Rhode Island History Publevhed toy The Rhode lvland H l ~ton c a l Volume 42, Number 3 Societ y, 110 Benevolent Street, providence. Rhode tsland , Ol~ t., and pruned by a grant Irnm rhe Sla le 01 Rhode Contents Island and Providence Plantanon-s. I. Ioscph Garrahy, Gon'rnOf , Su~an L Farmer, Secrerarv ot Sl;ltt,. Images of Moses Brown 75 [, su ~.l Qu.nterly at PmvI.!l'n,e, Rhode NINA Z ANN IE RI Island, februar v ."1ay, AUjolUSI , ami Novem ber Second class p0.,lajolc paid at provi dence. Rhode hJ.and Impoverished Politics: The New Deal's 86 ge n Robert I :'>1 cKenn.a president Impact on City Go vernment in Alden:'>' An.ler r.oTl, "let' president Mr~ Edwin G. FISC hl'f, VICt' p reqdenl Providence, Rhode Island Park Palmer, secte rarv DAVID L. D AVIES ....,. Rach el Cunha, aHHI<JnI sec ret arv Sr..phen C. Wllh.ams, trrasutrr AlI'CTI C ,1 r1ot lJ, <J s</,<rant treasurer Book Review 101 fELLOW, OF Tl I~ 'IKltTY Carl Bridenbaugh Svdnev V lames Anromeue F. DOWOlOlo: Richard K Showman ru Il LlC "' T IO N~ COM MI TTl l Dr Scebe rr I, Gol dnw sk y, chairman Go rdo n Allen Henry L. P Beckwith, It Dr. fu.nCl~ H Chatee Prot . Howard P. Chudac ost goben Allen G rcem: Pamel a A. Kennedy Leonard I, l evin Alan Sim pson Wm . Mc KenZI" Wnnd ....ard "TMF Glenn Warr en Laf'an raarc, ednor Maureen Taylor, picmr.. •'d ,to r Leonard I. levin, copv ediior [ean l.eCwm, deS/Rna Ellen O 'Reilly, t d l/orlal dH/Uanl Gltn n D. Horton. ednonal asststam The Rhode Island Hrst oncal Soclct y avsumes no rtSpClO Slblll1Y 101 the opinions of comnbutors C It,l!< } b)' The Rhod e b land Hrstoncat S<IC ICt y ~H U"~ ISLAM} tll'To"Y 11"" N OOH' ~ l'ot t,ll hgure 1 _~ o- x 40 '/ .1-, Afartm fohnson Heade ( 1819 - 1904), ca. 18~6-18n . Courtesy of Rhude Island Hruonccl Soclely. Images of Moses Brown Nina Zannieri In 11)81 the Rhode Island Historical Society acquired a portrait 01 .\ h Zanmen L ~ ~C I Ln.£ curato r ot the Moses Brown tI7\B-1 836) painted by the noted nineteenth-century Rhod e hl ~ nJ HJ~l tl[l c~1 SOC1 e l~' The, am­ de IS based upon an ext ubn also er mrlcd artist Martin Johnson Heade. In the port rait Brown is seated In an up­ lm.i):es ut ~I OM'" s Brown , ' whi ch w ~ ~ holstered Windsor chair at his wnnng table, against a stvhzcd hack ­ mo unted al the .\ 1u!tCum 01 Rhod e b bnJ Hrsr orv ~I Aldu,.; h Hou se an d wh ich ran ground (fig. I I. A search for the sou rce of this posthumous portrait trom ~1~)' I'I ~ I 10> .\ 1.1\' 1'I ~1_ disclosed an interesting connection bet ween this formal likeness and I .\ 1a( k Th ompson. .\10'0" Brown The several of the other known images of Brown . As more images came to Reluclunf Reformer ICIurc:l HilL:'\: C 19" 11. J"'1 hght there emerged a seeming contradiction between the very exis­ 1 Nmm~n Pennev 10 Ravner W KeI'\C \­ tence of severa l portram. of Moses Brown and the traditionally held no­ tun e q , I'I I ~ Archives. _\ toN:' Bro...-n 'ichool, Providence R I tion that Brown . In acco rdance with his Quaker beliefs, refused to have I· Do rc~s 8m..... n to Thomas Th om pson. his portrait paint ed.' AUIl: 11. lij1 ' , The ongm al Je UCT L~ In th e Further invesngaucn. however, helped to reco ncile the cont radic­ e LMon .... ,~nl.h cnrl Ccllecuon, LJ br~T\- 01 the RdL.£lUUS '>o<len-01 Fnend-, London tion: it became: clea r that the few portrans made du ring Brown's life­ le lb~o n. Vol , I. ~ I I ThL~ marerralrs taken time: were: ta ken surrepnnouslv and beca me the sou rces for those done trum ~ parrra l nanscnpuon 01 rha l 1... 11<'1 after his dea th. Even th ough man y of them were created as copies. each bv Norman Penn ey Ausrm .