Willam DeWitt Metz | |
---|---|
Born | |
Died | 11 February 2013 98) | (aged
Nationality | American |
Known for | Rhode Island History, Heritage conservation |
Spouse | Clarice Stiles (McKenney) |
Children | Elizabeth J. (Metz) McNab; William C. Metz; Margaret C. (Metz) Munroe |
Awards | Distinguished Fulbright Lectureship |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
Academic work | |
Discipline | American History |
Institutions | University of Rhode Island |
Notes | |
William DeWitt Metz (June 13,1914 - February 11,2013) was an American historian specializing in Rhode Island History. He served as chairman of the Department of History at the University of Rhode Island,retiring after 45 years at the university in 1982. He was especially noted for promotion of heritage conservation and historical preservation activities throughout Rhode Island.
William DeWitt Metz was born in Buffalo,New York on June 13,1914 to William J. and Minerva (Lamphear) Metz and was raised in the village of Perry,New York,about 50 miles east of Buffalo. [1] Metz prepared for college at Dexter High School in Maine and graduated from Bates College in Lewiston,Maine in 1937. He subsequently earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1945. The following year,he accepted a position in the history department of the University of Rhode Island. Metz consequently spent the rest of his academic career with the history department until his retirement in 1982 as Professor Emeritus of History. [2]
In the forty-five years that Metz was associated with the University of Rhode Island,he served the University of Rhode Island academic community and the citizens of the State of Rhode Island in numerous ways. He was active in publishing numerous articles on Rhode Island history,served as editor of Phi Alpha Theta's journal, The Historian ,and was an abstracter for Historical Abstracts. He also served on many university committees,such as the Library Committee,Committee on History of URI,and the Arts and Sciences Committee. He served on the Watson House Committee, [3] the Special URI Faculty Senate Senate Committee on Controversial Visitors,and was the Chairman of the History Department from 1962-to-1968. [2]
From 1966-to-1967,Metz was a visiting distinguished Fulbright lecturer in American History at Makerere University in Kampala,Uganda. He served as president of Phi Alpha Theta and was involved,at one time or another,with the Phi Beta Kappa Society,and Phi Kappa Phi. [2]
The activities of Professor Metz extended beyond the University as well. In 1958 he was a founding member and later served as president of the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society Museum;he was instrumental in acquiring the Washington County Jail for the home of Society. He was also active with the Cocumscussoc Association,and gave numerous talks on East Africa (because of his sabbatical leave spent in Uganda) and on Rhode Island history throughout his career. In the 1960s,he was a member of the Rhode Island Civil War Centennial Commission in which he conducted programs for marking sites where Abraham Lincoln spoke in Rhode Island in 1860. In 1977,he was elected chairman of the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities. [2]
He was the first chair of the South Kingstown Historic District Commission, [4] chair of the South Kingstown Bicentennial Commission,and was a founding member of the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission. [5] Metz also acted as the member-archivist for the historic Kingston Congregational Church, [6] and president of the Tavern Hall Club,in Kingston. [2]
After his retirement from the University of Rhode Island in 1982,Metz was instrumental in establishing the South County Museum in Narragansett,RI. In 1997,the State of Rhode Island honored Metz for his lifelong community service by conferring the state's highest historic preservation award,the Antoinette F. Downing Volunteer Service Award, upon him at a statewide planning conference entitled "Preserving Place-Growing Smart," that was held at URI. [7] Metz died on 11 Feb 2013 at his home in Kingston,RI. [1]
South Kingstown is a town in,and the county seat of,Washington County,Rhode Island,United States. The population was 31,931 at the 2020 census. South Kingstown is the second largest town in Rhode Island by total geographic area,behind New Shoreham,and the third largest town in Rhode Island by geographic land area,behind Exeter and Coventry.
Elisha Reynolds Potter was a politician,jurist and historian from Kingston,Rhode Island. He was a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court,and served one term in the United States House of Representatives.
Phi Kappa Theta (ΦΚΘ),commonly known as Phi Kap,is a national social fraternity that has over 35 active chapters and colonies at universities across 21 U.S. states. The fraternity was founded on April 29,1959,at Ohio State University in Columbus,Ohio,with the agreed-upon merger of two older Catholic fraternities,Phi Kappa and Theta Kappa Phi. Phi Kappa was founded exactly 70 years prior in 1889 at Brown University in Providence,Rhode Island,while Theta Kappa Phi was founded later in October 1919 at Lehigh University in Bethlehem,Pennsylvania.
Lincoln Carter Almond was an American attorney and politician who served as the 72nd Governor of Rhode Island from 1995 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party,he was previously the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island from 1969 to 1978 and again from 1981 until 1993.
Wakefield is a village in the town of South Kingstown,Rhode Island,United States,and the commercial center of South Kingstown. Together with the village of Peace Dale,it is treated by the U.S. Census as a component of the census-designated place identified as Wakefield-Peacedale,Rhode Island. West Kingston,another South Kingstown village,was the traditional county seat of Washington County. Since 1991,the Washington County Courthouse has been in Wakefield. The Sheriff's Office which handles corrections is also in Wakefield.
