Guide to the Rhode Island Manuscripts Collection, 1723-1939


Providence Public Library, Special Collections
150 Empire Street
Providence, RI 02903
Tel: 401-455-8021
Fax: 401-455-8065
email: special_collections@provlib.org

Published in 2014

Collection Overview

Title: Rhode Island Manuscripts Collection
Date range: 1723-1939
Creator: Providence Public Library (R.I.). Special Collections
Extent: .5 linear feet
Abstract: The Rhode Island Manuscript Collection contains papers having to do with, or related to, the state of Rhode Island. This can include documents related to the governance of the state, and personal manuscripts owned or created by residents, businesses and organizations of Rhode Island.
Language of materials: English
Repository: Providence Public Library, Special Collections
Collection number: MSS010

Scope & content

The Rhode Island Manuscript Collection contains papers having to do with, or related to, the state of Rhode Island. This can include documents related to the governance of the state, and personal manuscripts owned or created by residents, businesses and organizations of Rhode Island.

Access Points

Subject Topics Subject Topics Document Types

Arrangement

Collections are arranged in alphabetical order.

Historical note

The Rhode Island manuscripts were separated from the Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection.

All manuscripts related to Rhode Island that do not fit into the main collections are added to this collection.

Access & Use

Access to the collection: There are no restrictions on access. This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Providence Public Library Special Collections department.
Use of the materials: Researchers are requested to cite the collection name and the Providence Public Library in all bibliographic references.
Preferred citation: Rhode Island Manuscripts Collection, MSS010, Providence Public Library, Special Collections.
Contact information: Providence Public Library, Special Collections
150 Empire Street
Providence, RI 02903
Tel: 401-455-8021
Fax: 401-455-8065
email: special_collections@provlib.org

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION  
Acquisition: This collection has been added to by Providence Public Library Special Collections department over time.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID  
Author: Finding aid prepared by Janaya Kizzie, 2012.
Encoding: Finding aid encoded by Stacie M. Parillo, 2014 September 10.
Descriptive rules: Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Related material: Providence Public Library Special Collections, Miscellaneous Manuscripts and Ephemera, MSS015, 1672-1926.

Inventory


Folder 1 Aldrich, David L.
Contents Note: Hope Valley Manufacturing Company of Richmond, Rhode Island. Consists mainly of insurance forms from various insurance companies (including Aetna, Roger Williams Insurance Company and Phoenix Insurance Company) checks, and business-related correspondence. Labeled "Hope Valley Manu, Plainville Mill, material originally found with Mawry letters."

circa 1867-1877
Folder 2 Arnold, Thomas
Contents Note: Bound letterbook, copies of letters, handwritten. Thomas Arnold was a resident of Providence, Rhode Island.

1794-1825
Folder 3 Autographs of Providence Businessmen
Contents Note: Clipped merchant's agreement, signed by prominent Providence businessmen, including John Updike, Elisha Brown, John Brown, Nicholas Brown, and Samuel A. Abarn.

1786
Folder 4 Brown, John F.
Contents Note: List of Books offered to the trade by Marshall, Brown and Co., No. 19 Market Street, Providence, RI. Flier with manuscript letter from John F. Brown to C. and G. Merriam, Booksellers, in Springfield, MA.

1834 September 3
Folder 5 Burges, Tristan
Contents Note: Letter from Tristan Burges to John DeWolf on extension of railroad service and its affect on shipping in Newport, RI and Fall River, MA with related ephemera including share document and shipping notices.

1849 March 7
Folder 6 Business invoices and checks
Contents Note: Invoices and checks to and from various companies and people (bulk from Rhode Island or to Rhode Islanders). Originally in folder labelled "Misc. Bills".

circa 1854-1895
Folder 7 Comstock, Charles
Contents Note: "A History of South Kingstown: with particular description of the Hornet’s Nest Company, and Cats Let out of the Bag" Original hand-written manuscript. Removed from the Rhode Island collection, call number RIColl 974.5 C73h 1806.

