Providence [Rhode Island], 1630-1800

A true history of Providence cannot be written without acknowledging that women, as well as men, carved this new city out of the wilderness, shaped it, and gave it a permanence of which to be proud. Unfortunately, most accounts of Providence's early history have relegated the role of women to an occasional mention of a wife's name. A few individual biographical portraits of women have been written and "women's histories" have described clothes, home life, child care and such, but none have integrated women into the history of the city as a whole. In contrast, Ms. Mills not only includes women in this history, but emphasizes women-white colonists, Native Americans, indentured servants, and slaves. The women's role was so crucial from the beginning that it might be fair to say there would never have been a Providence if the men had not brought their wives and children with them when they came to this new land. Carefully footnoted, this unique approach should be of interest to historians and general readers alike. Numerous illustrations, maps, facsimile reprints of original documents, several family charts, a bibliography, and a full name plus subject index enhance this work.