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In the 1970s, I lived in Newport, Rhode Island, and I had just built full-sized, operational copies of two Revolutionary War ships for the Bicentennial, the 24-gun frigate Rose (that …
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The political scene in Rhode Island was eventful during the interwar years. Fractious competition between Democrats and Republicans throughout the 1920s and 1930s resulted in the passage of important legislation …
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The centenary of the 1920 ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (the so-called Susan B. Anthony amendment) is fast approaching and as such there is renewed interest …
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[Author’s note:  By the 1820s, circuses were becoming a popular form of mass entertainment. Traveling from small town to small town, they attracted increasingly large crowds.  The first elephants from …
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[Editor’s Note: Fittingly, the following biographical entries for these three outstanding architects appear consecutively in Dr. Patrick T. Conley’s The Leaders of Rhode Island’s Golden Age (History Press, 2019). The …
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Researching stenciled decorations found on walls of historic American homes must be similar to investigating the cold cases tackled by today’s television detectives. In both such investigations, there are many …
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Recently, there has been a spate of Rhode Island history books published by smallstatebighistory.com authors. These are in addition to Untold Stories of World War II Rhode Island (History Press, …
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Rhode Island has an extensive immigrant history. Evelyn Savidge Sterne’s Ballots and Bibles: Ethnic Politics and the Catholic Church in Providence is a comprehensive story about the discrimination Irish, French …
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The lighthouse for centuries has been a comforting beacon in the night. Today, these gentle sentinels are automated with sophisticated electronic illumination often powered by solar energy. They require only …
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In last week’s article, I listed e my top ten most interesting and amusing street names in Rhode Island. This article includes a list of [14] honorable mention most interesting …
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