Rhode Island Mills and Mill Villages Photograph Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 002-03-03

Staff Only

Digital reproductions of items from this collection are accessible via the PPL digital repository.

Scope and Contents

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.

Dates

1940

Creator

McCarthy, Joseph E. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

PPL owns copyright to this collection.

Biographical / Historical

Joseph E. McCarthy worked as a photographer for the Works Progress Administration in Providence, RI in the late 1930s and 1940s. The WPA was a federal organization created to help overcome the Great Depression by creating projects for the unemployed to work. Some of McCarthy’s earlier photographic works were part of the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art’s RI Architecture exhibition in 1939. As late as the 1960s, McCarthy worked as an educator in Westerly, RI. McCarthy was married to Geraldine C. McCarthy. Their birth and death dates are unknown.

Extent

16.5 Linear Feet (5 boxes and 4 map drawers)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

The prints are separated by type and arranged into four series as originally organized by Joseph E. McCarthy according to architectural style. Each image includes an original oversized print, a reproduction print and an accompanying negative.

Series 1 includes mills and mill houses built in the Early Republican style. (Box 1 - Reproduction prints; Box 5 - Negatives)

Series 2 reflects Greek Revival.(Box 2 - Reproduction prints; Box 5 - Negatives)

Series 3 reflects the Romantic Period. (Box 3 - Reproduction prints; Box 5 - Negatives)

Series 4 reflects construction that focused on more comprehensive Town Planning. (Box 4 - Reproduction prints; Box 5 - Negatives)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Created by Joseph E. McCarthy in 1940 on behalf of the Providence Public Library as a Works Progess Administration project.

Existence and Location of Originals

Original negatives destroyed, date unknown.

Existence and Location of Copies

Photographs have been digitized and are available on provlibdigital.org.

Separated Materials

Two volumes documenting the photography project and including historical narrative about the architectural history of mills and mill villages in Rhode Island is separated from the photograph collection, but are essential for contextual understanding of the collection. Volumes are available in PPL Special Collections.

Rhode Island mills and mill villages : photographs made for the Nickerson Architectural Collection, Providence Public Library / by Joseph McCarthy ; under auspices of the Federal Works Agency of the Works Progress Administration 1940; catalogue of photographs, chronological outline, text (by Samuel Green). RIColl 725.4 G798r v.1-2