Rhode Island Division of Fish and Game


University Archives and Special Collections
15 Lippitt Road
Kingston, RI 02881-2011
Tel: 401-874-4632

email: archives@etal.uri.edu

Published in 2020

Collection Overview

Title: Rhode Island Division of Fish and Game
Date range: 1949-2015
Creator: Rhode Island Division of Fish and Game
Extent: 147 box(es)
(125 linear feet)
Abstract: The records of the Rhode Island Division of Fish and Game, formerly stored in the Wickford Hatchery and removed to URI in 1976, comprise the records not only of the office but also of the three agencies which at one time fulfilled essentially the same duties.
Language of materials: English
Repository: University Archives and Special Collections
Collection number: MsG. 28

Scope & content

The records of each of the three early agencies are grouped in separate series, with the Division of Fish and Game making up a fourth series. Materials which span the years surrounding 1935 are crossed-referenced between the Division of Fish and Game and the agency which initiated them. Within each series the the materials are arranged in four basic categories. 1) Financial Records, which include all formal and informal materials having to do with the fiscal operation of the agencies; 2) Business Records, which include all materials–minutes, correspondence, licenses, applications, reports of arrest, and so on–having to do with the normal transaction of each agencies functions; 3) Published Matter, which includes not only such formal publications as annual reports, but also new clippings, reprints of research brochures, and other related items, along with lecture notes and texts of addresses; and 4) Appended Materials, which include maps and charts, plats, photographs and glass negatives, blueprints, and one shell.

Arrangement

The records are arranged into the following series:

  • 1. The Commissioners of Shell Fisheries
  • 2. The Commissioners of Inland Fisheries
  • 3. The Commissioners of Birds
  • 4. The R.I. Division of Fish and Game

Historical Note

The records of the Rhode Island Division of Fish and Game, formerly stored in the Wickford Hatchery and removed to URI in 1976, comprise the records not only of the office but also of the three agencies which at one time fulfilled essentially the same duties. In 1935 the Division of Fish and Game was created to consolidate and replace the Commissioners of Shell Fisheries (established in 1844), the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries (established in 1870),and the Commissioners of Birds (established in 1899). In 1965 the Division of Fish and Game was itself superseded by the Division of Conservation (of which there are no records in the present collection).

The records of each of the three early agencies are grouped in separate series, with the Division of Fish and Game making up a fourth series. Materials which span the years surrounding 1935 are crossed-referenced between the Division of Fish and Game and the agency which initiated them. Within each series the the materials are arranged in four basic categories. 1) Financial Records, which include all formal and informal materials having to do with the fiscal operation of the agencies; 2) Business Records, which include all materials–minutes, correspondence, licenses, applications, reports of arrest, and so on–having to do with the normal transaction of each agencies functions; 3) Published Matter, which includes not only such formal publications as annual reports, but also new clippings, reprints of research brochures, and other related items, along with lecture notes and texts of addresses; and 4) Appended Materials, which include maps and charts, plats, photographs and glass negatives, blueprints, and one shell.

The largest, most important, and probably most complete body of materials is found under the COMMISSIONERS OF SHELL FISHERIES (Series I), who had responsibility for controlling the oyster industry in Narragansett Bay. The plats date from the founding of the agency in 1844, and there are legal advertisements for oyster ground leases dating form the 1860’s onward. The bulk of material dates from approximately 1913 to 1935. The business materials include applications for, registration, or applications for cancellation of private filing companies’ leases of oyster grounds in Narragansett Bay. A considerable quantity of material, however, is concerned with the proper surveying of the locations of the oyster beds themselves, that is to say, with the geographical coordinates of all the oyster grounds under cultivation, as determined by sightings from triangulation stations, and with precise identification of triangulation stations themselves. (The mounted map noted under folder 64 serves as an index to the individual station locations found in folder 58-63.)

