Mary Robinson Miner and her husband William summered on Conanicut Island for over 10 years before they moved to Jamestown full-time in the early 1950s. In 1956, shortly after their move, Commerce Oil Refining Corporation presented plans for an 800-acre facility slightly south and west of their East Passage home. The Miners, who had lived in New Jersey, were very familiar with the pollution that oil refineries cause and took leadership roles in opposing the development. Together with other opponents, the Miners formed the Jamestown Protective Association and successfully fought the development.
Miner devoted herself to preserving Jamestown’s history. For 50 years, she was an active member of the Jamestown Historical Society. From 1972 to 1990, she was exhibit curator and a member – most often the chair – of the museum committee. In this role, she was instrumental in turning the 1885 primary school that had been vacated by the library in 1971 into a museum and a safe storage area for the society’s artifacts.
As Jamestown Historical Society’s archivist from 1990 until shortly before her death in 2005, she initiated new standards of care for the collection, especially of photographs and other archival material. To honor her years of exceptional service, the Jamestown Historical Society established in her name a permanent endowment fund, the income of which is used exclusively for the direct care and management of the society’s manuscripts, books, documents, photographs, prints, and paper ephemera.
Biography and image provided by Rosemary Enright, Jamestown Historical Society
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