Rhode Island Resources

Guide to Providence Public Library's Special and Historical Collections

The library has a Rhode Island Room with many resources relating to Rhode Island history and architecture.

Includes 5000 images of Rhode Island history, including architecture and postcards, which may be freely downloaded.

Includes many Rhode Island related collections, including AIDS Project RI, Kim Deacon Collection (LGBT community), AS220 Collection, Lou Costa Collection on Fox Point, New Urban Arts, Urban League of RI, and much more.

Contains material related to many different aspects of Rhode Island life and history, including newspaper index for older editions of the Providence Journal.

A number of Brown buildings were originally part of Bryant's campus, including Orwig Library, then known as "South Hall." Historical material on these buildings may be found here.

Continually growing Flickr site featuring historic photos, maps, and yearbooks from the city of Pawtucket.

"Our manuscript and special collections include personal papers and organizational records, primarily documenting the history of Rhode Island. We have a particularly strong focus on early to mid-20th century political figures and community organizations."

Includes materials relating to Rhode Island history, the Cape Verdean community, the papers of Congressman James Langevin, and sculptor Nancy Elizabeth Prophet collection.

Presented by the Library of Congress. Documents the ethnic, regional, and occupational traditions of Rhode Island in photographs, ephemera, manuscripts, and sound recordings, collected in 1979. Only partially digitized.

"Our collection currently contains more than 100,000 works of art and design dating from ancient times to today. Of these objects, 1,997 of them are on view in the museum now. 13,662 of them are available online." Publicly available.

You may check out books with a Brown ID and may use their electronic resources when visiting their library.

Use this site to explore the wealth of archival and manuscript collections housed in public, private, and university repositories across Rhode Island. Browse by holding repository, date, subject, etc. or begin a search above. Discover what historical materials are available for research throughout the state.

Includes the papers of historic preservationist Anne W. Baker; historical materials for Bristol, RI; and World War II historical collections.

Includes papers relating to the history of Newport, of architecture in the area, and the papers of Senator Claiborne Pell.

"The function of the Archives is to preserve and provide access to the special collections of the Association. These include company records, photographs and slides, graphic and ephemera, maps and blueprints, historic boxed and rolled textile, books and pamphlets, and historic artifacts that tell the story of the foundations of the American Textile Industry."

Includes Rhode Island political papers, a commercial pattern archive, books about Rhode Island history, and more.