Documenting Change since 2002

Help Support ArtInRuins

ArtInRuins is a labor of love. We are not a huge organization, we are not a giant team of volunteers, we are only a few people willing to spend the time to do the research and take the photos and design and support the website. We love what A.I.R. has become and want to see it continue. That being said, A.I.R. can only be updated in our “spare” time, and it does cost real money from time to time. So, here are some ways that you can help.

#How to Help

If money were no object we wouldn’t be asking for it. Far from being compensated for our time, our only wish is that A.I.R. could sustain itself and it’s yearly expenses — domain name ownership and server/hosting fees (around $60 per year). Here’s where you come in: if you like what you see, and you have an extra few bucks, send them our way. Why? Do it for the joy of helping your fellow history nerds and because it makes you feel good. Any amount helps out, and thanks.

Note: AIR is not – nor can we afford to become – a registered 501c3 non-profit. Please remember that your contribution is not tax-deductible, but our love will keep you warm at night.

The history we collect here is typically cut-and-pasted from work other people have done – we won’t pretend that it isn’t. And yet, some of it is new and done for the first time. Some of it is current events and it takes keeping our ears on the ground, picking up new info, riding by to see what is going on, or getting tips from fellow snoops historians like you.

Help us grow ArtInRuins and our collection of buildings. Contribute your expertise about a building, or, contact us for a to do list of properties that we’d like more info on before we build a page for it.

#To Do Items

We have a list of properties that need updated images! Tackle the ones towards the top of the list first so we don’t have any property still standing with images more than 10 years old, and thanks!

We also have a To Do list of items to research or update.

#People who have helped

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the following folks who have contributed in one way or another:

  • John Woolsey, donation February 2024
  • Ian O’Connor, history for Olneyville Tire, 88 Plainfield Street
  • David Lawlor, drone photos of Corning Glass Works
  • Chloé Hurley, photo submissions
  • Amy Brassard & Katherine Porter, donations September 2022
  • Valerie Abitbol, donation July 2022
  • Osman Cortave, donation December 2021
  • Everett Abitbol, donation August 2021 and July 2023
  • Randall Kirby, photos of Potters Hill Mill, Westerly, January 2021
  • Marian Gray, donation, December 2020
  • Larry Cultrera, Diner Hotline, and his collection of diner photos through the years
  • Bruce Remick, fact-checking on Crescent Park and Vanity Fair, and his resource “Rhode Island: Riverside’s Historic Shore Resorts and Hotels”
  • R Stoermer, donation, August 2020
  • Roland Lavallee, 32 (!) donations from 2008–2015