The collection contains the collected papers of the da Graça and Soares family, which includes photographs that reflect the lives of a Cape Verdean family in Rhode Island in the early to mid-twentieth century.

Eduardo da Graça was born in 1903 and immigrated to the United States from Cape Verde in 1925, settling in Rhode Island. He then became a chef at the Minden Hotel on Providence’s East Side. In 1953, he became a United States citizen under the name Edward Grace.