2016: Celebrating 60 years

Happy Birthday RWU:

While 51ÂÜÀò has been in Bristol for 45 years, the institution’s beginning dates back almost 100 years. In 1919 Northeastern opened a School of Commerce and Finance in the Providence YMCA, followed by an Evening Division Law School and the Providence Technical Institute. In 1940 the YMCA Board of Directors took over and established the Providence Institute of Engineering and Finance. The Institute closed during World War II and re-opened as the YMCA Institute of Engineering and Finance following the war.

In 1956 the school became a two-year degree granting institution, the state’s first, adopting the name Roger Williams Junior College. Its campus remained at the Providence YMCA.

circa 1965, groundbreaking ceremony for the Bristol campus51ÂÜÀò's logos from 1956 to 1993


Roger Williams College came in to being in 1967 and made plans to build a campus and offer a full liberal arts baccalaureate program in Bristol. The first classes on the new campus were held in the fall of 1969. The Providence campus continued to house business and engineering technology programs. The College grew rapidly over the years, adding students, programs, and campus buildings. The Board of Trustees voted to rename the school 51ÂÜÀò, effective May 5, 1992. The following year the University opened its Law School, the first and only law school in Rhode Island. Since then the University has established several graduate programs.

Please look at your own 51ÂÜÀòmemorabilia. Your contributions will help supplement the official records held in the Archives and provide a more complete picture of the University’s history. The following is a sampling of materials we hope you will donate:

  • diaries
  • journals, or other manuscript material
  • scrapbooks
  • photographs -- print and/or digital
  • films and audiotapes of campus events
  • student newspapers and yearbooks

If you have questions or wish to donate items from your time at RWU,  please contact the archivist.