Lou Costa Collection on Fox Point

Lou Costa Collection on Fox Point

Fox Point Community

These are different materials from the Lou Costa Collection on Fox Point, housed in the Rhode Island Collection of Providence Public Library. This collection was put together by Fox Point resident, Lou Costa, with the help of many, including a Brown Professor, however this project has no affiliation with the university. Lou Costa wished to document Fox Point and the communities of people who lived and worked there. Eventually the collection was gifted to the PPL by Costa. The Fox Point community experienced a lot of turmoil at the hands of Brown University and the Urban Renewal Project, forcing many to leave, and irreparably changing the demographics of the area. The Costa Collection seeks to shine a light on this history and highlight the vibrant communities that have been overshadowed. The specific pictures included are of a flyer asking for material donations, an email expressing excitement about the project, and a photo from the collection titled, “Poor People’s Park.” These items, and this collection in general, demonstrates the active role community members play in the creation of a community archive, the positive impact it can have, and the reality it illustrates, none of which is achieved with an institutional archive.

Lou Costa

Lou Costa

Lou Costa

1843-2019

Mr. Costa was helped in his efforts by a number of people including Professor Annie Valk of Brown University's Center for Public Humanities and her graduate students, as well as members of the Fox Point Community including Phyllis Pacheco and Johnny and Ernie Costa (no relation).

Copyright has not been assigned to Providence Public Library. All requests
for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be obtained by
the researcher from the copyright holder.

Photographs, paper documents and letters

Materials are in English. Very limited materials in Cape Verdean Creole
(also spelled Kriolu or Kriol) and Portuguese

Text and Images

Fox Point