Series I also contains a good deal of geographical information about Narraganset Bay, from Providence to Jamestown. The Shell Fisheries records provide data concerning the rise, progress, and decline of the oystering industry in the region. In particular, the applications of cancellation of leases, with their required reasons for cancellation, supply insight into the recurring battle against natural and man made enemies of the industry, that is, both starfish and pollution, the latter chiefly in the form of sewage from the Providence urban area. It is quite likely that these sources may provide considerable information about marine pollution, showing, for example, that the sewage problem in the upper bay seems to have reached something like crisis proportions in the second half of the second decade in this century. They also raise some curious mysteries, such as why, in the annual maps of leased grounds (Folder 72), the gradual contraction of the cultivated areas of the bay should seem to have moved from the south northward; it appears that the grounds have fallen earlier into disuse from the ocean end rather than from the urban end of the bay.

The records of the COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES (Series II), besides containing the financial ledgers for late years of the agency’s administration in the State House and at the Wickford and Goose Nest Spring Hatcheries, also include two letterpress copy books, covering the years 1896 to 1912, of the secretary if the commissioners, William Morton. There is also a reasonably filled sequence of published annual reports of the Commissioners, accounting for the years 1904, 1910-14, 1916-18, 1920-21, 1923, 1925-29, and 1934. A large and heterogeneous collection of glass plate negatives exposed by Phil B. Hadley of Brown University in 1903-1905 contains numerous specimen views of marine fauna and flora, some in detail, as well as views of the old Wickford Hatchery, its equipment, and its environs in the Wickford Cove.

Series III, of the COMMISSIONERS OF BIRDS, seems chiefly to be the records of one of the five Commissioners, Mr. Everett Barrus. some of the material dates from 1913 (fourteen years after the inception of the agency) but the bulk of it comes from 1920 onward. One of the most interesting features of this portion of the records is the body of reports, often quite casual reports, by the Deputy Commissioners (game wardens, in effect) of the arrests they had made for violation of game laws; a study of the ages and ethnic backgrounds those arrested could yield insight into some of the difficulties of acculturation met by young Italians and Portuguese immigrants to Rhode Island.

THE RHODE ISLAND DIVISION OF FISH AND GAME (series IV) continued most of the activities of the three earlier agencies, but the records preserved here seem quite miscellaneous, with certainly the greater part of them lacking. What remains seems to have been preserved rather by chance than by design, and besides reasonably complete financial records from 1935 to 1949, the rest appears only to be representative of the divisions wide range of activities. There are some materials on licenses of various kinds from the late 1930’s, and a sheaf of correspondence with assorted town clerks throughout Rhode Island (1937-38) regarding their compliance with the regulations for issuing and reporting game licenses. Annual reports are present from the Division Fish and Game for the years 1935-41, 1945, and 1962, and from its parent body, the Rhode Island Department of Agriculture and Conservation, for the years 1936, 1939, 1941, 1943-44.

Access & Use

Access to the collection: Any qualified person doing scholarly research is permitted to use material housed in the Special Collections Unit.
Use of the materials: Terms governing use and reproduction: Photocopying and scanning of materials is a fee based service available in the repository and is allowed at the discretion of the Archivist when in compliance to the Unit's policy on copyright and publication.
Preferred citation: Records of the Rhode Island Division of Fish and Game, Mss. Gr. 28, University of Rhode Island, University Archives and Special Collections.
Contact information: University Archives and Special Collections
15 Lippitt Road
Kingston, RI 02881-2011
Tel: 401-874-4632

email: archives@etal.uri.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION  
Acquisition: The records were transferred to the University of Rhode Island in 1976.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID  
Author: Finding aid prepared by Alison S. Ricker and Dwight Peck.
Encoding: Finding aid encoded by Mark Dionne 2020 May 28
Descriptive rules: Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Inventory


