Jamestown and Newport Ferry Company (Ms. 48)

The records of the Jamestown and Newport Ferry Company were acquired by the University of Rhode Island Library in stages in late 1983 and early 1984 from the Jamestown Historical Society. The records were removed to the Library from an unheated barn in Jamestown and from the attic of the Jamestown Historical Society where they had been stored for fifteen years.

The Jamestown and Newport Ferries provided service between Jamestown and Newport from 1873 to 1969 and between Jamestown and Newport from 1873 to 1869 and between Jamestown and North Kingstown (Saunderstown) from 1888 to 1940. Construction of bridges in 1940 and 1969 connecting Jamestown to the mainland and Newport respectively rendered ferry service obsolete. The Jamestown and Newport Ferry Company was a municipally owned corporation, owned by the island community of Jamestown until 1951 when its operation was leased to the State of Rhode Island. In 1956, the state purchased the assets of the company for two hundred seventy thousand dollars and operated it as a division of the Department of Public Works until 1969.

The bulk of the records are from the period of municipal ownership and are primarily financial in nature. They include ledgers, payroll records, check stubs, bank statements, vouchers, service contracts, and pursers’ reports. Non-financial records include captains’ logs and daily reports, correspondence, minutes of meetings, blueprints of ferries, and navigational charts. Unfortunately, little documentation exists for the period prior to 1900 or for the period of state ownership. Apparently, until the early 1920’s, records were routinely destroyed after audit or simply when storage space became a problem. Some records were also taken to the Jamestown dump when the ferry operation was sold to the state. Records from the period of state ownership are also scarce. When the Ferry Division ceased operations in 1969, the records were supposed to have been transferred to the custody of the Jamestown Historical Society. Obviously, very few records from the period of state ownership were transferred, however, and were either discarded or still lie moldering in some as yet undiscovered corner of a basement or attic. Consequently, there are large gapes in the collection.

Many of the existing records are in poor condition due to water and vermin damage incurred while the records were stored in an unheated barn and attic. In addition, many of the earlier records are covered with coal dust, apparently from being stored at some point in company coal bins. As a result of this loss and damage, the documentation is less than complete. The existing records, however, do provide a detailed picture of the operation of a municipally owned corporation and give an idea of changes in wages and working conditions in a specific segment of the maritime industry in the first half of the twentieth century.

After sorting, the records were divided into fourteen series as follows: Ships’ Logs, Captains’ reports, Pursers’ Reports, Office Reports, Ledgers, Payroll Records, Bank Records, Subject Series, Ticket/Turnstile Series, Map and Chart Series, Building and Wharf Plans, Ship Blueprint Series, Paid Vouchers and Memorabilia.