broadsides (notices)

Scope and Contents Kawaraban appeared in various sizes and were mass produced using cheap materials. Thus, although millions were produced at a time, they were not made for preservation and relatively few survive today. The most common topics covered include gossip, crime, natural disasters, and the arrival of Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s ships. Kawaraban specifically about Commodore Perry and his fleet are known as kurofune (black ship) kawaraban. This collection primarily includes kawaraban from the late Edo...

Scope and Contents

The collection includes late 19th century Irish and English broadside ballads. Of the total 972 broadsides, the vast bulk were printed in either Cork or Dublin, Ireland. Many of the Dublin broadsides were published by Peter Brerenton. Broadside ballads were printed and sold by ballad singers as well as in street fairs and markets and included the lyrics for popular songs. They were printed on one side of inexpensive paper and often included woodcut illustrations.

Scope and Contents The Rhode Island broadsides collection consists of printed broadsides from 1763 to 1991 connected to events, places, and figures from Rhode Island history. The collection consists of event posters, wanted posters, advertisements, legislation, proclamations, news sheets, handbills, circulars, and poems concentrated around the late-18th, mid-19th, and mid-20th centuries. The collection offers insight into legal, political, intellectual, and artistic histories of Rhode Island throughout these...