Historic Nantucket, Spring 1994, Vol. 43 No. 1

SPRING 1994

V 0 L U ME 43

No.1

The Last of the Old-Time Basketmakers

From the Acting Director ur Cent~nnial Celebrati_on is about to begin. Elsewhere in this 1ssue you'll fmd a schedule of the e vents planned to make NHA's centennial summer an exciting, feature-filled season with show openings, lectures, gala social gatherings, and the birthday party on July 9. Attend everything! It happens only once every hundred years.

You'll soon receive your 1994 NHA membership renewal notice. This mailing reflects a change il" your Association's renewal policy. Everyone is asked to ~enew memberships in the spring of the year. We believe t'¡ t it is advantageous for all of our members to have their d mission passes in hand as we open our museums, r storic houses, and exhibits at the start of the season. And especially important in this centennial year, all members 1ould get ample advance notice of the special events plan d for the summer season.

So watch your mail for your renewal letter. S. how much your membership "buys" this year, recognit¡ how much you will be helping to preserve and prot t the unique historical character of our beloved island, a 1 join with us in the Nantucket Historical Associat io n'~ 'bservance of its lOOth birthday.

We are counting on you to be an important part ol what promises to be a spectacular celebration.

O Douglas K. Burch, Editor Helen Winslow Chase, Historian Sybille Stillger Andersen, Art Director Photos: NHA collections unless otherwise credited

The Last of the Old-Time BasketmaK:ers

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Mitchy Ray

By David H. Wood

Prelude to the Launching

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The Nantucket Historical Association

By Edouard A. Stackpole

C. Marshal 3eale Cover Photo: Mitchy Ray splitting staves for baskets,

by Louis Davidson c. 1940.

Editor's Note: Hail and farewell! While this is the last letter we will receive from acting director C. Marshall Beak it is good to know that he is not leaving us. Mark will kc< , on contributing to the continuing growth and stability f the NHA as he returns to his duties as comptroller.

Departments What's News at the NHA

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NHA Q&A

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We get letters ...

Items of Interest The Museum Shop Historic NantucJcet welcomes articles on any aspec_t of J\!~tucket history. Original research, firsthand accounts, and remm1scences of island experiences, l1istoric logs, letters(! and_ )?holographs .are examples of materials of mterest to our rea ers. We expect,articles to be entertaining and instructive for a general audience and ~o adhere to high standards of historical accuracy. Although HistoriC Nantucket laCks the space to print notes or bibliographies, we encourage our authors to use documentation and will mal(e annotated copies available at the NHA's Research Center. Historic Nantw:lut strives to publish enjoyable reading that will promote public appreciation of !'Jant~Cket's history ana preserve !mportanf information about the 1sland s past.

Historic Nantucket (ISSN 0439-2248) Is published quarterly as a privilege of membership by the

Nantucket Historical Association.

5 Washington Street, Nantucket, MA 02554 Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, MA Postmaster: Send address changes to Hlstork Nantucket, Box 1016, Nantucket, MA 02554-1016

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THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCI ATH OFFICERS Ms. Kimberly C. Corkran, President Mrs. Thomas H. Gosnell, First Vice President Mrs. William B. Macomber, Second Vice President Mr. Paul A. Wolf, Jr., Treasurer Mrs. Hamilton Heard, Jr., Secretary and Assistant Treasurer Mr. C. Marshall Beale, Acting Executive Director

