Historic Nantucket, Winter 1997, Vol. 46 No. 1

EDITOR

Cecil Barron Jensen

NANTUCKEr

COPY EDITOR

Elizabeth Oldham HISTORIAN

Helen Winslow Chase ART DIRECTOR

Claire O'Keeffe

THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

VOLUME 46, NO. 1

WINTER1997

011-lCERS

Mrs. William Slover President

Mr. David H. Wood

3 Collecting Nantucket Oral Histories

First \lzCe PreiJdenl

Ms. Nancy A. Chase Mr. Richard Tucker Thzrd \'rCe President

Mr. Alan F. Atwood Treasurer

Mrs. Hamilton Heard,Jr.

6

Oral History: Some Notes

16 "Capital Sleighing" Editorial /rom The Inquirer Transcribed by Elizabeth Oldham

by Edward D. Ives

Clerk

Jean M. Weber &eattrve Director

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Mrs. Robert Champion

Ms. Kimberly C. Corkran Mr. John H.D-Jvis Ms. Alice Emerson Mrs. Thomas H. Gosnell Mr. Erwin L. Greenberg Mrs. William E. Grieder Mrs. Edmund A. llujim Prof. William A. Hance

8 AGuideto

NHA Library Resources

Mrs. JaneT. L·unb Mr. Peter \Y/. ash Mrs. Scott Newquist Mr. Steven RaJes Mr. Anhur Reade, Jr. Mr. Alfred F. Sanford rrt 1\lrs. Joseph F. Wdch Mr. Roben A. Young

12

Donation zdeas

EDITORIAL COMM ITTEE

Mary II. Beman Sus.m F. Becgd Richard L. Brecker Roben F. MoonC) IJizabeth Oldham athanid Philbrick Sully Seidman Oa,·id H. Wood Historic Nantucket welcomes articles on any aspect of antucket

history. Original research, firsthand accounts, reminiscences of island experiences, historic logs, lcucrs, and phot~mphs are examples of materials of interest to our readers.