Inventory

Series 1. The Commissioners of Shell Fisheries
The application for lease of oyster grounds, the applications for cancellation of lease,and the files of lessees (the individuals or corporations who engaged in oyster farming in Narragansett Bay) are all arranged alphabetically by name. The records of leases are arranged in original order by registration number, except that in book I (1917-1928) lease number 2636 was issued out of sequence; and in book II (1928-1943) the leases were issued in the following order: nos. 2702-4113, 4314-4330, 4114-4153 (a memo from the original registrar explaining his error in transportation of no.4314 for the proper 4114 is found in the back of the book). The maps of leased oyster ground were issued annually from 1915 to 1934, with the latest of these corrected as of April 1935, and with another for the year 1941 attached. The maps of the Connecticut oyster grounds and of the Thames River seem to have no essential connection with the Commissioners’ own activities.

The records are arranged in their original order by registration number. See Scope and Content Note for further explanation.

Container Description Date
Box 1 , Folder 1 Receipts and Disbursements
1929-1931
Box 1 , Folder 2 Receipts and Disbursements
1932-2934
Box 1 , Folder 3 Records of Revenues (oversize)
Jul 1933-Dec 1939
Box 1 , Folder 4 Records of Expenditures (oversize)
1933-1935
Box 1 , Folder 5 Monthly Statements of Revenues (oversize)
Jun 1925-Apr 1940
Box 1 , Folder x-ref. Office Expenses. See: Series IV, folder 3
1934-1935
Box 1 , Folder x-ref. Business Records
undated
Box 1 , Folder 6 Advertisements of Applications for Oyster Grounds; including Financial Records
1864-1882
Box 1 , Folder 7 Advertisements of Applications for Oyster Grounds
1883-1900
Box 1 , Folder 8 Applications for Lease of Oyster Ground(A-B)
1915-1939
Box 1 , Folder 9 Applications for Lease of Oyster Ground (C-D)
1915-1939
Box 1 , Folder 10 Applications for Lease of Oyster Ground (E-G)
1915-1939
Box 1 , Folder 11 Applications for Lease of Oyster Ground (H-M)
1915-1939
Box 2 , Folder 12 applications for Lease of Oyster Ground (N)
1915-1939
Box 2 , Folder 13 Applications for Lease of Oyster Ground (P)
1915-1939
Box 2 , Folder 14 Applications for Lease of Oyster Ground (R )
1915-1939
Box 2 , Folder 15 Applications for Lease of Oyster Ground (S)
1915-1939
Box 2 , Folder 16 Applications for Lease of Oyster Ground (T-W)
1915-1939
Box 2 , Folder 17 Applications for Cancellation of Lease (A-B)
1915-1940
Box 2 , Folder 18 Applications for Cancellation of Lease (C-D)
1915-1940
Box 2 , Folder 19 Applications for Cancellation of Lease (E-G)
1915-1940
Box 2 , Folder 20 Applications for Cancellation of Lease (H-L)
1915-1940
Box 2 , Folder 21 Applications for Cancellation of Lease (M)
1915-1940
Box 2 , Folder 22 Applications for Cancellation of Lease (N-P)
1915-1940
Box 2 , Folder 23 Applications for Cancellation of Lease (R )
1915-1940
Box 2 , Folder 24 Applications for Cancellation of Lease (S)
1915-1940
Box 2 , Folder 25 Applications for Cancellation of Lease (T-W)
1915-1940
Box 3 , Folder 26 Files of Lessees (A)
1913-1934
Box 3 , Folder 27 Files of Lessees (Bak-Bea)
1913-1934
Box 3 , Folder 28 Files of Lessees (Bel-Blo)
1913-1934
Box 3 , Folder 29 Files of Lessees (Blo-Bow)
1913-1934
Box 3 , Folder 30 Files of Lessees (Bra-Bur)
1913-1934
Box 4 , Folder 31 Files of Lessees (Cap-Cog)
1913-1934
