Adélaïde de Bethune (1914-2002), known as Ade Bethune, was born in Brussels, Belgium. She and her family immigrated to the United States and settled in New York in 1928. Here, she attended Cathedral High School, the National Academy of Design, and Cooper Union. Newport, Rhode Island became her permanent home in 1938. She purchased a house in Newport's Point neighborhood in 1953 and remained a resident of the Point until her death in 2002.
While she is primarily known for her work as a liturgical artist and architect, Bethune's experiences with the
The artistic and architectural skills Ade Bethune gained in her professional life were translated into her activities with many different organizations in Newport. Beginning in the 1960s Ade Bethune became involved with several community organizations and their work related to redevelopment projects. She drafted road and building plans and developed proposals in response to each groups’ support of or opposition to projects proposed by the public sector. Redevelopment plans for places such as the Broadway-West Broadway-Washington Square area also intersected with activities of other groups with which Bethune was involved, such as the
Ade Bethune's work with these organizations began in the late 1950s with membership in the Point Association. Over the course of her involvement with the association, Bethune served as a member of the Board and also as the chair of the Traffic Committee and the Circulation Committee. For a period in the late 1960s and early 1970s she was chairman of the East-West Point Committee, created in response to a proposed highway project that would divide the Point neighborhood. From 1989 to 1991, Bethune worked on the Citizens Advisory Committee of Newport to help in drafting a Comprehensive Land Use Plan under the authority of the Newport City Council. Following final development of the plan, a new group, the Foundation For Newport, was formed to help implement recommendations the plan had outlined. Bethune was on the steering committee of the Foundation For Newport as it started to organize in 1992 and remained on the committee until her death in 2002.
During this 45 year period, Ade Bethune was also a member of, worked with, or followed a number of other public and private civic groups operating in and around Newport including: the Point Neighborhood Association, the Commission on Affordable Housing, South End Association, Friends of the Waterfront, Save the Bay, and others.
Materials document the activities of several community organizations in and around Newport, Rhode Island during the period 1958 to 2001. While not a complete record of each organization’s activities, this collection represents materials created and/or utilized by one community member, Ade Bethune, during her active participation in these organizations. The collection also includes materials from other community organizations which Bethune may not have actively participated in, but followed with interest.
The collection includes organizational administrative documents, correspondence, project reports, newsletters, newspaper articles and clippings, photographs, sketches, and road maps that were created to support and communicate the activities of the organizations. The bulk of the collection is comprised of materials from the Point Association, East-West Point Committee, Inc., Citizens Advisory Committee, and the Foundation For Newport.
Most of the materials in the Point Association and the East-West Point Committee series relate to each groups’ opposition to or support for road and highway proposals for the Newport area developed by the R.I. Department of Transportation. Additional materials detailing the road project proposals and related community activism may be found in the Foundation For Newport and Other Organizations and Projects series. Other materials in the Foundation For Newport series relate to the creation of a plan for the Newport harbor front. The materials in the Citizens Advisory Committee series were largely created during the development of a Comprehensive Land Use Plan for Newport, R.I.
The Other Organizations and Projects series is comprised of materials from a number of community groups, projects and events. Materials are varied and items of note include the I-895 road project, the Commission on Affordable Housing, Broadway-West Broadway-Washington Square area development, the Point Section Neighborhood Improvement Committee, and Newport redevelopment. Many of the materials in the Newport Community Organization collection are scale drawings of road and development plans and oversized photos and clippings. Oversized materials that are not definitively a part of a particular subgroup are housed in the Other Oversize Materials series.
The collection is arranged in 6 groups.
Newport Community Organizations Materials, Ade Bethune Papers. Ade Bethune Collection. St. Catherine University Library, St. Paul, MN 55105.
Ade Bethune donated her personal and business papers, sketches, artwork, books, and artifacts to the College of St Catherine (now St. Catherine University) over the period from 1984-2002.
The collection was processed and the finding aid written by Melissa Smith and Louann Terveer, January 2011-April 2011.
Contact list for the following groups: Foundation for Newport, Star of the Sea, Minibus, Mumford Housing Corp., Point Association and Church Community Housing Corporation. Coalition of Newport Grassroot Organizations Directory (2000).
The Point Association was founded in 1955 and served as a community group for the Point section of Newport where Ade Bethune lived. It published a newsletter, the Green Light Bulletin, with 4-6 issues per year from 1958-2001. Two Point Association activities were planning and fundraising for the creation of Storer Park between 1966 and 1972, and formation of a “History and Archives Project” Committee to help gather, organize, and preserve historical materials of the Point area and of the Point Association.
