Opening of: Come, Sit a Spell: Memories of a Forgotten Neighborhood

At the Providence Public Library, The Center for Public Humanities at Brown University, the PPL’s Story Seekers, and Urban Pond Procession are pleased to announce “Come Sit a Spell: Memories from a Forgotten Neighborhood” – an immersive art and oral history installation. The installation will be open November 18th through January 18th during regular library hours at the library’s 150 Empire Street location.

Visitors are invited to come sit a spell in the immersive art installation, and delve into the history of the former West Elmwood neighborhood through an oral history soundscape of West Elmwoodians sharing their memories.

These memories have been captured as part of a collaboration between the Center for Public Humanities at Brown University and Urban Pond Procession – a community organization that advocates for the health of urban ponds. While the memories of the West Elmwood neighborhood have been showcased in a variety of other exhibits, this art installation is a special reimagining of the Shadows and Sounds project, created especially for the Providence Public Library. The installation accompanies the launch of Story Seekers, a new library program in which amateur oral historians capture Rhode Island oral histories to be incorporated into the Library’s Rhode Island Oral History collection.