RESEARCH IN THE ARCHIVES

     The Archives at the Judicial Records Center (JRC) contains the pre-1900 court records that were created by the five judicial counties ( Newport,   Providence, King's/Washington, Bristol  , and Kent) of the colony and State of   Rhode Island. The following types of records may be found at the archives.

     Individuals with specific requests can use the following Archival Request Forms to email their requests directly to the Judicial Archives.  

     These email forms may be used for all naturalization requests and for pre-1900 civil, criminal, and divorce requests. Requests for more recent records should be submitted to the JRC by mail (see Mail Requests).

     As there are some time and content gaps in our holdings for particular counties, so it is recommended that researchers who plan to conduct more systematic research contact the Archives staff so that we can provide you with more detailed information about the scope of our records.

     Researchers may call the Judicial Archives at (401) 721-2640, and then press “5'” on the menu. The email address for the Judicial Archives is
archives@courts.state.ri.us.