Of Whales and Whaling

THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION BOARDO TR E. Geoffrey Verney Prn1dc11t

Barbara E. Hajim Vice President

Thoma J. Anathan Pamela C. Bartlett Rebecca M. Bartlett C. Marshall Beale Heidi L. Berry Robert H. Brust Nancy A. Chase Richard L. Duncan

John W. Atherton Jr.

Alice F. Erner on

Ir, c1wrcr

\lice President

Patricia M. Bridier rtak hristopher C. Quick Melanie R. abelhaus I larvey aligman anC)' M. oderberg Bette M. prigg Isabel . tewart Jay M. Wil on Robert A. Young

Mary F. • PY ina Hellman Juliu Jen en III Arie L. Kopelman Jane T. Lamb Bruce 0. Miller Bruce A. Percelay Meli a D. Philbrick Frank D. Milligan

l -.:ecu/1111• Director

RE EAR HF LL Pauline Maier

Patty Jo . Rice

athaniel Philbrick FRIE D

Pat & Thoma Anathan Mariann & Mortimer Appley Heidi & Max Berry Christy & William Camp Jr. Laurie & Robert Champion Dottie & Earle Craig Prudence & William M. Crozier Robyn & John Davis Sandra & Nelson Doubleday ancee & John Erickson Marjorie & Charles Fortgang Nancy & Charle Geschke

W

F TIIE

Renny A. tackpole

HA

Georgia & Thoma nell ilvia o nell Barbara & Rob rt riffin Barbara & dmund Jlajim George . Heyer Jr. Barbara & Ilarvey Jone Kathryn & James Ketcl en ara Jo & Arthur Kobacker Coco & Arie Kopelman haron & Frank Lorenzo Carolyn & Ian MacKenzie Phyllis Macomber Miriam & eymour Mandell

Rona · & Richard Men chel Aileen & cott ewquist harron & flint Ranney leaves & Thoma Rhodes • lien & Kenneth Roman Marion & Robet·t Ro enthal • lien & David Ro Linda &. I larvey aligman hnrlotte mith encvieve & Richard Tucker forilyn \'Qhitney uriko & Bracebridge Young Jr.

ADVISORY BOARD Joan Brecker Patricia Butler Michael deLeo Lyndon Dupuis Martha Groetzinger Dorrit D. P. Gutterson Nina Hellman

Elizabeth Husted Elizabeth Jacobsen Franci D. Lethbridge Reginald Levine Katherine . Lodge Sharon Lorenzo

Patricia Loring Paul Madden Robert f. Mooney Jane . Richmond ancy J. evren cott M. teams Jr. Mary-Elizabeth Young

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Mary H. Beman Richard L. Brecker Thomas B. Congdon Jr. Richard L. Duncan

Peter J. Greenhalgh Robert F. Mooney Elizabeth Oldham Nathaniel Philbrick

Cecil Barron Jensen EDIT R

Elizabeth Oldham COPY EDITOR

ally eidman Bette M. priggs James Sulzer David 11. Wood Claire O'Keeffe ART DIRE IUR

Historic �antucket w<:Icomes �rticl� on any a pect of anLUcket hi tory. Original r arch, first-hand account , .. rem1IUscences of island expenences, historic logs, letters, and photograph are examples of materials of interest to our readers.

Copyright © 2005 by antucket Hi torical A ociation Historic Nantucket (ISSN 0439-2248) is published quarterly by the Nantucket Historical A ociation 15 Broad treet Nantucket, MA 02554.

Periodical po tage paid at Nantucket, MA, and additional ntry office .

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Historic Nantucket Box 1016 • Nantucket, MA 02554-1016 • (508) 228-1894; fax: (508) 228-561 • nhainfo@nha.org For information about our historic sites: www.nha.org

NANTUCKET

WINTER2005

VOLUME 54, NO. 1

4

Letter to Members

by Frank D. Milligan

5

A Treasure Found: �omputer 'J'edJllolog_11 Leac/1· to ,111fl1ckct Scrimshaw DL\'Cover:v

by William J. Boylhart,

-����

10

�. 'i

A Photographic . -�•. , Mystery Solved

�.-�T--1 ,_, ••\-.:''• ··

-�•·•

--

. .• ..,_.,"'\�_!•·,.. i , -··

introJuction by Tony N. Dumitru

-,-

-_-

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by Ryan Cooper and Robert Hellman

17

LIBRt\R'\ COLU IN

The Whalemen 's Shipping List

FROM THE NHA CURATORS

Sperm Whale in Residence

by Donna oop r

Photos by Cecil Barron Jensen and Jeffrey S. Allen

18

Historic Nantucket Book Section Review by Fran es Ruley Karttunen

20

NHANews

On the cover: Whale expert Dan DenDanto (standing) and his brother Frank (behind the ribs) work on articulating the ribs of the NHA's sperm whale in Gosnell Hall at the Whaling Museum, opening in June.