Other activities of the Point Association involved opposition to a proposed “Circulator Road” project between 1986 and 1988. This road proposal was viewed as a re-design of a failed Connector Road project proposal by the R.I. DOT. The main characteristic of the project that was opposed by the community members included the widening of America’s Cup Avenue and Memorial Boulevard into a four-lane, limited access highway. Point Association members as well as other community group members opposed the road plan because they felt the road development would create a division in the city and would “adversely affect the character and beauty of the City and the safety and convenience of the full-time residents.” The Newport City Council rejected the DOT plan in 1988.
This series documents the activities of the Point Association of Newport, R.I. as collected by one of its members, Ade Bethune. The materials primarily relate to the workings of the board and to special projects, especially the Circulator Road proposal and the History and Archives Project. Most of the materials are from 1986-1989, the time-span of the Circulator Road Proposal. Some of the materials are older and were gathered as historical materials for the History and Archives project. There are also copies of the Green Light Bulletin, from 1958-2002.
Point Association materials are grouped into 4 sections.
The first 3 sections are arranged alphabetically; the last is in reverse chronological order.
Related materials may be found in Series 4: Foundation For Newport.
This group contains correspondence and documents primarily related to the workings of the Point Association Board of Directors.
Includes newspaper articles, drawings, and Point Association recommendation for the Storer Park project.
Correspondence to Newport City Mayor, Robert J. McKenna.
Mostly documents, correspondence, newspaper articles, and copies of road maps related to the DOT Circulator Road proposal.
Newspaper clippings regarding Middletown road projects and Circulator Road proposal.
Public comment on the Circulator Road Project.
Contains copies of Point Association historical documents, historical drawings of the Newport area, and documents of the History and Archives Committee.
Includes hand-drawn maps of the Point area, publicity materials, cards with artwork of historic properties, and correspondence with the artist, Edith Ballinger Price.
Booklet is reprinted articles from the Green Light Bulletin.
Correspondence
The East-West Point Committee (EWPC) was a merger of east and west Point neighborhood groups and the Point Association. The group began meeting in 1969 and was incorporated in 1971. It was formed in response to plans by the Federal Department of Transportation to extend Highway 138 into and around Newport using the Newport Bridge, Memorial Boulevard, and other roads in Newport. This highway project was dubbed the Connector by the Department of Transportation. Areas of contention for the EWPC and Point residents were the extension of Memorial Boulevard, the work planned for Van Zandt Ave. to Marlboro Street and the relocation of railroad tracks to connect to a new spur. The EWPC and many others worked to reduce the number of individuals to be displaced and relocated by the track relocation, to slow roadway speeds in residential neighborhoods, increase pedestrian walkways crossing the new road, and assure that the East and West sides of the Point were not cut off from each other and the rest of Newport and Aquidneck Island. The road proposal was never fully implemented.
The East-West Point Committee series contains committee administrative documents, research materials and proposals as collected and often produced by Ade Bethune, Chairman.
Administrative documentation includes meeting documents, correspondence and publicity. Official project maps and reports comprise much of the research materials collected. The proposals include drawings, maps and plans recommending alternatives to the original road project designs.
The first part contains the contents of yearly notebooks Bethune created, ordered chronologically. The remaining files are arranged alphabetically.
File folders created and labeled by Bethune remain in her alphabetical order with her labels. Files created by Bethune, but not labeled have been given an appropriate label and placed within alphabetical order. Two file folders created during processing are noted. Oversize materials have been arranged and labeled as a part of processing.
Related materials may be found in
Administrative documents, reports, correspondence and clippings relating to the Memorial Blvd Extension project. Includes the Project Report from the State Director of Public Works.
RIDOT brochure: Vote Approve 30-Million Dollar Highway Bond Referendum. Clippings and correspondence related to Memorial Blvd Extension and Connector (Route 138). Relocation Services report from the RIDOT.
Original incorporation document for East-West Point Committee, Inc. (1971) Correspondence, clippings and other documents related to the EWPC and the planned Memorial Blvd. Extension. Includes: Updated Housing Element report prepared by the Newport Planning Department. Bethune's handwritten notes are placed throughout the file. Copy of petition opposing road project is in file.
Documents including correspondence and notes re: EWPC and their opposition to the Memorial Blvd extension/highway as proposed. Included is information from the Urban League and other sources regarding relocation services for home owners displaced by the project. B&W photos highlighting flooded areas as streets to remain open after project. Land valuation report. Copy of EWPC Biennial Report of Non-Business Corporation.
