Merle K. Peirce (born 1944) received his B.A. and M.A. in English from Rhode Island College in 1971 and 1984 respectively. His master’s thesis, entitled "Joannes Latinus: Poeta et Laudator," suggested that the sixteenth-century Black Spanish poet Juan Latino was a precursor to Luis de Góngora and the Culteranismo movement. He went on to complete a second B.A. and M.A. in Film Studies from RIC in 2006 and 2009 respectively. His film master’s thesis, entitled "Transgressive Masculinities in Selected Sword and Sandal Films," studied “hetero-normative films in which male figures often display aspects of homosexuality.” In 2011 he received his M.A. in Art (Media Studies) with a thesis entitled British Cinema and Public Opinion in the Inter-War Years. He received his Doctor of Theology from the Esoteric Theological Seminary in Gainesville, FL in 2012 with a dissertation entitled "The Tradition of Ma’at in Contemporary Religious Practice."
He has worked for a number of Rhode Island-based bus and coach companies as a driver, trainer, partner, and bookkeeper. In 1996, he and fellow volunteers, all members of a British sports car club, officially established the Rhode Island Computer Museum based on a desire to address shortcomings they perceived in the former computer museum in Boston, MA. In 1999, the museum was formally established as a 501(c)(3). Peirce has served as treasurer, managing director, and executive director of the museum. Initially located in the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, RI, the museum now occupies a warehouse in North Kingstown as well as an interactive Learning Lab in Warwick, RI. The museum collects and preserves materials related to computer science and its history, restores and maintains a number of historic computers, and engages in educational outreach with the community.
The collection includes papers, published materials, maps, photographs, and realia. The majority of materials are related to railroad history, including photographs, timetables, brochures, manuals, realia, and legal and financial documents for various railroad companies. Most materials are related to railroads of Rhode Island and surrounding states. Materials related to buses and bus companies are also heavily represented, including photographs and brochures. A small minority of materials are not related to transit and its history; these include some photographs of cityscapes, brochures, and equipment used in textile mills, possibly from the Shady Lea Mill space that the Rhode Island Computer Museum initially occupied.
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.
Merle K. Peirce papers, MSS-0164, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
This collection is divided into 4 series.
The collection was donated by Merle K. Peirce at an unknown date.
The collection was arranged and described by special collections assistant Anne Boylan in 2025.
Two of Merle K. Peirce’s master’s theses are available on Rhode Island College’s Digital Collections:
Two VHS tapes, "Steamboats: On the Hudson", SP COLL HE 633 .H85 S7 2004, and "Steamboats: Fall River Line", SP COLL HE 753 .F25 S7 1998, were catalogued and added to the Merle K. Peirce book collection. Railroad history publications were catalogued and added to the Merle K. Peirce pamphlet collection. Contact Special Collections for a list of these publications.
This series is comprised of printed matter, including brochures, timetables, stationery, design documents, magazines, and maps. It also includes company documents including Interstate Commerce Commission documents and service notices. The series is organized by creator, with a few folders, such as stock certificates, organized by type to maintain original order.
This series is comprised of photographs related to transit, especially trains and buses. Known photographers include Merle Peirce, Ronald A. Fraser, Brian Morris, and J.W. Swanberg. Many photo subjects and settings are unknown; the series is arranged maintaining original order and foldered by slide box or film roll.
This series is comprised of transit-related realia, including cap badges from conductors’ and motor men’s caps, a British railway pay cheque, metal placards, and transit tokens for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York-based transit tolls and fares.
This series is comprised of all collection items not obviously related to transit. Two are printed items. The rest are a collection of items related to textile production: wooden spindles, a box of ring travelers, and wooden clamps, which were in the space in the former Shady Lea Mill that the Rhode Island Computer Museum first occupied. Peirce, who was treasurer of the Museum at the time, collected and donated these items to Rhode Island College.