Founded in 1822, the Rhode Island Historical Society is a privately endowed, membership organization dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing Rhode Islands history. The nations fourth oldest state historical society, the RIHS houses distinguished museum and library collections that comprise more than 30,000 objects and 500,000 written, recorded, and photographed items. From seventeenth-century manuscripts documenting the beginnings of European settlement to the first television news archives established by a U.S. historical society, the collections documents four centuries of the Ocean State history.
The library is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 AM to 5 PM. On Sundays the library is open from 12:00 PM to 4 PM.
