Latest Posts

There are photographs that with one glance epitomize a generation as well as a moment in time. The image of the kissing sailor captured by Alfred Eisenstaedt in Times Square …
Read More

On July 10, 1780, a French fleet of seven ships of the line and four frigates under Admiral Chevalier de Ternay, along with thirty-six transport vessels carrying about 6,000 French …
Read More

More than any other Rhode Islander of his generation, Sidney S. Rider was in the business of history. Rider was the premier bookseller in Rhode Island in the later part …
Read More

How did plans for a century old Providence water filtration plant end up in the collections of the Lawrence Public Library in Massachusetts? We may never know, but thanks to …
Read More

The Larchmont Disaster, by Joseph and Janice Soares (Charleston, SC: History Press, 2014, $19.99)

It has been called the Titanic of Rhode Island, a little remembered disaster that claimed …
Read More

Nineteenth century photo studios did more than take images of their clients. Many also took pictures of their communities.

The image in the banner for this article is but one …
Read More

American history enthusiasts are generally aware of the story of Samuel Slater, and the developments that ensued following his arrival in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in January of 1790.

For readers …
Read More

One chilly day in November 1917 the air over Rhode Island’s Greenwich Bay resounded with the then unusual roar of an aircraft engine. A graceful seaplane rose from the water …
Read More

In one of his oft-repeated observations, Benjamin Franklin remarked “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”[1] But Franklin would have exempted colonial Rhode …
Read More

Rhode Island can claim as its own Jemima Wilkinson, an important religious prophet and utopian leader in early America. Recently, she has been highlighted in college U.S. history text books …
Read More