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A School Teacher’s Life on Prudence Island in the Early 1900s
5 years ago

A School Teacher’s Life on Prudence Island in the Early 1900s

[From the editor: This charming article displays the author’s wonderful humor and eye for detail. Its author, Rachel Chase Boynton, was born in December 1894, the daughter of Captain Halsey …
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Stanton Hazard, Feared Loyalist Privateer Captain
5 years ago

Stanton Hazard, Feared Loyalist Privateer Captain

Stanton Hazard  was born on January 8, 1743, into the prominent Hazard family of King’s (later Washington) County. He moved to Newport and, as with many young men, he took …
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Dixwell Ketcham’s Amazing Aerial Photographs of Narragansett Bay, 1924-1934
6 years ago

Dixwell Ketcham’s Amazing Aerial Photographs of Narragansett Bay, 1924-1934

As I poked around the photography division of the Navy History and Heritage Command last summer at Washington Yard in Washington, D.C., I was hoping to find more photographs for …
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Edward Cranston Catches Ohio Fever
6 years ago

Edward Cranston Catches Ohio Fever

European immigrants were not the only people who filled the Midwest with farms. Plenty of Rhode Islanders went west, too.

By the late 1700s, the population in Rhode Island, Massachusetts …
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Charles Brayton, Rhode Island’s Most Powerful Political Boss, Departs the Scene
6 years ago

Charles Brayton, Rhode Island’s Most Powerful Political Boss, Departs the Scene

[Rhode Island politics in the late 1800s and early 1900s was run by the Republican Party’s political machine. From 1884 to 1907, it was led with an iron fist by …
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Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig Play an Exhibition Game in Providence, Kids Go Nuts
6 years ago

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig Play an Exhibition Game in Providence, Kids Go Nuts

In early October 1927, baseball sluggers Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig arrived at Providence to play an exhibition baseball game.  It was a memorable day for kids and adults alike.


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Russell Smith Saved from Alcoholism
6 years ago

Russell Smith Saved from Alcoholism

I have been thinking an awful lot about Russell Smith lately. I have pondered the life of this early nineteenth century ship carpenter, thinking about the unimaginable trials and tribulations …
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The Great Gale of 1815 Slams into Newport, Providence and Narragansett
6 years ago

The Great Gale of 1815 Slams into Newport, Providence and Narragansett

The Great Gale of 1815 was one of the three strongest hurricanes ever to hit Rhode Island. Communities throughout the state suffered damage. This article quotes from three histories containing …
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Anne Hutchinson, Founding Mother of Religious Tolerance
6 years ago

Anne Hutchinson, Founding Mother of Religious Tolerance

In November 1637, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony convicted Anne Hutchinson of heresy and banished her from the colony. More than just a founding mother of Portsmouth, Rhode …
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Robert E. Quinn and the Political Revolution of 1935 (Part II)
6 years ago

Robert E. Quinn and the Political Revolution of 1935 (Part II)

A major trend that produced the new (but briefly tenuous) Democratic ascendancy was the movement of Franco-American voters into the Democratic Party, especially after Governor Aram Pothier’s death in …
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