\ l SS, II. "Per­ soml." Ou~ ker Archwes. Rhode [,lanJ has spec ial qualities that are the natural result of changes in medium. Hrstortcal Socrcev creative whim on the part of each different artist, or the wishes of th e person for whom th e copy was made. Th e earliest known imagrcs of Moses Brown arc th ree clos ely related watercolor port raits. One of these wat ercolors (fig. 2) was reccrulv dis­ covered in London, at th e Library of th e Religious Society of Friends, where it has been smce IH44.l With the portrait is th e letter that origi­ nally accompanied it, written in 182 .3 by Brown's daughter-in-law, Dor­ cas Brown , to Thomas Th ompson , a Quaker schular: it was obtained withou t his knowledge-or suspicion, an acquain­ tance of mine-took a you ng man th ere-who has a lit tl e sk ill ­ and whil e he was engaged in conversation-and probably read­ ing- to prolong th e ti me-sketched th e outlines- and afterward s saw him twice at meeting-it is a pretty good representati on - but not perfect-his manner of stru ng is natural but th e co untenance is not exac tly so-it would not be compatible with the feelings of my hon our ed father-to have this done-but I think It admissible to have something of a resemblance of the outward form or ap­ pea rance-of those we Love when their Bodies may be moulde ring 10 th e dust.' Her comments confirm the old Quaker's desire not to be captured in a portrait and POlOt out the difficu lties created by his reluctance. Unfor­ tunately, she did not reveal the name of the young artis t who had ,6 IMAGE S O FM O SES BROW N Figure 2 . Water color on paper. 4" x 5", signed "-. l~ " (possibly tosepb PartridxeJ, ca. 1823. Pbcnograpb courtesy of th e Library Com m ittee of the Religious Society of Friends. London. .;. Barbara Mason , l ibrar y nt the Reh· painted the portrait, nor did she mention exactly when the event s de­ i!:IOUS Soc iety 01 Fne nds, personal corn­ mu rucaeron. 1have not exammed the scribed in the let ter took place. The onl y clue to th e ident ity of the art ­ actual pam lLnll:, and I am grateful IU Bar­ ist is the single legible initial "-. P.," printed in th e lower right hand bara Mason an d her colleagues lor their corner of the portrait.' assistanc e In t hiS mailer ~ Dor cas Brown 10 T hom as Th ompson , The most unusual featu re of this portrait, one that distinguishe s it Au !/; \ 1, 11111, Ausnn MSS. I J, "Per­ from all other known images, is the whi te covering over Brown 's other­ scnal." RI, HIM S<><;, 6, Rayner WKelsey. Centennial HIS­ wise typical black, broad-bnmrncd. Quaker hat . In a postscript to her tory of M m e l Brown scnoot. 1819 - 1919. lett er, Dor cas Brown called attention to his hat :"Thou will observe his [Providence, R.I., 11)l 9!. H Hat is covered with wh ite linnen whi ch he wears in warm weather." It 7_DOlUS Brown to Thomas Tbnmpson, Aug . 11, I lll l , Aust in MSS, 13. "Pe r­ has been suggested that Brown, who suffered from rheumatism, ver­ son.al," R.I. Hm Soc. tigo, insomnia, fevers and fainting spells during mu ch of hi s life,"wore white lin en on his hat in summer to deflect the sun's rays.'?' This in turn suggests that the portrait was pain ted during the summer, proba­ bly in 1823. Possibly the most compelli ng aspect of this particul ar Image is also revealed in Dorcas Brown's letter:"I vent ured one day to hold It [the portrait] before him- and as ked if he kne ..... who it resembled-he smiled- and inqu ired 'where l got 11 '- 1 repli ed that 'I was not at lib­ erty to tell '-and it passed off pleasant ly." Given Moses Brown's feel­ ings about portraits, it seems likely th at this image was the only like ­ ness of himself that he ever saw or whose existence he ever sus pected . I MAGE.s Of M O ~t S BROWN 77 Figure .j. " aureolor on paper. .t " x s". att rib uted to Joseph Partridge (1192-ca. rSH!. ca. t82 2 -f8 lj . Photograph ccurresv of the fohn Carte r Brown Librorv His reaction seems to haw been that of a rath er kindly elderly man II, tbid who, though aware of hi s relatives' desire to have a keepsake portrait, II, [ would hke to acknowledge the gen . cru~l ty " I Ar thur Band Sybil B, Kern tor was neither impressed with his own look s nor with th e need to have brmgmg thrs rmpotrant port ran to my them recorded. at tcnuon and tor vhanng their mtnrrna non on lovcph Partndgl; The Kcrn~ hav e Dorcas Brown's letter also contains a reference to a copy of th e pic­ recently com pleted a manU~CTlI-'I tor ture that she plann ed to keep as a "precious mom ento.''' T his reference pchhcanen on the hte and w ork~ ui hel ps to explain the existence of the two other watercolor portraits of lcseph Partr..j~ l' TO.