Special Collections

Providence Public Library's Special Collections Department contains 15 different subject collections, as well as a miscellaneous collection of rare books and manuscripts and a supporting reference collection. Several of the collections have outstanding research value. Almost all were given or bequeathed to the Library.

The collections contain a total of 30,000 non-circulating books, pamphlets, maps, broadsides and other items. They range in date from about 2,000 B.C. (a few clay tablets) to the present. The earliest printed book in the collection is a Latin grammar printed in Germany in 1499, and the earliest manuscripts were both written in the fifteenth century. There also several boxed sets of leaves from early printed books, as well as from a few medieval manuscripts. One box contains leaves from early and famous Bibles; another contains leaves from early herbals; and there are several boxes of leaves from incunabula (books printed in the fifteenth century).

The Special Collections are open to the public by appointment only. Arrangements for using the collections may be made by calling 401-455-8021 or by contacting the Reference Department at 401-455-8005 or pplref@provlib.org. The named collections include:

The Nicholson Whaling Collection

The Nicholson Whaling Collection at PPL is now the second largest whaling logbook collection in America. Mr. Paul C. Nicholson, the son of the founder of the world-renowned Nicholson File Company, formed an outstanding collection of 750 manuscript logbooks describing 1,000 whaling voyages, as well as several thousand printed books on whaling. His collection also contained scrimshaw, a narwhal tusk, three harpoons, a harpoon gun, prints and photographs and ship models. At the suggestion of Mr. Stuart C. Sherman, then librarian of Providence Public Library, Mr. Nicholson bequeathed the collection to the Library. After Mr. Nicholson’s death in 1956 Mr. Sherman compiled a catalog of the logbooks and wrote an account of the collection that was published by the Library in 1965 with the title The Voice of the Whaleman. The book was handsomely printed by the Stinehour Press of Lunenberg, Vermont.

C. Fiske Harris Collection on the Civil War and Slavery

The C. Fiske Harris Collection on the Civil War and Slavery was the first collection acquired by PPL. It was purchased for $2,000 in 1884, not long after the Library was founded, from the estate of Mr. Harris, a Providence book collector. Nearly all of this money was given to the Library by the Portsmouth Grove Hospital through the efforts of a Library trustee, Mr. Sidney S. Rider, who was a Providence publisher and bookseller. Several important gifts of books on the Civil War were later added to the collection, and today it is by far the Library’s largest special collection. It contains more than 10,000 books and pamphlets including more than 100 scrapbooks of newspaper clippings of the Civil War period. There are hundreds of 18th century pamphlets relating to slavery worldwide; there is a great collection of editions and translations of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, together with other books by and about her. The collection also contains a number of letters written home by Rhode Island soldiers who served in the Civil War.

Updike Pamphlet Collection and Updike/Arnold Autograph Collection

In 1891 Mr. Daniel Berkeley Updike, a Boston printer who was born in Providence and whose family had lived in South County for five generations, gave the Library a collection of about 150 pamphlets and a few books that had been in the family home in Cocumscussoc, near Wickford. There are a number of 17th and 18th century pamphlets in the collection. Mr. Updike had them uniformly bound and designed a bookplate for them. Mr. Updike later added to the collection some other books from the same source. It is now called the Updike Pamphlet Collection, though it is by no means limited to pamphlets. Mr. Updike also gave the Library a number of letters and manuscripts, and in 1893 another collection of letters and manuscripts was donated by Mr. Frederick Arnold, a collector of material on Rhode Island history. The two collections were combined and are now called the Updike/Arnold Autograph Collection.

George W. Potter and Alfred M. Williams Memorial Collection on Irish Culture

In 1896 Mr. Alfred M. Williams, editor of the Providence Journal and one of the Library’s trustees, bequeathed his entire estate to the Library. It included his personal library which was strong in Irish, Scottish and Celtic literature and folklore. The books on Irish literature and folklore were kept together as the Alfred M. Williams Collection on Irish Culture. In the 1950s another editor of the Providence Journal, Mr. George W. Potter, helped the Library obtain a number of valuable books, pamphlets and broadsides for the collection including the 1916 Easter Rising broadside Poblacht na h Eireann, a declaration of independence that is one of the most important documents in Irish history. After Mr. Potter’s death, the Irish collection was renamed The George W. Potter and Alfred M. Williams Memorial Collection on Irish Culture. Later, a small endowment was provided for the collection by Dr. Philip Deery. The collection is particularly strong in Irish poetry of the late 19th century and Irish broadside ballads of the same period. In 1996 the Library published a catalog of the highlights of the collection, The Irish Literary Renaissance in Providence.