Photograph by Jeffrey S. Allen HI

TOR!C

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TUCKET

W l NT ER

20 0 5

3

FROM

THE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dear Member: Main entrance a/the new Whalzi1g Museum.

Photograph by Jeffrey S. Allen

M

ARK YOUR CALENDARS! IT'S OFF! IAL­ the NHA's "Newer, Bigger, and Better" Whaling MuseW11 will open its doors to the general public on June 4, 2005, kick­ starting a month-long celebration leading up to the June 25-26 Grand Opening Weekend.

And as a special thank you, NHA bu iness, annual, and life members will receive an invitation to one of two "Sneak Preview" events on June 2, 2005. As the dare gets closer, we'll send you more infom1ation.

Over the next few months, JTA curators will be busy installing artifacts and exhibits. At the same time, the administrative staff will focu on the details of the June events geared toward antucket's entire popula­ tion, including year-round and sea ·onal residents and island vi itors. If you would like to be one of the many volw1teers who will be needed to facilitate these events, please contact our admin istrative offices or email: mdineen@nha.org.

In planning our new whaling museum we cook a careful look at our membership progrmn and realized that in our new world-class facility we can offer you, as members, many exciting new benefits.

As a member, you will continue to enjoy the impor­ tant benefits that have always accompanied your NH.A upport: unlimited admission to our museums and his­ toric propertie , a subscription to I listoric antucket and the events calendar, discounts at the Museum hop, and free use of the Fair treet Research Library-to name a few.

In addition, our new Whaling Museum gives us the opportunity to offer significant new membership bene­ fits: our revised family benefits will include grandchil­ dren, and the new Peter Foulger and William Hadwen levels will offer Affinity Groups and exclusive b hind­ the-scenes tours of select Whaling Museum galleries. ompletely new for 2005 is the 1894 o icty. Named for the year the Historical As ociation was founded, support rs at two membership levels will comprise the core upport for our curatorial, r arch, ouu·each, and educational a tivities. We will invite 1894 ociety mem­ bers to take part in an exclusive program intended to involve you more los ly in the Nl I.A:s pre ervation and educational initiative As your membership renewal date approaches, we will send you more detailed information. We hope you \vill find that this new program offers you more choices in levels of support and benefits, and will encourage you to continue your vital membership tatus at this exciting time.

-Fl'ank Milligan

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HISTORIC

NANTUCKET

WINTER

2005

A Treasure Found:

Computer Technology Leads to Nantucket Scrimshaw Discovery

S

I

1s 1. 1 n 1w tPno,, 1, 1894, mi \!Ai n1cKEr born Frederick Myni:k, beautifully engraved teeth by the 1 l/1torical A1soc1i1tio11 bas acquired more than "banknote engraver," the exquisite dressing case with ../0,000 £Jrti/41cts, representing different "chap­ ebony and ivory inlay made by Capt. James Archer, intn� tcn" of antuckds rich birtory and evolution. cately fashioned canes, and nu merous other treasures.

A large portion of the collection encompasses alive Wlhile reviewing and updatti1g the Wi nthrop 1Vtlliams A111eria111 art1j.1ct.1, decorative and fine arts, paintings, scrimshaw collection, a random accession number textiles, <Jrchirnl materials, and memorabilia. In addrtion, (9U0J.2l2) revealed an interesting artifact that would t he many 111ant1111e artifacts directly related to later turn out to be a major discove1y the work ofthe first Nantucket\ whalin g industry include a significant documented American engraver of pictorial scrzinshaw, collection of.1-cni11.1haw.

Edward Burdett. Because of a horizontal crack, the artifact The 1 [ IA hm t1bout eight hundred pieces of scrim­ has not been on dispkiy /or a long time.

The outstanding craftsmanship of Edward Burdett's shaw. Ollll' ih'llls have been purchased, hut many were gr/ts of mdiv1duals like Everett U. Crosb)', V7i11throp work fascinates scholats, marittine histonans, collectors, Wlzlliams, Roher! M. Wlc1ggaman, Frederick H Card11et; and dealers-one of them the maritime historian and Charles \ f)()rhces, making it one of the fi11c 1sl collec­ a11d whaliiig and scrimshaw expert WiLltam J. Boy/har t. tio11s 111 the ll'orld.

His research has led to the discovery and identification of ven rare creations of Edward Burdett. se Through catalog/lli1g, photograph1i1g, and digitization, The most recent discovery is one ofonly three known the c0Llectio11 will soo n he viewable on-line. Robert Hellmt111, 11 lo11g-l111tc HA vo/1111/ee r and renowned col­ Burdetl whale-bone scrimshaw plaques in existence. unknown, lector of wha/1i1g 1i11ple111cnts, deserves special thanks for This r are plaque, whose history was previously H his co11trihu tio11 to the projt1cl. NHA trustee i na laJ1 for many years 111 a drawer at the NA collections­ l lefl111a11 should be credited for her work in ad/Jancing storagefacility.

