The collection includes correspondence between members of the Preservation Society of Newport County's staff, particularly executive director Harold R. Talbot, and the Maganini family about the management of visitors to and restoration of Vernon House, as well as to various individuals involved in researching or working on the house. The collection also includes photographs by John T. Hopf of the chinoiserie frescoes in the parlor, painted in the mid-eighteenth century. Blue Post-It flags, much later than the records, adhere to some of the papers, indicating that they were probably used for research or reference at some point before they were processed.
All researchers seeking to publish materials from the collections of the PSNC Archives and Special Collections are requested to contact the archivist, prior to reproducting, quoting, or otherwise publishing any portion or extract from this collection. Although the Preservation Society has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim copyright ownership. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the copyright and to obtain any necessary permission from them.
The collection is open to the public, and there are no restrictions on access. However, the collection can only be seen by scheduled appointment.
Description or title of item, RG516.03: Vernon House records, Box 1, Folder #, Preservation Society of Newport County, Newport, RI.
This collection is organized in a single series, alphabetically and then chronologically. Within the Preservation Society of Newport County Archives record hierarchy, these records comprise subgroup 516.03, located within RG500: Houses and Properties Records: 516 Easement Records.
The William Vernon House, also known as the Gibbs-Gardner-Bowler House, dates to around 1708. It stands at the northeast corner of Clarke and Mary Streets in Newport. Early owners of the house include William Gibbs and Nicholas Easton. Gibbs deeded the house to his son-in-law William Gardner in 1729, and Gibbs’ daughter Elizabeth Gibbs Gardner lived in the house after her husband’s death at sea soon afterward. She married James Martin in 1732 and they lived in the house until her death in 1736. Her children with Gardner inherited the house, and it passed through several more owners over the next two decades.
Metcalf Bowler acquired the house from his father in 1760. It was during this time that the house was expanded. William Vernon first leased and then purchased the house between 1772 and 1774. The house served as the Comte de Rochambeau’s Newport headquarters during the American Revolution and hosted George Washington in 1781. Subsequent generations of the Vernon family owned the house for the next century. Harwood E. Read acquired the house in 1872 and his heirs passed or sold the house to the Charity Organization Society, later called the Family Service Society, in 1913.
When the Family Service Society sold the property a half-century later, it included a covenant that any alterations to the house must be approved by the Preservation Society, and that The Preservation Society could inspect the first floor of the house six times per year. This covenant also set forth a requirement that the decorative frescoes in the parlor be restored and maintained. This collection of chinoiserie frescoes in the parlor, most likely painted around 1740, is a notable feature of the house. Restoration work in 1937 uncovered these panels, which reflect the involvement of the Gardner family in the China trade. Newport photographer John T. Hopf took the photographs of the frescoes in this collection.
In 1964, Quinto (1897-1974) and Margaretta Maganini (1895-1988) family purchased the property. Quinto Maganini was a flautist, publisher, and conductor who had won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1927. Margaretta was an artist who studied at Boston Museum Art School, Art Students League (NY), American Schools in Fontainebleau (France); her father was inventor Albert Kingsbury. The Maganinis’ main residence was “Montrose” in Greenwich, Connecticut. Their descendants remained connected to Vernon House. They had a daughter, Margaretta Mason Maganini (1931-2009), who married Jeremy Clulow and had two children: Quentin Frederick Dudley Clulow (d. 2006) and Evelyn Kingsbury Clulow. Evelyn lived in the house until 2018, but the family donated the house to the Newport Restoration Foundation in 2009.
During the Maganini ownership of Vernon House, the Preservation Society of Newport County served as an intermediary between the family and visitors or researchers when they were not in residence in the house. The Preservation Society managed requested visits to the house when the Maganinis were not in Newport, writing to them to request access for visitors. They also facilitated historical research, particularly with architectural historian Antoinette Downing, and coordinated restoration work. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.