Explore the history and development of social welfare in Rhode Island. From the early nineteenth century until the present, numerous institutions throughout the state have provided care to infants,…
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Providence's Mashapaug Pond has been forgotten and overlooked for decades, contaminated by industrial pollution and separated from the communities that surround it. Now, the pond comes alive as…
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Best known as the birthplace of America's industrial revolution, the city of Pawtucket boasts a rich history filled with stories of vice and virtue, bicycles and bravery. First transformed in the…
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People of African descent have been part of Rhode Island’s population and culture since the seventeenth century. For a century, they were carried to Rhode Island’s shores aboard slaving vessels, and…
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Rhode Island’s Revolutionary War history may not share the luster of nearby Massachusetts’, but the smallest colony was the site of one of the largest battles of the war. The town of Newport occupied…
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Food plays a central role in creating cultural identity. Learn about the many different groups who have shaped Rhode Island’s identity through their culinary practices and gastronomic connections.…
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Listen closely and you might still hear the footsteps of the workers who tramped between their tenements and the textile mills. New Bedford is known mostly for its whaling past, but in the 19th…
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Walk along Broad Street, South Providence, and you see stores selling plantains and yuca, hear people speaking Spanish and eating at restaurants run by Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Guatemalans. Fifty…
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What you didn't know about Tiverton will surprise you. From Paul Revere to Charles Nelson Reilly, from a brutal form of punishment to a heroic Revolutionary War raid, Tiverton's history is…
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Although technically a village within the town of Little Compton, Adamsville has been a vibrant, independent community since its founding in the 1600s. Its location at the head of a river and along an…
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Camina por la calle Broad en la cuidad de Providence el día de hoy y encontrarás tiendas vendiendo productos como los plátanos y la yuca, escucharás a mucha gente hablando en español y comiendo en…
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The Commons has served as Little Compton's center of civic, social and religious life since the 17th century. In 1677, Little Compton's original "proprietors" set aside land for common use -…
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The 230-acre Pardon Gray Preserve was purchased and preserved as permanent open space by the Tiverton Land Trust in 2000. It is an active farm and forest preserve adjacent to Main Road in South…
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According to the online film and television resource IMDb, more than two-hundred feature films, forty television series, and thirty television movies have been filmed in Rhode Island. The Rhode Island…
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According to legend, when Roger Williams crossed the Seekonk River a group of Narragansett called out to their English friend, asking what news he brought: “What cheer, netop?” The legend solidifies…
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Beyond Interstate 95 lies Providence’s West Side. A concrete bridge over a river of traffic takes you into the city of immigrants and strivers, of industrialists in Broadway mansions and mill workers…
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Bordered by the Providence River and Interstate 95 is Providence’s downtown neighborhood, the geographical, political, economic, and cultural core of Rhode Island’s capital. Colonial Providence was…
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Why have an industrial tour of a river? The Woonasquatucket didn’t always look this way, hemmed in by brick buildings, cement sidewalks and asphalt streets on both sides. To see the past, look at the…
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The Dorr Rebellion of 1841-42 was more a war of words than weapons. Some accounts call it a rebellion, others, a war. Frederick Douglass called it the “Dorr excitement.” Writers in the 19th century…
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The Westport River is an estuary, where fresh water merges with salty tidal waters from the ocean. These environmental conditions created rich biodiversity in fish and wildlife that has long been…
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In Providence's history, there is a “golden century” from about 1830 through 1930 when the city flourished. Settled originally on the East Side, Providence expanded to the west, first into our…
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This tour focuses on the design-related work of women in Rhode Island from the late 19th century to the present day, exploring how women—as individuals and in collectives—practiced design in ways that…
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For most of our country's history, Jamestown has played a major role in protecting out shorelines with military installations on Conanicut, Dutch, and Gould Island. The location of Conanicut…
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The First Peoples of the area now referred to as Rhode Island have cared for these lands and, in turn, been cared for by them for thousands of years. When Europeans arrived, colonists were met by…
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Rhode Island’s landscape is marked by numerous named places, from a world-renowned university to obscure public squares and forgotten ruins. Neighborhoods and towns bear the names of people who made…
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On this tour, explore the role of music and social dancing during Newport's rebirth and ascent to becoming a premier summer resort destination in the mid-19th-century. Known as Newport's…
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“For one weary and oppressed with the heat, noise, and bustle of the dusty street, there can be no better restorative than a few hours of quiet repose and recreation ‘down the bay.’” - "Reid’s…
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It's easy to think of an open space as somewhere where nothing has yet been built, but in urban environments, that often isn't the case. Borrowing a phrase from Paul M. M. Cooper, we invite…
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Portraits are often overlooked in the daily life of a Brown student, tucked away in the halls of old buildings or hung above eye-level in Sayles Hall. But must a portrait be framed? A portrait can…
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Before the center of town shifted further south to its current location with the opening of the Town Hall in 1888, much of Barrington life centered around the Congregational Meetinghouse at 461 County…
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Only a stub of Pond Street remains, tucked between Interstate 95 and the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul. Before the interstate was built in the late 1950s, Pond Street stretched west up the hill and…
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Drawing on the skills of Pawtucket iron-makers, financing from Providence and maritime merchants, and the introduction of the Arkwright system of carding and spinning by Samuel Slater in 1790 in…
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Providence has a long relationship with the performing arts. Billed as the “Creative Capital” in 2009, the city has actually been home to theatre venues since the 18th century. It wasn't until…
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Look closely around New Bedford and you will see the countless ways women have mobilized residents of “The City that Lit the World” to create positive change. Trace the history of these movements…
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Jews have lived in Rhode Island since the mid-17th century. After fleeing the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal, many Jews fled to England and Amsterdam, then to Barbados, and finally arrived in…
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A friend of the Providence-based physician Dr. Carl Russell Gross once wrote, “To talk with Dr. Gross on any subject is a thrilling experience. But to talk with him concerning Rhode Island History is…
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A non-binary religious visionary from Cumberland—born in 1752. The Black Lesbian host of a 1990s Rhode Island public access television show, Obviously Women, focused on women’s issues—obviously. The…
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History offers context that helps us understand our world today and the ways communities plant roots and build connections. In 2024, the National Endowment for the Humanities launched United We Stand:…
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Developed by RI Humanities staff as part of the 2024 National Humanities Conference hosted in Providence, this tour traces a 2.75 mile loop highlighting stories of local and national historical…
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