Living history Behind the scenes at Rhode Island Treasures BY BILL RODRIGUEZ

If you’ve seen A Chorus Line, you probably got a kick out of the song "I Can Do That," where a hopeful hoofer tells of mimicking steps as a kid. Well, George Donnelly moves pretty fast himself, but what he wanted to copy was awfully daunting: nothing less than Smithsonian’s America.

It was 1996, the Rhode Island Convention Center had just opened, and the display of historical artifacts pulled in 280,000 people in 30 days — the highest figure in the 12-city tour.

"The number-one stop in all America, our little ol’ Providence," says Donnelly, beaming. "It was the only venue in New England, so it did draw from all of that. But it still beat out New York and Los Angeles."

He is speaking outside Exhibition Hall A in the Convention Center, in a rare moment of rest. Inside, workmen are getting displays ready for the opening in two days.

As you may have noticed in last week’s insert in these very pages, Rhode Island Treasures is quite an all-encompasing show. It opened May 10 and continues through June 15.

History and architecture, industry and technology, art and amusement parks. One-hundred-fifty artifacts and documents were selected from some 600 items for historical significance and wow factor. There are lots of photographs and a "living museum," with actors answering questions as Roger Williams, Moses Brown, and Sissieretta Jones, the black concert singer.

Objects range from Roger Williams’s compass to a Mr. Potato Head version of the Independent Man. There is the tattered first Rhode Island colonial flag, as well as the state’s original copies of the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.

Of northern states in the 19th century, Rhode Island had the highest proportion of slaves in its population. So there is a bill of sale for two slaves, as well as shackles and an iron collar. Another high-impact item is a letter by Moses Brown to his slave-trader brother John, begging him to give up the practice.

There is no mention of King Philip’s War and constituent massacres on both sides, but there is a discussion of Native Americans being here before the European influx, and a map with scores of Indian place names.

A friendly 46-year-old man with short blond hair, Donnelly is usually wearing a suit and tie rather than his present white polo shirt. With a background in marketing, he is the executive director of the Providence Tourism Council and the guy who made this all happen.

What clinched the decision for Donnelly was another show traveling from Washington a year and a half ago, the National Archives’ American Originals, which came as close as Hartford. It had slave documents, a letter from General Washington, the Declaration of Independence, and so forth.

"What struck me was how many of those documents had something to do with Rhode Island," he says. "As an original colony, how could it not, I guess. I thought it would be great to have that show."

Easier said than done. But the Secretary of State at the time, Edward S. Inman, thought it was a grand idea and told Donnelly he could pick from the state archives. So Donnelly put out what he calls "a casting call" to all the state historical societies and museums and the list of available items grew.

One source of historical gems, Donnelly knew, would be Brown University’s Hay Library. So he sat down with Sam Strait, who is in charge of their rare book collection, and made his pitch.

"And he said, ‘Oh yeah, great idea, of course you can,’ " Donnelly describes. "But he says about a year later that the only reason he ever told me that was that he thought I would self-destruct, that the exhibit would never go. He figured it was just easier to say yes and let me go on my way and let the project collapse and that would be the end of it."

They have a good laugh about it now, but the project nearly did fall apart — over money. These exhibitions cost a fortune to put on. Insurance alone is $30,000.

In fact, Donnelly decided to scrap the whole project when it couldn’t be put together for last September, as originally announced. Money thought to be coming from some corporations never materialized. The crowning blow was when the company that was going to build the displays for a rock-bottom $150,000 informed Donnelly that they were going out of business.

"Without money, without a builder, I thought, ‘OK, well, we’re all done,’ " he says.

Donnelly credits John Palumbo, publisher of Rhode Island Monthly, with giving him the pep talk that put him back in the game. They went to O. Ahlborg and Sons, a local major construction company, to see if they would take over the task of assembling the many free-standing displays — hopefully for a good price.

"Glenn Ahlborg, without hesitation, said, ‘I’ll help you. We’ll build it,’ " Donnelly recalls with amazement in his voice. "Within 10 minutes he said, ‘We’ll take care of it.’ "

Not only that, but the company would do it all, labor and materials, for free.

Rhode Island Treasures was back in business.

All told, it is costing about $1 million in donations, grants, reduced fees, and contributed services to put it all together. The Convention Center is taking a cut of the gate in lieu of a $112,000 rental fee. Donnelly’s Providence Tourism Council tossed $85,000 into the pot, which they won’t get back if the exhibition isn’t a success. He figures that if 30,000 visitors walk through the doors in addition to the 10,000 with tickets sold in advance — to schools, mainly — the project will break even.

Whew.

Many months ago, hat in hand, figuratively, Donnelly was speaking at the Marriott to curators and potential lending institution decision-makers.

"They were pretty . . ." and Donnelly pauses, searching for a word, "suspect of a marketing guy. It had never been done."

Now it has been. And if successful, Donnelly and the tourism council might very well take on more big-scale challenges in the future. Vatican or Egyptian treasures? Titanic artifacts? Donnelly mentions them all as exhibitions he’d love to see here. Profits from Rhode Island Treasures are going into a separate bank account for such projects, from which administrative expenses won’t be taken.

This show has run him ragged, so is Donnelly up for other exhibitions if this one takes off?

"Oh, yeah," he responds without hesitation. "Absolutely."

Tickets for Rhode Island Treasures are $9 for adults, $7 for seniors, and $5 for children under 17. An illustrated catalog is available for $15. For further information, call (800) 562-9895 or visit www.ritreasures.com.