The Higgins Family Collection is composed of 350 items in three boxes.

Box One: Box one is composed of primary source materials from the life of Bertha G. Higgins, spanning from 1900 through 1986, primarily documenting materials from her adult life (1900-1944) but also including some materials documenting her legacy post-mortem.

Correspondence addressed to or from Bertha G. Higgins related to her involvement in national, state, and local politics, her advocacy around employment of the negro youth, women’s suffrage movement advocacy, and family/personal matters. The correspondence documentation provides insight not only into the life of Bertha Higgins but also the political activities of African Americans in Providence, Rhode Island, and the United States from the early to mid twentieth century. She communicated with several notable figures of the time period, including Mary Church Terrell, Margaret Murray Washington (wife of Booker T. Washington), Governor J. Howard McGrath, Senator Theodore Francis Greene, Mayor Dennis J. Roberts, Edward J. Flynn, U.S. President Warren G. Harding, and Daisy E. Lampkin, among others.

In addition to correspondence, there is an extensive collection of newspaper clippings demonstrating Bertha Higgins’ commitment to local, state, and national advocacy for women’s rights and advocacy for equal employment opportunities for African Americans. Box one includes letters, invitations, cards, photographs, obituary information and both personal and professional receipts. Materials from the women’s clubs/organizations she was involved in: The Julia Ward Howe Republican Association, The Colored Women's Democratic (Civic) and Political League of Rhode Island, and The Rhode Island Democratic State Committee Women's Division. Brochures, newspaper clippings, flyers, political education pamphlets, and correspondence reflecting African American community sentiments from “The New Deal Realignment” era.



Box Two and Three: Box two and Box three are primarily composed of primary source materials from the life of Prudence C.A. Higgins Irving, the daughter of Bertha G. Higgins and William H. Higgins.

Box two is composed of awards and certificates related to Prudence Higgins Irving’s work as a social worker in Providence, Rhode island, and on the national level. Prudence H. Irving was the first Black social worker in Rhode Island.

Box three is composed of educational diplomas and certificates of Prudence Higgins Irving, as well as census records, newspaper clippings, and sorority certificates.