
A member of the Rhode Island Historical Society for over 30 years, Daniel C. Schofield, 79, of Westerly, passed away on January 24, 2017. He was avid Rhode Island historian and a well-respected collector of historical political artifacts and documents. Today we commemorate some of his favorite research topics.
Mr. Schofield collaborated with friend and fellow Rhode Island historian Russell J. DeSimone on several groundbreaking research projects that delved into the R.I.H.S. collections. The first was the Broadsides of the Dorr Rebellion (Providence: Rhode Island Supreme Court Historical Society, 1992.) This book is required reading for all scholars and students of the Dorr Rebellion of 1842. Many of the featured broadsides are part of the R.I.H.S. Broadside Collection, G1157.
Their most recent project was the monumental A Survey of Rhode Island Election Tickets (2015) which is hosted on the University of Rhode Island’s Digital Commons website. In 2014 and 2015 you could often find Mr. Schofield and Mr. DeSimone deep in quiet conversation at our Robinson Research Center as they meticulously went through the election tickets, also known as “proxies”, in the R.I.H.S. collections. Sometimes their interest in the Dorr War intersected with their new project.
Mr. Schofield and Mr. DeSimone seemed to know all the known Rhode Island proxies by sight and I was always amazed at how few notes they needed to take. They could tell you which institution held what imprints and generously shared this knowledge in their 2015 survey.
Born in Pawtucket, R.I., Mr. Schofield served with the U.S. Army Reserves and was a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He worked for Wheeler Middle School in North Stonington, Conn. as a history teacher for 37 years before retiring in the late 1990’s. He was a former member of Arnold Mills Methodist Church, and is remembered as a kind, thoughtful and loving family member.
~Phoebe Bean, Librarian
Thanks Phoebe, nice to see a good person remembered.
Another sad death in the RIHS family. My condolences.