New exhibit gets Rhode Island in on the Boston Tea Party

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A new exhibit that highlights Rhode Island’s role in helping spark the American Revolution has opened at the state archives.

The archives in Providence have created an exhibit about how Rhode Island colonists burned a British ship, the HMS Gaspee, in June 1772.

Rhode Islanders feel slighted because they don’t get credit for their role in the Revolution. They feel Bostonians get all the glory for the Boston Tea Party.

The free exhibit, “Gaspee Raiders: Pirates or Patriots,” is open to the public through Sept. 5.

State Archivist Ashley Selima says it highlights the pivotal role Rhode Islanders played in the fight for independence, through reports, letters and depositions about the burning of the Gaspee.

A smaller model of a ship was burned Sunday in Warwick to commemorate the act.