Get to know Mike Ferguson of @pvdnowandthen

updated 10/30/2024

Your name: Mike Ferguson
Insta handle: @pvdnowandthen

1. Tell us about your account. 

In most cases, posts are a pair of photos of the same location in Providence. One of the photos is current, and one is a historic photo between 40 and 160 years old, with few exceptions. Occasionally, the historic image is a drawing or a painting.   

2. Is there a story behind the name of your account? 

Even before I knew exactly what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to focus mostly on the built evolution of the city because I have an interest in both history and architecture. My first choice for a handle was @PVDthenPVDnow, but as soon as I looked at that name I thought, Duh, it should be @pvdnowandthen. I found out later that for a long time The Providence Journal had a regular column titled “Now and Then in Rhode Island.” 

3. How did you get started? 

In the beginning, I thought I was going to do short videos where I held up a vintage postcard of a building or a city scene and then moved the postcard aside to reveal the same building or street today. But I figured out quickly that the universe of vintage postcards of Providence is pretty finite, and the universe of vintage Providence postcards being sold at a price I’m willing to pay is even more finite. Around the same time that I was figuring out the postcard reveal wouldn’t be the way to go, I started exploring the Providence Public Library online photo archive and realized it would take me a long time to exhaust that resource. I started spending a lot of time searching through the archives for places I recognized, and then attempting to approximate if not duplicate those photos on my daily walk around the city. Early on, I also thought I would take pictures of art and other interesting things I stumble upon while walking around. But there are a lot of other people doing that sort of thing really well on Instagram, a lot of excellent photographers, so I decided to stick to the “now and then” photos. While there are plenty of examples of people doing this sort of thing in Providence here and there, I didn’t see anyone on Instagram doing it as relentlessly as I thought I could do it.  

4. Where do you draw your inspiration? 

First and foremost, the city itself. I walk through some portion of the city every day and I am never bored and always learning. I find the old photos themselves very inspirational. I can spend hours just looking at old photos of Providence and trying to figure out what I’m seeing and understand how the city has changed over time. I spend so much time looking at old photos that when I walk through the city I feel like I see the ghosts of building that no longer exist. I’m also inspired by anyone who is as curious as I am about the built history of Providence. 

 5. Every picture tells a story. Do you have a favorite story behind one of your posts? 

I like the story behind the spot that is now home the Biltmore parking garage. The middle of that block was once home to the Aldrich House Hotel, which was rebuilt after the famous Aldrich House Fire of 1888. The fire burned down most of the buildings on the entire block that is now the parking garage, but Aldrich House was able to rebuild because its bones of iron and brick, still somewhat rare when it was built, survived. But more interesting than that, before The Aldrich House, the home of John Eddy stood on that spot and that’s where Abraham Lincoln slept after reprising his Cooper Union speech in Providence. The Eddy house was not torn down to make way for The Aldrich house, it was actually moved a quarter of a mile west, where it was torn down eventually to make way for the Regency apartments.  

6. Do you have a personal-favorite photo in your account so far? 

One of my favorite old photos is of Turk’s Head under construction in 1913. Hanging from the metal framework of the building are three banners that read: “We want a live independent man in the state house … as well as a bronze independent man on the dome. Vote for Theodore Francis Green for governor.” 

7. What’s your most popular post so far? 

In terms of number of likes I think it’s a post with several photos taken from Prospect Terrace, the old photos/images covering quite a time span. In terms of engagement as a percentage of followers, I think it’s a photo of Industrial Trust taken from Exchange Street north of the river. In the old photo, the area where the river runs now is covered with train tracks and an old locomotive dominates the foreground.

  

 8. Do you have any favorite Rhode Island accounts that you follow? 

Well, just to name a few: @vintagesignpics, @risk_is_reward, @the_hidden_worlds_of_pvd, @artinruins, @boltcoffeeco. 

9. How long have you been in Rhode Island? 

I’ve only been living in Providence since August of 2019, but it was my home away from home for a couple of years before that.  

10. What do you {heart} about Rhode Island? 

I’m still madly infatuated with the city of Providence. At this point, 13 of my 20 months living in Providence has been under the limitation of a Pandemic, so I haven’t done much exploring outside of the city yet. In fact, I’ve barely begun to scratch the surface of the east side!

11. Favorite place to take out-of-towners? 

Hands down, Cellar Stories Bookstore. When I was younger, used bookstores like Cellar Stories were common, but now they’re so rare. I’m not only talking about the depth of inventory and the time you can spend exploring every arcane corner; I’m also talking about the sheer visual cacophony of the space and the sense that chaos is being kept just barely at bay. I’m talking about breathing in history and floors that creak and being unable to shake the feeling that the bookstore is alive. Like Providence itself, I know I’ll never see everything there is to see.

Note, sadly, Cellar Stories closed in 2023