1806
Folder 8 Cook, Benjamin H.
Contents Note: Commonplace book by Rhode Island resident Benjamin H. Cook. The book contains hand-copied poems, hymns and one recipe.

1870 April 25
Folder 9 Coolidge, Calvin
Contents Note: Signed letter from Calvin Coolidge (as Governor of Massachusetts) to Phi Gamma Delta of Providence, Rhode Island (University of Rhode Island). Gift of Walter Whitney, June 1967.

1920 November 4
Folder 10 Dailey, Charlotte and Albert
Contents Note: Correspondence from and to Providence, Rhode Island residents Charlotte Dailey and Albert Dailey. Please see C. Fiske Harris Collection of Civil War Manuscripts (Harris MSS) for Charlotte and Albert Dailey Civil War correspondence and manuscripts.

1868-1869
Folder 11-13 Darrah, William
Contents Note: Letters from William Darrah. Bulk to his brother, Rufus E. Darrah, during William’s time aboard the USS Kearsarge. William Darrah a resident of Rhode Island

1883-1885
Folder 14 Dexter, Stephen
Contents Note: Oversized folder. Deed of sale of property within Providence, Rhode Island to Daniell Smith.

1723 April 20
Folder 15-17 Fitts, Helen
Contents Note: Letters to Helen Fitts, resident of Providence, Rhode Island from Arthur Leroy Bolton, Ernest Jamieson, Fred E. Stockwell, H. W. Burton. Material originally found with the Arnold Family Papers. Index of letters to Helen Fitts follows:

1916-1919
Second page of a letter on "With the Colors"/YMCA stationery
circa 1918
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton ("Roy") to Helen Fitts
1918 January 6
Letter from Fred. E. Storkwell to Helen Fitts
1916 August 1
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1918 May 14
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1918 August 1
Letter from Ernest Jamieson to Helen Fitts
1918 January 1
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1919 June 10
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1919 June 21
Letter from Ernest Jamieson to Helen Fitts
1918 September 6
Letter from Ernest Jamieson to "friend" (likely Helen Fitts)
1917 October 20
Letter from Ernest Jamieson to Helen Fitts
circa 1917
United States 2 cents envelope, not addressed
undated
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton ("Roy") to Helen Fitts
1918 July 17
Envelope addressed to Helen L. Fitts
Contents Note: Date may be incorrect.

1914 July 18
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton ("Roy") to Helen Fitts
1918 May 26
Addressed to Helen Fitts (postcard for Inter-Allied Games, likely from Ernest Jamieson)
1919 June 22
Letter from Ernest Jamieson to Helen Fitts
circa 1918
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1918 December 12
Paketkarte from Arthur Leroy Bolton, likely enclosure from previous letter
1918 December 12
Letter from Ernest Jamieson to Helen Fitts
circa 1918 June 10
Letter from Fred E. Stockwell to Helen Fitts
1919 April 26
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1919 May 28
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1918 November 2
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1918 March 21
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1918 March 3
Envelope addressed to Helen Fitts from Arthur Leroy Bolton
1918 March 4
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1918 October 4
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1918 February 1
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1919 April 30
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1918 August 22
Letter from H. W. Burton to Helen Fitts
1919 January 1
Letter from Arthur Leroy Bolton to Helen Fitts
1918 September 4
Letter from H. W. Burton to Helen Fitts
1918 October 20
Folder 18 Green, Theodore F.
Contents Note: One bound volume. Financial journal of payments made by recipient and subject, includes time while he was governor of Rhode Island.