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Mr. Alan F. Atwood Mrs. Charles Balas

~~~~~JL~Srecker

Miss Nancy A. Chase Ms. Kimberly C. Corkran Mrs. Thomas H. Gosnell Mr. Erwin L. Greenberg Mrs. William E. Grieder Prof. William A. Hance

Mrs. Hamilton Heard, Jr. Mrs. Sharon Lorenzo Mrs. Earle MacAusland Mrs. William B. Macomber Mrs. Carl M. Mueller Mr. H. Flint Ranney Mrs. William L. Slover Rev. Georgia Ann Snell Mr. Paul A. Wolf, Jr.

ADVISORY BOARD Mr. Walter Beinecke, Jr. Mrs. John G. W. Husted Ms. Patricia A. Butler Mrs. Arthur Jacobsen Mr. Alcon Chad wick Mrs. JaneT. Lamb Mrs. Robert Champion Mr. Francis D. Lethbridge Mrs. )ames F. Chase Mr. Reginald Levine Mr. Michael de Leo Mrs. John A. Lodge Mrs. Walker Groetzinger Mrs. Thomas B. Loring Mrs. Herbert L. Gutterson Mr. William B. Macom""ber Mrs. Rober! E. Hellman Mr. Robert F. Mooney Mr. Peter Nash

Mrs. R. Arthur Orleans Arthur Reade, Esq. Mrs. Frederick A. Richmond Mr. Alfred F. Sanford Ill Mrs. William A. Sevrens Mr. joseph F. Welch Mr. johnS. Winter Mr. David H. Wood Mrs. Joseph C. Woodle

EDITORIAL BOARD Mrs. Dwight Beman Mr. Richard L. Brecker Mr. Robert F. Mooney Ms. Elizabeth Oldham

Mr. Nathaniel Philbrick Mrs. L. William Seidman Mrs. Susan Beegel Tiffney Mr. David H . Wood

WHAT'S NEWS AT THE NHA Away Off Shore

N

antucket's history is the theme of a newly published book, Away Off

Shore, Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602 1890 by island resident Nathaniel Philbrick.

An independent scholar, journalist, and historian, he is also a member of the NHA' s Editorial Board.

When queried about his reasons for undertaking yet another volume about this already well-documented subject, Philbrick explained that, as a journalist by training, he wanted to know "who the people of Nantucket's past really were." His method is relatively simple- to tell the history of the island through the lives of the people who made it.

"Each chapter features a person or persons, and the island itself is a character.

My hope has been to make it a readable narrative that not only has a story to tell but also tries to put that story in perspective. For example, why did the island climb to the top of the whale fishery in the first place, and why did it fall so quickly in the mid-nineteenth century?"

Away Off Shore (which refers to Herman

Welcome Aboard ur two new staff members have many summers before joining us as the things in common: each has been a Association's Membership Coordinator. regular summer visitor to Nantucket for Her academic credentials include a degree the past decade, each moved to the island in art history, and she has considerable full time a year ago, and they both began experience in recording, filing, and catato work in our Old Town Building offices loging paintings and artifacts. Her areas of interest and experience make for a pershortly after the first of the year.

Lisa Rance, NHA Centennial Events fect fit in the NHA organization.

Feel free to stop by our offices and welCoordinator, brings fifteen years of varied marketing, promotion, and public rela- come your new staff members. They tions experience with major national retail would like to meet you, too. firms and publications to the complex, important job of planning and overseeing the many different features, special events, and celebrations marking the NHA's centennial summer. An experienced marathoner, Lisa certainly has the strength and stamina this demanding job requires.

A recent graduate of Rollins College, Amy Saunders worked as a volunteer with the NHA Amy Saunders and Lisa Rance. curatorial staff for two Photo: Sybille Stillger Andersen

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Melville's reference to the island in MobyDick: "see how it stands there, away off shore") is being published by the Mill Hill Press here on island and features illustrations by Nantucket artist Diane Swartz.

Beginning on Daffodil Weekend (April 23) the hard cover edition will be available in island bookstores for $29.95. The softcover version at $19.95 will be out later in the season.

George W. Jones

t is with regret that we note the passing of another great friend and staunch supporter.

George W. Jones, president of the Nantucket Historical Association from 1956 to 1967, died at his home in F1orida in February. He was 92 years old.

Born on Nantucket, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1924 and worked for the Public Service Electric & Gas Company of New Jersey before returning to the island in 1932. He operated the South Beach Boat Yard for twenty years, and was town assessor for twenty-seven years.

During all that time, "Gentleman" George Jones was active in more than a dozen community organizations. His interest and expertise in Quaker architectural history led to his participation in island historical preservation. In addition to his service as NHA president, he was a founding member of the Historic District Commission and a trustee of the Nantucket Historic Trust.

Through our continuing work of preserving, interpreting, and exhibiting the facts and artifacts of Nantucket's history, the NHA honors the memory of this dedicated leader.

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Clinton Mitchell Ray

The Last of the Old-Time Basketmakers

by David H. Wood he basket shop was a small building of uncertain age and doubtful permanency hunkered low to the ground on the south side of Starbuck's Court.

Here, when he had nothing better to do with his time, Clinton Mitchell Ray, familiarly known to all as "Mitchy," split and steamed his oak staves, wove the long pale strands of cane, shaped his handles, varnished his finished baskets, and offered them for sale to a public that somehow found its way to this unprepossessing shop.

Mitchy was a thirdgeneration Nantucket basket maker.

