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In presenting to the public the first volume of the Collections of the Rhode-Island Historical Society, some account of the rise and progress of the Society may not be deemed inappropriate. It may vindicate the society from the charge of remissness in performing the duties it has assumed, and at the same time, remove some of the prejudices which it has had to encounter.

There have not been wanting, at any time, individuals who have been anxious that the history of this State, and the deeds and sufferings and opinions of the first settlers, should not be handed down to posterity by tradition alone, or that future generations should learn them from the erroneous and imperfect statements of prejudiced historians.

Much was effected by these individuals in collecting together the scattered fragments and perishing memorials of our early history. But the field was too large and the labor too great to be compassed by the exertions of any individuals, however ardent their zeal. And besides this, many persons who held highly valuable documents, received in most instances from their ancestors, were unwilling to part with them until a secure place of deposite was provided, under the authority of a regularly organized association.

These feelings, aided by various concomitant circumstances, gave rise to the Rhode-Island Historical Society, in the year 1822. In the summer of the same year, a charter of incorporation was obtained, and in July the Society was organized. Since that time, unremitting exertions have been made in effecting its objects, and many valuable documents, both printed and manuscript have been collected. The number of resident members is at present about fifty.

The subject of publishing a Series of Collections was agitated soon after the establishment of the Society. Various circumstances served to retard this project until Zachariah Allen, Esq. a member, presented to the Society a manuscript copy of Roger Williams’ Key to the Indian Language which he had procured from the printed copy in the Bodliean Library at Oxford. This manuscript has since been carefully compared with the printed copy of the same work, in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society. At this time, when philosophers are engaged in searching for the origin, and philanthropists, in meliorating the condition, of the aborigines, it was thought by the Society that the publication of this curious and valuable relick of the venerable founder of the State would be particularly acceptable and appropriate; and in the hope that both pleasure and profit may be derived from its perusal, it is now respectfully commended to the attention and favor of the public.