Daniel Berkeley Updike Collection of Books on Printing

In 1910 the Library purchased a collection of 1,140 books on printing for $725 from the St. Bride Library, London. (Mr. Daniel Berkeley Updike contributed $125 toward the purchase price, and the other $600 was raised by a public subscription.) Mr. Updike died in 1941 and bequeathed his personal collection of books on printing to the Library. It contained one of the finest collections of early type specimen books ever formed by a private collector. Today the collection, now called the Daniel Berkeley Updike Collection of Books on Printing, contains some 6,500 books and pamphlets, and it is the Library’s second largest special collection.

Walter Barney Whist Collection

Mr. Walter Hammond Barney, an avid player of whist, a card game that was a predecessor of bridge, formed a large collection of books on this subject. After his death in 1917, his widow presented it to the Library as he had requested.

Hanes Checkers Collection

The Hanes Checkers Collection came to the Library by bequest in 1923. Mr. Edward B. Hanes of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, formed one of the largest collections of books on checkers ever assembled. There are some 560 volumes in the collection, the earliest of which is dated 1572. The collection contains books on checkers in many languages, a number of scarce periodicals and several scrapbooks of newspaper clippings of checkers games.

Wetmore Collection of Children’s Books and Wetmore Collection of Illustrated Books

In the 1950s, Miss Edith Wetmore, of Newport, gave the Library her collection of some 1,850 early children’s books in 20 languages. Among the highlights of the collection are a 15th century manuscript written in Germany and illustrated with many small illustrations relating to the Bible, a unique copy of a Latin grammar printed in 1499, and the rare first edition, first issue, of Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit. During the same period Miss Wetmore also gave the Library a collection of some 400 illustrated books, a collection of books designed by Bruce Rogers and a collection of books printed at the Peter Pauper Press. The books designed by Bruce Rogers and the Peter Pauper Press books were added to the Updike Printing Collection. The collection of illustrated books is particularly strong in livres d’artistes, among which are books illustrated by Bonnard, Matisse, Picasso and Rouault, as well as others. Several of the books in this collection are beautifully bound. The collection also contains some fine examples of private press books printed by the Ashendene Press, the Golden Cockerell Press, the Cranach Presse of Weimar, Germany, and the Gregynog Press of Wales.

Alfred S. Brownell Maritime History Collection

Mr. Alfred S. Brownell, a highly-regarded Providence ship-model builder, built, with the help of some of his apprentices, 11 models of East Coast fishing vessels expressly for the Library, and they are on permanent display in the Library’s newspaper reading room. In 1963, after Mr. Brownell’s death, his widow presented his collection of books on ship building and naval history to the Library along with a number of photographs of ship models and blueprints of ship construction. Among the highlights of this collection are an album of drawings of ship figureheads done in the early 19th century by an ornamental wood carver in Liverpool, England, a seaman’s gunnery manual printed in London in 1731, the only other copy of which is in Glasgow, and a three-volume work published between 1756 and 1807 on the history of naval architecture that is illustrated with many large foldout plates.

William H. Edwards Legal History Collection

In 1968 Mr. William H. Edwards, a prominent Providence lawyer, donated his collection of 1,050 books on the U.S. Supreme Court and on legal history to the Library. The collection is particularly strong in biographies of Supreme Court justices and in books written by them. It also includes some early English legal books, two of which were printed in the sixteenth century. On a front flyleaf of most of the books is a note by Mr. Edwards indicating where and when he bought the book, and how much he paid for it.

Percival Collection of Books on Magic

A local magician, John H. Percival, gave his collection of books on magic to the Library in 1970, after which the Library had a week-long celebration honoring him for his gift. There are some 1,200 books and pamphlets in the collection, as well as several sets of periodicals. A few of the books, including ones by Blackstone and Houdini, are inscribed to Mr. Percival by their authors.

Martha Sherman Collection of Books Illustrated by Arthur Rackham

The most recent addition to the Special Collections Department is the collection of books illustrated by Arthur Rackham that was donated in 2000 by Martha Sherman, a long-time trustee. Although the collection is not large, the Library will be adding to it using money given in her honor by her husband. Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) was the most popular British book illustrator of his day, and many of his books were published simultaneously in England and America. His illustrations are wonderfully imaginative, and the books he illustrated are much sought after by collectors today.

Miscellaneous Rare Books

Besides these named collections, the PPL Special Collections Department houses hundreds of rare books of a miscellaneous character. Some were donated (many by trustees of the Library), and some were transferred to the Library from the main stacks or from a branch library. Included in this general collection is a three-volume work on the history of New Hampshire with the signature of George Washington on the title page of each volume. Here also is a set of Alexander Wilson’s beautifully illustrated American Ornithology, Philadelphia, 1808-1814, with the bookplate of William Ellery Channing, the famous Unitarian minister. The set was given to the Library in 1908 by Ellen Dexter Sharpe. Mrs. Sharpe also donated a number of extra-illustrated books, i.e., books containing numerous plates that were inserted from other sources.