A number of clippings related to highway project including photo of demolition and removal of homes on Walnut street and Bridge Street. Some correspondence is from Church Community Corporation, but related to same issue: Memorial Boulevard Extension. Correspondence and clippings related to the Penn Central RR track are also in file.
Clippings and correspondence
Maps
Correspondence to a variety of state and national officials; newspaper clippings and headlines related to the highway project.
Correspondence, petition letters, notes, proposals on a variety of redevelopment projects
This file was created from loose materials in Bethune's personal papers.
Research materials are arranged chronologically.
The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) of Newport, RI was formed under the authority of the Newport City Council. It was created in response to the state Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Regulation Act of 1988, which set a mandate for each Rhode Island municipality to develop a new comprehensive community plan. Approximately 50 residents of Newport were recruited by the city’s Planning Board to help in development of the plan. The Comprehensive Land Use Plan for Newport was finalized in 1991.
This series documents the activities of the CAC related to development of a Comprehensive Land Use Plan as collected by one of its members, Ade Bethune. It also contains documents created through meetings of the Housing and Circulation Subcommittees for the plan.
Materials are mostly meeting minutes and agendas, correspondence, research materials, and copies and drafts of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
Related materials may be found in Series 4: Foundation For Newport.
Agendas and minutes; Also includes memos, by-laws, organizational goals, copies of laws and 1972 Newport Master Plan, draft housing reports, and results of a public opinion survey.
Includes copy of state guideline handbook, copies of plan drafts, and final plan.
Following the finalization of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan created by the Citizens Advisory Committee, the Foundation For Newport (FFN), also called the Newport Foundation, was founded. The group’s goals were to help develop the recommendations outlined in the Plan and to promote improvements that would enhance Newport’s quality of life. The FFN started to organize in 1992 and was incorporated in May of 1993. Members included Newport citizens from public, private, and business sectors.
The first major issues of focus for the FFN concerned traffic flow on America’s Cup Avenue and Lower Thames Street, and also the development of a waterfront plan. Traffic flow concerns were related to a 1992 R.I. DOT road project proposal similar in location to previous proposals. The FFN completed a Newport Harborfront Plan in 1997 with the help of the consulting firm WTG Planning & Design.
This series documents activities of the FFN as collected by one of its Steering Committee members, Ade Bethune. A large portion is related to two issues: traffic on America’s Cup Avenue and Thames Street, and the development of the Newport Harborfront Plan with WTG, consultants.
Materials included are meeting minutes and agendas, correspondence, newspaper clippings, reports, and research materials.
Related materials may be found in Series 1: Point Association and Series 3: Citizens Advisory Committee.
Memo and correspondence related to Newport's ISTEA Long Wharf Landing marine facilities project.
Correspondence and project descriptions
Related oversized materials can be found in Box 19.
Documents related to the RI DOT Thames Street and America's Cup Avenue road proposal. Includes correspondence, project descriptions, reports, and public response documents.
Newspaper articles and FOW newsletter regarding Newport tourism and traffic.
Nominating committee research worksheet and journal article from Fund Raising Management.
Original Ladies Home Journal article, "Walk at Your Own Risk"
Correspondence and research materials, including "Turning Back to The Water: A Grant Request for the Providence Waterfront"
Newspaper articles and correspondence
Newport Harbor District Planning Strategy document and harbor plan research materials
This series contains materials collected by Ade Bethune over a forty year period beginning in 1960 relating to an assortment of development projects and community organizations. Community projects include: Broadway-West Broadway-Washington Square, “Old Newport” Village, Rose Island, Parkway Plans and I-895. Newport area organizations of interest to Bethune included: Affordable Housing Commission, Aquidneck Housing Co Operative and Aquidneck Island Coalition, Easton’s Beach & Pond Association, and the Point Section Neighborhood Improvement Committee.
Materials are organizational documents, correspondence, newspaper articles, drawings, maps, photographs, and research findings and reports.
Files are organized into three sequences and filed alphabetically within each sequence. The three sequences are:
Research materials and reports are arranged alphabetically by the name of the report or project.
Additional materials may be found in the Citizens Advisory Committee subgroup.
This series contains oversized materials -- photos, drawings, maps and newspaper articles and clippings -- that are only supplemental to the Newport Community Organizations as a whole. Many of the materials are unlabeled and undated and their relation to organizations and projects can not be determined.