Roger Williams— his name is everywhere in Rhode Island. But how much do we really know about him? Charlotte Carrington-Farmer, Professor of History at Roger Williams University, believes that one way to understand Roger Williams and the complexity of his life is to read documents created during his lifetime. Professor Carrington-Farmer’s new book, Roger Williams and His World: A History in Documents, reproduces forty documents that illuminate Williams’s world, his beliefs, and his interactions with others. She explains each document in the context of William’s life and times by defining 17th century words and concepts, and she invites us to read the original text and decide for ourselves what it tells us about Williams. Please join us on Thursday, April 3 at 7:00 p.m., Professor Carrington-Farmer will be in our Museum Gallery to talk about Roger Williams’s personal, political, and spiritual worlds and how the documents in her new book help us understand them. (fb)

Tales Both Tall and True Thursday Oct. 24th 7:00 pm Stories about strange or unexplained occurrences often appeared in 19th century New England newspapers, sometimes tailored for a reading public eager for stories of the supernatural. Such stories were reprinted and expanded upon by other newspapers, and in at least one case, serialized so that the story took on a life of its own, with bizarre episode after bizarre episode being added to the original tale. Mr. Geake will explore the fascination early New Englanders had with death and the afterlife, and reveal which astonishing tales were true and which were fictionalized for an enthralled reading public. Mr. Geake is the author of fourteen books about Rhode Island and New England history. He served two terms as president of the Cocumscussoc Association, which maintains Smith’s Castle in North Kingstown, and serves on the advisory board of the Rhode Island Slave History Medallion project. The program will take place in our Museum Gallery and will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel. Watch Live Stream on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/live/9apv7E6i0Mg (fb)