© 1997 by Nantucket Historical Association Historic Nantucket (ISSN ~39-2248) is published quanerly by the antucket Historical Association, 2 Whaler's Lme, Nantucket, MA

~~~~~=.d~~n'cl.d1ti:~

entry offices.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Historic Nantucket , Box 1016, 1antucket, MA 02554-1016 (508) 228-1894 r AX:!508l228-5618

Book Review

21

NHANews

Excerpts /rom her diary at 38

Mr. Waher Beineeke,Jr.

Dr. Eliz:1lx"h Litclc Nathanid Philbrick

20

Maritime Nantucket by Paul C. Morris

By Elizabeth Oldham

Maria Mitchell's Journal of the Hard Wmter

Mrs. Richard L. Brecker Ms. Patricia A. Buder

RESEARCII FELLOWS

See z/ the snow stumps you!

by Betsy Lowenstein

13

Identify These Locations Photos from the NHA Collections

The Library Wish List

ADVISORY BOARD

Mr. Alcon Chadwick Mrs. .James F. Chase Mr. Michad deLco Mrs. Norman E. Dupuis ill Ms. Manha Groctzinger Mrs. llerbert L. Gunerson Mrs. Roben E. Hdhnan Mrs. John G. W. Husted, Jr. Mrs. Anhur Jacobsen Mr. fmncis D. Lethbridge Mr. Reginald Le\;ne Mrs ..John A. Lodge Mrs. Fr.mcisco Lorenzo Mrs. Thomas B. Loring Mr. \Villiam B. Macomber Mr. Paul Madden Mr. Roben F. Mooney Mrs. Frederick A. Richmond Mrs. William A. Sevrcns Mr. Scott Steams, Jr. Mr. John S. Winter Mrs. .Joseph C. Woodle Mrs. Braccbridge Young

18

by Betsy Lowenstein

Mr. ArieL. Kopelman

"Very Good Sleighing" 1843 entry /rom Gorham Hussey's journal

by Mary Miles

Second VzCe President

15

Transcribed by Barbara Baxter Fillinger Edited & annotated by Elizabeth Oldham On the cover: A view from Lily Pond in winter, c. 1900. Photograph by HenryS. Wyer.

F R 0 M

T

THE

EXECUTIVE

HE WINTER SEASON ON N ANTIJCKET HOLDS

many secrets and stories, Some of themwould surprise or elude part-time residents and visitors. Just this past week, I was walking along Centre Street with a good friend, In a brisk wind, near zero temperatures and with several inches of newly fallen snow underfoot, she announced with obvious pleasure and conviction that January was her favorite month on Nantucket.

One does not choose to live on the New England coast without being willing to experience and maybe even enjoy radical changes of season and dangerously temperamental weather. The discomforts are offset by the sense of wholeness and belonging to a place through its full cycle of seasons, Along with a heightened sense of place, there is also a heightened sense of past. Interestingly, there is much about winter today on Nantucket that is similar to winters long past History seems to have moved at a faster pace in summer, This issue of Historic Nantucket offers some sights and insights into winter seasons, past and present on Nantucket. Even more important, it opens access to some of the ways those historic fragments are preserved in the Edouard A. Stackpole Library and

DIRECTOR

Research Center. There are, for example, three hundred and thirty-five audio tapes representing sixty years of collecting oral records. One oral histmy project, funded by recent grants from the Axe-Houghton Foundation, produced over one hundred and forty hours of tapes from nearly one hundred islanders, This highly personal audio archive adds a fascinating and validating dimension to our visual records of over thirty thousand images in the photograph archive.

Comparing audiovisual resources, original log books, journals, letters and handwritten notes, lists and accounts, with each other and with history texts makes it possible to reconstruct whole portions of lives and personalities, capture little-known responses to wellknown historic events, and, in effect, perform research.

It is a popular and rewarding pastime, At the NHA, the library stays open all year and the reading room is ahnost as busy in winter as during "the season." On Nantucket the bookstores do not close down , Reading is a pleasure, a necessity, and a compulsion, the great indoor sport. There is no secret, no surprise about that The surprises remain to be discovered in the historic record,

-Jean Weber

Collecting Nantucket Oral Histories W

E HAD 1WO VERY COLD WINTERS IN A ROW,

and a lot of young men in town made their own iceboats and sailed them on Hummock Pond. I thought it was in the late 30s, but my sister says it couldn't have been, because we were on the iceboat Tommy Giffin built, and he wouldn't have been old enough then-maybe it was the 1940s. Anyway, the harbor had frozen over, and one night at a Lodge meeting Zenna and Norman Giffin asked if we'd like to go for a ride on their iceboat afterwards. We went home to get blankets and a pillow, and met the Giffins on the Washington Street beach. The boat was sort of a wooden triangular affair, with a rudder on back, and sails-Tommy was the pilot-and we set out across the ice. It was a lovely moonlit night, and oh it was pretty! \XIell, we went faster than I ever went in my life, toward Monomoy hore---over the ice and over the bumps. It was a little rough, but we went very, very fast. Then I saw this long black streak over to the left, and asked what it was. Tommy said, "That's the open water-" so after that it wasn't quite so much fun! He steered toward the shore; we went over a deep crack and the rudder broke, so we all had to push it to the shore. We slipped and slid over the ice to get back to where our cars were. That took us two hours, and it had taken us five minutes to get out there!

-Estelle Pickett Coggins (Cassette Tape 137)

take a bath-with her bathing costun1e on, of coursein the icy water.

How did we stay warm in the winter? In the fall, grandfather would take his old dory with the high sides and row out to the Jetties all the way out to Great Point, on that shore of the beach, and we'd pick up wreck wood and fill the boat to the gunwales. We'd come in to the South Beach and put the wood into a wheelbarrow, wheel it up Flora Street, up to Orange, to Fair, down Eagle Lane, then cut the wood up and store it in the back shed clear up to the ceiling. Used it for all the cooking and heating.

-Gibby Wyer (CT 136)

by Mary Miles

Skaters on Maxcy's Pond, February 1961.

John MiÂŁalley Collection

When I was a youngster, we always used to plug up the drain at the old Lily Pond in the winter, so it would fill up and we could go skating.

- Franklin Chase (CT 139) I didn't have a sleigh, but I remember Todd Burgess's.

We used to ride in it from the monument down to the harbor. One day the horse got the bit in his mouth on Todd and they got to going so fast they went right off the end of the wharf onto the ice-but they didn't go through. There was ice skating and boating on the harbor then-you could walk across to Monomoy. I used to go down on the ice with my grandfather and we'd chop a hole. He had a five-pointed spear, and we'd catch eels off Petrel Wharf. Speaking of ice, my grandfather also used to go to cut ice so Mrs. Barnes could

HISTORIC

NANTUCKET

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3

These are just a few of the winter memories collected from Nantucketers who consented to let me interview them for the Nantucket Historical Association's Oral History project, funded by an Axe-Houghton grant in the late 1980s. Most people I talked with started out by saying, "Oh, I have nothing to tell you," and that was invariably the introduction to two or three of the most wonderful hours of going back in time via the most circuitous route imaginable-which is the best way to go, in the case of oral history. How does one get senior citizens to open up and recall their recollections of Nantucket, and especially to get over any shyness in front of an audiotape recorder? Easy. It starts out with questions or comments anyone likes to think about and respond to: What were your schooldays lzke? How dzd

you meet your husbandlwz/e? It must have been tough during the Depression. ... Do you have a picture of yourself as a youngster?

The whole process becomes easier as memories loosen, and one thing naturally leads to another.

For example, after Gibby Wyer (CT136) told me about cutting and hauling wood for the stove, he allowed as how there was always something to keep a young fellow busy. "In the winter," he said, "when the train was in the barn on Easy Street, we used to slip in and sit there, pulling the bells, pretending to ride." The question naturally was, "And did you get caught?" He laughed wickedly, and said that when (not if) you got caught, "the police would give you a shaking, and you'd get a whaling from grandfather, too." And another memory sprang immediately from talk of that locale: "Byron Pease used to have a big stable nearby, on the corner of Water Street, with lots of beautiful horses, bobtails.

He'd hitch a pair of them up to a mahogany threeseater, and take you for a ride, and honestly, you were in heaven!" From sleighing to eeling to hauling wood to small-boy mischief to horses-it's a deliciously winding path.

One gentleman who looked, talked, and told stories like my own Yankee grandfather got so caught up in reliving his memories that he'd telephone me from time to time, asking, for instance, if I knew that there used to be cows in the football field. "Yep, they had cows all over town. My father and my uncle bought a few.

Having cows on Dover Street was kind of awkward, and finally it got to the point where he had seven cows and a horse, so he bought the piece of land which now is the football field. We raised hay up there, and I plant-

4

JI!STOR!C

ANTUCKET

