New Date and Time!
2:00 pm, Sunday, December 8, 2019
Blackstone Valley Historical Society
1873 Old Louisquisset Pike
Lincoln, RI 02865
William Franklin Draper (1912 – 2003) was born in Hopedale, MA. His family developed and patented numerous improvements in textile machinery throughout the 19th and early 20th century. The family business, which became the Draper Corporation in 1917, was once one of the largest manufacturers of power looms and textile machinery in the country.
Draper was named after his grandfather, a Civil War Veteran and U.S. Ambassador to Italy. William Draper, the younger, was slight and had a quiet bookishness about him. His passions were music and the arts. When the United States entered World War II he volunteered his services as an artist and was eventually given a commission as a Naval Reserve Officer and served as a combat artist. His assignments took him to the Aleutian Islands, Hawaii, and the South Pacific.
Join former Park Ranger Joshua Bell from Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park as he traces this William Draper‘s remarkable journey around the Pacific using works of art Draper created along the the way.
This talk is free and all are welcome.
Image: Wikipedia