Box 4 , Folder 32 Files of Lessees (Con-Coy)
1913-1934
Box 4 , Folder 33 Files of Lessees (Dan-Dew)
1913-1934
Box 4 , Folder 34 Files of Lessees (Dos-Dre)
1913-1934
Box 4 , Folder 35 Files of Lessees (Eas-Fre)
1913-1934
Box 5 , Folder 36 Files of Lessees (Gal-Gra)
1913-1934
Box 5 , Folder 37 Files of Lessees (Gre-Gri)
1913-1934
Box 5 , Folder 38 Files of Lessees (H)
1913-1934
Box 5 , Folder 39 Files of Lessees (Jac-Lou)
1913-1934
Box 5 , Folder 40 Files of Lessees (M)
1913-1934
Box 5 , Folder 41 Files of Lessees (N)
1913-1934
Box 6 , Folder 42 Files of Lessees (P)
1913-1934
Box 6 , Folder 43 Files of Lessees (Rey-Roc)
1913-1934
Box 6 , Folder 44 Files of Lessees (Roo-Row)
1913-1934
Box 6 , Folder 45 Files of Lessees (Sal-She)
1913-1934
Box 6 , Folder 46 Files of Lessees (Slo-Sun)
1913-1934
Box 6 , Folder 47 Files of Lessees (Tav-Wel)
1913-1934
Box 6 , Folder 48 Files of Lessees (Whe-Woz)
1913-1934
Box 7 , Folder 49 Records of Lessees (Oversize)
1926-1944
Box 7 , Folder 50 Register of Lease Transfers (Oversize)
May 1911-Feb 1936
Box 7 , Folder 51 Records of Leases, nos. 2100-2701 (oversize)
Oct 1917-Jan 1928
Box 7 , Folder 52 Records of Leases, nos. 2702-4153 (oversize)
Mar 1928-Nov 1943
Box 7 , Folder 52A Published Matter
undated
Box 7 , Folder 53 News Clippings Concerning Shellfish and Commissioners
1915-1916
Box 7 , Folder 54 Letter, p. 2: Edward Shedd, Engineer, to the Commissioners
undated
Box 7 , Folder 55 Reports of Oyster Bed Surveys
1914-1916,1911,1912
Box 7 , Folder 55A Appended Material
undated
Box 7 , Folder 56 List of Positions of Corners Set for Oyster Ground
undated
Box 7 , Folder 57 Locations of Oyster Lots
undated
Box 7 , Folder 58 Locations of Triangulation Stations, nos. 1-50
1913
Box 7 , Folder 59 Locations of Triangulation Stations, nos. 51-99
1913
Box 7 , Folder 60 Locations of Triangulation Stations, nos. 102-150
1913
Box 7 , Folder 61 Locations of Triangulation Stations, nos. 151-200
1913
Box 7 , Folder 62 Locations of Triangulation Stations, nos. 201-250
1913
Box 7 , Folder 63 Locations of Triangulation Stations, nos. 251-305
1913
Box 7 , Folder 64 Index map of Triangulation Stations and Rectangular Coordinates (Oversize)
1913
Box 7 , Folder 65 Map of Connecticut Oyster Grounds
1914
Box 7 , Folder 66 Plats of Oyster Beds Mounted in Number Series (many wanting) (oversize)
undated
Box 7 , Folder 67 Book of Plats of Leased Oyster Beds (oversize)
1844-1865
Box 7 , Folder 68 Book of Plats of Leased Oyster Beds (oversize)
1866-1875
Box 7 , Folder 69 Book of Plats of Leased Oyster Beds (oversize)
1876-1879
Box 7 , Folder 70 Book of Plats of Leased Oyster Beds (oversize)
1880-1883, 1895
Box 7 , Folder 71 Map of Thames River, New London to Norwich, Conn. (oversize)
1884 - 1887
Box 7 , Folder 72 Maps of Leased Oyster Ground, annual (oversize)
1915-1935, 1941
Box 7 , Folder 73 Maps. Portions of Narragansett Bay, purpose and date unknown (oversize)
undated

Series 2. The Commissioners of Inland Fisheries
The miscellaneous reprints contain among other things reprints from annual reports and some research writings of Ernest Barnes, Superintendent of the Wickford Experiment Station. The presence here of the 1912 report of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Kingston, Rhode Island, is unexplained. The activities of both the Wickford Hatchery and the Goose Nest Spring Hatchery are accounted for in the financial records and annual reports of this agency.

