One reason it's unique is because it's japanned.

We only know of five or six pieces made by William Claggett that were japanned.

Japanning was something that was really frequently done by cabinet makers and clock makers on pieces that were in Boston.

So for clock makers to have a japanned piece is not an uncommon thing, but it is unique for Claggett.

This piece is unique because it's a wall clock and hung in this space and specifically built for the Seventh Day Baptist Meeting House.

So it's an incredibly unique piece in its form.

This form is something that you can see in Boston.

There's a few pieces in Boston that hang in churches, but more common, they're English examples.

So while we don't know specifically who made the case for this clock, it's possible that it was made in Newport or the case could have been made in Boston.

It also could be an English case clock.

The case to the clock is pine, and then the japanning in may have been done in Boston, or possibly could have been done in Newport.

So there's a few mysteries around the clock itself.

It's a treasure for a number of reasons.

It's a treasure because it's one of a kind.

It's the only clock of its kind that is a wall clock that's japanned, made in America, the works made in America with imported parts, and also incredibly unique for the japanning, which is such a unique form and a treasured form that is something that's still studied by scholars today.

And this piece is so uniquely Claggett and uniquely Newport, I think.

- [Narrator] Almost 300 years after it was made, the clock still works.

(calm music) - The Newport Historical Society has a wealth of documents and manuscripts from the 17th centuries onwards that really tell a very detailed story about the history of Newport during this early period.

What has perhaps been understudied are the stories of Black and Indigenous Newporters in the town during this period.

As researchers, when we take a holistic view of our manuscript archive, in particular a page-by-page study of these documents, there really is a wealth of information that can be uncovered about these communities during this period of time.

- [Narrator] A close examination of several manuscripts from the collection helps to illustrate the types of information that can be recovered.

- So starting over here, we have a single page from the book of records of the Free African Union Society.

This society was founded by freemen of African descent in Newport living in the 1780s.

It's one of the first societies of its kind, and it was organized by men of color to support the Black community.

This single page illustrates the family of Newport Gardner, who was one of the presidents of the society.

So from this single page, we have birth information for Newport, his wife, his several children.

- [Narrator] The uncovering of manuscripts like this demonstrates the potential for genealogical research that previously might not have been possible.

- This is the book of records of a similar organization that was operated in Newport in the early 1800s called the African Benevolent Society.

The page that I have open here includes a list of students in the school.

We also have a wealth of religious documents.

So this manuscript here is from the First Congregational Church with a list of baptisms into the church, including people of color.

I think exhibits like this help the viewer realize that the past is not so distant from us and the people that we're learning about in our history textbooks and school are people just like us.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Each newly discovered individual has been added to an online data pool that can help families researching their ancestors.

It's the kind of information that can come to life in a gallery, like this recently curated exhibit called "A Name, A Voice, A Life: The Black Newporters of the 17th to 19th Centuries."

The exhibition uncovers and recovers the names of Black Newporters from the 1700s whose names might have otherwise been lost in manuscript collections.

Each card has a name that has been rewritten and represents a story of personal history.

There are also some cards that have been left blank, representing those individuals whose names have yet to be found.

The project remains ongoing.

Other collections at the Newport Historical Society include examples of early American furniture.

(thoughtful music) - This is a really wonderful piece.

It is the William Ellery chair, sometime in the middle to late 18th century.

What's remarkable about this piece is not so much the chair itself, which is a mahogany chair with ball and claw feet, kind of classic Rhode Island form.

But what's wonderful about it, you can't help but miss this incredible crewelwork embroidery.

The embroidery is reminiscent of what we call the tree of life pattern, similar to an Indian print of a palampore is what this looks like, and it's this kind of like gorgeous climbing floral pattern going up the sides of the chair.

So the date of this chair is about 1789, 1790, and that dates to when the owner of this chair got married.

And we know that through family lore.

So a lot of the items that are given to the Newport Historical Society have passed down through the generations, and this chair came to our collection in 2006 and had been in the descendants of William Ellery, one of Rhode Island's signers of the Declaration of Independence, since the chair came through the family.

I think one of the wonderful things about studying decorative arts and studying material culture is that our research is always evolving as we learn more about different objects and as more pieces come to light.

You know, we may have thought that there were only four or five of these crewelwork chairs existing, and then another one comes up for auction.

And then you may find a label or a story that comes with an object, and then you might learn about a few other ones that exist in the country and then you may come to know a bit more.

(upbeat jazz music) (upbeat jazz music continues) (upbeat jazz music continues) - These photographs are from the first Newport Jazz Festival, which at the time was called the First Annual American Jazz Festival, which was organized in Newport in 1954.

So we not only have photographs of the festival that shows some of the performances, the spectators having a fantastic time, but we also have a program from the event.

One of the producers of the festival, George Wein, wanted to bring people to Newport to experience music, not just to hear music, but to learn about music.

And that really was the heft behind Newport's first Jazz Festival.

So I'm going to start with actually one of my favorites.

So we have Dizzy Gillespie on stage here playing the trumpet for which he's famous.

We also have a group of spectators seated on the lawn of the festival, and you can see that they are just absolutely overjoyed with whatever they're hearing.

(upbeat jazz music) And the final photograph is an as of now unidentified musician speaking to either other performers or spectators.

What I appreciate about working with photo archives, especially photo archives like these that have been digitized and shared online, is that members of the public who might know more than me about a given event or a photograph can reach out to us and, you know, educate the curators about what they're seeing.

(upbeat jazz music) So these are those three photographs, but I also mentioned we have the the program, and it highlights some of the incredible artists that were showcased during this first festival.

Obviously we have Dizzy Gillespie, but also Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday was there.

Some real great performers.

And I think this first Jazz Festival encapsulates what subsequent Jazz Festivals have: celebrating the incredible diversity of talent and music right here in Newport.

(upbeat jazz music) (upbeat jazz music continues) Not necessarily the humble roots of the festival, but really its beginnings and how it has grown and evolved ever since.

I think that's something that really should be treasured.

- [Narrator] Whether exploring Newport's history through documents, archival photographs, or examining a beautiful locket made with George Washington's hair, researchers and visitors alike will discover hidden treasures here.

(bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (music stops) (calm music) (music fades) (upbeat music) - [Presenter] This program and other episodes of "Treasures Inside the Museum," as well as digital extras, are now available to watch anytime by visiting Rhode Island pbs.org or the Rhode Island PBS YouTube channel.

Take a private tour with exhibit curators, get an inside look at the conservation process, and go behind the scenes to see hidden treasures.

Whether you are interested in artifacts, paintings, photography, architecture, or history, you'll be inspired to learn more.