Sue Maden

Sue Maden calls herself a collector — a trait she jokingly attributes to being a middle child. Nevertheless, her lifelong impulse to gather and preserve things has turned into something much larger: a decades-long mission to safeguard the history of Jamestown, Rhode Island.

Her connection to the island runs deep. “I first came here at six weeks old,” she recalls, describing herself as a fourth-generation summer visitor. When she and her husband, Phil, retired in 1982, they moved to Jamestown permanently. “I was a little young to retire, but I did, and I immediately thought, ‘What am I going to do with myself?’ I got involved with the Friends of the Library, the Conanicut Island Art Association, the Garden Club, and the Jamestown Historical Society. Phil was happy to have me busy so he could read The New York Times from cover to cover.

“I'm not a trained historian, but I study local history, and I do have a library degree. My first book idea came like I had a light bulb flipped on.” Sue had been collecting postcards of Jamestown, eventually amassing over a thousand, which inspired “Greetings from Jamestown,” a visual history told through postcards.

Hover cursor over each postcard image to enlarge.

What began as a personal pastime grew into an act of stewardship. She later donated her entire postcard collection to the Jamestown Historical Society, which digitized it and made it publicly accessible on the JHS website (click here: Sue Maden postcards). Her historical work blossomed from there. Other books she self-published were Jamestown Affairs and The Building Boom in Jamestown.

Hover cursor over each book image to enlarge.

With collaborators Rosemary Enright, Patrick Hodgkin, and others, Sue published numerous books. Their writing brings to life the stories of Jamestown’s people, landmarks, and everyday past — the island’s heritage. “For 17 years, I wrote ‘This Week in Island History’ for The Press. I would go to the Newport Public Library or to URI to look at microfilm of newspapers up to 100 years old. Then I would make copies of things that interested me. I’m much better at collecting information than writing. Rosemary’s productions use only about 10 percent of what I’ve collected.”

“During the Historical Society’s 100th anniversary celebration in 2012, Rosemary and I produced two articles a month for The Press. Now they publish a history article each month, and we write eight of them. We’ve collected our articles in two books: Historic Tales and Island Chronicles. We’ve also collaborated on two other books: Legendary Locals of Jamestown and Jamestown: A History.”

Sue completed two major history projects in addition to the smaller ones. The first concerned the old Jamestown Bridge, built in 1940 and scheduled for demolition at 50 years old. “I was awarded a couple of grants to document the old bridge. We had an exhibit at the museum, a video, a book, and a poster. For an oral history, I interviewed people who had worked on or for the bridge. A state agency stored important bridge-related papers as microfilm from which inmates at the ACI made copies for me. It was a perfect storm. Everything fit.” On the day of demolition, friends gathered on Sue’s front lawn with a view of the nearby bridge. “There was supposed to be a warning, but we couldn’t hear it—so it just happened!” The intricate structure collapsed with a fury and sank into the bay. A child at her side asked, “Oh, Sue, play it again!”

That project led to the publication of two books on the bridge: The Jamestown Bridge, 1940-1990, from “The Bridge to Nowhere” to Obsolescence (Jamestown Historical Society, 1990) and the expanded second edition, above, that follows the story through the demolition of the old bridge.

Sue’s love of collecting extends into her home. On one wall hangs her “marine collection,” a shimmering array of ceramic fish by local artist Julian Barber and others. Nearby are maps and tiles depicting the island she has spent half her life chronicling.

Hover cursor over each of these three images to enlarge.

When she’s not researching or curating, Sue enjoys her book - and movie - discussion groups or playing bridge — though even her leisure time often circles back to her abiding curiosity about people and stories. For Sue, collecting is not about possession; it’s about connection and preserving fragments of Jamestown’s past — ephemera like restaurant menus and postcards — so that its future will never forget. “Nowadays, I continue my collecting in terms of finding things to go into the Historical Society’s collection. And I'm helping to prepare the museum for the United States’s upcoming 250th anniversary. I think that’s why I’m still alive,” she says with a smile. “It’s all so interesting.”

