The records include the research and operational documents created during the Preservation Society of Newport County's ownership of the Perry House and several years afterwards. These documents include correspondence with contractors and other museums; plans by Thomas Marvell for restoring the house to its eigtheenth-century appearance and structure; and research on Perry's expedition to Japan. Also included in these records are photographs taken as inspiration for the Preservation Society's reproductions program.
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, RG516.05: Perry House records, Box #, Folder #, Preservation Society of Newport County, Newport, RI.
Materials are arranged in one series, alphabetically by subject. Groupings reflect organization upon transfer to the archives.
Built around 1750, the Perry House, or Knowles-Perry House, occupies what was lot number 147 of the Quaker Lands making up early Newport. Its Georgian architecture echoes other Newport houses from the period; it is a five-bay structure with two stories and an attic, with a gambrel roof. The central dormer window on the third floor bears a curved pediment, a detail which echoes English design books of the eighteenth century.
The house’s name springs from the likely first owner, Henry Knowles, and the prominent Perry family which inhabited the house several decades later. Naval officer Christopher Raymond Perry (1761-1818) acquired the house from his father-in-law around 1800. He and his wife Sarah Wallace Alexander (1768-1830) had eight children, five of them naval officers, including brothers Oliver Hazard Perry (1785-1819) and Matthew Calbraith Perry (1794-1858) lived in this house as children. The house became a commercial property at the end of the 19th century, and was the home of Point Market and Grocery, owned by Hyman Katzman, on the first floor for half a century.
The Preservation Society of Newport County acquired the house in 1965 through Elizabeth Patterson (Mrs. David) Van Pelt and Operation Clapboard, with plans to turn it into a museum dedicated to Matthew Calbraith Perry. During this period, the Preservation Society sought proposals for restoring the house and researched how to interpret it to tell the story of Commodore Perry, particularly his career in Japan.
The Preservation Society sold the house to the Newport Restoration Foundation, who went on to restore the house, in 1970. The NRF restored the floor plan and interior details based on similar houses, incorporating architectural salvage, as the conversion to a commercial building had drastically changed the floor plan.