Ryan Norbauer, H.P. Lovecraft Walking Tour of Providence, dating from NecronomiCon 2013. Lovely Web design and large pictures.
Though I raised an eyebrow over the passing claim that the Providence Athenaeum… “was a favorite reading spot of HPL”. There is no evidence for this, that I know of. Nothing in the Selected Letters, Collected Essays, or I Am Providence. Lovecraft did write the poem “Providence Amateur Press Club (Deceased) to the Athenaeum Club of Journalism” (24th November 1916), but that was addressed to the Athenaeum of Harvey, Ill. (Collected Essays I, p.39). There is only one instance of Lovecraft including the Providence Athenaeum on the tours he gave to visiting friends, for Brobst in 1932. Presumably as an example of unmodernised 18th century architecture still housing its original institution, and of course for the Poe connection.
There are a lot of pictures catalogs of old Providence in Internet Archive (https://archive.org/ in the American Library section) site that can give a clear picture of the town in Lovecraft days. Here one example (on many others to consult and to download for free) >>> https://archive.org/details/providenceviews00prov
Pingback: Visit R.I. | Tentaclii