Among Friends

 

Brown University Library will loan historical items for display at the upcoming Rhode Island Treasures Exhibition at the Rhode Island Convention Center. This exhibit runs from May 10 th to June 15 th , and spans the history of America's smallest state. For the first time ever, more than 125 historic artifacts will be displayed in one place at one time.

See the land deed that Roger Williams established with the Native Americans. Learn about the Dorr Rebellion and our state's role in slavery. View an original Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. Items from the Brown University Library that are scheduled to be exhibited by Rhode Island Treasures include:

• Brown's copy of Roger Williams' book, Key Into the Language of America (i.e. the Narragansett language);
  
• Roger William's personal copy of John Eliot's Indian Bible, with Williams' coded shorthand notes, still not decoded after 300 years, despite much effort to do so;
  
• Thomas Wilson Dorr's prison "kit;"
  
• One of pioneer feminist Elizabeth Buffum Chase's scrapbooks;
  
• Manuscript material by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft;
  
• Architectural drawings by Thomas Tefft, a Brown alumnus;
  
• An early printed broadside poem having to do with piracy off the coast of Rhode Island;
  
• The original poster from the first Rose Bowl, featuring Brown University's football team;
  
• A digital image of our daguerreotype of Edgar Allen Poe, the last photo made of Poe, and taken in a studio near what is now Westminster Street;
  
• A portrait of Sarah Helen Whitman - Poe's last girlfriend; and
  
• Sheet music by George M. Cohan, who was born in Providence.

The Rhode Island Treasures Exhibition runs from May 10 th through June 15 th. Exhibit hours are: Mondays through Fridays, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Saturdays 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.; and, Sundays, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ticket information may be obtained by calling (800) 562- 9895 or visiting www.ritreasures.com.