Upcoming Library Events
(For more RIHS information, visit our online calendar for the latest information about events and library closings. You can also follow what's happening at the Library via our blog.)
Saturday, March 27, 10:00 am-noon RIHS Library, $15 for members, $20 for non-members |
Family History French Canadian StyleIn the 1800s, one third of Quebec's population left Canada for mill villages in Rhode Island and elsewhere in New England. By 1900, sixty percent of Woonsocket's population was French-Canadian and Woonsocket was the most French city in the United States. In this seminar, Patty Vigeant Locke will present resources and strategies for researching your French-Canadian ancestors. She will also discuss French aliases (dit names), as well as methods of breaking through some of the brick walls commonly encountered in French-Canadian genealogy research. Patty has been a speaker at numerous genealogical conferences throughout New England and is the chairperson of the Research Department at the American French Genealogical Society. Limited to 20 participants. |
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Wednesday, April 7, 6:30 PM RIHS Library, Free and open to the public. For more information: (401) 273-8107 x12 or libprograms@rihs.org |
Study Hill Book ClubOn March 30, 1927, at an 8 pm gathering in the Faculty Club, Harry Lyman Koopman, Librarian of Brown University, inaugurated the formation of what was to become the Study Hill Book Club—an attempt by librarians and collectors in Providence to create a group similar to the Grolier Club in New York City, the Club of Odd Volumes in Boston, and the Rowfant Club of Cleveland. Richard Ring will talk about this network of bibliophiles, what the club managed to accomplish during its five-year life span, and why it never took hold in the apparently fertile bibliophilic ground of Providence, which has long boasted great collections and collectors. Richard Ring holds a B.A. in English literature from the Ohio State University, and an M.L.S. from Indiana University, where his specialization was rare book librarianship. From 1998 to 2007 he served as the Reference & Acquisitions Librarian of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. In November 2007 he became the Special Collections Librarian at the Providence Public Library. Mr. Ring is the founding editor of Occasional Nuggets, reviews books for the Providence Journal, Fine Books and Collections Magazine, and College & Research Libraries, and writes articles on historical and literary subjects. |
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April 21, 2010, 6:30 PM RIHS Library, Free and open to the public. For more information: (401) 273-8107 x12 or libprograms@rihs.org |
George Lee Gaskell: Rhode Island Soldier and World TravelerHow did a native of Tiverton, RI travel the world, learn to speak four foreign languages fluently, fight in some of the Civil War's bloodiest battles, fight for the rights of freedmen, and travel westward? Come hear the interesting and strange life of George Lee Gaskell, a Rhode Islander who saw much and saw fit to write it down. This program is based on Robert Grandchamp's thesis in American History at Rhode Island College. |
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May 12, 2010, 6:30 PM Aldrich House Free and open to the public. For more information: (401) 273-8107 x12 or libprograms@rihs.org |
Peace and Plunder: John Russell Bartlett, Albert Gallatin, and the U.S-Mexican WarJohn Russell Bartlett, then a young bookseller, and the retired statesman Albert Gallatin launched a public relations campaign in opposition to the Polk administration's war against Mexico. While the two men emphatically opposed the war, they looked forward to the consequent new information on the native peoples of Mexico, California, and what would become the U.S. southwest. Both Bartlett and Gallatin eagerly sought out this information and put it to use to challenge theories that asserted the separate creations of fixed and unequal species of human beings. This talk by Dr. Sean Harvey is presented in collaboration with the John Russell Bartlett Society. Sean P. Harvey received his Ph.D. from the College of William & Mary in 2009 and is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the History Department at Northern Illinois University. As a New England Regional Fellowship Consortium fellow in 2009-10, he undertook research at RIHS Library, among other institutions, for his book manuscript, American Languages: Indians, Ethnology, and the Empire for Liberty. The American Council of Learned Societies and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, among other institutions, have also provided generous financial support. |
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2010 Library Holiday ClosingsThe library will be closed November 11th for the Veteran's Day holiday. The library will be closed November 25-26 for the Thanksgiving holiday. The library will be closed December 23, 2010 to January 2, 2011 for the Christmas and New Year's holidays. |
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