Related Resources

This page includes additional resources on Rhode Island from the Library's website.

American Folklife Center State Resources

American Folklife Center Collections: Rhode Island
The American Folklife Center contains rich and varied materials from Rhode Island reflecting the diversity of the state's traditions. Among its audio recordings are the Helen Hartness Flanders and Eloise Hubbard Linscott collections of folk music from New England recorded in the 1930s-40s. In 1979, the Center conducted the Rhode Island Folklife Project, surveying folk cultural activities throughout the state. In 1982, the Center's Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools Project highlighted a Ukrainian school in Woonsocket. More recently, photographer Markham Starr has documented occupational folklife in the Rhode Island maritime industries.

Bibliographies and Guides

U.S. State Poets Laureate: Rhode Island
This site provides the names of all current state poets laureate of the United States. It also includes a history of the laureateship in each state, as well the District of Columbia, and attempts to provide a comprehensive listing of all prior state poets laureate. Included is information on the position of State Poet Laureate in Rhode Island.

Exhibitions Featuring Rhode Island

Religion and the Founding of the American Republic

This exhibition demonstrates that many of the colonies that in 1776 became the United States of America were settled by men and women of deep religious convictions who in the seventeenth century crossed the Atlantic Ocean to practice their faith freely.

View the Religion and the Founding of the American Republic Exhibition

A selection of highlights from this exhibition includes:

Historic Newspapers

Chronicling America: Rhode Island
This site allows you to search and view newspaper pages from 1777-1963 from more than 20 states and the District of Columbia. Search this collection to find selected newspaper articles that mention events in Rhode Island.

Law Library

The Guide to Law Online: Rhode Island
The Guide to Law Online, prepared by the Law Library of Congress Public Services Division, is an annotated guide to sources of information on government and law available online. It includes selected links to useful and reliable sites for legal information on U.S states and territories, including Rhode Island.

Resources for Teachers

The Library of Congress offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers effectively use primary sources from the Library's vast digital collections in their teaching. Find Library of Congress lesson plans and more that meet Common Core standards, state content standards, and the standards of national organizations.

Features & Activities

Primary Sources by State: Rhode Island
The Library of Congress has rich documents and artifacts from every state, the U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia

Lesson Plans

Exploring Community Through Local History: Oral Stories, Landmarks and Traditions
Students explore the local history of the community in which they live through written and spoken stories; through landmarks such as buildings, parks, restaurants, or businesses; and through traditions such as food, festivals and other events of the community or of individual families.
Local History: Mapping My Spot
Students create their town’s history for coming generations and place themselves on the map in a literal as well as figurative sense, by producing portions of an updated version of an early twentieth century panoramic map from the Digital Collections.

Today in History

The following dates in history feature significant events in Rhode Island's history as highlighted in the Library of Congress' collections.

February 5
Roger Williams, defender of religious liberty and founder of Rhode Island, landed near Boston, Massachusetts, on February 5, 1631, aboard the ship Lyon. In 1644 Williams obtained a patent for the colony of Providence Plantations, later Rhode Island the same year that he published The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, his most famous work.
August 7
Revolutionary war hero Nathanael Greene was born on August 7, 1742, at Potowomut in Warwick, Rhode Island.
August 17
On August 17, 1790, the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, presented a congratulatory address to President George Washington on the occasion of his visit to their city. Both the address, written by Moses Seixas, and Washington’s response appeared together in several newspapers. They encapsulate Washington’s clearest articulation of his belief in religious freedom and the first presidential affirmation of the free and equal status of Jewish-American citizens.
December 2
On December 2, 1763, members of the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island witnessed the dedication of the Touro Synagogue, the first synagogue in what became the United States. Designed in the Georgian style by English architect Peter Harrison, the synagogue was named for Isaac Touro, its first officiating rabbi.
December 20
On December 20, 1790, a mill, with water-powered machinery for spinning, roving, and carding cotton, began operating on the banks of the Blackstone River in Pawtuket, Rhode Island. Based on designs of the English inventor Richard Arkwright, the mill was built by Samuel Slater, a recent English immigrant who had apprenticed with Arkwright’s partner, Jebediah Strutt.

Veterans History Project

The Veterans History Project (VHP) collects and preserves the remembrances of American war veterans and civilian workers who supported them. Click on the link below to locate veterans from Rhode Island.

Veterans History Project: Rhode Island

Rhode Island: State Resource Guide

History, Humanities & Social Sciences: Ask a Librarian