His father, Charles F. Ray Oval Nantucket basket by Mitchy Ray. (1826 - 1901), and his Photo: JackWeinhold grandfather, master mariner Charles B. Ray (1798- 1884), had to the old Nantucket doggerel which preceded him in the craft. Several other asserts ". . . the Rays and Russells coopers Ray family members also made baskets. are .. . ." And, after all, there is a strong One of them, Mitchy's great uncle, bore likelihood that our familiar island baskets the patriotic name of George Washington were derived from and related to the sturRay. Perhaps the family came to basket dy wooden containers the coopers fabrimaking naturally since many of them cated for Nantucket's whaling industry, were coopers by trade, lending credence and for household use as well.

According to island tradition, Mitchy ~ ~ .. t . . . learned to make baskets in 1 ~Sj~P~;jf~ his grandfather's workshop 17e':':.( ~~ ·~ 7~ 1 when he was only a boy. In 1 ~ "•DE ' Y ~. the later years of his life ~ MITOHEL!, flAY Charles B. Ray turned his ~ "''''T'-"'"'·"''"· ""'"· ~ hand to manufacturing bas~~lt~~-~~~~ kets and set and maintained Nantucket, Mass. ~ ~~*'~ ~~~~~ high standards for the quality '-----"""'!!-~ ~ of his products. He had followed the sea from the time Early labels used by Mitchy Ray. he was a boy, rising to Photos: Jack Weinhold

T

ii, (a

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become first officer :> oard ships Rose, Otter, and ydia.

He th en comman d a number of ships, the st of which was Susan t of Nantucket. His o bi u ary (Inquirer and Mirror, July 1884) refers to this v 'laleman as " ... one of 01 oldest and most respect citizen s ." By the t i " he retired from the sea, kets and other island hanc rafts were beg inning to e in great demand by V I~ wrs who were discov(. i ng Nantucket as a va cd ion spot. Capt ain Ray 's son, Charles F. Ray, conttn ued what had become a f mily tradition, though is doubtful that he equ led his fath e r's impre s~ ive record, which vas described in the Inquirer and Mirror of 15 November 1879: Captain Charles B. Ra y h ad his 81st birthday last Saturday. Since his 80th natal day he has made 310 baskets varying in size from a quart to a half bushel, the most of which have been sold to strangers visiting the island . Many of them were excellent specimens of workmanship, made to order and fitted with covers. When we consider that the labor has been all done by himself, and the stock for the handles, frames and ribs of the larger baskets have been spli t from white oak butts, and shaved down, we can imagine that the gentleman has not eaten much idle bread since his eightieth birthday.

Captain Charles B. Ray's gra ndson Mitchy did not become a full-time basketmaker early in his life. As a young man growing up in Nantucket he was considered "wild," and his escapades, even

diameter was sold for $12.00 . Mitchy's shop was broken into in August of 1953 and some articles were stolen. The thief set a fire to cover his tracks and the local paper reported that " . . . 12 or 13 baskets were lost at a value of $12 each." Some of those lost were probably of the "one egg," or smallest size. Mitchy turned out a prodigious number of these, selling them to tourists for $1 .50 each.

Although Mitchy Ray claimed to have made a number of covered baskets similar to those made by his grandfather, none have been authenticated.

He did not, of course, make any of the familiar purse baskets, which started to become popuRound Nantucket basket by M itchy Ray, unlabeled. Made late in lar shortly before his his career. death.

Photo: Jack Weinhold While Mitchy was, like many years later, were recounted as his father and grandfather, a fine craftsalmost legendary by those who had man, there is a discernible difference known him. It is known, however, that on between the baskets he made early in his one occasion he rescued a young man from career and those of a later vintage. The latdrowning at Surfside, a deed which earned ter do not show the fine attention to detail him a medal. Mitchy left the island to and the tighter weave that are the marks of become a meat cutter on the Cape but, as a truly fine basket. This is not surprising, he told an interviewer late in his life, "I because he was busy producing baskets had to get back home."

He held various jobs, but turned to basket making soon after his return to Nantucket, established his shop, and, for many, became the most notable of all the island basketmakers. He pursued this trade virtually to the end of his life.

The baskets Mitchy made were usually labeled and, in his early years, were exceptionally well constructed and detailed .

During those years he used simply printed labels. It was only much later in life that he adopted his most familiar touchmark, a paper label that said:

just as fast as he could sell them. At his prime, however, Mitchy's baskets are fine examples of the craft.

Mitchy spent his last months in Our Island Home, where he died on February 13, 1956. His obituary in the Inquirer and Mirror said: Nantucket's oldest and most famous basketmaker is dead. Ointon Mitchell Ray, known to everyone as 'Mitchy,' died on February 13 .. . . In his little shop on Starbuck's Court, Mitchy Ray was host to literally hundreds of people every summer, including among his friend s as many non-residents as Nantucketers ....

Mitchy's lightship baskets have gone to all four corners of the world, and, like most good things, mellow and increase in value with their age.

Several of Mitchy Ray's baskets are included in the special NHA Centennial Lightship Basket Show appearing at the Fair Street Museum throughout the summer of 1994.

Nantucket-born, David H. Wood was schooled on the island and graduated from Middlebury College, where he did graduate work at the Bread Loaf School of English. For a quarter of a century he was teacher of English and drama, and administrator at the Lenox (Mass.) School .

In 1974 he became director of the Norman Rockwell Museum at Stockbridge. He returned to the island in 1987. Mr. Wood is a member of the NHA Advisory Board and serves on the Association's Editorial Board as well.

I was made in Nantucket, I'm strong and I'm stout. Don't lose me or burn me. I'll never wear out. Made by Mitchell Ray of Nantucket.