The small building that now houses Jamestown’s Historical Society Museum once had a very different purpose. “It used to be a one-room schoolhouse,” Sue said, chatting outside with a friend. “It was moved here from Southwest Avenue. Moving buildings was once a very common occurrence in Jamestown. Well over a hundred have been moved.”

I was here with Sue for a tour of the museum, where she serves on the Exhibit Committee. Each year the committee faces what Sue calls “a big decision”: choosing a theme broad enough to tell many stories, but specific enough to draw from the Society’s vast collection. “This year’s exhibit is about civic organizations, the lifeblood of Jamestown.”

“The Jamestown Striper Club has been around for probably fifty years and is still active. This was the scale they used to weigh the catches,” Sue said, pointing to the metal relic once set up at Fort Wetherill during the Club’s fishing tournaments. The Striper Club, named for striped bass, used to meet in the Portuguese-American Club, which served as the whole island’s community center for decades. “It was where people gathered. They played basketball there, held events, and the Striper Club gave their awards there. These groups gave the island its social fabric. It was a major disappointment when the town decided to tear down the P-A Club’s building.”

Another section of the museum honors the Jamestown Grange, an organization once devoted to farming and husbandry. “It was the organization to belong to. They had events all year long and a lot of ritual — secret handshakes, hymns, and ceremonies for new members.” Displayed are symbolic emblems alongside a hymnbook and an officer’s sash.

Once-vibrant clubs — the Grange, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Conanicut Art Association — have either dissolved or dwindled. Yet their artifacts live on in the Society’s care. “Fortunately, they’ve given us so many of their materials that their stories continue.”

Postcard showing the now-gone Mackerel Cove Beach pavilion.

“The Conanicut Yacht Club, which has been around since 1892, sponsors the Around the Island Race every Labor Day,” she added. “And Mackerel Cove—there was an enormous bathing pavilion there. You can’t believe it by looking at it now. There were once three golf courses in Jamestown,” she said. “Now there’s just one. In the 1920s, there was even an eighteen-hole course out at Beavertail. On both sides of the road!” She laughed, recalling a book about lost golf courses cleverly titled Missing Links.”

“Groups go like this,” she said, tracing a downward curve in the air. “But the Historical Society has been going like this.” She reversed the motion in a hopeful arc. Thanks to years of dedication, the Jamestown Historical Society is thriving. “We redesigned our website not long ago. It’s really fabulous. We have about 70,000 items in the collection, all available online, including my postcard collection.” The Jamestown Garden Club, still active, provides fresh flowers each week for the museum. “It’s one of those little touches that keep the place alive,” she smiled.

In another room — the Ferry Room — the island’s long era of isolation comes to life. “At one time, Jamestown had ferries on both sides. They were our only connection to the mainland.” The ferries stopped running in 1969, but their legacy remains through models, photographs, and memorabilia crafted by Jamestown residents. “In 1985, we did oral histories with people who worked for the ferry company. So many families here had someone who did.”

Today, the Historical Society continues to expand its collection, from ferry memorabilia to town documents dating back to the 1700s. Asked when sheep became the town’s symbol, Sue answered without hesitation: “It was part of the town shield, way back when. Sheep were a major industry here once.” It’s a fitting emblem. Like the island’s flocks that once dotted its fields, Jamestown’s stories have been carefully tended — gathered, preserved, and protected by the devoted stewards of its past. And among them, few have been as passionate or persistent as Sue Maden.

Production notes: Sue’s profile began with a recorded in-person interview. Playback was fed online to Otter, which produced a written transcription. I corrected and condensed it, then fed it to ChatGPT, instructing it to write “a magazine-style article.” The resulting text was given to Sue’s collaborator, Rosemary Enright, who revised it and added citations. I made the final edit and submitted it to Grammarly for verification of punctuation and clarity. My wife, Ginger, the English major, made helpful suggestions. My photography was edited in Photoshop and inserted into a Word document as a layout. This version was handed off to Jim Fredricksen, Village Voice’s digital producer, who added a touch of pizzazz in Notepad++ and uploaded it to ClubExpress and Village Voice’s Gallery. John Harkey, editor