Jewelry History of Rhode Island

Rhode Island Jewelry History presentation by Laura Johnson, Associate Curator at Historic New England, in conjunction with the jewelry exhibition Wordsmith/Metalsmith. Laura Johnson situates RI as a jewelry powerhouse from the eighteenth century on and explores reasons why RI was so successful until the crash of the 1970s. She will use a combination of pieces from Historic New England’s collection and her own research in advertising, production numbers, design, and individual companies.