Of course, the basket market of the 1930s and 1940s was considerably different from that of today. Mitchy's price scale for his baskets was simple: "A dollar an inch."

Thus, a sewing basket twelve inches in

Group of the "one egg" baskets Mitchy made in quantities. One of these is stamped with his name. Average diameter 3."

Photo: Jack Weinhold

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NHAQ&A

By Margaret H. Trapnell Q: Who were some of the famous actors who summered in 'Sconset in past years?

Erik Muller, Seattle, Washington.

A: Among the earliest were George Fawcett and his wife, Percy Haswell, who came at the turn of the century. Because they were so enthusiastic about this delightful seaside spot, many of their Broadway confreres followed. By 1905, some fifty members of the Lambs' Club were 'Sconset visitors, among them William Courtney, Robert Hilliard, DeWolf Hopper, Mary Mannering, and Frank Gilmore. Daniel Frohman and Morris Guest belonged to the theatrical colony, and Lillian Russell was once a summer guest.

When Daniel Frohman first came to the island he was shocked to discover that he "had to pay a local pirate $4.00" to drive him from the boat to 'Sconset, whereas his trip from New York via train and boat had cost only about $6.00.

Q: Why is the name "widow's walk" a misnomer? Lyn Danforth, Nantucket.

A: Roof walks with railings should be referred to simply as "walks." Romantic tradition to the contrary, walks were not primarily designed as platforms for seafarers' wives to scan the waters in search of vessels bearing returning menfolk. And it seems illogical that "widows" would brave the extremes of island weather up there on the roof looking for deceased husbands. The purpose of the walks was to provide an expedient device for spotting chimney fires and dousing them with buckets of water or sand.

Fire has always been a serious threat on this windswept island. Inside many of the early homes, like the Macy-Christian House and the 1800 House, there are glass transoms over interior doors so that the light from flames could be seen in adjoining rooms or from the street outside. This architectural feature was the early equivalent of today's smoke alarms.

Q: What are Nantucket winters like? Doug Wheeler, Arlington, Virginia.

A: "Wind y " is my standard succinct

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response to this question so frequently asked by visitors to NHA properties. By now the subject of weather is pretty well worn out, but it's interesting to note that this past winter was mild when compared to a few previous ones. In 1854 there was a heavy blizzard on April 16 and 17, and two inches of snow fell on May 6. Twenty inches of snow fell on the island in February of 1864. The greatest snowfall ever recorded in New England occurred in February of 1717. Cotton Mather referred to it as "this great snow." Throughout the Northeast there was eight to fifteen feet of snow, more than enough for the children of Nantucket to go sledding.

Q: Why is the paint on the Had wen House a different shade of white from that on the house next door? Beverly Hitch, New Canaan, Connecticut.

A: Before the work of painting both the outside and the inside of the Hadwen House commenced, considerable research was done to ascertain the actual original colors. An expert paint analyst, Frank Welsh of Philadelphia, was consulted. He examined samples of all the different layers of paint microscopically and chemically and determined that the warm, slightly off-white shade you see today is, in fact, the original color. The sparkling white of the mansion next door is the result of paint containing zinc chromate, a formula not yet developed in the mid-nineteenth century when William Had wen built his house.

Q: What became of all the Nantucket Quakers? Mary Witt, Bethesda, Maryland.

A: There were two thousand Quakers living on Nantucket in 1771. A century later, only twenty. Two factors were responsible for this prodigious decline in their numbers. First was the general loss of population and prosperity following the collapse of the whaling industry in the middle of the nineteenth century. Second, and perhaps even more significant, was the break up of the Quaker meeting into several dissenting factions, disputing matters of theology, practice, and property. In addition, many Friends succumbed to

influences from the "World's People" and were read out of meeting. Maria Mitchell, for example, was censured for playing the piano.

The vicissitudes of t he Quakers are reflected in the numerous locations of their meeting houses. The first meetings were held in the Nathaniel Starbuck home, "Parliament Hou se," in the ori gin a l Sherburne settlement. In the late eighteenth century the meeting site was the southwest corner of Main and Pleasant streets. That building led several different lives. In 1872 it was sold to the Atlantic Straw Company and became a hat factory.

Then it was moved to Brant Point where it was transformed into a n adjunct of the Nantucket Hotel. Finally, it was barged from there to its present location on South Water Street and co nverted into the Dreamland Theater.

Today's Quake r Meeting is held in what was once their school on Fair Street adjacent to the Fair Street Museum.

Editor's Note: In the last issue of Historic Nantucket this column erroneously stated that the Great Fire of 1846 destroyed not only the center of town but reduced the waterfront to ashes as well. Our historian, Helen Winslow Chase, h as pointed out that the devastation at the harbor was not that extensive. Straight Wharf, Old North Wharf, and Steamboat Wharf were casualties of the fire, but Old South Wharf and Commercial Wharf were spared.

There had been several previous serious fires. In 1836 a huge conflagration occurred near the Pacific Bank, and two years later valuable property in the eastern section of town was destroyed. Ten of the fifty-nine inmates of the "Poor Farm" in Quaise perished in an 1844 fire there.