The plaque is a virtual duplicate of another Burdett profenional sta11d,1rds in the study ofsertillshaw.

The 1·tn111gth of the 1111 scrimshmo collection lies 1iz plaque discovered by Boy/hart in 1995. Confirmation was its engraved @d cmved whale teeth, pie crimpcrs (jagging supplied by the forensic laboratories of the Kenda!! wheels), hus/..is (corset stays), mLLing pim� ca11e.1� swifts Institute. The existence of two almost identical Burdett (yam wi11dcrs), miniature furniture, engraved walrus whalebone plaques is supported by his known practice of tusks, sewing implements. and toys. Each piece of creating an original piece ofscrimshaw and making a sec­ sc,imshaw has its own s!Ol)I a nd reveals, more or less, the ond, nearly identical, version.

Repotted here is the story of tracking the remarkable LL/e and artistic ap pr oaches of the whalemen in their hours of Le,'.wre c1board the whaleships. Ifsome ofthe artt� "lost" whale-bone plaque-from its unrecognized history des have somewhat primitive presentations, others are to its recent detection and Boylhatt's identification 011 111aste1pieces and examples of high craftsmanship. In the Nantucket Island. latter category we can include the two whale teeth -Tony N. Dumitru, NHA Collections Manager engraved on board the whale ship Susan by NantucketII IS T

RIC

NANTUCKET

by

Wtlliam J. Boylhart, with introduction

by Tony N. Dumitru

WINTER

2005

5

Thefirst plaque (top), the now-identified scninshaw iii the collection of the Nantucket Historical Association, compared w1ih the author's second Burdell discovery w1ih the "HM" clearly visible.

6

E

DWARD BURDETT, THE EARLIEST DO U­ mented American engraver of pictorial scrimshaw, was born in Nantucket. Bur dett's recorded hist01y is meager, but genealogical records show he was born on October 19, 1805, to Lydia (Ellis) and Reuben Burdett-a seafaring family related to prominent Nantucket families including the Macys and the Coffins.

The son of a merchant-ship captain, Burdett began his whaling career at the age of seventeen as a green­ hand aboard the Nantucket whaler Foster in 1822. In his years at sea, mostly aboard American whaling ship he rose to first officer, and in 1833 he hipped a first mate on the whaleship Montano on what was to be his calamitous final voyage.

At sea in Novemb er 1833, at the ag of twenty-seven, Burde tt met an untimely end when, in close pursui t of a harpooned whale, he became entangled in the whale line and was dragged o ut of his whaleboat. Hi stunned crewmen watched him <li appe ar beneath the sea, nev r to be seen again.

The tragedy was reporte d in detailed obitu­ aries in both the Nantucket Inquirer and the New Bedfo rd Daily Mercury.

Edwar d Burdett wa largely forgotten w1til he received rec ognition in the 1980s as America's first ma ster scrim­ shaw artist. His work is today considered by

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

the world' le-ading maritime museums as the most sig­ nificant and valuable examples of the genre. A major factor in Burdett's recognition is the 199 L Kendall Whaling Mu eum's monogrnph by Joshua Basseche and Dr. tuart M. Frank.

Burc.let t's scrimshaw pieces numb ·red fewer than thirty known engraved whale teeth anJ just one whale­ b ne plaque. In 1995, a second Burden plaque sur­ faced and was authenticated in the forensic laboratories of the Kendall Whaling Museum and confirmed a the work f Edward Burdett of Nantucket.

Then, in re ear hing the second Burdett plaque, a photograph of a possible th ird B urdett piece came to my attenti n. The plaque, of unknown prove­ nance, appeared to be a virtual duplicate o f that recently discovered.

Because the earlier discovery relates to our to1y, we begin there. f unknown history, the plaque was sold in a household auction in Pittsfielc.l, 1ass.ichusetts, and I acquirec.l it for my collection in 1978 from amuel Lowe Jr., a prominent marine-antiques dealer in Boston. His patrons included leading m useums and the White I louse cri.n1 haw collect.ion of Presic.lcnt Kennedy.

Years later, a iliorough tudy of the plaque revealed that it had the singular characteristics of Edward Burc.lett's work. The Kendall Whaling Musewn became interested in my re earcl1 and examined the plaq ue in it foren ic laboratorie s, confirming that it was the work of Edward Burc.lett, circa 1832.

During the ·tudy the museum's director, Dr. Frank, noted that the hanc.1-paintec.l initials l I and M on the face of the plaque were "aL11ost certainly, by a hand other than Burdett's." But the owner of the bold gilt initial remained unidentified. ln 2001, I purcha ed a new computer canner in order to mak e photocopie of my collection. To obtain the best color I set about testing a variety of printing papers. Th Burdett plaque, mounted in its original frame, was the test subject. I rints would be made of b oth the face and the r v rs, of the plaque. As print after print pilled out, script letters appeared on the prints of the r verse of the frame. Previously barely visi­ ble, the letters now clearly spelled Morewood.

