The Sidney S. Rider Collection, the largest private collection of materials related to the history of Rhode Island, was purchased from Sidney Rider and presented to the library by Marsden Perry in 1903. Rider was a leading Providence bookseller, publisher and antiquarian who had amassed a collection of manuscript and printed materials documenting the history and print culture of Rhode Island from the 17th through the early 20th centuries. The collection includes books, pamphlets, manuscripts, broadsides, ephemera, scrapbooks and newspapers compiled over 50 years of collecting. Notable among the ephemera are posters, cartoons, playbills, ballots, carrier's addresses, theater programs, tax bills, lottery tickets, death notices, and funeral invitations. A significant portion of the collection pertains to Thomas Wilson Dorr and the Dorr Rebellion (1841-1843).