There is a school of thought which contends that many of those, and other, fires could have been prevented if the town fathers had been willing to spend more tax revenues on adequate public fire protection. The Nantucket Fire Department was established in 1838, with twenty firewards serving without pay.

We encourage your comments and participation. Let us know what you would like to know more about.

The Nantucket Historical Association

Prelude to the Launching

By Edouard A. Stackpole As the NHA's centennial year begins, it is appropriate to print this excerpt, edited

by Doug Burch, from one of the late Edouard A. 5 tackpole' s unpublished manuscripts.

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lthough Nantucket has a history of remarkable scope and interest, the historical association that bears its name did not originate during that period when the island was an active part of America's maritime enterprise.

That era had come and gone by the time the generation that was to inspire the idea of such an organization came on the scene. Even then, the middle of the nineteenth Friends century, three more decades were to elapse before the Nantucket Historical Association was actually launched. The story of this beginning is not without a definite and unusual interest.

In the century that had elapsed since the settlers established themselves on the island, there had been no attempts to write their "annals," and it was not until 1792 that an islander named Zaccheus Macy, "a man well versed in the history of the settlement of the Island," wrote an account of the settlers, the Indians, and the subdivision of land, which was published in the

Obed Macy's History of Nantucket.

Photo: Sybille Stillger Andersen

Meeting House, c. 1880.

Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

The publication of Obed Macy's History of Nantucket in 1835 was the first documented attempt to present the story of the inhabitants of this island for the nearly two centuries of its existence. Macy lived through some of the crises he describes, giving his account a distinctive touch. It would seem that a new awareness of the part Nantucket played in the larger history of the United States should have followed the appearance of this volume, but despite the recognition his work received at home and the understanding of the unique quality of Nantucket's history it presented, few people considered forming a historical society to preserve the island's past.

Many other issues dominated the concerns of Nantucketers at that time. The ranks of the Society of Friends were undergoing a division between factions, a crisis that was eventually to tear apart the Quaker hierarchy so long a controlling factor in the life of the island. The public schools had emerged as a vital part of island life. The whaling industry was

nearing its peak and the refineries and candle factories were busy turning out the products that were to bring a strong tide of financial success to Nantucket. But that would soon change.

The collapse of Nantucket's whaling industry came on the heels of the Great Fire of 1846 and the California Gold Rush. The first was a disaster that destroyed most of the waterfront and business area of the town, and the second marked the migration of nearly a thousand islanders hoping to make their fortunes in the West. The Civil War era saw Nantucket's "banner town" response to the national emergency and the end of her fabled whaling days. The depression that followed found the old town virtually shorn of its shipping, its wharves falling into ruin, its population but half of what it had been only a decade earlier.

Then came the discovery of a new economy, a new way of earning a livelihood the summer business!

Whether as an emergence of a latent awareness of the exciting story of Nantucket's past or as a resurgence of pride in the island's accomplishments, a feeling that something should be done to promulgate and preserve the "Nantucket story'' arose during the middle of the nineteenth century. The impetus for the project came with three reunions of Nantucket High School alumni in 1857, 1865 and August of 1866. If there was a specific catalyst, it was the enthusiasm that marked the third reunion.

That it was well organized was demonstrated by the schedule of events that had been so carefully arranged. For weeks preceding the reunion a series of letters appeared in the Inquirer and Mirror. On 21 August 1866, the celebration opened with the strains of Gilmore's Band of Boston welcoming the crowd gathered in front of the Joseph S. Barney residence (now the Had wen House) on Main Street. There

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Alexander Starbuck was an "irresistible enthusiasm" in the air, and the response was such that the entire town reflected the good fellowship of the occasion. At a business meeting held at the Methodist Church, Joseph S. Barney was again nominated as president of the Alumni Association, with William Breed Drake, vice president; Charles H. Starbuck, secretary; and Henry D. Robinson, treasurer. The succeeding ceremonies took place beneath a "mamouth [sic] tent." Among those present were Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, the Reverend Ferdinand Ewer of New York, and other celebrities.

The orator for the occasion, William Breed Drake of Pennsylvania, observed: Allow me to say . .. that a written history of Nantucket is absolutely demanded by the needs of the present. At the second reunion Governor Andrew suggested that antiquarian researches might appropriately be made a specialty of the Alumni Association, by which the history of Nantucket could be fully and comprehensively learned. Some thirty years ago a history of Nantucket was printed, which answered very well for that day, but Nantucket has lived an age of history since. There is a mass of material at hand which needs on! y to be ferreted out and worked over, to make it of rare value to everyone who owns a birthright in the fair fame of the sea-girt isle.

