Dear Professor McFarland, 
 
Chris Bickford of the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society called me this morning to tell me that an image of William Robinson
appears on page 10 of the book Narragansett By-the-Sea by Sally Latimer (Dover, NH: Arcadia Publishing, 1997). This book
is part of a large series of photographic local histories under the series name Images of America. The entire series is published
by Arcadia. We have this book in our Reference collection, so I took a look at the image.
 
Unfortunately, I believe that the author of the book made in error in the identity of the subject of the portrait. There is no credit
given for the image, neither a location from which the author obtained it, nor an artist. In the caption for the photo, William
Robinson's dates are given as 1693-1751. My first instinct when I looked at the image was that it seems to be of an artistic
style that post-dates the period in which William lived. Also, the clothing that the subject of the portrait is wearing does not fit
the period; it is of a style that was worn in the early 19th century. I consulted our Graphics Curator, Allison Cywin, to see what
her thoughts are. She is in agreement that the periods do not match. Allison checked her portrait file and it turns out that she
has a photocopy of the portrait in the Graphics collection, and the photocopy has a note on the back, written by a Jonathan
Peace Hazard, probably a descendant or relation of the gentleman in the portrait. According to the note, the man is
William T. Robinson, born 1754, died 1837. Specifically, the note says: "Wm. T. Robinson. Born, in the old 'Thos. Robinson
House' Washington St. Newport R.I. Dec. 30, 1754 Died in same house, March 1837, aged 82 years. His Great Grandson,
Benjn. R. Smith, owns this same house, today - 1884." This note is written on the back of the photographic print. We do not
own the original photograph, but we do have a copy print of it.  
 
The note seems to prove our theory that the portrait is not of the William Robinson in which you are interested. It is possible
that the portrait might still be in the house mentioned in the note, or is in private hands elsewhere. Unfortunately this seems
to leave you back at "square one," without an image of the William who was the deputy governor in the early 18th century.
I know that we do not have a portrait of him in our museum collections, and according to Edward (Ted) Sanderson, the
executive director of the Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission, there is no portrait of him at the Rhode
Island State House. 
 
Please let me know if you have additional questions about this image, and I will do my best to answer them. 
 
Sincerely,
 
Robin Flynn 
Asst. Reference Librarian 
RIHS Library 
121 Hope St. 
Providence, RI 02906 
(401) 273-8107, ext. 11 
rpflynn@rihs.org