1926 December 31 - 1939 December 31
Folder 19 Hoppin, Augustus
Contents Note: Letter to "Miss Candace" with sketch. Call number CH798r c. 2 on original folder.

circa 1850-1899
Folder 20 Ives, Moses Brown
Contents Note: Journal of guests of Moses Brown Ives and Ann A. Ives. Listed as 2nd volume. Water damaged. Located in half-width document case.

circa 1849-1853
Folder 21-22 Jackson, Andrew
Contents Note: Letters (folder 1) and notes (folder 2) associated with President Andrew Jackson's visit to Providence in 1833. See Recent Acquisitions in Special Collections, Providence Public Library, January 2011 for details (included with manuscripts). No content written by Andrew Jackson is in this collection.

circa 1833
Folder 23 Legal documents
Contents Note: Will of Peleg Barker, Rhode Island resident, 1786 October 19. Record of sale of the Sloop Nancy (a confiscated slave ship) to Nicolas Peck, Rhode Island resident, 1803 July 18. [Reason for grouping of items not clear]

1786, 1803
Folder 24 Macomber, Joseph Ellwood
Contents Note: Letters to Joseph Ellwood Macomber of Rhode Island, mostly from family.

circa 1842-1867
Folder 25 MacSparran, Jas.
Contents Note: Correspondence from McSparran to the Town Council of South Kingston, Rhode Island, about a school.

1724 October 12
Folder 26 Paine, Isaac
Contents Note: Bound copybook of Isaac Paine (likely a resident of Rhode Island). Notebook with handwritten words repeated, presumably for penmanship. Includes written payment promise. Covers include illustration of the battle of New Orleans.

circa 1843
Folder 27 Providence Steam and Gas Piper Company
Contents Note: Letter to P. Whitin and Son.

1858
Folder 28 Read, Francis
Contents Note: One bound volume. Account book of Francis B. Read, a wholesale merchant in Providence, Rhode Island. Found in the Rhode Island collection, 2012.

1834 November-1835 August
Folder 29 Revolutionary war pay roster for guards stationed at Noyes Neck, Westerly, RI
1777 September 20-1777 October
Folder 30 Rhode Island Tool Company
Contents Note: Notes, correspondence, and ephemera including catalogs, business cards and price lists.

circa 1879-1888
Folder 31 Schooner Little Joe and Sloop Providence
Contents Note: Logs of Rhode Island Schooner Little Joe and Sloop "Providence" includes Auction gallery descriptions.

circa 1787
Folder 32 Searle, Nathaniel, Jr.
Contents Note: Letter to Benjamin Bourne, US House of Representatives (Rhode Island Representative).

Folder 33 Sketchbook
Contents Note: Sketchbook of locations in Rhode Island. Most sketches in pencil (on illustration with water color).

1888-1889
Folder 34 Sloop Ranger
Contents Note: One manuscript. "Manifest of the Cargo on board the Sloop Ranger Wm. Ryon Master, burthen 35 20/90 of a Tons, bound from Providence for New York March 7th- 1794".

Folder 35 Townsend, Benjamin C.
Contents Note: Handwritten journal. Chronicles the Dorr Rebellion. Includes clippings from newspapers and a set of labels from the Grinnell and Sons hardware store. Transcript of Dorr Rebellion text available.

1840 December 1-1842 December 18
Folder 36-37 Vinton, John Rogers
Contents Note: One box, two bound volumes. Journals of American soldier John Rogers Vinton (1801-1847), volumes 1 (1839-1841) and 3 (1845-1847). Vinton was born in Providence, Rhode Island. Volume is digitized and available online via Flickr: http://j.mp/vintondiaries. Another journal by Vinton, covering 1827-1828 is at the University of Delaware Special Collections. Subject: Seminole War

1839 September 20-1828 March 22
Folder 38 Ward, Richard
Contents Note: True copy" of letter from Richard Ward, labeled "Capt. Powers' Company Copy, No. 5". Note with copy "letter from Governor and Commander in chief Providence Plantations - refers to - Decl of war by Her Majesty on Spain -- 10/19/1739 - deals w privateering.

circa 1742
Folder 39 Woodman, Bathshebe
Contents Note: Will of Bathsebee Woodsman of Little Compton, Rhode Island

1786 December 30