Also among those present on the occasion was Alexander Starbuck. Following the 1866 reunion Starbuck became a key figure in the development of the Nantucket Historical Association. This devoted son of Nantucket would serve as president of the Association over a period

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of nearly twenty years during which he faithfully guided the destinies of the organization. His definitive History of Nantucket; County, Island and Town was published a few weeks before his death in 1925.

In 1869, following a meeting at the Atheneum during which several articles were drawn up as a recommended constitution for a Nantucket Historical Association, this slate of officers was proposed: president, Joseph S. Barney; vice presidents, Charles H. Starbuck, George B. Upton, George H . Folger, Alexander Starbuck, Reverend Ferdinand C. Ewer, George H. Cary, and Alfred Bunker; and secretary, Arthur E. Jenks.

This was an excellent slate, but as the Nantucket High School Alumni Association was planning another reunion, some of these officers were absorbed by the alumni group. Plans for the formation of the Historical Association were placed in abeyance while plans for the High School alumni's highly successful assembly went forward. The enthusiastic alumni continued to convene over two subsequent years (1872 - 73) and the proposed Nantucket Historical Association remained dormant.

This was understandable in light of the alumni group's ongoing enthusiasm.

Further, most of the officers proposed for the Historical Association resided off island, those living here were engaged in busy lives, and the difficulty of gathering for meetings was obvious. However, interest in preserving Nantucket's history did not flag.

In the early months of 1872 a group of Nantucketers, most of whom resided on the mainland, assembled in Boston to organize the Nantucket HistorioGenealogical Society. The 31 August 1872 issue of the Inquirer and Mirror published an article by Alexander Starbuck making a strong plea for gathering all existing records relating to Nantucket, il)cluding oral reports of the older citizens of the island, old ledgers and time-stained logbooks of whaleships, and previously forgotten accounts of the geology and physical geography of the island.

Two more articles appeared in subsequent issues of the newspaper, and an article by Tristram Coffin of Poughkeepsie, New York, giving an interesting account of "Tristram Coffin of Nantucket," ran in the American Historical Record and was reprinted in the Inquirer and Mirror on 28 September 1872. A week later that newspaper, under the heading "Doings of the Historio-Genealogical Society," published

Ferdinand C. Ewer a long article by Reverend Ferdinand C. Ewer on the phy sical geogra phy of Nantucket. Among his observations was a statement concerning how Smith's Point repaired occasional breakthrou ghs by nature's use of "the same forces that first formed it."

For a number of weeks following, several articles appeared in the Nantucket newspaper, some writte n by Alexander Starbuck (who often signed his pen name, "Nantucket, Jr."), and all d ocumenting a number of important facts relating to the island's history. The mounting interest in the whole subject found expression in equal measure among the residents of the island with the series of pertinent articles in the local newspaper written by Nantucketers now residing in other parts of the country.

In 1874, JosephS. Barney, who became the director of the Nantucket Steamboat Company, vigorously pursued a program of increased boat service with the slogan "Two Boats a Day"; Mark Salom of Boston, a summer resident, strongly advocated emphasizing Nantucket as a "Health Resort"; HenryS. Wyer, the photographer and art dealer, issued a special booklet of his excellent photographic studies of the town and island; and the Reverend Phoebe Ann Hanaford wrote essays in which her word pictures- especially of 'Sconset- attracted considerable attention.

The famous Coffin Family Reunion in the summer of 1881 was a gala affair. A new element entered the picture at this time with the introduction of the Nantucket Railroad, which originally ran to Surfside, the scene of the gathering of the members of the Coffin family. Among the attendees was Tristram Coffin of Poughkeepsie who, after viewing the

Jethro Coffin House (known as "The Oldest House"), financed repairs, which created a veritable museum in time for its bicentennial in 1886.

All these different factors were now merging into a concrete plan for the establishment of an historical association on Nantucket. The effort accomplishing this was not as yet clearly defined, but the impetus had been given. Individuals like Alexander Starbuck, Frederick Coleman Sanford, Mrs. Susan Burdick Channing, George H. Folger, and Clarence A. Bunker all realized that the spirit of the proposition should not be permitted to become a lost opportunity.

Another decade was to elapse; another group of interested people was to appear on the scene; another key figure, who would become the catalyst for the eventual launching of the NHA, was to emerge.

Then, suddenly and quietly, things fell into place, and, almost unannounced, the event happened.

For a number of years the Nantucket Atheneum had maintained a museum on the second floor that featured historical exhibits closely concerned with Nantucket. The collection included the lower jaw, nearly eighteen feet long, of a great sperm whale, an exhibit that had intrigued the famous showman Phineas T. Barnum when he visited the island.

Barnum immediately offered to purchase it for his museum in New York City.

Fortunately for Nantucket, the offer was refused.

Following the regular business of the Atheneum proprietors at the 1892 annual meeting in January, Maria Tallant Owen, a teacher of many years' experience both on Nantucket and on the mainland, and the

author of an authoritative study of the island's botany, presented a photograph of the wallpaper then in the Union Street home of her grandfather, William Coffin.