A a member of the Melville ociety, I recognized the nam a that of th family whose farm abutted Herman Melville's farm in Pittsfield, Massachu etts.

The two families became ve1y close, and ul timately jo ined when Melville's niece Maria married the WINTER

2005

Clodwrse from far left Engraved whalebone plaque of ship William Tell with engraved s1gnat11re of Edward Burdell al lop.

Morewoods' son William. , tartled by the appearance of the name, I could not foil to note that th· initials painted on the plaqu ·, 1 I and M, could be rho e of Herman 1elville, the author of

Collection of the Ken<lall Whaling Museum.

Courtesy of ew Bedford Whaling Museum.

Mobv-D,ck.

tiU unbelieving, my r earch now pur­ sued the name lorewood and the two painted initials. In the months that fol­ lowed, the promising Morewood-Mclville connection was Jocumented. Contributing co my search were the archives of T larva rd University, the B rkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield 'ity Probate Office, The MaJ?,av11e Jl11tiques, the MelviUe ociety, Pittsfield and Berkshire 'ountics newspaper files, and the Melville biographers.

During the final re,earch on tl1e 11 M initials, I was encourage I by Laurie Robertson-Lorant, author f the recent definitive Melville bi grnphy Meft,tfle, to probe the geneal gy of the Morewood family, then only par­ tially re ·ordcJ, 10 determine if tliere was a M rewood with th' II M. From Morew od Estate papers, letters, and Jo ument , sixty Morewood appeared, dating back to 1027 in England, but no Morewood with the initial H M in th giv n time frame. ominuing my search, I delved into Melville genealogy and f und only on qualified Melville-Herman Melville him elf.

D ument record that in me same monm in 1850 th Morewood and Melville families moved into imme­ diately adjoining farms in Pittsfield. ver the y ears Melville often vi ired the Mor woods' large library and HISTORIC

ANTUCKET

Her111a11 Melville, mccessful young whaleman-aulhor periodically took along some of his personal p s es ions -books, prints and engravings, hi seashell collection, and hi cu tom-made reading/writing chair-all of which remained mere for hi u e.

In l 63, severely injured in a fall, Melville decided he could n longer cope wim me fann work and was in me midst of packing for a move to a new home in ew York ity when Mrs. Morewood died. In me resultant turmoil for b th families, Melville's personal possession in me Morewood libraty were left behind. My attention focused upon what had happened to those pos essions.

About this time, I made two discoveries: the fu-st was a 1982 article by Dr. Frank in me Melville ociety files in which he described his visit to me home of me own­ ers of Melvill ' reading/writing chair. The family had acquired me chair in a Pittsfield household auction in me early 1920 where it bad been described in me sale as "Hem1an Melville's chair." That was the chair left in me Morewood library.

The second surpri e was finding old newspaper advertisements of household auctions in the Pittsfield area in which Melvil le's possessions were sold by

ca. 18-17, painted by Asa \\7 ]il'itchell.

Berkshire Athem1eum.

Back lower corner of the Burdell p/<1q11e /r,1111e with "/ IM" initlllls.

The prevrous(v u11decipherable wri1ti1g 011 frame appears directly above the computer­ revealed ll<rme "Morewood."

W[NTER 2005

7

Morewood heirs. Article in the pap ers indi­ cated that at least five such Morewood a uc ­ ti on s oc curred as succeeding enerat ion s settled estates and MdviUe-as ociated items pass ed into other, mo tly unknow n, hands.

I t h en sent my re earch re sults t o Dr. Frank, now director of the Kendall Insti tute of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, who responded by asking me to present the find­ ings at the 2003 International Whaling History ymposium in Ne\: Bedford.

Following t he presentati n, which includ­ ed sixty slides of evidence related to the doc­ umentation, a letter arrived fr om Dr. Frank seating: "Opinion a ppears to be unanimous. o me of the bigges t potential ke p tic s (like me), and even the Melville biographers, were c nvinced that your Burdett panbone pane l was owned by Herman Melville. You've made a most extraordinary discovery."

With docu men tation of the Burdett­ Melville connection concluded, my attention returned to the eni gma of that third mysteri­ ou plaque, whic h wa o like the Burdett plaque with its H M initials.

Once again luck interv ened. While study­ ing in the NHA' Research Library, I found in Everett U. Crosby's 1955 Nantucket book, usan's Teeth and Much Ado About Scrim­ shaw, a full-page illu stration of that same mysterious whale-bone plague thnt bad app ared in a 1942 The Magazine Antiques article by arl Dr pperd, a well-known antiques sch lar of th e period. Drepperd's own coUecti n had disappeared through his es tate.

