Two junior docents at the Hammond Grist Mill, Gilbert Stuart Museum. Photo by Maria Boscia. From Rhode Island's Local Legacies projects.

Rhode Island

The American Folklife Center contains rich and varied materials from Rhode Island documenting 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 Survey, documenting folk cultural activities throughout the state. In 1982, the Center's Ethnic Heritage and Language Schools Project documented a Ukrainian school in Woonsocket. These projects include thousands of photographs and hundreds of sound recordings and are available in the Folklife Reading Room.

Collections

National Sampler Project : Selections from Rhode Island Collections: Listen to audio recordings and view photographs. Learn more about the National Sampler Project.

Finding Aid: View a complete list of our Rhode Island collections.

Local Legacies Collection: This project provides a "snapshot" of local culture as it was expressed in the year 2000. View a list of Rhode Island's Local Legacies projects.

Veterans History Project: Browse state collections from the Veterans History Project.

Concert Webcast

David & Levon Ayriyan: Armenian music from Rhode Island. Recorded April 12, 2006. [webcast and event flyer]

Additional Resources

Folklife Resources: View a list of Rhode Island folklife agencies from Folklife Sourcebook: A Directory of Folklife Resources in the United States.

Publication: Rhode Island Folklife Resources, by Peter Bartis. A print publication about the Center's Rhode Island Folklife Project conducted in 1979. [catalog record]

Exhibition: In January 1980 The Rhode Island Museum of History, Aldrich House, Providence, hosted a traveling exhibit entitled Rhode Island Folklife consisting of 22 photographs by Henry Horenstein, from the Center's Rhode Island Folklife Survey, including images of mill workers, crafts, home life, recreation, and religious expression, capturing various aspects of life and work throughout the state. Cosponsored by the Rhode Island Historical Society, Rhode Island Heritage Commission, and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.

Exhibition: In 1994 the Museum of Natural History in Providence hosted a traveling exhibit created by the Center entitled Old Ties, New Attachments: Italian-Americans in the West. Materials for this exhibit were drawn from the Italian Americans in the West Project.