Charles Burns is an Independent Curator and Newport Historian and a guest speaker at Sotheby’s Education in New York City.  

The focus of Mr. Burns’s presentation will be to outline the forces and influences that inspired Miss Duke, a now legendary icon of 20th century American Society, to so boldly and independently act, to the surprise of many, as a committed and focused preservationist.  Retracing her life from a childhood as the “Richest Girl in the World” to two high profile marriages, we will discover the threads that led her to taking decisive action to save a significant part of the Newport community at a crossroads in the late 1960s and early 70s.

72 Spring Street, Newport, RI, one of the 83 18th and early 19th century houses restored by Doris Duke through her charitable foundation the Newport Restoration Foundation between 1968-84. 

“Rough Point” the Newport summer cottage of Doris Duke

Doris Duke in NYC, circa 1981