Antiques editors, s rim haw deal r , and auc tion-ca t a­ lo ue res arch aU fail d to produc any information about th plaque.

Then, in th spring of 2004, o phone call came from Paul Vardeman, former Kansas ity judge and scrimshaw authority, w ho wa s about to return to Nantucket for on e of his frequent visits to his accommo­ dations on the Old North Wharf, wh re he isa member of the Wharf Rat lub. H had been in the audience of the Burdett-Melville pres ntation and had seen the plaque with its H M initials: his call was to inform me that he had found an almo st identical panbone scrim haw plaque pictured in an old issue of The Magazine Antiques.

At right: "Pittsfield Village, 1851." Manuscript map

by Lion Miles, 1997.

Courtesy of Lion Miles.

Below: Panbone plaque.

Illustration from Everett U. Crosby's Susan's Teeth and Much Ado about Scrimshaw, Nantucket, 1955.

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I reminded him of the several years I ha<l been puruing that same mysterious piece of -crim haw an<l that it location was still unknown, but I believed it was somewhere on N,mtucket an<l po sibly in storage in the Whaling Museum, but that my recent visits to the muse­ um's displays had foiled to find the plaque among its exhibits. As we talked, both of us reca!Je<l that we had taken pictures of all of the Whaling Museum' scrimshaw 111 e,1rlier years, and that we would .earch through them for the plaque.

A day later we were again on the phone, having found the mtsstng plaque among our photo of the Whaling Mu ·eum's year·-earlier di plays. A few week later Paul and I examined the NI IA' scrim haw co!Jec­ tion, and found the long-sought plaque, removed from Ji play because 1t had developed an age-crack.

Finally, examining the actual plaque, whose prove­ nance was unknown by the museum, provided the opportunity to confirm my original idenrification of this antucket Whalmg Mu eum crim haw plaque a the work of Edward Burdett, circa I 832. Further authenti­ cation came from ,1 1955 letter received from Or. Frank, after he had re eived my research concerning the exis­ tence of the third Burdett whalebone plaque: "I quite agree that the ship-po11rait in the plaque you di covered in the May 19-12 Anllques article reprint is the pitt'n image of the shiJ portrait on your own panbone plaque, and thus a likely Burdett creation. In fact, the po1trait on yours and the one in 1111/tques are virtually identical."

The rare Burdett panbone plaque bears the mo t dis­ tinctive characteristic of Burdcrr's singular creative style-his unique engraving technique. While mo t scrimshaw has the artist' engraved lines in cribed onto the surface of the whale tooth or whalebone, Burdett dramatically gouge out the surface in bold, intaglio­ technique engraving, which produc an unu ual sculp­ tur d beauty and dimcn. ion to his m,1 terly work.

When the expanded Whaling Museum opens in June 2005, thi extrnordimuy example of a superb and rare rim haw piece will for the fo t time be displayed as an achievement by America's first ma ter crimshaw arti t-Edward Burdett of antucket.

Notes: crimshaw, perhaps the only folk art that can be accepted as peculiarly American, has been considered one of the most important aspects of the whaling industry. It represents how captains and crewmembers of different whaling vessels used their skills (artistic or utilitarian) to illustrate the whaling process and create link to their home on Nantucket.

The name "banknote engraver" is associated with the scrimshander who depicted in his scrimshaw an iconography similar to that of banknotes.

Winthrop "Windy" Williams was a lifelong collector of scrim haw who concentrated on pieces with an i land connection and arranged for them to remain in antucket after his passing. He donated three hundred pieces of scrim haw to the NHA in 1964.

SoUl'ces: Monograph, Kendall Whaling Museum: "Edward Burdett, 1805-33, America's First Master Scrim haw Artist" by Joshua Basseches and Dr.Stuart M. Frank, 1991.

William Te!J plaque, ew Bedford Whaling Museum.

The Magazine Antiques, May 1942 Report prepared by Dr. tuart M. Frank, director, The Kenda!J Whaling Museum, haron, Mass., in consultation with Joshua Besseches, advi my curator, May 1995.

Melville, ... A Biography, Laurie Robertson-Lorant.

Clark on-Potter/Publi hers, N.Y., Random House, Inc., ew York, Toronto, London, yc:lney, Auckland, 1996.

The University of Massachusetts Press, 1998.

Berkshire Athenaeum, "Morewood Family Archives," Pittsfield, Mas .

The Melville ociety Libraiy, Kendall Institute, ew Bedford Whaling Museum.

Berkshire Athenaeun1, Estate Papers of: William Rowland Morewood, William Barlow Morewood, Maria (Melville) Morewood, Alfred P. Morewood, arah L. H. Morewood, and Agnes Morewood.

\'v'illiam }. Boy/hart is the retired director of the ational Research Center in California and Washington, D.C., a rnember of the Melville Society, and a scholar of marittine histo,y and whaling/or overfifty years.

