RIAMCO

Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online

For Participating Institutions

John P. Bourcier papers (Ms.2009.005)

Brown University Library

Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Scope & content

The John P. Bourcier papers contain judicial decisions, jury instruction material, correspondence and other material related to Judge Bourcier's career as a jurist in Rhode Island from 1974 to 2002.

The first series consists of Judge Bourcier's decisions in cases over which he presided while on the Rhode Island Superior Court from 1974 to 1995. The instructions to juries in the second series are mostly handwritten. They are not dated or arranged by topic, but many refer to a particular case or have a title such as "Self Defense".

The subject files contain material such as correspondence, newspaper articles, meeting agendas, membership lists and reports from committees on which Judge Bourcier served. Much of the correspondence, which can be found in almost all of the subseries, is related to the 1984 trial of then Mayor of Providence Vincent A. Cianci, Jr. and to the antinuclear Trident II Plowshares trial. Two photographs of Judge Bourcier, samples of his stationery and copies of a speech given at the inauguration of the Mayor of Johnston in 1995 are also included in this series.

The last series in these papers consists of nine bound volumes entitled Opinions of the Honorable John P. Bourcier. These opinions were written while he served as an Associate Justice on the Rhode Island Supreme Court from 1995 to 2002.