Category: News

On April 26,  Al Klyberg, noted local historian, will be inducted into the R. I. Heritage Hall of Fame.

The Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame was founded in 1965 to honor the contributions of those whose efforts have added significantly to the heritage of the State of Rhode Island.

Al Klyberg has lived along the Blackstone Canal in Lincoln for forty years.  For thirty of those he was executive director of The Rhode Island Historical Society.  He was the project director for the documentary editions of the Papers of General Nathanael Greene and the Correspondence of Roger Williams.   He managed the development of the Museum of Work and Culture in Woonsocket, was a founding member of the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, and principal organizer of the Heritage Harbor Museum initiative.  He has conducted planning studies for Hannaway Blacksmith Shop, Chase Farm, and Moffett Mill in Lincoln and participated in the planning for Kelly House Museum in the Blackstone River State Park.   He was a seasonal park ranger there for ten summers.  Recently, he authored a centennial history of the RI State Parks.

Klyberg holds history degrees from the College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio and the University of Michigan.  He received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Rhode Island College and was appointed to the National Museum Services Board by President Jimmy Carter.

Biography from http://livelyexperiment.org/ri-1663-colonial-charter-commission-members/al-klyberg/

 

 

 

 

In Search of Roger Williams

Rhode Island historian and RIC Emeritus Professor J. Stanley Lemons will present In Search of Roger Williams, a lecture about the evolving images of the founder of Rhode Island, on Thursday, March 27, 7-8:30 p.m. in the Forman Center, Room C, at Rhode Island College, 600 Mt. Pleasant Ave., Providence. Co-sponsored by the RIC Department of History and the Ridgway F. Shinn Jr. Study Abroad Fund, this event is free and open to the public.

More books have been written about Roger Williams than any other 17th-century American, but some of the facts about Williams are simply fiction, said Lemons.

For example, writers have referred to Williams, a Protestant theologian who founded Rhode Island as a haven for religious liberty, as a “Seeker.” Williams was not a Seeker, said Lemons; this label was first given to him by his opponents. “In the 1640s, to discredit someone, you called him a Seeker, which was like calling someone a Communist in the 1950s,” he said. “Seekers were considered a heretical group who denied the divinity of Christ and the existence of Heaven and Hell, among other Christian doctrines. These were beliefs that Williams abhorred. He was a Puritan, a deeply religious man, who considered himself a witness for Christianity. His writings are saturated with biblical quotations and references to Scripture.”
By the mid-19th century, when the idea of religious liberty had come to be regarded as part of the American way of life, Williams was raised to heroic stature, said Lemons. “During that time, Williams was characterized not as a religious man but as a philosophical champion of democracy, so much so that they nearly transformed him into a New Deal Democrat by the 1930s. This was the gravest misconception by writers, because they stripped the theologian of his deeply religious character,” he said.

Lemons has twice been recognized by the American Association of State and Local History with the Award of Merit (their highest award) for his contributions to Rhode Island history. He served as professor of history at Rhode Island College for 39 years and is author of “The Elect: Rhode Island’s Women Legislators, 1922-1990” (1990); “FIRST: The First Baptist Church in America” (2001); and “Rhode Island: The Ocean State” (2004). In 2013 he contributed a volume to the “Baptists in Early North America” series and this August, Baylor University Press is publishing a book co-authored by Lemons, Linford Fisher and Lucas Mason-Brown titled “Decoding Roger Williams: The Lost Essay of Rhode Island’s Founding Father.”

Established in 1854, Rhode Island College serves approximately 9,000 graduate and undergraduate students through its five schools: the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development, the School of Social Work, the School of Management and the School of Nursing. For more information, visit http://www.ric.edu.

Do you have an idea for an interesting and entertaining idea for a program at BVHS?  Please share it with us or better still join our Program Committee.  The more input from our members, the better we can serve you.  Please contact Susan Clarke at susanraeclarke@gmail.com .

Cumberland Historical Scavenger Hunt

The Cumberland Park and Recreational Department is holding its first Historical Scavenger Hunt.  Join in and receive a “time traveler” passport that will send you to find 10 locations using clues that span four centuries of Cumberland history.

The official registration day is Saturday, March 8 at the Diamond Hill Ski Park Lodge Building, noon to 3:00 p.m., but you can register early by calling 401-334-9996.   The fee is $10 per team or $5 for an individual.  Participants will have until Saturday, March 30 to complete the hunt.

Valley Breeze Article

Picture:  “Nine Men’s Misery” Memorial from Wikipedia Commons.

 “Slice of Life (Past)”

See the Virtual Exhibit on the State Archives Website

Valley Breeze article.

 

Valley Breeze article

https://www.valleybreeze.com/2013-12-11/cumberland-lincoln-area/lincoln-resolution-calls-action-aid-historic-buildings#.UrLbhOLeVIQ

Blackstone Valley Historical Society T-Shirts available in white and black.  Sizes S, M, L, XL.  Price $10.00 each.

Will be sold at all BVHS events – buy yours now and support this worthy cause!