| John Paul Jones Exhibit in Portsmouth |
DON'T MISS THIS ONE
Captain John Paul Jones (1747-92), the celebrated naval hero of the American Revolution, is the subject of a new exhibit presented by the Portsmouth Historical Society at their
Captain Jones is believed to have been a tenant in 1781 of the Widow Purcell (in the building that is now John Paul Jones House) while he supervised the building of the Navy’s ship
Among the highlights of the exhibit, a copy of the Charles Wilson Peale portrait of Captain Jones, the pardon issued by the town of Whitehall in England that was raided by Jones’ Ranger crew, letters from the Society’s permanent collection and the recently restored “Helen Seavey flag.”
As an example of the "real & imagined" John Paul Jones, this flag was created around 1920 to represent the "Helen Seavey flag" whose story may have helped save the John Paul Jones House in 1917. One of the enduring myths of John Paul Jones and
As J. Dennis Robinson, collector of Jonesiana and advisor to the exhibit explains in his recap of the story, "Naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison notes in his biography of Jones that [Augustus] Buell made up more false tales about Jones than all other Jones' biographers combined. He may be 'the father of lies' Morison says. He implies that Buell purposely falsified dozens of references -- letters, song lyrics, dates, crew lists, imagined meetings, documents, etc.'"
The exhibit includes a variety of items collected by Robinson over the last decade. Jones still has huge name recognition around the globe, although few know the facts of his life. As a result, the Jones character and legend have been adapted into hundreds of books and articles. His image has been used to sell products from Paul Jones whiskey and Paul Jones cigarettes to women’s blouses, potatoes, apples, after shave – even the US Navy. The exhibit includes Jones-related coins, crockery, postcards, comic books, advertising, as well as a poster from the John Paul Jones film (starring Robert Stack and Bette Davis) that premiered in
The