ed corn, carrots, and beets. I took my vegetables to Terry's Meat Market, and he'd give me seventy-five cents for a dozen bunches of carrots." And from there he'd go on to describe other Main Street businesses, including the old movie theater on Main Street: "Orison Hull ran it, it was just about where Arno's is now. There used to be a story about this feller watching the movie, and the bandit (in the movie) was chasing someone and this feller jumped up and he said, 'There he is! Right behind that tree!"'

So once the interviewer starts the process, it just naturally rides along. It's important now and then to allow the silence that will fall after a particularly deep or poignant memory stirs up a bit of emotion. But then a little nudge, and you're on the way again, like a child listening enraptured to a grandparent reaching back and sharing a good story. As would a child, you can simply ask, "And then what happened?" And the answer comes pouring out like a long-forgotten song.

Another way to elicit stories is to ask, "How old are you?" or "What was your first job?" or "Tell me about some town characters you remember." Bertha Gardiner (CT 147) spoke of a man who "had this huge barrel and a great long-handled dipper" with which he relieved many island outhouses of their "excess." In the midst of the laughter, she, a very proper lady, was asked what on earth he did with it. "I never wanted to know!" she retorted. This had, as usual, gone from being an interview to becoming a conversation, in which the interviewer makes it a point to talk little, listen lots. After the ball gets rolling, in other words, the questions need to come less frequently. The really nice thing about it is that the rewards go both ways.

So I think the term "oral history" sounds too proper and formal. What you're doing is having a good oldfashioned Nantucket gam, in the key of 1910, or 1923, or 1944. I had the temerity to ask Dorothy and Eddie Backus (CT 145) if they were both bona fide natives.

"Far as I know," said Eddie. "They tell me I was born up at 75 Orange Street on June 23, 1902." From that point, five minutes of marvelous digressions -through the school he went to on Orange Street, to the fact that "that building was the Town Hall, upstairs" to a description of another old wooden building, Academy Hill School, where he started the fifth grade. Dorothy got her two cents in by commenting that she always remembered her age by realizing she was ten years younger than the century, and that led to her memories WINTER

1997

of having to leave Tuckernuck for the \vinter to go to school on the other island, and so on and wonderfully on. If people can be said to have a spoken duet, this was what was happening, as they recounted a tough winter in 1921 when a ship carrying a cargo of liquid coconut oil ran aground .

"They pumped some of the oil overboard to lighten the ship," said Dorothy, "and," added Eddie, "the stuff congealed." "Yes," harmonized Doroth y, "and my mother, along with many others, collected it and made beautiful soap out of it." For the interviewer it was easy - just listen to that beautiful music.

It is like coaxing music out of people. The interviewer sounds a little note now and then and the response is apt to be a whole symphony, as people recall the beginnings, the difficulties, the joys, and the melodies that have intertwined to become whole lives. What's hard is saying goodbye.

When it was time to say goodbye and thank you to Bertha Gardiner back in 1989, she leaned back, sighed, and said, "Well, I wish I could have told you something....

I don't know if you can make anything out of all that mishmash." That "mishmash" had included descriptions of early heavy dark woollen bathing costumes, Gull Island, skating at the old Lily Pond, a first job, breaking hearts, rides on a tiny train to 'Sconset, stopping along the way to nudge a cow off the tracks and pick daisies, and so much more.

The charming mishmash of a real life lived on Nantucket Island.

HISTORIC

NANTUCKET

Sledding on Orange Street Hzll c. 1915.

Stackpole Collection

Mary Mzles collected oral history for the Nantucket Historical Association /rom 1988 to 1990. She is a journalist, author, and Nantucket reszdent. Two of her books include What's So Special About Nantucket? and Nantucket Gam.

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Oral History: Some Notes by Edward D. lves

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HISTORIC

T

HE PASSING ON OF I FORMATIO

ABOUT

the past by word of mouth is as old as humanity, and its use in written history is as old as history. Herodotus, often called "the father of history," depended heavily on oral testimony, and so of course did Thucydides, each in his own way.

Today, however, "oral history" is taken to mean the gathering of historical information by means of a taperecorded interview, and that is the sense in which I will use the term . As research methods go, it is still comparatively young (the Oral History Association only came into being in the early sixties). Originally conceived as a way of enlarging the record of those who had played a part in the significant events of our time (senators, generals), its scope has continually broadened, especially to explore the experiences of groups and individuals whose history has been neglected or overlooked (minorities, laborers, women).

It is important to keep in mind that oral history is a technique, not a different kind of history, and, like all techniques for gathering historical data, it has its uses and abuses. First of all, an interview has to be carefully prepared for; an interviewer should know as much as possible about both the interviewee and the subject of the interview, and, of course, about where best to place a microphone and how to run a tape recorder. If, for example, someone else has already conducted an interview with the person, the interviewer should listen to it so that an interview can be built on its own foundation.

The interview itself is the most exciting and entertaining part of the whole process, but an interview that is not well prepared for is apt to be a waste of everyone's time.

Second, once the interview has been completed, the tape should be documented as carefully and completely as possible. The best form of documentation is a complete transcription, but that can be a formidable and NANTUCKET

time-consuming (if you do it yourself) or expensive (if you hire someone else) process. On the other hand, some people enjoy it, and I can assure you there is no better school for learning how to interview than that of transcribing one's own efforts. In lieu of complete transcription, at the very least there should be a complete catalog - and the more detailed the better. It is also helpful to include a "journal" or a description of how it all went, including physical descriptions and other information that can't be gleaned from the tape itself.

It is all but impossible to over-document an interview.

Third, the tape and its documentation should be carefully stored where it will be easily available to those who might be interested in its contents. Naturally, if you yourself are working on a project you'll want this material where you can get at it, but very little is ever gained by playing dog-in-the-manger. It is always best to get the material out where others can share it.

One final point is that the whole oral-history process is built on trust. It's one thing to encourage people who are mike-shy or who are convinced they don't know enough to be of any help, quite another to inveigle them into revealing something against their better judgment by promises of anonymity or confidentiality.

The interviewer should never make promises that can't be kept, and in that regard it is healthy to keep in mind that an oral-history interview is just as subject to legal subpoena as any other document. Having said that, though, I should add that I've never known it to come to that, and my own work in oral history has been almost universally enjoyable. Through it I have learned much that I couldn't have come upon by any other method. Most of the past is silence, but through oral history we can reach back where there are no other documents and thus make new areas of that silence articulate.

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A wealth of Nantucket history in one Wbar/Rat gam.

Left to right: Toby Fleming.

Eddie Hamblin, Eric Alliot c. 1960.

Louis S. Davzdson Collection

A Recommended Bibliography on Oral History Allen , Barbara, and Lynwood Mantell. From Memory to History. Nashville: American Association for State and Local History, 1981. Covers the use of oral history in historical research. Covers the relationships between oral and written sources, testing for validity, and producing a manuscript from oral sources.

Alten , Stanley R. Audio in Media. 3d ed. Belmont, CA.: Wadsworth, 1990. A technical book that any interested nontechnician can understand. The chapters on sow1d, acoustics, and equipment are especially useful.

Jackson, Bruce. Fieldwork. Champaign, IL: University of illinois Press, 1987. A comprehensive and readable guide, covering all aspects of fieldwork including equipment: microphones, cameras, video, movies. Also includes a chapter on ethics.

Neuenschwander, John A. Oral History and the Law. Denton, Texas: Oral History Association, O.H.A. Pamphlet Series No. 1, 1985. Gives clear and concise information on legal questions involving oral history.

HIST O RI C

N ANTU C K E T

Thompson, Paul. The Voice of the Past. 2d ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. The best general book on oral history yet written. Chapters on all aspects of the craft.

