Materials from Ade Bethune's Social Justice Activities Available

The Ade Bethune Collection web site now contains finding aids for the first series processed as part of a CLIR grant-funded project, the Catholic Social Action Access Project (CSAAP).  [For more on the grant and the CSAAP see here and here.] The two series relate to Ade Bethune's social justice activities in her adopted home of Newport, Rhode Island.

Church Community Housing Corporation (CCHC)
Ade Bethune was a co-founder of this organization, and held several positions on its Board of Directors, including president.  The CCHC is a non-profit organization providing affordable housing to residents of Newport County, RI.  In addition to CCHC administrative and organizational documents collected by Bethune, it also contains architectural drawings and other materials related to designs she did for many new homes and rehabilitation projects.  These include a large number of items (one of which is a model) surrounding the design and construction of the first solar-heated house in Newport.

The size of this series is 31 boxes (or 15 linear feet) of materials, plus an additional 8 cubic feet of oversized drawings, plans, and one architectural model.  Materials span the years 1954 to 2000, with the bulk covering the period 1969-2000.
Guide to the Church Community Housing Corporation Materials

Star of the Sea / Harbor House
For more than the last decade of her life Ade Bethune was devoted to a project that became Harbor House, what she called an "intentional community" for active seniors.  Along with members of the CCHC, in 1991 she incorporated Star of the Sea as a non-profit to develop this community.  They focused on an abandoned property that had first been an Auchincloss family estate and later a Cenacle convent and retreat center.  After years of planning and fundraising, which also included obtaining zoning approval and community support for the project, Harbor House opened as a senior housing community in February 2002--with Ade Bethune as one of its first residents.

This series is contained in 17 boxes (8.3 linear feet), along with 2 flat file drawers of oversized materials and 19 sets of rolled architectural drawings.  It spans the years 1985 to 2002, with the bulk covering 1991-2002.
Guide to the Star of the Sea/Harbor House Materials


These 2 series form the bulk of Ade Bethune's community involvement.  But she was active in a number of other organizations in Newport, RI as well, including the Point Association, the Citizens Advisory Committee, and the Foundation for Newport.  Materials in the Ade Bethune Collection related to these activities are also being organized as part of the CSAAP and finding aids for them will be available once they are completed.