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I never met John Gordon. According to Rhode Island court records, John Gordon was a convicted murderer, executed in 1845 for the brutal murder of Amasa Sprague, a wealthy industrialist. …
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The Roaring Twenties started out leisurely.  The first couple of years were pretty slow, almost a recession although the country hadn’t really experienced anything it could recession from.  But things …
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An old and easily overlooked cemetery lies tucked away in a neighborhood in Exeter, Rhode Island. It’s small, measuring 50 square feet, and contains just 25 burials. Beneath one of …
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In 1912 a third edition of Jacob Frieze’s book, A Concise History of Efforts to Obtain an Extension of Suffrage in Rhode Island; from 1811 to 1842, was reprinted by …
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Simon Willard Thayer is celebrated today as one of Rhode Island’s earliest historic preservationists, though he perhaps never intended to be. Tragically, Thayer was killed on the very day that …
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Did you know that Slater Mill, one of the most important historic sites in Rhode Island, was transferred in March 2021 to the U.S. National Park Service? I am embarrassed …
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A book review: The City State of Boston: The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630-1865. By Mark Peterson. Princeton University Press, 2019.

Once upon a time there was …
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Rhode Islanders have produced some of America’s greatest patriotic songs. Julia Ward Howe, who composed “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” a Civil War anthem, was descended from two Rhode …
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On May 27, 1791, Thomas Mount, a white man born in New Jersey, was hanged in the small village of Little Rest, now called Kingston, in South Kingstown. What makes …
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[From the Editor:  The author of this terrific piece has been a great source of assistance for many historians and researchers at the Rhode Island State Archives for decades.  Ken …
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