In April 1896, the senior class of Rhode Island Normal School hosted an excursion to Washington, D.C., lasting from the 10th to the 18th. They departed Providence the evening of April 10th, traveling on the Stonington Line to New York. The group continued their travels the following morning, stopping in Philadelphia, P.A., where they had dinner and visited places of interest, such as Independence Hall and the U.S. Mint.
They continued their journey, and arrived in Washington, D.C. the evening of April 11th. They stayed at The National Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue for the duration of the trip and visited the National Library, the Smithsonian, Corcoran Art Gallery, and Mount Vernon.
On the morning of April 16th, the group departed Washington and arrived in Jersey City that afternoon. After dining at the Depot Restaurant, they spent time sightseeing in New York City until the evening of April 17th. That night, they boarded the Stonington Steamer and returned to Providence the morning of April 18th.
The collection contains an invitation for the trip by Nellie C. Wilcox, the chairman of the “Excursion Committee,” card of membership for the educational tour to Washington, and the trip itinerary.
Researchers are advised to contact Rhode Island College Special Collections for questions regarding permissions to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise publish material from this collection. Although Rhode Island College has physical ownership of the collection, it does not necessarily hold literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
The collection is open for research.
Excursion to Washington ephemera, CA-0120, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
The collection is not arranged in any discernible order.
Provenance of this collection is unknown. It was in the holdings of Special Collections prior to 2019.
The collection was described in 2025 by Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian, Veronica L. Denison.
The collection has not been digitized and it is not available online.