BRISTOL HISTORY

Welcome to learning more about the history of Bristol, Rhode Island. There is a lot to take in and there are many ways to learn, including: reading some of the books written about our town, participating in our historic walking tours, going for a self-guided tour of the Society's collections, attending lectures/and talks, reading sections of our website, joining our annual summer book club, and attending our rotating exhibits. 

Throughout the year, the Society holds formal meetings with guest lecturers (both in person and sometimes on Zoom) and round table talks with local authors or historians. We have exhibits and children's programing as well as a variety of preservation and learning workshops during MAY IS PRESERVATION MONTH.

Led by historians and others, tours run from May until October. We also have self-guided maps of walking tours for you to download and print.

We have a SUMMER HISTORY BOOK CLUB every summer where we read and discuss three books of interest. It's free, interesting, and fun. This year, it is all about the early days of food in the U.S.

PANDORA'S PAGE was originally created for the Society's HISTORY KIDS. Be sure to read the KIDS TALES FROM JAIL newsletters as well as Pandora's BLOG, for some very interesting "snippets" of Bristol's history.  

LOST MAIN STREET, our current exhibit is open to the public on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. It is all about the "lost" Mom and Pop business that were once so important to Bristol. 

The Society has a non-lending library and we welcome visitors. Our historians are available to answer your questions, or to do a "look up" for you, or even to help you with your research. We are also open for individual researchers on Wednesdays,Thursdays and Fridays, from 1 to 4 pm BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. 

Visit our RESEARCH & REPRODUCTION page for details and costs about in-person and remote research at the BH&PS. Note that BH&PS members may read books on site or do research in the non-lending library for free.

Don't be shy....just call us at 401-253-7223 or email at info@bhps.necoxmail.com.

We have also started to create reading lists, the first of which is about slavery in the United States, and some of the book selections are very specific to Bristol. See reading list pdf below.

The Society has a non-lending library and we welcome visitors. Our historians are available to answer your questions, or to do a "look up" for you, or even to help you with your research. We are also open for individual researchers on Thursdays and Fridays, from 1 to 4 pm BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. 

The Bristol PHOENIX Newspapers are an additional and excellent online resource for for researching Bristol history and for genealogists tracing Bristol ancestors.  Check out the DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF THE BRISTOL PHOENIX which is indexed back to 1833 and where you may search by year or browse by keyword.  

Rogers Free Library at 525 Hope Street also has books about Bristol in its historic room on the second floor.