Research Resources

We research properties using the following resources, more or less in the order they are presented.

• Jump to the list of Polk City Directories by year

#Written Documentation

Ask these questions and follow the resources links for “Yes” answers:

Is the property possibly nationally significant?
- Search the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service. Properties are individually listed or part of a larger survey, like the College Hill Historic District.
Is it an industrial or commercial property?
- Have you searched the National Register? (see link above)
- Check local resources by town at Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission publications
- Search further with their property search
- Check the RI Inventory Historic Engineering Industrial Sites, 1978: Limited number of properties listed but a great source of info for those included
- Browse our spreadsheet of the Providence Industrial and Commercial Buildings Survey (ICBS) and check the corresponding volume for information written in 2002.
- ICBS Volume I (Index to all properties by address and name, + Aborn Street – Grove Street)
- ICBS Volume II (Harris Avenue – Wilson Street)
Is the property currently or formerly a residence?
- Some significant properties will be included with short histories in the aforementioned Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission publications
- Is the property part of a historic district? This RIGIS map overlays all recognized local and national historic districts.
- The Mary A. Gowdey Library of House Histories: Properties mostly of College Hill and the East Side, researched in the 60s, 70s, and 80s on hand-typed paper with handwritten marginal notes
- Search the Providence Preservation Society Guide to Providence Architecture: Though industrial sites are also included, most of the guide reviews private residences.

#Is the property currently under construction?

Check the Providence Development Mapper, maintained by the City Plan Commission
And then, check the archive of past meeting materials to find the relevant case number.

#Maps and Aerials

Library of Congress, Sanborn Map Collection:
Brown University Digital Repository: Sanborn Maps of Rhode Island: Some overlap with the Library of Congress and a few maps the LOC does not have. We usually check the LOC first and then check this list for anything extra.
Secretary of State, plat books, City of Providence:
- 1926 G.M. Hopkins Maps: Many single map plates have more than one photo of them, so they are difficult to navigate easily
- 1937 G.M. Hopkins Maps
Pawtucket Library on Flickr, Map Collection: Only city of Pawtucket maps.
Providence RI, Digital Archives: Includes maps and house directories.
Aerials and Plat Maps
- Providence Historical Aerial Viewer
- Tax Assessor list of Plat Maps with Lot numbers: When looking up property records, an address result will include Play and Lot numbers, which can be cross checked against these maps. Helpful when a lot has been recently subdivided.

#Photo Archives

#Polk City Directories

Links taken from LDS Genealogy where the years were out of order and the list included non-public sources. This list contains only the Internet Archive links.