“Every old house has a story … Thus in each ancient structure there are clues to the past – if we take the time and concern to look, to learn, to touch, to document, to preserve. By so doing we will be able to give our past to the future. So simple and so essential.”   From Baker, Anne W. Collecting Houses: 17th Century Houses – 20th Century Adventures, (2003).

Anne “Pete” W. Baker was a prominent historic preservationist who “collected” and preserved over two hundred 17th and 18th century homes and buildings in coastal Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. This project highlights her most notable projects with correspondence with the building owners, architectural and historical drawings, and documentation concerning the restoration of each building.

See highlights from the collection at our companion exhibit site.