Ill TORIC

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9

A Photographic Mystery Solved The origin o/Wyer's famous view of Nantucket wharves

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I IE LAST THlRD OF THE NlNETEENTI I ENTURY Girt Nantucket and used mis in1age as his frontispiece, witnessed the twilight and death o f titling it "Nantucket in 1862." ome years ago a copy of Ryan Cooper Nantucket's whaling industry. During this tl,e 1899 print turned up with a paper label on the back and Robet1 Hellman period, the whaleships and barks that once iliat read "Nantucket in 1862, Whaleship Narragansett I crowded the wharves of the town disappeared one by at Wharf- from an Old Photograph." TI1e plot of ilie one, sold off to other whaling ports or converted to the mystery began to tl1icken.

A few years ago, while examining the tereopticon merchant service. By 1869 it was all over, and Nantucket slumbered until the advent of the tourist collection at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, ship-model builder Mark umerland and historian Ryan industty toward the end of the nineteenth century. ooper stumbled upon an original, untouched tereo­ Unfortunately, during this last period of Nantucket whaling, there was little demand for local photogra­ view iliat proved to be Wyer's source [or his published phers to record images of the dying industry. Their print. A [aint penciled inscription on the reverse identi­ interest lay in views of the quaint streets and ancient fies it as antucket. 1n addition, another item in ilie buildings around the town and island, as well as por­ image collection, previously ignored by all, is presum­ I traits of local citizens, but there was little incentive to ably the bow of an old whaling vessel at Nantucket. record the soon-to-vanish sights of the old Both cards are stamped on me reverse: "E.T. \'v'hitney whaling barks and ship along the Nantucket water- and Co. orwalk and tamford, onn." Along wit!, me front. It took an itinerant photographer, Edward T. two stereograph was half an unmounted stercograph Whitney, from Connecticut, to record the only two shO\ving the same view of the old whaler. extant views of an active whaling harbor, and those These two images, whi h are published here for images remained w1recognized for more than a centu1y. ilie first tim in tl1eir original format, document the only The only known image of Nantucket showing whal­ known images of Nantucket square-rigged whalers. ing vessels along the whaives wa published in 1899 by It should be noted, however, tl1at antucket ph togra­ Henry S. Wyer, a well-known local photographer and pher Jo iah Freen1an published a eries of stereopticon Maker's stamp /rom souvenir merchant. A large print, it shows a view of a views in 1870 showing a fuiback whale being cut-in at square-rigged whaler and other vesse ls at wharf side by the whaling chooner Abby Bradford. Tbe back of stereo card.

Straight Wharf, with the landmark Unitarian whale had been fmmd floating dead off Monomoy, on Church in the background. The source of Cape od, and towed by steamer to Nantucket. There, !!IC" r..

Wyer's print was unknown, and because the the temporarily retired Abby Bradford (she was later print hows considerable retouching, some old to New Bedford to resume whaling) was conve­ skeptical historians speculated that the image niently available alongside Commercial Wharf to was a composite made from a picture of whaling process ilie whale, which was said to have "made 24 vessels at New Bedford superirnpo ed against barrels of oil." There is also anoilier stereo view, proba­ the backdrop of Nantucket. Most of tl1e known bly taken from tl1e Unitarian Church tower, by Martha's Wyer prints were rmtitled, but in 1902 he pub­ Vineyard photographers Charles H. Shute & Son, lished a little historical guidebook called Sea- showing a whaling vessel tied up to one of ilie wharves. by

. �bUne,-..._ ct. �, \.,o. orwalkand

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2005

We can logically a ume that Wyer got the info m1a­ cap" of Straight Whaif? It appears that it has been out tion he captioned on h i s p u b l ished p ri n t from an of service for some time. At the bowsprit, the jib boom inscription on the original stereo view he used. Research has been retracted, which was a standard practice for has shown that indeed this information was historically laid-up vessels. The foremast is without its shrouds and accurate. The histo1ic data show that the Namingansett, there are no mast stays. All the lower deadeyes can be which was built in 1 84 1 at Mattapoisett, Massachusetts seen in position and the pi.mail inside those deadeyes is

