Slatersville. Mill House c. 1810-15

This collection is comprised of negatives, glossy photographic prints, and oversized photographic prints of mills and mill villages within Rhode Island. All of the photographs were taken by Joseph McCarthy as a Federal Works Agency project, a part of the WPA, in 1940 and given to the Providence Public Library as part of the Nickerson Architectural Collection that same year. A written reference work listing the prints and including an essay of the various architectural styles seen in the photographs was written by Samuel Green to accompany the collection and is held within the Rhode Island Collection.

The oversized photographs are the original prints. The original negatives were accidentally incinerated while in the care of Joseph E. McCarthy’s assistant sometime before 1967. The existing negatives and glossy prints appear to have been created as copies of the original prints. Date of reproduction is unknown. All of the prints were dry mounted on cardboard, with the exception of two smaller, glossy prints. Mounted prints are labeled with their location and name, if applicable, as well as building construction date. Missing from the collections are photographs I-2, I-44, II-19, III-D-7, and III-D-28.