The records are arranged in their original order by registration number. See scope and content for further explanation.

Container Description Date
Box 8 , Folder 1 Financial Records, Administrative and Two Hatcheries (Oversize)
1927-1933
Box 8 , Folder 1A Business Records
no date
Box 8 , Folder 2 Letterpress Book of William P. Morton, Secretary (oversize)
1896-1904
Box 8 , Folder 3 Letterpress Book of William P. Morton, Secretary (oversize)
1904-1912
Box 8 , Folder 3A Published Matter
no date
Box 8 , Folder 4 Annual Report of the Commissioners
1904
Box 8 , Folder 5 Annual Report of the Commissioners
1910
Box 8 , Folder 6 Annual Report of the Commissioners
1911
Box 8 , Folder 7 Annual Report of the Commissioners
1912
Box 8 , Folder 8 Annual Report of the Commissioners
1913, 1914
Box 8 , Folder 9 Annual Report of the Commissioners
1916, 1917
Box 9 , Folder 10 Annual Report of the Commissioners
1918. 1920
Box 9 , Folder 11 Annual Report of the Commissioners
1921, 1923, 1925, 1926
Box 9 , Folder 12 Annual Report of the Commissioners
1927-1929, 1934
Box 9 , Folder 13 Miscellaneous Reprints
1899-1910
Box 9 , Folder 14 Report of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Kingston, R.I.
1912
Box 9 , Folder 14A Appended Material
no date
Box 9 , Folder 15 Glass Plate Negatives of Marine Specimens (separately stored)
1903-1905
Box 9 , Folder 16 Mounted Prints of Oyster Shells
undated
Box 9 , Folder 17 Shell
undated
Box 9 , Folder 18 Prints and Drawings of Specimens
1903-1905

Series 3. The Commissioners of Birds
The letters to the Commissioners (folder 12), of a routine character and on miscellaneous subjects, have not been arranged within the folder.

The records are arranged in their original order by registration number. See scope and content for further explanation.

Container Description Date
Box 10 , Folder 1 Record of Bills Paid
1920-1927
Box 10 , Folder 2 Annual Income from Hunters' Licenses
1913-1930
Box 10 , Folder 3 Miscellaneous Fiscal Worksheets
1934-1935
Box 10 , Folder 4 Financial; Records
1925-1935
Box 10 , Folder 4A Business Records
no date
Box 10 , Folder 5 Minutes of Meetings
1920-1934
Box 10 , Folder 6 Lists of Appointments of Deputy Commissioners of Birds
1920-1931
Box 10 , Folder 7 Roster of Deputy Commissioners
1932
Box 10 , Folder 8 Index of Badge Numbers of Deputy Commissioners of Birds
1929-1932
Box 10 , Folder 9 Records of Arrests and Convictions
1920-1934
Box 10 , Folder 10 Licenses to Rear Game, Stubs & Blanks
1931-1935
Box 10 , Folder 11 Miscellaneous Information Concerning Printed Material of the Commissioners
1913-1930
Box 10 , Folder 12 Letters to the Commissioners of Birds
1932-1934
Box 10 , Folder x-ref. Records of Bird and Game Licenses, by Town. See: Series IV, folder 7
1930-1940

Series 4. The Rhode Island Division of Fish and Game
The correspondence files (folders 5 and 6), have not been arranged within the folders. The financial notebook, 1931-1949 (folder 4), contains miscellaneous jottings of bills and payments for various materials and services appropriate to the daily work of hatchery or experimental station, but its exact provenance and purpose are unknown.