by Christopher Wyer of Nantucket, ( Hemy S. Wyer's still equipped \vith all its belaying pins. It is unlikely that great uncle) maJc four Pacific whaling voyages from she is abandoned, given that she is moored to an active that port, t he last in 1 85 5 , returning to Nantucket in pier, but more likely is serving some purpose such as 1 860. Wa she still there in 1 862 ? l n American Lloyd's storage. It is probable that this old vessel is a whaler, but Register of Amerirn11 and Foreign Shipping /or £863, cl1at it might have been a merchant ship. It is interesting that very ship is listed as registered to the Port of Boston and the vessel was not modernized during its ca reer but under remarks 1s written " Whaler-Rig overh a u l ed retained obsolete features. Further research may reveal '62. " I nrerestingl), rhc register also indicates that this its name. vessel was surveyed i n J an ua ry of 1 863 in New fYork As we look into the distance in the image, we can see I City. A clue may b · found in the hip Registers o New the d i s i n tegrating O l d South Wha rf, and beyo n d , Bedford ( Vol . J I , p . 1 82 ) where the arragansell of Commercial Wha rf. These wha rves once had cross Boston was issued a tcmpora1y registration in October members at the end of tl1e pier , evidence of which can 1 862 (most likely the port in which her rig was over­ be seen by the pilings. In the background is the shore­ hauled ) with a fur t h er comment that in 1 863 she was line along Washington Street and just to the right of "sold Coreign." After 1 863 we can find no record of the center is a h uge building standing all alone that turns Nam1J!,c111sett anywhere, which leads us to believe that out to be the Quaise Asylum, subsequently called "Our perhaps her name was changed or she may have been I s l a n d Horne , " wh i ch was m oved from Q u a ise to lost. In any event, all the fact point to Wyer being cor­ Orange Street in 1 854. The area was so devoid of other rect, an<l when one look do ely at the photo a plank structw-es at tl1at time that alth ugh it is about three­ can be seen leading to the pier from the deck and several quarters of a mile from the wharf, it appears to be right workmen arc seen on the pier near that gangplank. We at the shoreline. The view of this building is remarkably believe this ph to how the old whaler being readied clear in Whitney's photo, so m uch so that even under high magnification it shows all the salient features of this for her trip to Boston, New Bedford, or New York ity.

The econd in1age, however, poses almost as many impottant Nantucket landmark. tereographs fu -st appeared i n the 1 850s , fu-st as quest ions as an wers. The vessel in the foreground appears to be a very old whaleship. The tern of another d aguerreotype stereos then as albumen prints. They vessel can be seen at the extreme right. This is dearly became extremely popular and could be fmmd in almost the same vessel, almost assuredly also a whaler, whose every home. Stereographs often provide the earliest and bow can be seen at the far left in photograph number l . often the only known views of various locations and sub­ A c m pa rison o( the two view i n di cates they were jects, as is the case witl1 tl1e Whitney images. Whitney taken at the same L i me and from the same spot. We probably took more views in Nantucket than have thus believ that Whitney' camera was et up atop the old far been discovered. It is hoped that future research will whaler's aft r de khouse and from there the t\vo images tu rn up more images in stereograph collections. Until tl1en, tl1e discovety of these photographs will have to sar­ were taken.

To i J l u st rate c h i · , we h ave p repa1·ed a com posite i fy Nantucket and whaling historians as the only true drawing using the wharf outli.n s fr m the 1 85 I Iemy images of Nantucket's vanished whaling industly.

WaU i ng map o[ Nant uck t Tow n , on which we have Robert Hellman, a Nantucket resident and NHA volunteer, is a d rawn all the ve · els at traight Wharf, the U nitarian whaltizg historian and collector ofantique whalzi1g artifacts. He hu rch, and the Lines of ight for both photographs. catalogued the NHA 's collection of whaling implements, wrote R turning to the old vessel in the foreground of pho­ " Whaling Tools in the Nantucket Whaling Museum" for the tograph number 2 , note the t\vo-horned belfry (minus summer 1998 issue o/Hi toric Nantucket, lectured at the NHA the bel l ) , which is mounted as pa rt of the windlass 1i1 August 2000 on the "History and Development ofthe Whal­ mechanism. 111e windlass is located aft of the foremast, ing Harpoon, " and was on the 2004 Festival a/ Trees committee. instead of near the bow as one would expect. This Ryan Cooper is a Yarmouthport antiques dealer specializzi1g arrangement was common in late eighteenth- and early i11 nautical antiques, a noted historian offigureheads and ship­ nineteenth-century vessels as the foremast was placed caroziig, a graphic illustrator, and a cartoonist. He was a guest farther forward, limiting tl1e space for the windlass. lecturer at the NH A in September 2003, speaking on uTbe A rt What is this vessel doing in this location at the "end of the Figurehead: Its History and Design. " H l

TO R J C

N A N T U

K E T

W I N T E R

2 0 0 5

11

Clockwisefrom bottom left:

Map showing/our of Nantucket's five wharves with the vessels on Straight Wharf that appear in the "mystery photos."

In the field of view /or photo number 2, the distant shoreline along Washington Street and Our Island Home at Orange Street are well beyond the limits of the map. \Y/hitney stereo card (photo number 1) taken from "Old Whaler" looking down Straight Whar/with whaleship Narragansett left center and Unitarian Church in background ca. 1862. © The ew Bedford Whaling Museum.

Retouched pnizt published by H. 5. Wyer 1n 1899 based on Whitney 1862 stereo card showtizg Stmight \Ylha1f with whaler Narragan ett and Unitarian Church in background.

