WARWICK, R.I. -- The Gaspee Days Committee is about to receive its birth certificate -- a copy of a Providence newspaper dated June 13, 1772 which is believed to carry the first account of the burning of the British revenue ship Gaspee four days earlier in Narragansett Bay.
Mark Tracy, of Providence, donated the copy of the Providence Gazette after reading a story in The Providence Journal that reported the auction of rare Rhode Island newspapers from the 18th Century.
The venerable newspaper is to be presented to the Gaspee Days Committee at 6 p.m. Monday at 24 Meeting St., Providence, a building owned by the Providence Preservation Society.
Carol Deming, president of the Gaspee Committee, said her organization will consult experts in document preservation.