She had recognized the pattern in a recent visit to a historical exhibit at the Old South Meeting House in Boston. In her letter accompanying the gift Mrs. Owen wrote: "Seeing my old acquaintance in such distinguished company, I thought to myself, now if this paper is worth preserving in the Old South historical collection, it is worth keeping in Nantucket."

Her words prompted the Reverend Myron S. Dudley to suggest widening the sphere of the Atheneum's involvement in the formation of a "Historical Chapter."

"But a bomb had been dropped! Here was a proposition to tamper with a sacred institution! The action was instantaneous - and unfavorable!" wrote Miss Mary E. Starbuck, who had been present that day to hear the "temerarious 'Stranger."'

Pastor of the First Congregational Church since 1889, young Reverend Dudley had accomplished the restoration of the sanctuary walls and ceiling, beautified with fresh paint and stenciled design, and had earned recognition as a vigorous worker in the best interests of the town and island. His efforts culminated in the formation of the Nantucket Improvement Society (forerunner of the Civic League), which succeeded under his energetic leadership. Today's Mill Hill Park bears witness to his vision.

Reverend Dudley became the successful catalyst who won the confidence and support of a number of townspeople for the purpose of creating an independent organization to establish a Historical Society. Among them were proprietors of

The Reverend Myron S. Dudley the Atheneum, who were then considering in committee a "historical and antiquarian department." Mrs. Elizabeth Starbuck, widow of George Starbuck, who lived in Main Street's "West Brick," actively supported the energetic pastor. During the early weeks of 1894 she oversaw the organization of a small group to which Mr. Dudley advanced his ideas.

In May, some thirty members met at the Starbuck house. Mary E. Starbuck's stirring report, entitled "Our Beginnings," describes what transpired: There was much talk and there were varying degrees of interest, of optimism and of pessimism regarding the possibilities. A young man, who was living here for a year or two, said that it wasn't any good to start such a society, for in twenty years there wouldn't be anybody on Nantucket anyway but a few fishermen and scallopers! He went away not long after that meeting, and we never heard from him again.

Fortunately, the dynamic personality of the Reverend Myron S. Dudley was never more in evidence. To those gathered in the west parlor of the Starbuck mansion, the words of Mr. Dudley and his supporters became inspirational. Before the meeting adjourned it was unanimously voted to form the Nantucket Historical Association.

Coffin Family Reunion, 1881.

The date was May 9, 1894.

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We Get Letters . ..

Stephen Wise of New Canaan, Connecticut, sent us a copy of this letter he received from Thomas M. Page of Concord, New Hampshire.

We thank both gentlemen for their interest and comments.

"The article Nantucket: 90 Proof (Historic Nantucket, Winter 1993/94) calls up a number of memories. From 1917 through '21 we summered in Wauwinet, aware of the War but not of bootlegging. When we moved to a flimsy cottage on the Cliff Beach Road, however, I spent much time along the wharves and soon could distinguish the stubby little Coast Guard cutters from the "long, low seventy-footer" - a converted sub chaser. She may have been the one powered by three Liberty engines.

I never saw her except by daylight, when no one paid her any attention, including

the crew of the cutter lying at the same wharf. The cutter could make about 16 knots, I was told, but the ex-chaser about 30. I can well believe that. Twelve hundred h.p. engines on a shallow-built 70footer is a lot of power.

"Occasionally, during a prolonged evening on the south shore, we would hear gun fire a few miles offshore when a rum runner, returning with a cargo from Rum Row, would race past a cutter. We never heard of a casualty. I doubt that any was seriously intended. Everyone, perhaps even the crews of the cutters, depended on Tunning's landing.

"Our cottage on the Beach road was too far back to have a view of Coatue. We could hear the dance band in the evening, and hope that our cook was enjoying her evening off. Everyone else's help was.

Bartholomew Gosnold Center Update

The joint was set on piles, well above the highest tide. "Palatial?" Well, not quite.

Unpainted boards, without clapboards, with a flimsy but serviceable verandah, or porch, on three sides. Access from a modest dock. I never saw boats of any sort arriving or leaving, but our life style did not include Tunning's. That was a mght spot for folk who - to p ut it b lunt'. could afford no alternative. Col. Jam e~ 'v'.

Andrews and our other friends could .

"And that's all I can add to con. 1 ' that good article. Except that the "!. • · freighters" never came close to the is], ,', Cargo was transferred to reti red fi s 1F schooners, like Arethu sa and Capt , 1 McCoy's well-known v ess el The K~ll' McCoy! She worked for years outsidn hL three-mile limit, providing nothing but th' choicest spirits. Ult im ately she w >< caught.

"I shipped on a training cruise fo bu} on a three-masted schooner in 1934 fh first mate had lost hi s captain' s hce b ' when his schooner was also caugh•. ! 1 was a good shipmate, much better qu.,'· fied to captain the Chisholm than thl' , ' enty-year-old dud whom we both serJI?\.1 "Thank you for putting a good draf t some glowing embers."

Living History Program ver wonder what life o n N an tuLl<.~. was like during the eighteenth .~r.o nineteenth centuries? Your children car. learn for themselves this summer as the NHA again offers the pop ular Livir,& History Program for children ages 6 to 10.

Beginning July 6, the progra m will offer its hands on approach to island history every Wednesday and Friday. On Wednesdays children will exp erience daily life as it was lived in the eighteenth century, grinding corn at the Old Mill and then baking bread at the Oldest House.

