1.   Historical note

2.   Scope and content

3.   Provenance

4.   Processing note

5.   Inventory

6.   Subjects


    List of finding aids

    R.I.H.S. Library page

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 Narragansett Improvement Association Records

 Real estate developers, Narragansett, R.I.

 Records, 1920-1929

 Size: 1 linear foot

 Catalog number: MSS 483 sg 31

 Processed by: Steve Dalpe and Rick Stattler, March 1999


©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

 


Historical note:


            The Narragansett Improvement Association was incorporated in 1920 by summer residents of the seaside resort of Narragansett Pier, R.I., and was a stock venture intended to renovate parts of the town damaged by a 1900 fire. Although some of buildings had been rebuilt, such as the famous Casino Towers, the prestige that Narragansett Pier once held had faded. The Association tried to establish their own police force, to encourage visitors to use bath houses rather than changing in their cars. More substantially, the Association also purchased property and developed it for profit. By 1921, it owned most of the property along the beach, and had torn down "the eye-sore shacks and hot-dog refectories that cluttered up the board walk." It was dissolved in 1929.

            Isaac E. Emerson (1859-1931), a Baltimore resident and owner of a Narragansett hotel, was the president of the Association for its entire existence. Thomas G. Hazard Jr. (1862-ca.1951) of Narragansett, a distant cousin of the Peace Dale Hazards, served as secretary and treasurer; Rowland Hazard III (1881-1945), then residing in New York, was vice-president for a time. Rowland Hazard's brother-in-law, Rush Sturges (1879-1967) of Providence, served as legal counsel.


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Scope and content:


            This collection consists of Thomas G. Hazard Jr.'s personal files regarding the Association. The largest portion is official correspondence as secretary and treasurer. There are also stock records and a small amount of financial records. Though there are no minute books in the collection, copies or drafts of many minutes have been compiled in one folder. No account books, ledgers or cash journals have been found for this corporation.


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Provenance:


            These papers were donated by the Hazard family as part of the Hazard Family Papers in 1985. They had been deposited in 1975. It is uncertain how the records came into the hands of the family. Thomas G. Hazard Jr., who generated these records, was a resident of Narragansett, and only a very distant cousin of the Hazards of Peace Dale. As Rowland Hazard III's surviving personal papers cover the same time span, it is very possible that he had gathered these files from Thomas G. Hazard Jr. upon the company's dissolution.


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Processing note:


            This collection is part of the Hazard Family Papers, which were processed with support from the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, the Beinecke Foundation, and the extended Hazard Family.

            The original organization of the correspondence files has been retained; incoming correspondence is interfiled with copies of Thomas G. Hazard Jr.'s responses, and correspondence with Rush Sturges and Isaac Emerson is filed in a separate series.

            A large map of the Pier by the firm of Hyde & Shepherd dated November 18, 1920, embellished with watercolors, was transferred to the Graphics Division, as was a blueprint plat map of the area dated September 15, 1925.


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Inventory:


Series 1: Correspondence


Series 1, subseries 1: General. To and from Thomas G. Hazard Jr.

Box 1, folder 1. 1920. Almost all payments for stock.

Box 1, folder 2. 1921

Box 1, folder 3. 1921, continued

Box 1, folder 4. 1922

Box 1, folder 5. 1922, continued

Box 1, folder 6. 1923

Box 1, folder 7. 1924

Box 1, folder 8. 1925

Box 1, folder 9. 1926

Box 1, folder 10. 1927

Box 1, folder 11. 1928

Box 1, folder 12. 1929


Series 1, subseries 2: Isaac Emerson. Letters between Isaac Emerson and T.G. Hazard Jr.

Box 1, folder 13. 1920

Box 1, folder 14. 1921. Also letters of reference on behalf of prospective lessees William Parker and Ralph Wells.

Box 1, folder 15. 1922

Box 1, folder 16. 1923

Box 1, folder 17. 1924-1925

Box 1, folder 18. 1926-1927

Box 1, folder 19. 1928-1929


Series 1, subseries 3: Rush Sturges. Letters between Rush Sturges and T.G. Hazard Jr.

Box 1, folder 20. 1920-1921

Box 1, folder 21. 1922-1925

Box 1, folder 22. 1929


Series 1, subseries 4: Rowland Hazard III.

Box 1, folder 23. 1922



Series 2: Miscellaneous

Box 1, folder 24. Audit, 1921

Box 1, folder 25. Bonds with Isaac Emerson, 1921-1926

Box 1, folder 26. Circular letters to stockholders, 1920-1925

Box 1, folder 27. Financial reports, 1921-1929

Box 1, folder 28. Financial memoranda, 1920-1929

Box 1, folder 29. Leases, agreements and notes, 1920-1923 (includes copies of earlier deeds)

Box 1, folder 30. Meeting notices, 1921-1929

Box 1, folder 31. Minutes, 1920-1929. Incomplete drafts and copies.

Box 1, folder 32. Mortgage papers, 1921

Box 1, folder 33. "Objections to the Narragansett Casino", undated.

Box 1, folder 34. Receipts, 1921-1928 (incomplete)

Box 1, folder 35. Report: "What Narragansett Needs", by architectural firm of Hyde & Shepherd, 1920.

Box 1, folder 36. Stock proxies, 1921-1929

Box 1, folder 37. Stock certificate receipts, 1920-1924

Box 1, folder 38. Stockholder lists, 1921-1927

Box 1, folder 39. Taxes - Rhode Island taxes and annual reports, 1921-1929

Box 1, folder 40. Miscellaneous:

Draft of letter to Narragansett Town Council, requesting street parkingInsurance policy, undated

                                    List of persons receiving prospectus, 1920-1921

                                    Newspaper clipping on Association, 7/1/1921

                                    Narragansett Bathing and Clambake Club, 1926-1928

                                    Order to pave sidewalks, 1928

                                    Petition and order for receivership, 1929


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Subjects:


Bathing beaches - Rhode Island - Narragansett

Emerson, Isaac E. (1859-1931)

Hazard, Rowland (1881-1945)

Hazard, Thomas G. Jr. (1862-ca.1951)

Narragansett Bathing and Clambake Club

Real estate development - Rhode Island - Narragansett

Sturges, Rush (1879-1967)

Summer resorts - Rhode Island - Narragansett


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RIHS1822