Peace Dale is a village in the town of South Kingstown,Rhode Island. Together with the village of Wakefield,it is treated by the U.S. Census as a component of the census-designated place identified as Wakefield-Peacedale,Rhode Island.
Kingston is a village and a census-designated place within the town of South Kingstown in Washington County,Rhode Island,United States,and the site of the main campus of the University of Rhode Island. The population was 6,974 at the 2010 census. Much of the village center is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Kingston Village Historic District. It was originally known as Little Rest.
Paul Allyn Suttell is the chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston,Rhode Island,United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The university is classified among "R2:Doctoral Universities –High research activity". As of 2019,the URI enrolled 14,653 undergraduate students,1,982 graduate students,and 1,339 non-degree students,making it the largest university in the state.
Michael Vocino is an American professor at the University of Rhode Island where he was a former Director of Libraries,Interim Dean of Libraries,and served as Collection Management Officer. As of 2010,he serves as the University of Rhode Island Libraries gift librarian. Vocino also held a joint appointment in the political science department and since 1999 holds a joint appointment in the film/media program where he teaches courses in film history and film media. He did undergraduate work at Boston University where he took courses with Howard Zinn. He did his graduate work at the University of Rhode Island and the Universiteit van Amsterdam. He has authored monographs on public ethics,labor relations serials,and local history as well as several book chapters and many scholarly articles on public ethics,labor relations serials,and cultural/film studies. He continues to run a blog covering Rhode Island politics,media,and gay rights.
Michael Alan Rice,is an American professor of fisheries and aquaculture at the University of Rhode Island and former state representative from South Kingstown,Rhode Island. A Democrat,he served in the Rhode Island House of Representatives,representing the 35th district,encompassing the village of Kingston and West Kingston,and parts of the neighborhoods of Tuckertown,Wakefield and Peace Dale. Rice was first elected on November 4,2008,and served from January 3,2009,to January 3,2011.
The Tavern Hall Preservation Society is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation and upkeep of the Elisha Reynolds House (1738) in Kingston,Rhode Island. The society was founded as the Tavern Hall Club in 1911 to foster understanding and cooperation between the people of the Village of Kingston and the nearby Rhode Island State College community.
James Vance Aukerman is an American lawyer in private practice and former Democratic Party Rhode Island State Representative from South Kingstown serving from 1971 to 1983. He was the Democratic candidate for Rhode Island's 2nd congressional district seat for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1982 elections.
Herman Churchill (1869–1941) was an American historian and college professor. He served as the founding chairman of the History Department of Rhode Island State College,and was the namesake of the Herman Churchill Award for Excellence in History given annually to the top honors history student at the University of Rhode Island.
Carl Raymond Woodward,Sr. (1890–1974) was an American educator and college administrator who served from 1915 to 1941 in various positions at Rutgers University,and from 1941 to 1958 as the fifth president of the University of Rhode Island.
Ronald J. Onorato is a Professor of Art History and Chair in the University of Rhode Island Art and Art History Department. His scholarship focusses on American architecture,public sculpture and funerary art with a special interest in the architectural heritage of Newport,Rhode Island from the colonial period to the present. He is chair of the National Register Review Board for Rhode Island and an honorary member of the American Institute of Architecture,Rhode Island Chapter. He has served as Co-Chair of the URI Center for the Humanities,on the Board of Directors,Newport Historical Society,as President of the Board,Pettaquamscutt Historical Society and is a trustee of the Newport Art Museum.
John Forbes Hogan was an American architect from Providence,Rhode Island.
Julian Franklin Everett was an American architect known for the buildings he designed in Seattle,Washington. His work includes a synagogue for the Temple de Hirsch congregation (1908) and the Pioneer Square Comfort Station and Pergola in Seattle (1909),now a historic landmark. Some of his works,including the temple and a building for PathéExchange,were later demolished,while others are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
Francis Henry "Fran" Horn (1908-1999) was an American educator with expertise in English literature and higher education who served as a university administrator at several institutions in the Eastern United States,and served as president of several colleges and universities,including the Pratt Institute from 1953-1957,the University of Rhode Island (URI) from 1958 to 1967,Albertus Magnus College from 1968-1970,and the American College of Switzerland from 1972-1975. While serving as president of the University of Rhode Island,he oversaw the founding of two graduate schools,the Graduate Library School and the Graduate School of Oceanography,as well as the establishment of the URI Faculty Senate,and he managed rapidly increasing student enrollments and ambitious building projects on the URI campus. Despite his success in guiding the numerous building projects and building the national and international reputation of the university,he fell into political disfavor with the university's board of trustees primarily for his political aspirations,leading to his forced resignation from URI in 1967. Horn was elected as a member of the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1967,and he spend his retirement years after 1983 at his home in Kingston near the URI campus.
William D. Warner (1929–2012) was an American architect and urban planner in practice in Providence and Exeter,Rhode Island from 1959 to 2012.