Vansina, Jan. Oral Tradition as History. A revision and expansion of the author's classic Oral Tradition (1965).

Based on his long acquaintance with African traditions, he develops and discusses standards for evaluating the historicity of oral testimony.

Dr. Edward D. (Sandy) Ives is Professor a/Folklore at the University a/Maine, Director of the Maine Folklife Center, and founder of the Northeast Archives a/Folklore and Oral History. Among his works on oral history are two books, The Tape Recorded Interview and Argyle Boom, and a vzdeocassette, An Oral Historian's Work.

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A Guide to NHA Library Resources by Betsy Lowenstein

T

HE LlBRARY AT THE

ANTUCKET

Historical Association was named in honor of Edouard A. Stackpole (1903-1993), islandborn and -bred author, teacher, newspaperman, and historian. Stackpole served as president of the NHA from 1938 to 1953, and again from 1968 to 1971. For many years he was the NHA historian- collecting, preserving, and documenting Nantucket's history.

The Peter Foulger Museum was built in 1971. The Edouard A. Stackpole Library and Research Center has been located in its premises on the second floor since 1991; it comprises a wide array of materials on Nantucket and related topics.

More than 3,000 books, 345 linear feet of manuscript material, and 30,000 images are included in the collections.

Books and Printed Collections

Above right: Edouard A. Stackpole in the Peter Foulger Museum in 1980.

8

H I ST 0 R I C

Subjects include whales and whaling, industry, exploration and travel, ships and navigation , Quakers, Native Americans, art and decoration, architecture, archaeology, poetry and song, lighthouses and lightships, and sea disasters. Fiction and biographies are also represented, as are genealogies and the invaluable New England Historic Genealogical Society's Vital Records of Nantucket . .. to the Year 1850. A small but important collection of pamphlets on whaling are also included in the printed collections. All Nantucket books are shelved separately and are accessed through the card catalog. Additional books in the collection are not yet catalogued and are shelved by subject.

The Research Center possesses over 350 rare books, including Owen Chase's Narrative of the .. . Whale-ship N At:JT U C K

~

1

Essex ... With an Account of the Unparalleled Sufferings of the Captain and Crew (1821); William Lay and Cyrus M. Hussey's A Narrative of the Mutiny, on Board the Ship Globe, a/Nantucket, in the Pacific Ocean. Jan. 1824 and the Journal of a Residence of Two Years on the Mulgrave Islands (1828); various imprints of]. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur's Letters /rom an American Fanner, which was first published in 1782; and rare first and early editions of works by Hetman Melville, includWINTER

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ing The WhaLe, later entitled Moby-Dick, or the WhaLe. The majority of rare books are catalogued and can be accessed through the card catalog.

The library also houses maps, including those of non-Nantucket locales, plats, and charts spanning the years from 1624 to the present day. The maps and plats are particularly useful in their detail of Nantucket land, streets, and neighborhoods, and may be used as tools for plotting the growth and development of the island community. Maps, plats, and charts are indexed in a card @e.

The library's collection of newspapers encompasses a nearly complete run of the Inquirer and Mirror and its predecessors, the Nantucket Inquirer and the Mirror, on micro@m. The IsLander and the Nantucket JournaL, two other early island papers, are also on microfilm.

Newspapers are accessed through a bound index that lists existing editions on micro@m. The Grace Brown Gardner Scrapbooks (fifty-five of them) are an astonishing collection of newspaper and magazine articles arranged by subject, and are also on micro@m.

Manuscript Collections Over 360 manuscript collections relate to Nantucket individuals and families, including the Coffins and Folgers, Macys and Starbucks; ships; businesses and trades; churches; schools; voluntary societies and clubs.

The docw11ents, letters, and personal papers span the years 1659 to 1995- with the bulk of the collections dating from the nineteenth century. The manuscript collections provide a fascinating first-hand account of island life and activities over three centuries. They also include 360 log books and journals, many decorated \vith illustrations and stamps, and 545 account books for both businesses and households. The manuscript collections are accessed through an in-house database.

Audio-Visual Collections There are more than 30,000 photographs, daguerreotypes, and tintypes depicting Nantucket persons, places, and events. The Research Center also contains small collections of stereographs, cartes de visite, and postcards. There are 335 oral-history cassette tapes, which include nearly 250 oral histories, and nearly 300 videotapes that record innwnerable talks, lectures, tours and reminiscences. (See the adjoining article on pp. 3-5.) The photographs have been photocopied and bound, and are arranged on five shelves by subject, people, and HISTORIC

NANTUCKET

streets. Cassette and videotapes are listed numerically in an index.

Additional Resources An invaluable resource in the library are the blue and green vertical @es, which are housed in six @ing cabinets and accessed by an index. The green @es comprise genealogical material. The blue files are like a compulsive collector's attic, incorporating myriad subjects that pertain to Nantucket: newsclippings, notes, letters, and transcriptions are all part of this infom1ative compendiwn.

Of great interest to home owners, architects, contractors, and designers are several inventories of island structures. The HABS (Historic American Buildings Survey), HDC (Historic District Commission), and Pl:N (Preservation Institute: Nantucket) docwnents are surveys of island properties, noting structural conditions and changes.

Since 1895 the antucket Historical Association has published in one form or another a forwn for its activities and for historical scholarship. Proceedings of the Nantucket Historical Association was published annually and semiannually until1954, when it was succeeded by the present-day quarterly Historic Nantucket. One hundred years of historical research and writing have resulted in extensive coverage of Nantucket history. The index is a particularly helpful resource for researchers.

Available back issues of Historic Nantucket may be purchased in the library.

The library also contains nearly one hundred and fifty student theses, reports, and dissertations on Nantucket subjects.

Patrons and Staff Many of the researchers who visit, telephone, or write to the Edouard A. Stackpole Library and Research Center are interested in learning more about their ancestors. In addition to genealogical queries, patrons come in asking about a home or property. Questions regarding ships and artists are also frequent. And, of course, there is the ubiquitous "send everything you have on whaling."

Researchers of a more scholarly bent also visit the library. In the past year professional historians, professors, and graduate students have researched the Cape Verdean and African-American community, the War of 1812, the Civil War, Phebe Coffin Hanaford, women at sea, Quakers, abolitionism, farming, entertainment, and \YJJNTER

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in Library Science and Archives Management, it is my responsibility to preserve, organize, and to make accessible the library's various collections. As I have been at the NHA only a few months, it's been a blessing to have as my library assistant Elizabeth Oldham, whose knowledge of Nantucket past and present is impressive.

An expert researcher and editor, she responds to the majority of the reference queries and assists the public in their research. Peter MacGlashan has been the Audio-Visual Curator since 1980. Primarily responsible for maintaining and organizing the ever-expanding photograph collection, he is adept in aiding patrons to uncover an old picture of a house or ancestor. He is also available to make duplicates of photographs for library users. Joan Clarke, under a grant from the Tupancy-Harris Foundation, is creating a computerized format of the formidable Eliza Starbuck Barney Genealogical Record. Joan Clarke is being assisted by Patti Hanley, the librarian at the Maria Mitchell Science Library. The database will allow staff and researchers to gather genealogical data quickly and thoroughly.

H ours and Fees Above: Peter MacGlashan assists visitors to the NHA Library.

Photograph by Rick Morcom

lighthouses and lightships. Local newspapers and offisland publications frequently call to check a fact or to inquire about some facet of island history. Television programs, such as "This Old House" and "Wings," have phoned in need of information or confirmation.

The staff at the Research Center is well equipped to assist in answering queries and to ensure the maintenance and access of research materials. Having degrees

Hours are Monday through Friday 10-3, or by special appointment with the Librarian. (Patrons can also phone or write witl1 questions.) Admission for members is free. Nonmembers are charged a daily usage fee of five dollars. P hotocopying and photo reproduction are available at reasonable rates. NHA members and paying researchers are entitled to one-half hour (cumulative) free staff time per day. All visitors and queries are welcome.

