The Providence City Archives is pleased to announce the completion of a project to scan the Providence House Directories.

These directories were published between 1895 and 1935 and are an invaluable resource for those conducting house research, neighborhood demographic change, and occupancy patterns. Basic entries in the more than 20,000 pages of information are organized by street (unlike the city directories).

Individual name listings for each address in many cases indicate occupation and whether the resident is a boarder or owner of the property. Additional directory sections include information on parks, businesses, churches, clubs, theaters, cemeteries, places of amusement and basic census data.
The scanned listings allow for key word searches.

Abstract: This digitized collection contains approximately 90,000 images of Residential Assessment Records (a.k.a. “field cards”) created by the Tax Assessors Department of the City of Providence, Rhode Island. These cards contain information on structural conditions of buildings (e.g., grades of condition for foundations, walls, roofs, building materials, etc.) organized by, street address, and plat & lot number within the City of Providence. The verso of these cards contains structural diagrams, land valuations, and cost computations.
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Finding aid:
Providence City Field Assessment Records
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Series 1: 1940
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Creator: Providence City Archives
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Language of materials: English
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Repository: Providence City Archives
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Record Group Number: RG 131.3
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Scope and Content: The field cards were developed as a measure to accurately grade the value of a structure for tax purposes within the City of Providence. The strength of the collection, contemporarily, concerns the sections under “Land Valuation” on the verso of the digitized documents, particularly the status for which a building was zoned for (eg., house, apartment, industrial, or commercial structure, etc.). This information helps distinguish the maximum amount of tenants a residential building can have within code. Other areas of interest include quality assessments from building materials to structural condition (eg., cost computation of values before and after deductions of existing conditions and improvements of a structure).
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Arrangement: The field cards are digitized and arranged in the Socrata database system accessed by address + plat/lot.
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Access to the collection: There are no restrictions to access.
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Use of materials: The materials are within public domain. However, researchers are kindly asked to cite the Providence City Archives if reproduced.
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Preferred citation: Residential Assessment Records, RG131.3, Providence City Archives.