RIAMCO

Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online

For Participating Institutions

Rhode Island State Records Collection (MSS 231 SG 3)

Rhode Island Historical Society

121 Hope Street
Providence, RI 02906
Tel: 401-273-8107
Fax: 401-751-7930
Email: reference@rihs.org

Scope & content

This collection of documents relating to the government of the state of Rhode Island has been collected over the years from a variety of sources. See the Arrangement section for a detailed listing of the contents of this collection.

Of particular note are the files relating to the Rhode Island State Council of Defense. This agency was part of the federal hierarchy for civilian defense during World War II. Each state had its own council to coordinate civilian defense within its borders. The majority of the information seems to have been collected by Alfred H. Fenton who was the Manager of the Public Relations Division as well as Chief of the Information Subdivision. He served in those capacities from at least March, 1942 until December 13, 1943 when he resigned to report to the Army. The material arrived in no discernible order and has been organized into subjects. Refer to the organizational charts in folder 59 to get an overview of how all the divisions and subdivisions were related to each other in the hierarchy. War posters and large organizational charts were transferred to the Graphics Division.