I realized recently that people needed easier access to the Rhode Island treasure, The Narragansett Historical Register. I am presenting all volumes here, and a single set of Table of Contents and Index pages, for searching.
The Narragansett Historical Register was published under the leadership of its editor, James Newell Arnold, from 1882 to 1891. Of the nine volumes, I own eight of the more recent reprints from Heritage Books, Inc of Maryland, 1994-1996.
Narragansett Historical Register, modern reprint
If you’re not lucky enough to own these colorful reprints, the original volumes are no longer under copyright and are available online. I have linked to copies of those, below.
Originally published as a periodical, the set contains serialized transcriptions of local vital records from around Rhode Island, articles about local history, notes about local historians and authors, transcriptions of sermons and diaries, church history, a few illustrations and portraits, genealogical inquiries, short snippets, and quite a bit of editorial comment by Rhode Island’s favorite genealogist, James N. Arnold. And yes, the occasional poem. Mr. Arnold did a wonderful job of collecting short historical and genealogical articles from colleagues around the state.
One problem with this journal is that each annual volume has its own table of contents and index, making it a bit of a chore to look things up. So I have built an additional single pdf document containing ALL table of content and index pages. From that, as a trial, I was able to find most occurrences of the word “Warwick” by opening the “Table of Contents …” pdf, below, and using “Find” under the Edit menu. After finding a “Warwick” entry that interested me, I would have to open the pdf of the appropriate volume (look for the red typed page that precedes each Table of Contents/Index section to know which volume is being referred to). A true (combined) index for all volumes would be much better, of course.
Illustration from volume 2, page 12
Here are some sample article titles, all from volume 3:
- The Hopkins-Ward Letters (by Prof Ray Green Huling)
- Gleanings from the Ancient Records of Bristol, R.I. (by Col. Charles A. Green)
- Joshua Tefft (by the editor)
- The Sherman Family (by Rev. David Sherman)
- The Records of Old Smithfield
- The Whiteman or Wightman Family (by Rev. James Pierce Root)
- The Arrest of Thomas W. Dorr
Here are the volumes. Clicking on one will immediately begin to download the pdf. The quality of the reproductions varies.
- Table of Contents and Index pages from ALL volumes
- Volume 1 [downloads directly from Internet Archive]
- Volume 2
- Volume 3 [downloads directly from Internet Archive]
- Volume 4 [downloads directly from Internet Archive]
- Volume 5 [downloads directly from Internet Archive]
- Volume 6 [downloads directly from Google Books after you enter the CAPTCHA]
- Volume 7 [downloads directly from Internet Archive]
- Volume 8 [downloads directly from Internet Archive]
- Volume 9 [downloads directly from Internet Archive]
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One Rhode Island Family 
Hi, Diane. I just today discovered your informative and useful blog. I have some brick wall relations in Rhode Island from 1820’s going back. You have been bookmarked, because there is so much here, it will take many sessions to go through it all. Very impressive!
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Thanks so much Barbara!
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Great info. Lucky me I discovered your website by accident (stumbleupon). I’ve book-marked it for later!
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Searching for information on Job Arnold, born about 1805 in Rhode Island
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Wonderful work !!! Thanks for helping me find the “oath of fidelity” for several of my ancestors. Appreciate it 🙂
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You are so welcome! It’s a wonderful resource, that is too hard to find.
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Greetings from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I appreciate the access to the Narragansett Register which is provided by your website, and your listing of books that have proven useful to your research.
I descend from Arthur Aylworth who settled in Rhode Island in about 1675 (not proven) and may have had some close connection (friend/army colleague in England?) with Roger Smith, who was also from Gloucestershire, England. Arthur married Mary Brown, a daughter of John Brown Mary Holmes, and a grandaughter of Chad Browne (one of the early settleers of Rhode Island a Baptist friend of Roger Williams) and also a grandaughter of Obadiah Holmes … who whipped in the Town Square in Boston for his involvement with the early rise of the Baptist tradition in New England.
James N. Arnold, Editor of the Narragansett Register, was the editor of a book published in 1887 by the Narragansett Historical Publishing Company. The author of the book was Dr. Homer Elhanan Aylsworth, who died prior to the publication of this important book on the Aylworth/Aylsworth/Aylesworth family history.
I began my study of our family history in 1998, and have posted a very large database/family tree both to Ancestry.com and to RootsWeb. I would welcome contact by any who are also researching this historic family AND also my other New England ancestors (Anthony Perry and descendants; Francis Cooke and descendants, James Chilton and descendants, the Washburn family, and many others.)
Sam Aylesworth
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Email: saylesworth@shaw.ca
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Thanks for leaving a note, Sam. I’m glad you were able to use the volumes of the Narragansett Register. It’s a valuable work. How remarkable that James Arnold managed to publish the Aylesworth volume despite the author’s death – that was fortunate for you, since the work might have been lost, otherwise. Best wishes for your research! — Diane
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Volume 1 does not open, is there oa problem or is it me.
Lin
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Hi Lin – it works ok for me, and I think Randy had no problem saving them to his computer. Some computers are very slow with a large pdf … you might want to restart the computer and see if that helps…
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Hi Diane,
Thanks for finding these and providing them in an easily accessible form. I’ve saved them to my computer drive and will try to go through them when I have some free time.
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