Rhode Island Archives and Libraries

United States Rhode Island Archives and Libraries

Wiki Articles on Major Repositories in Rhode Island

Rhode Island State Archives (Wiki Page) · Rhode Island State Archives (Online Catalog) · Rhode Island Historical Society · Newport Historical Society · Brown University Library · Providence Public Library · Archives at the Judicial Records Center · National Archives Northeast Region (Boston) · New England Historic Genealogical Society

The following archives, libraries, and societies have collections or services helpful to researchers of Rhode Island families:

National Archives

National Archives Northeast Region (Boston)

National Archives Northeast Region (Boston)
380 Trapelo Road
Waltham, MA 02452-6399
Telephone: 781-663-0130
Fax: 781-663-0154
Website: NARA Northeast Boston

Collects Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island documents, photos, and maps of 80 federal agencies, War of 1812, fortifications, coastal facilities, World War II research at Harvard and MIT, federal bankruptcy courts, First Circuit Court of Appeals, Navy, Coast Guard, westward expansion, ethnology, genealogy, Revolutionary War, Civil War, captured German records, territorial papers, censuses, passenger arrival records for Boston and New England, and Canadian border crossings.

American-French Genealogical Society

American-French Genealogical Society
P.O. Box 2010
78 Earle Street
Woonsocket, RI 02895
Telephone: 401-765-6141
Fax: 401-765-6141
Website: American-French Genealogical Society

Has collections pertaining to cultural, genealogical, historical and biographical matter relating to Americans of French and French Canadian descent. Collections include databases, cemetery, headstone and obituary records, as well as French-American marriage records for Rhode Island (see The Forget Files). The website has genealogy links and includes a section on Acadian heritage.

Statewide Archives

Rhode Island State Archives

Rhode Island State Archives
337 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903-3302
Telephone: 401-277-2353
Fax: 401-277-3199
Website: Rhode Island State Archives

Rhode Island Historical Society

Rhode Island Historical Society
121 Hope Street
Providence, RI 02906
Telephone: 401-331-8575
Fax: 401-351-0127
Website: Rhode Island Historical Society

Houses local, census, cemetery, military, economic, social, religious, family histories, newspapers, genealogy, women’s history, and business records.

Rhode Island Genealogical Society

P.O. Box 433
Greenville, RI 02828
Telephone:
Website:Rhode Island Genealogical Society

New England Historic Genealogical Society

New England Historic Genealogical Society
101 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02116-3007
Telephone: 617-536-5740
Fax: 617-536-7307
Website:New England Historic Genealogical Society

Best overall collection for New England (and Rhode Island) vital records and probates, and excellent collection for Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe. The manuscript collection for members-only has diaries, letters, account books, business papers, church and town records, sermons, maps, wills, deeds, unpublished town and family genealogies, photos, and papers of the region's best genealogists since 1850.

Regional Archives

Newport Historical Society

Newport Historical Society
82 Touro Street
Newport, RI 02840
Telephone: 401-846-0813
Website: Newport Historical Society

The Library dates to the founding of the Newport Historical Society in 1854 and includes works on the history of Newport County and the surrounding area. The collection contains approximately 12,000 volumes reflecting the settlement and development of Newport County. Because Rhode Island was established by settlers and refugees from other colonies, the collection includes works on early Southeastern New England families and governments that contributed to the history of Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations. Also included are general reference works.

An important inventory of manuscript records of the state, county, and town archives is Clarence S. Brigham, Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1903, Volume 1 (Washington, D.C.: American Historical Association, 1904) FHL film 896553 item 2; book 973 C4ah.

Rhode Island Online Records

Links to online databases and indexes that may include vital records, biographies, cemeteries, censuses, histories, immigration records, land records, maps, military records, naturalizations, newspapers, obituaries, or probate records.

Websites

You can find computerized research tips and information about ancestors from Rhode Island in a variety of sources at local, state, national, and international levels. The list of sources is growing rapidly. Most of the information is available at no cost. Addresses on the Internet change frequently. The following sites are important gateways linking you to many more sites:

The USGenWeb Project
A cooperative effort by many volunteers to list genealogical databases, libraries, bulletin boards, and other resources available on the Internet for each county, state, and country.

Roots-L
A useful list of sites and resources. Includes a large, regularly-updated research coordination list.

FamilySearch™
FamilySearch is a collection of computer files containing several million names. FamilySearch is a good place to begin your research. Some of the records come from compiled sources; some have been automated from original sources.