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The Theaters of Providence Part 2 – The Modern Era
3 years ago

The Theaters of Providence Part 2 – The Modern Era

Pleasure the means, the end virtue.[1]

Once upon a time, and in living memory, at least for some of us, there were a number of movie houses in the downtown …
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The Theaters of Providence, Part 1 – The Early Years
3 years ago

The Theaters of Providence, Part 1 – The Early Years

Pleasure the means, the end virtue.[1]

The theater in Providence has a long and rich history. Fledging attempts to establish a theatre in Providence go back to the late eighteenth …
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“As Near to Flying as One Gets Outside a Circus”: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Providence Ladies’ Sanitary Gymnasium, 1881-1884
3 years ago

“As Near to Flying as One Gets Outside a Circus”: Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Providence Ladies’ Sanitary Gymnasium, 1881-1884

By  •  Women

“I could easily have been an acrobat”: thus wrote the famous American feminist author in her autobiography, The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman.[1] The author, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, was recalling …
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The Response to Epidemic Disease in Colonial Rhode Island
3 years ago

The Response to Epidemic Disease in Colonial Rhode Island

At the current time, informed by our shared experience with Covid-19, most Americans now have more than just a passing familiarity with how our government and health-care system responds to …
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LaSalle Academy at 150 – Still Going Strong
3 years ago

LaSalle Academy at 150 – Still Going Strong

LaSalle Academy, as most readers know, is a Catholic college preparatory school located in Providence. It began in 1871 as a result of discussions among Bishop Francis McFarland, Rev. Michael …
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The Execution of John Gordon, a Victim of Anti-Irish Catholic Prejudice
3 years ago

The Execution of John Gordon, a Victim of Anti-Irish Catholic Prejudice

If you love true crime stories, or tales of political and judicial corruption, or if you are just a fan of history, you will love my book, The Hanging & …
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John Gordon
3 years ago

John Gordon

By  •  Biography

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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Pawtucket in the Roaring Twenties:  My Story as a Kid
3 years ago

Pawtucket in the Roaring Twenties: My Story as a Kid

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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The Vampire Case of Sarah Tillinghast
3 years ago

The Vampire Case of Sarah Tillinghast

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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The Canonization of Thomas Wilson Dorr
3 years ago

The Canonization of Thomas Wilson Dorr

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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