Chester E. Smolski papers

This memorial to Sir Ebeneezer Howard sits within Welwyn Garden City, founded in 1920. Howard’s 1898 publication, Garden Cities of To-morrow, lead to the development of g[...]

Letchworth was one of the first of England’s “new towns,” and Sir Ebeneezer Howard’s first Garden City. While living in the United States, Howard was influenced by the po[...]

The Providence National Bank in 1979. Construction of the bank was completed in 1930. Much of the building was demolished in 2005 to make room for a luxury condo dubbed, [...]

This photo shows the intersection of College St and Memorial Blvd in Downtown Providence in 1979.

Cathedral Square was designed by I.M. Pei and Zion & Breen in 1969. It was intended to become a popular plaza but nothing more was added to the space and so it remain[...]

"In 1946 when Lewis Silkin, Minister of Housing, approached Stevenage, then a quiet village of about 6,000 residents 30 miles north of London in the lovely rolling Hertfo[...]

"I have just returned to the richest country in the world and should be impressed by the affluence around me, but I am not. And I ask myself if I see the same things that[...]

What's the world, and specifically the United States, coming to in the matter of housing and community life? At least a partial answer, maybe even a portent of 1984, may [...]

"On November 22 in the Bishop McVinney Auditorium, approximately 225 residents of Providences assembled to suggest the means by which this city could become a better plac[...]

"When he was campaigning for election to the presidency of this country, Abraham Lincoln made a rash promise. Detailing his ideas on giving freedom to black slaves to an [...]