This Sunday, May 17th, is the Rhode Island Genealogical Society's Annual Meeting when I will be presenting a talk called "Diamonds in the Rough: Finding and Using Manuscript Collections" (
http://www.rigensoc.org/), so it seems appropriate that I write a bit about the RIGS Manuscript Collection that is held at the Greenville Public Library (
Greenville Public Library) in Smithfield, RI. While it's been a while since my last visit, there are some very cool items that have been donated by members and other people who want to share and preserve family history materials.
There are 2 very interesting scrapbooks of photographs, one of portraits of members of the Darling family and one with photos of Spraguesville, Smithfield and other locations in the 1910's and 1920's.
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| Abby Darling, from RIGS Collection photo album at Greenville Public Library |
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| From a scrapbook at the RIGS Collection at the Greenville Public Library |
There are typescript transcriptions of talks that have been presented to the RI Genealogical Society meetings, and a number of miscellaneous folders. These materials are in fact quite different from the books and journals that are part of the RIGS Library, which has published materials, not these unique, unpublished materials. There may be letters written to the society, requesting information, or collections of obituaries, diaries, insurance papers, just about anything that can be found in manuscript collections, so make sure that you check them out for glimpses into your family's history.