The Audio-Visual Collection Most frequently, the visitors to the Edouard A. Stackpole Library and Research Center come to investigate the past lives of a home or a distant relation, and so become familiar with our collections of books, photographs, and manuscripts. However, the library com- J prises not only printed and written resources but a wealth of audio and visual materials.

From 1934 to 1994, three hundred and thirty-five oral histories were recorded for the Nantucket Historical Association. The tapes record a variety of talks, lectures, tours, and reminiscences on innumer-

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HISTORIC

ANTUCKET

able subjects encompassing all facets of Nantucket life both past and present. There are lectures on emigration, archaeology, industries, shipwrecks, steamboats and railroads, hotels and houses, and, of course, whales and whaling. Islanders, in nearly 250 oral histories, remember Tuckernuck, Madaket, and the 'Sconset Actors Colony, t h e Wharf Rats Club, and the Unitarian Church.

Various residents and long-time visitors share their areas of expertise. Vito Capizzo discusses football, Robert Leach Quakerism, Bill Pew fishing; WINTER

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Doug Burch speaks of the Oldest House, and Reggie Reed imparts his knowledge of lightship baskets - to touch on just a few. Prominent island historians E douard Stackpole, Helen Winslow Chase, and Dr. Elizabeth Little provide histories of Nantucket's Native Americans and early settlers.

"Old timers" Archie Cartwright, Arthur McCleave, John Egle, Jay Gibbs, and Margaret Fawcett Barnes, among others, reminisce about island life nearly one hundred years ago . Two tapes are particularly evocative: "Nantucket Stories & People", with Earl Ray, recorded by Henry C. Carlisle (CT-24) and "Stories & P eople ", with Marcus Ramsdell, also by Henry C. Carlisle (CT-28). Both were recorded in 1961. For those interested in investigating the oral-history collections of the NHA and in experiencing " old " Nantucket, the tapes are a good place to start.

The oral-history collection contains not only accounts of Nantucket in the past but also descriptions of Nantucket life in the present. Various residents discuss their jobs, businesses, and daily lives. Charles Howard talks about law enforcement; Robert Lamb discusses his fitness center; James L entowski speaks about the Conservation Foundation. Years from now the tapes will provide a detailed picture of Nantucket life in the 1980s.

The NHA tapes also include many of its summer and docent lectures, as well as its gams. One series of interviews from 1987 to 1994 was funded with several grants from the AxeHoughton Foundation. In the early 1980s the Nantucket High School sponsored "The Nantucket Experience," in which juniors and seniors interviewed community and family members. Oral histories were also collected by independent sources.

The Research Center also has a collection of nearly 300 videotapes that detail many of the san1e people, places, and activities as the oral histories.

There are taped lectures on Tuckernuck, Wauwinet, and the 'Sconset Actors Colony; accounts of scalloping, ice fishing, and cranberry picking; histories of lightship baskets, HI S TORIC

NANTUCKET

Quakerism, the Nantucket Railroad, and the Weather Bureau.

A particularly prominent series of lectures was "The Nantucketers;' which was produced by the Nantucket Historical Association and hosted by Edouard Stackpole; it ran on Channel3 in the 1970s and 1980s.

In twenty-five videotapes , Stackpole spoke on all aspects of Nantucket's history from early settlement to the island's revitalization as a sun1111er resort in the late nineteenth century. There are numerous segments on Nantucket's streets, houses, and people.

The audio- and videotapes are accessed through an index that lists the subject of tl1e tape and its recorder or interviewer, along with a tape nw11ber. A listening and viewing area is provided by the library. Although the quality of the tapes varies, they do provide informative accounts of island life and history, people and places. Members and visitors are invited to investigate them. If a member has a filmed or taped account of any facet of island history, tell us about it. It may prove to be of interest to others and a welcome addition to our audio-visual collections.

Below: The Nantucket Railroad steaming alongszde Easy Street, summer 1916.

Davzd Gray Collection

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11

The Library Wish List The library is in need of a number of reference sources, in particular an up-to-date atlas that would provzde invaluable information for researchers, staff, and volunteers.

We have compiled a short list of books that would be welcome additions to the Edouard A. Stackpole Library and Research Center.

Iffriends are interested in donating any of these books, please call us at 508-228-1894.

All gifts will be commemorated by a specially designed bookplate (shown below).

Hammond Adas of the World. $69.95 The library is in desperate need of an atlas to aid our log-reading volw1teers and our researchers in charting courses of Nantucket ships and sailors around the globe.

Columbia Encyclopedia. $49.95 This one-volw11e compendiW11 would be invaluable for providing quick and basic information on a variety of subjects, people, and events.

The Encyclopedia of Massachusetts. $79.00 This 600-page volume includ es Pre-History and Archaeology, History, Directory of State Services, Dictionary of Places, Biography, Chronology, Geography, and more.

Ninnuock (The People)

by Steven F. Johnson. $15.00 This book is a history of ilie Algonquian People of New England, of which ilie Pokanokets (or Wampanoags) of Nantucket were a subset.

Webster's Biographical Dictionary. $27.95 This dictionary would serve much the same purpose as ilie Colwnbia Encyclopedia in respect to biographical data.

Herman Melville: A Biography, Vol. 1: 1818-1851, by Hershel Parker. $39.95

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WIWJXG STAMPS & IUUSTRATIONS FROM TilE LOG OF TilE SIIIP RICIIARDMITG'/IIiU ( 183 1- j2) KF.I'T BY JOliN CONANT, CAI'TAIN

The long-awaited definitive biography; it should be in our library (and vol. 2, when it appears).

Q ~--------------------------------------------------~

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WINTER

1997

Maria Mitchell's Journal of the Hard Winter 857 JAN 22 HARD WINTERS ARE BECOMING THE order of things. Winter before last was hard, last winter was harder and this surpasses ~11 winters known before. We have been frozen m to our Island now since the 6th. No one cared much about it for the first two or three days, the sleeping was good and all the world was out trying their horses on Main Street, the race-course of the world. Day after day passed and the thermometer sank to a lower point and the winds rose to a higher, and sleighing became uncomfortable and even the dullest man longed for the cheer of a newspaper. The Inquirer came out for a while, but at length had nothing to tell and nothing to Inquire about and so kept its peace ....

Yesterday we got up quite an excitement, because a large steamship was seen near the Haul-over. She set a flag for a pilot and was boarded. It was found that she was out of course 20 days from Glasgow, bound to New York. What the European news is we don't yet know, but it is plain we are nearer to Europe than to Hyannis.

Christians as we are, I am afraid we were all sony that she did not come ashore. We women revelled in the idea of the rich silks she would probably throw upon the beach , and the men thought a good job would be made by steamboat companies and wreck agents .... What has become of the English steamer no one knows but the wind blows off shore, so she will not come any nearer to us.

Inside the houses, we amuse ourselves in various ways. Frank's family and ours form a club, meeting three times a week and writing machine poetry in great quantities. ["Machine poetry" is , according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "a literary contrivance for the sake of effect." -Ed.] Occasionally something very droll puts us in a roar of laughter. Frank, Ellen and Kate I think are rather the smartest but Mr. Macy has written rather the best of all. [Frank and Ellen are Maria 's brother Francis and his wife; Kate is her youngest sister; Alfred Macy is her sister Anne's fiance. -Ed.] At the next meeting each of us is to produce a sonnet on a sub-

1

HISTORI C

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Penned by

ject which we drew as in a lottery- I have written mine & tried to be droll - Kate has written hers and is serious. I am sadly tried by this state of things - I cannot receive papers from Cambridge and an1 out of work; it is cloudy most of the time and I cannot observe, and I had fixed on just this time for visiting Phebe. [Phebe is a sister of Maria Mitchell. -Ed.] My trunk has been half packed for a month.

Jan 23 Foreseeing that the thermometer would show a very low point last night, we sat up until near midnight when it stood 1 1/2 below zero. The stars shone brightly and the wind blew fresh from WNW. This morning the wind is the same and the mercury stood at 6 1/2 below zero at 7 o'clock and now at 10 a.m. is not above zero.

