RIAMCO

Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online

For Participating Institutions

Collection on the Redwood Library and Athenaeum (RLC.Ms.030)

Redwood Library and Athenaeum

50 Bellevue Avenue
Newport, RI 02840
Tel: (401) 847-0292
Fax: (401) 841-5680
email: redwood@redwoodlibrary.org

Historical note

The Redwood Library and Athenaeum, located on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, was chartered in 1747 by Abraham Redwood (1709-1788) and a group of forty-five other proprietors. The Library was built by architect Peter Harrison (1716-1775) and opened in 1750. The Redwood Library and Athenaeum is a library, museum, and historic building that stays true to its 1747 charter by maintaining a cultural and educational institution for “propagating Virtue, Knowledge and useful Learning.” It also is the oldest continuously operating library in its original building in America.