JHS Vault

93 Narragansett Avenue | Jamestown RI 02835
The JHS Vault is closed to visitors

 

Storage for Artifacts

When the Town of Jamestown built the new Town Hall in 2006-2007, the Jamestown Historical Society contributed $50,000 to the building fund to purchase a 99-year lease on a vault in the basement of the new building. Papers, photographs, textiles, and other fragile objects are stored in this environmentally controlled room.

Temperature and humidity in the vault are controlled to ensure that material given to the Society is protected from deterioration. Access to the vault is controlled to prevent accidental or malicious damage.

Volunteers

Volunteers work in the vault Tuesday and Thursday mornings. They enter data into the Collections database, which is available online, and care for the donated objects. We also research reference questions about the collection.

Visitors and Researchers

Visitors and researchers are welcome between 9am and noon on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Also, by appointment during Town Hall office business hours.

Jamestown Historical Society Vault

Browse through time

2006

Inadequate Storage for Artifacts Identified
The Long Range Plan for the Jamestown Historical Society identifies inadequate storage with insufficient environmental controls as the most urgent issue facing the society. A contract is negotiated with the town to build a JHS vault on the lower level of the new Town Hall, which is under construction.

2007

JHS Artifacts Moved to New Vault
Papers, photographs, textiles, and other fragile objects are moved to the environmentally controlled vault. Temperature and humidity in the vault are controlled to ensure that material is protected from deterioration. Access to the vault is controlled to prevent accidental or malicious damage.

2013

Compact Shelving Installed
Compact shelving, installed with a grant from the Champlin Foundations, more than doubles the storage capacity of the vault.