The Coffin School dismissed its scholars; Philinda suffered much from the exposure on her way to school. [Philinda Fisher was a teacher at the Coffin School. -Ed.] The Inquirer came out this morning giving the news from Europe brought by the steamer which lies off Sconset. No coal has yet been carried to the steamer, the carts which started for Sconset being obliged to return - There are about 700 barrels of flour in town; it is admitted that fresh meat is getting scarce - the streets are almost impassable from the snow drifts - There was no ice in our lodging room last night and the ther. in the sitting room was above 40; showing that the house is not easily chilled.

Kate and I have hit on a plan for killing time. We are learning poetry- she takes twenty lines of Goldsmith's Traveller and I twenty lines of the Deserted Village. It will take us twenty days to learn the whole, and we hope to be stopped in our course by the opening of the harbor. Considering that Kate has a beau from whom she cannot hear a word, she carries herself very amiably towards mankind. She is making a pair of boots for herself which look very nice. I have made myself a morning dress, since we were closed in.

Last night I took my first lesson in whist playing.

I learned in one evening to know the King, Queen, and

Miss Mitchell

in her 38th year Transcribed by Barbara Baxter Pillinger Edited and annotated by Elizabeth Oldham

Excerpts /rom papers in the Maria Mitchell Collection, courtesy of the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association

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Jack apart and to understand what Kate (my partner) meant when she winked at me.

The worst of this state of things is, that we shall bear the mark of it all our lives. We are now sixteen daily papers behind the rest of the world, and in these sixteen papers, are the items known to all people in all the cities, which will never be known to us. How prices have fluctuated in that time, we shall not know - what houses have burned down, what robberies have been committed.

When the papers do come, each of us will rush for the latest dates; the news of two weeks ago is now History, and no one reads History, especially the History of his own country.

I bought a copy of Aurora Leigh just before the freezing up, and I have been careful, as it is the only copy on the Island, to circulate it freely - it must have been a pleasant visitor in the four or five households which it has entered. We have had Dr. Kane, and now have the Japan expedition.

The intellectual suffering I think will be all. I have no fear of scarcity of fuel or provisions. There are old houses enough to burn - Fresh meat is rather scarce, because this English steamer required so much victualling. We have a barrel of pork and a barrel of flour in the house, and Father has chickens enough to keep us a good while. There are said to be some families who are a good deal in suffering, for whom the Howard Society is on the look-out. [The Ladies' Howard Society was founded in 1836 "to do good works" for indigent women and children of Nantucket. -Ed.] I gave an old quilted petticoat to the society last week, and Mother gives very freely to Bridget who has four children to support with only the labor of her hands.

The Coffin School has been suspended one day on account of the heaviest storm, and the Unitarian Church has had but one service. No great damage has been done by the gales. My viewing seat came thundering down the roof one evening about 10 o'clock, but all the world understood its cry of "stand from under" and no one was hurt. Several windows were blown in at midAbove: night, and houses shook so that vases fell from the manMaria Mitchell telpieces - The last snow drifted so that the sleighing

14

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was difficult, and at present the storm is so smothering that few are out. Anne has been out to school every day, and I have not failed to go into the air once a day and take at least a short walk.

We left the mercury 10 below zero when we went to bed last night, and it was at zero when we rose this morning. But it rises rapidly and now at 11 a.m. is as high as 15. The weather is still and beautiful - the English steamer is still safe at her anchorage.

Our little club met last night, each with a sonnet on a subject drawn by lot from a basket-full. I did the best I could with a very bad subject. Kate and Ellen rather carried the honors away .... We kept the hall warm all the evening with the mercury steadily at +3. Our crambo playing was rather dull, all of us having exhausted ourselves on the sonnets. [Crambo is a game in which one player gives a word or line of verse to be matched in rhyme by other players. -Ed.] We seem to have settled ourselves quietly into a tone of resignation in regard to the weather - we know that we cannot "get out" any more than Sterne's starling, and we know that 'tis best not to fret. [This reference is to a passage in Sentimental Journey, a narrative work by English author Laurence Sterne (1713-1768). -Ed.] The subject which I have drawn for the next poem is "Sunrise" about which I know very little - Kate and I continue to learn twenty lines of poetry a day, and I do not find it unpleasant, 'tho the Deserted Village is rather monotonous. We hear of no suffering in town for fuel or provisions. I think we could stand a three month siege without much inconvenience as far as the physicals are concerned.

Jan 26 The ice continues and the cold. The weather is beautiful and, with the ther. at 14, I swept for an hour and a half last night comfortably. The English steamer will get away tomorrow - it is said that they burned their cabin doors last night to keep their water hot Many people go out to see her - she lies off Sconset about half a mile from shore. We have sent letters by her which we hope may relieve anxiety. Kate bo't [szC] a Backgammon board today ....

WINTER

1997

Jan 29

We have had now two days of warm weather, but there is yet no hope of getting the boat off. Day before yesterday we went to Sconset to see the English steamer - She lay about half a mile from the shore, we could hear the orders given and see the people When we went down bank, the boats were just pushing from the shore with the bags of coal for her - They could not go directly to her, but rowed some distance along shore to the north and then falling into the ice drifted with it back to the ship - When they reached the ship, a rope was thrown to them and they made fast and the coal was raised- We looked through a glass and saw women leaning over the side of the ship. She left at 5 o'clock that day.

It was worth the trouble of a ride to Sconset, to see the masses of snow on the road - The road had been cleared for the carts of coal, and we drove through a

narrow path cut in deep snow banks far above our heads, sometimes for the length of three or four sleighs -We could not of course turn out for other sleighs, & there was much wailing on this account.

Then too, the road was much gullied, and we rocked in the sleigh as we would on shipboard, with the bounding over hillocks of snow and iceNow all is changed - the roads are slushy, and the water stands in deep ponds all over the streets there is a dense fog- very little wind and that from the East- the ther. above 36.

(Mails arrived Feb. 3 and stean1boat left Feb. 5.)

Barbara Baxter Pi/linger is a professor at the University of Minnesota. She received her doctorate at Harvard in 1972 and "discovered" Nantucket while a graduate student there.

"Very Good Sleighing" Entry /rom a journal kept by Gorham Hussey /rom 1843 to 1850 and described by him as "Some remarks on the weather."

The lzttle (4" x 6") leather-coveredjourna~ now in the NHA Manuscript Collection (No. 323) was found by Hussey's great-great-great nephew, James C. Otis, Jr., ofAnn Arb01~ Michigan, who inserted this typed note in the journal.

"In the summer of 1932 I worked on my Great Uncle Jesse's farm at Sherwood, N.Y. about 20 miles south of Auburn, N.Y .... One rainy day I was assigned the job of clearing out the cellar, and dming the process I discovered this notebook ... Gorham Hussey [was] an ancestor of my Great Aunt Edith Hussey Otis. She was born on Nantucket Island."

According to the Barney Genealogical Recorti Gorham Hussey was born on Nantucket July9, 1797.

[Original punctuation preserved]

:-,f Sleighing on upper Matit Street, c. 1900

HISTORIC

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24 February 1843 Light wind northwest, harbour full of ice.

Thermometer 24.

Very good Sleighing. Every vehecle [sic] almost, that could go on runners, had a horse attached; and drove about streets to-day. Amongst the various carriages that were on runners, was a whale boat, fastened on to sleigh runners, and drawn through our streets by four horses with upwards of twenty persons in it. It being a very pleasant day.

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"Capital Sleighing" Transcribed by

ly see between them, lay quietly just where they lighted, and before night, house tops, streets, and the whole l broad prairie of the island, were covered with a thick leighing-What is not very common at carpet of snow, so smooth and pure looking, that it Nantucket, we have had capital sleighing for seemed almost a sin to mar its glittering surface with a the last three or four days, and our people, foot-print.

There was quite a merry jingling of bells, Monday young and old,-but more especially the former,-have been enjoying a regular carnival.

