Skip to content
Community History Archives

Community History Archive Partner

Cranston Public Library

Cranston, Rhode Island

Explore this community history collection to discover the people, places, organizations, and events of Cranston.

Explore the Archive Institution Website
15Titles

Explore publications and collections from the past.

1885 to 2020Dates represented

See individual titles for available dates.

260,968Archive pages

Historical pages reported for this collection.

Explore local history

Discover the people, places, and stories of Cranston, Rhode Island.

Discover another side of Cranston, Rhode Island through newspapers preserved in the Cranston Public Library's digital archive. Its fifteen titles include material from 1885 to 2020.

You can open the archive using the link below.
Partner image, not an archive preview
 Explore the Archive

Opens in a new tab.

  • Selected titles

    The collection from Cranston Public Library includes “Cranston City Times” and “The Bridge”.

  • Free and open access

    No subscription or payment required.

  • A closer look

    A familiar name or event takes on another dimension in the newspaper coverage of its time, alongside the stories that mattered to the readers of that issue.

The reporting of earlier years offers a way to explore how events were understood as they happened and how local experiences became part of the historical record. A family story, a classroom project or curiosity about a familiar place can lead to a closer look at the community and the lives of earlier generations. Explore the archive online for free, without a subscription.

Explore the collection

Titles in this collection

Browse fifteen titles and 260,968 digitized pages, with material from 1885 to 2020. Through a partnership with Advantage Archives, Cranston Public Library shares these sources from the past. Some years or items may be missing between the dates shown.

Explore the titles below for a closer look at the places, people and everyday life of earlier generations.

Cranston City Times

4,032 pages from 1921 to 1925

Cranston Herald

208,122 pages from 1936 to 2020

Cranston Herald News

808 pages in 1939

Cranston Herald Today

8,914 pages from 1975 to 1977

Cranston Leader

268 pages from 1889 to 1890

Cranston Mirror

6,640 pages from 1978 to 1991

Cranston News

13,970 pages from 1922 to 1939

Cranston Today

7,662 pages from 1972 to 1975

Hammonds Floral Friend and Household Journal

16 pages in 1892

Herald News

2,204 pages from 1939 to 1940

Howard Times

5,886 pages from 1885 to 1905

Neighborhood News

302 pages from 1930 to 1931

Neighborhood News

164 pages in 1930

The Bridge

1,972 pages from 1986 to 2015

The Cranston Critic

8 pages in 1900

Explore the Archive (opens in a new tab)

Opens in a new tab.

About the Archive

About The Cranston Public Library’s History Archives

The Cranston Public Library offers free access to a vast collection of historical newspapers and documents through its digital archive, in partnership with Advantage Archives . This rich collection, spanning from 1885 to 2020, includes 14 distinct titles that capture the local history of Cranston, Rhode Island. These valuable resources are available for research, genealogy, and community engagement.

Cranston Public Library photo 1

About the Library

About The Cranston Public Library

The Cranston Public Library has been an essential part of the Cranston community since its inception. The library provides a welcoming space where people, information, and ideas come together to enrich lives and strengthen the community. The Cranston Public Library offers a variety of services and programs to meet the educational, cultural, and recreational needs of Cranston residents.

Partner Story

Library Values

  • Access: We provide free and equitable access for all. We actively seek to remove barriers so everyone in the community can use the library.
  • Community: We engage with our community and partner with others to foster cooperation and provide services and collections that meet evolving community needs.
  • Intellectual Freedom: We champion the exploration of information and ideas. We protect the privacy and confidentiality of all library users.
  • Learning: We celebrate the power of literacy and lifelong learning. The library is a place where people of all ages can pursue their interests and improve their understanding.
  • People: We provide exceptional and responsive customer service. We invest in our staff and cultivate an environment of growth, support, and teamwork to best serve our community.

More ways to explore and share local history

Research Guidance

Trace a name across nearby issues

The history of Cranston includes individual lives as well as events remembered by the wider community. In the digital archive shared by the Cranston Public Library, begin with a name, place or date connected with the story you want to explore. When using historical newspapers, try alternate spellings and nearby dates, then read the surrounding page to place a local story in its time. Compare later reporting or another available title to explore different perspectives rather than treating one account as the whole story.

If a name does not appear, try an alternate spelling or a related term, then read around any match. Note the issue date and page so a result stays connected to its context. Use those details to follow a story without treating one search result as a complete answer.

Build a trail through the past that someone else can follow: record the title, date, page or item reference, and a link when available. Keep historical quotations distinct from your own interpretation. If accounts disagree, note what each source supports before deciding how the details fit together in a family or community story.

Review collection titles

Community Partnership

Keeping local history a community resource

This community archive is made possible by the collaboration of the Cranston Public Library, its community, and Advantage Archives. Together, these partnerships preserve local sources and give people a way to explore, learn from, and share the history around them.

Advantage Archives covers ongoing archive hosting, storage, development, and maintenance. The institution and its community do not pay a subscription, seat license, annual support contract, or other recurring archive-service charge. Local history remains a community resource, not a subscription to maintain.

Would you like to see more of your community's history preserved and accessible? Start a conversation with your library, newspaper publisher, historical or genealogical society, museum, or school about the materials they would like to share and a possible partnership with Advantage Archives.

Learn about partnerships
Read All About It

Stories, research tips, and archive news

Read All About It connects archive research with the people and institutions preserving local history. Explore partner and community stories, project updates, research ideas, and perspectives on digitization, education, and working with primary sources. Use the articles as a starting point for your next question or a new way to share a discovery.

Newest published articles

March 18, 2025

It’s Your Community’s History, So Why Rent Something You Own?

We believe that history belongs to the communities where it was made - not locked behind paywalls or inaccessible due to budget restrictions. Subscription-based services and large content aggregators are generally more concerned with "content" and less concerned with the history that content contains. Their models typically involve a reoccurring charge for a plan that renews annually or licensing agreements with the library based on population served or circulation numbers. You are essentially Renting Access To YOUR History.
Read article
Back to top