Friday sessions offer a taste of the whaling era as the participants vi s it the Whaling Museum and make sailo r s' valentines, and then dip candles at t he Thomas Macy Warehouse.

Morning and afternoon sessions are scheduled for each day. The cost is $10.00 per session, $7.00 for members. Space is limited, so reservations are necessary .

Call the Association office at 228-1894 for information and reservations.

E Photo: Doug Burch

hanks to all the many generous donors, the NHA's Bartholomew Gosnold Center is now operational and fully paid for.

Three years ago many friends of the Nantucket Historical Association, under the leadership of Tom and Georgia Gosnell, pledged $600,000 toward the construction of this state-of-the-art, 12,000-square-foot storage facility and conservation laboratory.

As is the case with so many complex undertakings, the cost of the project was underestimated. Tom and Georgia offered a dollar-for-dollar matching grant to raise

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the funds necessary to complete the building. The Gosnells' challenge grant was met through a fund-raising event held last August, a strong response from our Life Members, and a generous gift from the Horace Goldsmith Foundation.

Although a visit to the Bartholomew Gosnold Center is not one of the scheduled features of NHA's Centennial Celebration, it will be well worth your while to drive out Bartlett Road and see for yourself how our priceless collections can now be properly cared for.

It's a dream come true.

The Macy Portraits

ITEMS OF INTEREST NANTUCKET HISTORICAL A SSOCIATION CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 1994 CALENDAR OF EVENTS April20

Lecture by Renny Stackpole. 7:30PM, Whaling Museum

April22

Centennial exhibit opens at the Thomas Macy Warehouse

April23

NHA Centennial Car featured in the Daffodil Parade

May12

Lecture by Nat Philbrick. 7:30PM, Whaling Museum

May27

NHA Centennial Reception. 6 to 8 PM, Thomas Macy Warehouse

June 16

Lecture by David Wood, "Nantucket Baskets." 7:30PM, Whaling Museum

June 17

Harborfest, NHA Concert by Bill Schustik. 8 PM, Whaling Museum

June 19

Nantucket Lightship Basket Show opens at the Fair Street Museum

July 9 HAPPY BIRTHDAY NHA

• All NHA properties open free to the public • Main Street Fete. Activities 10 to 4 PM, Main Street • China Trade Preview Party. 6 to 8 PM, Peter Foulger Museum

July 10

China Trade Exhibit opens at the Peter Foulger Museum

July 23

Centennial Ball at the Sankaty Head Golf Club

August 11

Antiques Show Preview Party. 6 to 8 PM, Nantucket High School

August 12- 14

Antiques Show. 10 to 5 PM, Nantucket High School

August (TBA)

Nantucket Historical Association Celebrity Forum and Lecture

August 27

Tall Ships Gam Jam . 8 PM, Whaling Museum

October 13

Lecture by David Lazarus. 7:30PM. Whaling Museuem

October 15

Cranberry Fest Gam. 4:30PM, Whaling Museum

October 28

Ghost Gam, Nantucket Ghost Stories. 8 PM, Whaling Museum

November 25

Historian/Musician Tom Goux, Songs of the Sea. 4 PM, Whaling Museum

December 3

Festival of Trees at the Thomas Macy Warehouse

Obed Macy

riginal William Swain oil portraits of Obed Macy and his wife, Abigail, are presently in the possession of an antiques dealer on Cape Cod. The dealer has offered to sell them to the NHA, but funds are not available. Several Macy family members, recognizing the importance of the portraits, have organized an acquisition committee with the aim of raising enough money to purchase them.

The Macys have played an important role in Nantucket's history. Thomas Macy was one of the nine First Purchasers, the earliest white settlers of the island. Obed Macy (1762 - 1844) was Nantucket's first historian. In 1835 he published The History of Nantucket, a book that is even today considered to be the most complete and informative history of early Nantucket. Macy's book was one of the resources Herman Melville consulted during the writing of Moby-Dick.

William Swain (1803 - 1847) is perhaps Nantucket's best known nineteenth-century artist. Like Obed Macy, Swain chronicled the "golden age" of the island's whaling industry, painting ship captains, merchants, and leading citizens. The Macy portraits are two of his finest works and should be returned to Nantucket, where they will b e hung in the Peter Foulger Museum for island visitors to enjoy.

Contributions to help attain this important goal should be sent to the NHA Obed Macy Fund, Post Office Box 101 6, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.

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THE MUSEUM SHOP

1894

1994

Op We're celebrating, too!

Our part in the Nantucket Historical Association's centennial summer is the special selection of fine commemorative items we are featuring this season.

A highlight of this collection is an historic calendar designed and produced by the NHA's audio-visual curator, Peter MacGlashan. The vintage photographs and important dates it includes provide you with a fascinating day-by-day review of our island's rich history.

A real collector's treasure is the porcelain plate with finely etched and painted illustrations of Nantucket's historic sites, complete with a written description of each pictured location.

Other centennial mementos include various brass and ceramic pieces, polo shirts, and many other specialty items.

Over the winter months we have worked with many artisans and craftspeople to bring a new and diverse selection of furniture, china, toys, books, and memorabilia to the Museum Shop for your enjoyment. So be sure to make a visit to the shop part of your Centennial Celebration schedule.

The Museum Shop Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Reproductions and Adaptations Featuring Fine China, Furniture, Brass, and Silver Adjacent to the Whaling Museum, Nantucket (508)-228-5785 Members of the Historical Association are entitled to a 10% discount upon presenting their membership card.