PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Letters written by Rhode Island founder Roger Williams will be on display at the university that bears his name.
The letters will be on display at Roger Williams University’s Bristol campus Tuesday for a workshop in the library. It is open to the public from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Williams settled Providence in 1636 and championed religious freedom and democracy.
He had been banished from Puritan Massachusetts and founded Providence as a refuge for like-minded dissenters.
Charlotte Carrington-Farmer, an associate history professor, says handling original documents written by Williams brings history to life.
The letters were loaned to the university by the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Williams’ ideas about personal freedom and separating church and state, and the citizen-led government he formed in Providence, were precursors to American constitutional democracy.
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