The records are arranged in their original order by registration number. See scope and content for further explanation.

Container Description Date
Box 11 , Folder 1 Financial Records (oversize)
1935-1939
Box 11 , Folder 2 Financial Records (oversize)
1939-1947
Box 11 , Folder 3 Office Expenses
1934-1935
Box 11 , Folder 4 Financial Notebook
1931-1949
Box 11 , Folder x-ref. Records of Revenues. See: Series I, folder 3
Jul 1933-Dec 1939
Box 11 , Folder x-ref. Monthly Statements of Revenues. See: Series I, folder 5
Jun 1925-Apr 1940
Box 11 , Folder undated Business Records
no date
Box 11 , Folder 5 Correspondence with Town Clerks on Bird and Game Licenses
1937-1938
Box 11 , Folder 6 General Correspondence
1944, 1957
Box 11 , Folder 7 Records of Bird and Game Licenses, by Town (oversize)
1930-1940
Box 11 , Folder 8 Lists of Boat and Fishing Licenses Issued
Sep 1938-Jun 1939
Box 11 , Folder 9 List of Scallop Licenses Issued
1938
Box 11 , Folder 10 List of Dredging Licenses Issued
1938-1939
Box 11 , Folder 11 List of Personal Licenses issued
Sep 1938-Aug 1939
Box 11 , Folder 12 Certificate Blanks, Freshwater Fishing Licenses
n.d.
Box 11 , Folder 13 Record of Inspections of Interstate Shippers of Shellfish
1935-1939
Box 11 , Folder x-ref. Applications for Lease of Oyster Ground. See: Series I, folders 8-16
1915-1939
Box 11 , Folder x-ref. Applications for Cancellations of Lease. See: Series I, folders 17-25
1915-1940
Box 11 , Folder x-ref. Records of Lessees. See: Series I, folder 49
1926-1944
Box 11 , Folder x-ref. Register of Lease Transfers. See: Series I, folder 50
May 1911-Feb 1936
Box 11 , Folder x-ref. Records of Leases. See: Series I, folder 52
Mar 1928- Nov 1943
Box 11 , Folder undated Published Matter
no date
Box 11 , Folder 14 Annual Reports, Department of Agriculture and Conservation, part 5: Division of Fish and Game
1935-1941
Box 11 , Folder 15 Annual Report, Department of Agriculture and Conservation
1936
Box 11 , Folder 16 Annual Report, Department of Agriculture and Conservation
1939
Box 11 , Folder 17 Annual Report, Department of Agriculture and Conservation
1941
Box 11 , Folder 18 Annual Report, Department of Agriculture and Conservation
1943
Box 11 , Folder 19 Annual Report, Department of Agriculture and Conservation
1944
Box 11 , Folder 20 Annual Report, Department of Agriculture and Conservation, Division of Fish and Fame
1945, 1962
Box 11 , Folder 21 Lecture Notes on Wildlife Management and Conservation
1944
Box 11 , Folder 22 Old Oyster House - Conimicut Point: Notes from H.J. Reynolds' Talk
1-Sep-41
Box 11 , Folder 23 Partial Report on Haddock Spawning, Georges Banks
undated
Box 11 , Folder 24 Press Release: Marine Disasters, New England Fishing Fleet
1951 Nov 1
Box 11 , Folder 25 Miscellaneous Publications on Conservation
1944
Box 11 , Folder 26 Address of Charles Jackson on the "Bailey Resolution"
1944-Feb-1
Box 11 , Folder 27 Miscellaneous Reports
1941, 1956
Box 11 , Folder undated Appended Material
no date
Box 11 , Folder 28 Coastal Maps, New London Conn. , to Falmouth, Mass.
1944
Box 11 , Folder 29 Blueprints, Wickford Lobster Hatchery (oversize)
1939