It comevening, but on Tuesday morning, all who could comAbove: mand horses and sleighs, or even possible apologies for as there was menced snowing, Monday morning, and Sleighing on hardly any wind at the time,-another rare occurrence them, turned out for a regular holiday. The sleighing Federal Street, at Nantucket during a snow-storm,-the feathery flakes, was glorious: the snow lay smooth and thick all over the c. 1900 which came dancing down so thick that you could hardisland, and the weather was by no means cold. All sorts

Elizabeth Oldham

The Inquirer-Friday, February 9, 1849 [Original punctuation preserved]

S

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1997

of vehicles were abroad, from the ex-tempore concern, the different parts of which seemed constantly on the point of parting company, to the aristocratic double sleigh, rushing along with the swiftness of the wind.

The horses, too, were as various in appearance as the carriages. One moment, a noble animal would go prancing by you, evidently enjoying the sport as heartily as his driver; the next, perhaps a poor, lan1e, half-blind creature would go shambling past, apparently in a state of mind very much akin to despair, looking this way and that with an air of utter bewilderment, as if he couldn 't for the life of him guess what it all meant, but wished himself at any cost, well out of the scrape.

However, we didn't see but that the men, women, and children all enjoyed tl1emselves about alike. The tenants of the most plebeian conveyances looked as happy and contented as those whose accommodations were the best that tl1e market afforded; and those who were jogging leisurely along, behind some rather slow-footed and rawboned patriarch, didn't look a bit envious, but only the more happy when a dashing Bucephalus [Alexander the Great's favorite horse. -Ed.] went snorting by them, as speedily, almost, as if they had been standing still. But there was no room for envy or jealousy; ali were enjoying themselves so thoroughly that they couldn't remember to compare themselves with others. Everybody was happy on his own hook.

Tuesday morning, a good many excursions were made out of town. When the sleighing is good at Nantucket,-and it never was better, here or any where else, than it then was,-there is no place in the world where it can be enjoyed in greater perfection. Our broad prairie-like plains, unbroken by gullies, and to a considerable extent unobstructed by fences, are as good sleighing grounds as if mey were made on purpose. One party of about fifty, went to Siasconset, took tea at me Atlantic House, and returned in tl1e evening.

HISTORIC

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Wednesday and yesterday, also, we hear that there were Above: large parties at Siasconset. One small company view of returned to town on Wednesday evening, got rather Upper Mai11 Street bewildered, and came near losing meir way, but fortuin winter nately nothing serious came of it.

We must not omit to allude to me splendid evenings c. 1900 we have had, this week. A cloudless sky, a moon nearly full and riding high, an atmosphere ramer lively but not at all cold, and me brilliant reflection of the moonlight from the snow-covered earth, have made our evenings more pleasant man mid-day, and almost as light.

Tuesday night, there was anomer considerable fall of snow, which made the sleighing, Wednesday and yesterday, if possible, better man ever. We have heard of but few accidents since me sport commenced; and of none by which either man or beast was injured. We saw one rather forlorn-looking customer, sleighing down Main Street, Wednesday evening, on his own natural runners, those wim which he set out upon his jaunt, having, somehow, slipped from under hin1.

\"X' I NTCR

1997 17

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HISTORIC

NANTUCKET

WINTER

199719

Historic Nantucket Book Reviews

by Elizabeth Maritime Nantucket: A Pictorial History, Oldham by Paul C. Morris. Hardcover, $40.00 aul Morris's Maritime Nantucket is one of the few books about our watery universe that isn't primarily about Nantucket's whaling days. This is about the boats and boatmen that took over once that legendary era ended, and it also docwnents a few legends for our own era.

The narrative strings together the tale of Nantucket's maritime trade from shipbuilding on Brant Point right up to the advent of the high-speed catan1aran that now carries us across the water in less than an hour. The book is illustrated every step of the way with an astonishing treasury of photographs, most of them from the author's collection. The text and pictures bring alive Nantucket's waters and waterfront in the days when it was a matter of work and very little play.

Coasting steamers; sleek little sloops; two-, three-, four-, five-, six-masted schooners; fishing smacks and catboats; side-wheelers; lightships; barks and barkentines; the Gloucester fishing fleet (it brought Charlie Sayle to Nantucket in the twenties); lifesaving crews, scallopers and launches - all are here in sometimes grubby reality, bringing the salt and flour, coal and

P Visztors to Jetties Beach waiting to board a catboat /or the trip back to town.

Paul Morris Collection

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kerosene and lumber, and people, too, that kept Nantucket alive and thriving.

The pictures are wonderful, hundreds of them: Isaac Palmer Dunham on the Sea Fox, run by Everett Chapel in the 1920s ... when passengers were carried to Jetties Beach for ten cents a head; Captain Sterling Balfour Yerxa's five big catboats tied up at Straight Wharf. So many haunting images: connorants perched on the rigging of a sunken hull, the harbor locked in ice, the last of the Nantucket draggers ¡many of us remember from what seems like only yesterday.

Paul pays homage to Mildred Jewett: "To help in keeping Millie's memory alive, the selectmen named a bridge after her, but it is not likely that she will be forgotten. It's regrettable that for those in trouble upon the waters, Millie's watchful eyes have been closed."

And of his friend Charlie Sayle, to whom ilie book is dedicated: "He certainly knew ships from the days of sail. He could rattle off names and dates like a computer, and even in his old age was a great source of maritime information. The island waterfront just is not ilie same place without him."

Paul isn't a native, but if ever iliere was a true son of Nantucket by adoption, he is it. This affectionate reminiscence is a gift to us all. Thank you, Paul.

WINTER

1997

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SIXTH GRADERS TIME TRAVEL AWAY OFF SHORE AT THE NHA

Jeremy Slavitz helps

On November 25 and 26 ninety sixth-grade students from the Cyrus Peirce School visited the Whaling and Peter Foulger museums. Sponsored by the Private Bank at Bank of Boston's grant for educational programs in connection with the "Away Off Shore" exhibition, the children enjoyed two days of exploration and interaction with Nantucket Historical Association staff and friends.

As part of the sixth-grade curriculum, the children spend twelve weeks of the fall term in interdisciplinary studies on Nantucket's whale fishery. At the end of that period, as the teachers emphasize, the students are "experts." Working with the sixth-grade teachers, the NHA developed a number of activities that permitted students to see and touch the history they had been studying. More important, the NHA and the Cyrus Peirce School wanted to provide an opportunity for the students to demonstrate their knowledge of Nantucket's whaling heritage.

From 10:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M. the students were divided into six groups that corresponded with six stations, three at the Whaling Museum and three at the Peter Foulger Museum, with an hour spent at each site.

At the Whaling Museum , the students toured Sanderson Hall, participating in a scavenger hunt and "Jeopardy" game, led by staff member Meredith Haskell, that tested their knowledge of whaling implements and artifacts. In the Whale Room, they heard about the physiology of whales from Don Sineti, chanteyman at the Mystic Seaport Museum, whalebook illustrator, and cofounder of the Cetacean Society International. Working with Jeremy Slavitz and Bob Allen in the Navigation Room, the students investigated the rudiments of navigation that would have guided Nantucket whaling ships around the globe. Using parallel rulers and dividers, they charted courses through Nantucket Sound.

At the Peter Foulger Museum's "Away Off Shore" exhibition, author and historian Nat Philbrick of the Egan Institute for Maritime Studies spoke on the geology of Nantucket and its Native American inhabitants.

In the Research Center, Peter MacGlashan joined the students in viewing stereographs of the town in the 1860s and 1870s. Librarian Betsy Lowenstein gave the students a tour of the vault for a behind-the-scenes glin1pse of the library's collection of log books. Wearing protective gloves, they handled rare manuscripts and logs of whaling ships and captains they had studied.

Further linking the past with the present, Margaret Moore of the Egan Institute and Betsy Pardi led groups

chart a course through

HISTORIC

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the visiting sixth graders

Nantucket Sound.

Photograph by Rick Morcom

on a walking tour around town that stopped at numerous sites significant in Nantucket's whaling heyday. On Tuesday, due to rain, the walking tour was replaced by a scrimshaw session. Led by Jeremy Slavitz, the sixth graders leamed the techniques of the folk art and then put them into practice.

Shadowing the school groups, Rick Morcom served as photographer, documenting the various activities for the Nantucket Historical Association. Aimee Newell, Doug Burch, and Betty Hartig also provided invaluable assistance.

Each day concluded with a rousing sing along with Don Sineti, who talked to the students about the instruments he played and the songs that whalemen sang when at sea.

All agreed that the two-day event was a big success.

Excerpts from the sixth graders' thank-you notes:

" I can't believe that I was actually touching logs that were written over 145 years be/ore I was born!"

Nathaniel B. Stone

"I especially like the log books and the scrimshaw.

I lzked the feeling of holding something 150 years old."

P.J. Kaizer WINTER

1997

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"I had a great time during those two days.' My sister is in fifth grade, she'll have a great time next year, too'" Aile McConnell

I

"I learned a lot and I hope I can go back to the Whaling Museum to learn more stuff about whales, navigation, [and] what kind of tools you would need on a whaling ship."

Christine Buchanan "I loved the chantyman and his whale talk, the scavenger hunt and the [;Jeopardy game." Ethan Philbrick "Now I know if I am ever stuck on a boat I can figure out where I am."

Kari Harvey "I really enjoyed our trip to the museum, learning about Nantucket's history is neat."

MiraJube "I hope to come again soon.'" Christopher M. Wilson

"I liked the whole tour of the Peter Foulger Museum.

I learned that the Indians were the first ones to whale.

I I learned a lot of new chanteys. So basically I learned a lot."

Joey McLaughlin "But my absolute favorite was the whale in/ormation because when I got home I tried to draw a whale and made out pretty good with it."

Matt Erisman 'Td lzke to thank you /or all the fun stuff we dzd.

I thought the chanteys were fun. I think we should do it again. Thank you very much for letting us come."

Rebecca Priestley - Betsy Lowenstein and Jeremy Slavitz

STAFF NEWS Weber's and Jehle's Accreditation Efforts Professional consultations with the American Association of Museums have been completed by Michael Jehle, curator, and Jean Weber, executive director. Jehle served as a MAP (Museum Assessment Program) surveyor to a historical museum in New York and Weber, a member of the National Museum Accreditation Commission from 1976 to 1985 and chair from 1982 to 1985, served on the accrediting I team for an East Coast museum and chaired the accreditation of a midwestern museum.

Conferences and Workshops Attended by Staff On October 4, 1996, Jeremy Slavitz, docent coordinator, and Aimee Newell, registrar, attended a preservation workshop entitled "Cleaning Historic Houses and Museums," held in New Bedford at the Old Dartmouth Historical Society and Whaling Museum.

The presenters were Nancy Carlisle, curator at I SPNEA; Kathy Francis, associate conservator at the 1

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Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; and Robert Hauser, conservator at Old Dartmouth. Topics included environmental hazards for historical collections, routine cleaning, handling artifacts and assessing their condition, and opening and closing of a historic house.

Methods for cleaning a wide variety of artifacts and descriptions of several useful products currently on the market were also presented. Slavitz and Newell both found the workshop helpful and will be using the information to revamp the NHA cleaning procedures.

On Saturday, October 26, Betsy Lowenstein, I librarian, attended the second session of the fall conference of New England Archivists. She was attracted to the conference by several of its programs including "Managing Volunteers and Interns" and "Managing a Research and Reference Program: Redefining Service."

"I had hoped that these programs would provide me with some new ideas for the research center," explained Lowenstein. "Much more important and enjoyable, however, was the chance to catch up with contacts and friends in the archival profession."

From November 11 to 13, 1996, Aimee Newell attended the New England Museum Association's annual conference, "Currents of Change: Museums Navigating the Nineties," held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Newell attended several informative sessions, including those on planning exhibitions, how to resolve outdated loans and other registration problems, identifying pests (of the six-legged variety!) in the museum, and the hows and whys of condition reports for objects. "The conference was excellent - the best I've ever attended - and provided me with lots of ideas I to help in my work at the NHA," said Newell.

On November 21, Meredith Haskell attended a conference entitled, "Development, Presentation, and I Funding of Informal Education Projects." It was moderated by Mac West of Informal Science, Inc., of Washington, DC . The conference, held at the Children's Museun1 in Boston, offered a morning sesI sion with seminars on topics such as the basic elements of a successful request for funding, collaboration and symbiosis in the nonprofit world, budgets, funding sources including foundations, tips for successful grantwriting, and an afternoon session of mock grant reviewing. "It was a very helpful conference," said Haskell. "I realized that successfully funding a project is a long and tedious process but that the end result is extremely beneficial for museum patrons, especially children. It was also encouraging to see that there is so much support available for museum education."

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Main Street decorated /or the Town of Nantucket Centennial in 1895. Gift of Kenneth Duprey

NHA Photo Exhibition at the Saltmarsh Center After closing last season's exhibition , "Nantucket: Picturesque and Historic," at the Fair Street Museum, a selection of photographs from that exhibition was installed at the Salt Marsh Center. Curators Michael

Jehle and Peter MacGlashan coordinated the moving and hanging of the photographs at the activity center for senior citizens. MacGlashan also gave a brief talk about the pictures.

CORRECTIONS FOR HISTORIC NANTUCKET Letter from Roberta Reyes As a life member of the Nantucket Historical Association, my husband receives the quarterly publication Historic Nantucket regularly. I was very pleased to read about the Association's properties including the pony field on Mill Street. Eleanor Ham was my husband's aunt - sister of his mother Maty Elizabeth (Ham) Reyes. His aunt and grandmother, Adeline Putnam Ham, owned both numbers 5 and 8 Mill St. for many years, including the pony field.

May we correct a small error in Miss Ham's name? Her name was Eleanor Joslyn Ham- we don't know why the pony field is the Eleanor P. Ham Pony Field. Perhaps the P comes from her mother's middle name, Putnam? A small item, perhaps, but our children are very interested in fan1ily genealogy and insist upon accuracy for future generations.

HISTORI C

NAN T UC K E T

Editors Note:

We were under the zinpression, based on information /rom another relation, that Eleanor Ham's middle name was Putnam. Our records have now been changed because we, like Mrs. Reyes's children, insist on accuracy. We are grateful to her/or tbe correction.

David Wlood also wrote to correct us about the accession of the Thomas Macy House. "The house was acquired in 1947 /rom Mr. and Mrs. Charles K. Todd who had purchased it /rom the descendants of Thomas Macy." We apologize /or not recognizing the Todds' ownership of the house. Wood also pointed out that the photograph on page 141 was a pumper and not a bose cart as we had stated.

Historic Nantucket first appeared in July 1953, and was numbered

Volume 1, Number 1. In the past few years, our numbering sequence has been con/used. There/ore, on the advice of cataloguer John]. Sullivan at the Boston Public Libraryâ&#x20AC;˘, we have decided to start anew. The winter 1997 issue is Volume 46, Number 1. We wzll change the volume number with the calendar year.

\'(' 1 N T E R

1997

23

GIFT MEMBERSHIPS Give a gift of membership and give members of your family and your friends a gift that reflects your love for Nantucket.

A membership in the Nantucket Historical Association includes free admission to our museum and historic houses, free or reduced admission to our lecture series, use of the Research Center, a subscription to Historic Nantucket, and ten percent off the regular price for all purchases from the Museum Shop.

The categories of NHA membership are: Individual Family Sustaining

$ 30 50 100

Contributor Hadwen Circle Thomas Macy Associate

$ 250 500 1,000

Memberships are renewable annually in April and are tax deductible to the extent provided by law. Gift memberships purchased through this offer will be renewable in Aprill998.

For information about gift memberships, please call the NHA office at (508) 228-1894.

NHA Titles Available From Brant Point to the Boca Tigris: Nantucket and the China Trade

by Michael A. Jehle, with introduction by Carl L. Crossman.

Paper, $10.00

Tin

T I

C..

K I· 'I

I [ The Coffin Famz~v Edited by Louis Coffin, \\~th an introduction by William Gardner. $20.00 The Nantucket \Veatber Book

by Da,~d M. Ludlum Paper, $10.00 Open April23 - Christmas.

Call (508) 228-5785 to place orders for these books or any other merchandise.

MUSEUM SHOP One Broad Street • Nantucket, MA 02554 • (508) 228-5785