Paper label 011 back oj\'(lyer's 1899 print. \Ylh1tney photo 1mmber 2 taken from "Old Wlhald' hawing Old South Wharf, Commercial Wha1f Washington Street shoreline, and "Our Island Home'' on Orange Street in distance, ca. 1862. © The New Bedford \Ylhaling Museum.

KEY

A. Unitarian Church B. Whaleship Narragansett C. "Old Whaler" (Camera Location)

• • • Former footprint of wharves

......

.... "\

:

....

······· : ·.

Photo 1 Field of View

coMMERC

f IAl WtlAR

Photo 2 Field of View

:·····.

H.S. WYER Herny S. Wyer (at right) was born in Nantucket on January 21, 1847. His father, Charles S. Wyer, a whaleman, was first mate on thefixst and second voyages (1832 and 1836) of the antucket whaling hip Charles and Henry (the second of the two American whalers on which Hennan Melville served, in 1842), o Herny had a keen family-inspired interest in whaling. He became a photographer and for a tin1e had his studio in Yonkers, New York.

In 1886 he returned to Nantucket, where he lived for the rest of his life photographing island street scenes, harbor views, and local characters. He was one of the founders of the Nantucket Historical Association in 1894 and the NBA owns a fabulous collection of his Nantucket photographs. His Wyer's A.it and Book Store, with a shop at 8 Federal treet and another in Sconset, specialized in "Nantucket Pictures and Books," "Nantucket Pebble Jewelry mounted in Silver or Gold," and "Aitistic Souvenirs in Great Variety." A man of many talents, Wyer wrote a number of Nantucket books and poems, drew and published hun1orous cartoons of local interest, and produced his own Nantucket post cards. He died in 1920 at the age of 73.

Reading the Whalemen 's Shipping

List and Merchants' Transcript: A Six-Year Odyssey

I

1998, WHEN I TARTED VOLUNTEERJ , AT Tl tr Nantucket I Iistorical As ociation Re ear h Donna Cooper Libra ry, I told then librar y dire tor Bet y Lowenstein that I was interested in doin a research project related to Nantucket g neal gy.

She pointed me in the direction of the Whalemen's Shipping List and Merchants' Transcript, a New Bedford newspaper. I quickly concluded that this would be an undertaking that I could really enjoy, but I had n idea that, from start to finish, the work would take me six years to complete.

The Whalemen's Shipping List and Merchants' Transcript (hereafter WSL) is a collection of weekly new­ papers, published in New Bedford from 1843 to 1914.

The NHA's collection was donated by William I 1. Tripp (1880-1959), curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum for twenty-five years. Fifty-one year are cov­ ered in the NH.A's collection, and they are b und in thirty-six large volumes, dating froml843 to 1894. I read through every newspaper fifty-two edition per year for fifty-one years, compiling any information that mentioned antucket and anrucketers. The informa­ tion I was able to gather I then ente red into the NHA database, adding information ab ut Nantu ket An 1846 advertisement families for people interested in the i land' genealogy. /or the sale of As the only volunteer involved on the project, I wa able to organize the information into a concise format the Narragansett, that can be ea ily found and is ea y to r ad. ince I've the ship /eatured 1i1 the begun the project, the volumes o( \\7. L, al ng with previous article. many other important an d irreplaceable manu cript collections, have be n m ved WHALING SHIP FOR SALE. from the Peter Foulger Museum _& For aale. tbe 1blp ::'iarrapneett, ae 1De cam• 31afrom 1ea, witb all her win.ling uteuiia, chroaom­ to the Fair Street R search Library eur, &c. 'f_h• N. '!a• built at Mauapoiaett, Mau, .

10.1841, 11uerth• 11•med111te Hperi•te■oleace or Chri•­ and are now stored in a climate­ topbcr Wyer, lhq, for Ute preoant 11wa.er1 l1 398 tone �urtben, obe i• an ucellellt sea boat, eall• very fut, a11d controlled, state-of-the-art d posi­ 11 in everr re,pect a nry duirable vo11el for the wbal­ lar bo11• .. •· Any farther i■form�uoa in relation to th• tory vault i n tbe basement of above, may be .bad on application to Hl:NKY A KKLLBY,Nantucli:et. mjli-d3w 7 Fair Street. by

14

HISTORfC

N

NANTUCKET

I

As a new paper, \\1/SL wa intended to provide those involved in the whaling in<lu ·try with information about the movements of whaling vessels, the fare of the crews, prices of il m1d whalebone, an<l the state of the oil mar ket . rew listings, as we ll as the positions each crew memb r hel<l on his ship, shipwrc ks, mutinies, illnesses and deaths of crew members, and imp rtant maritime discoveries were all part of the news included in these paper . This information wa gathered from "gams" betw en hip , conver ations with captain and c rew when they returned co their port, or whenever family members or friends received mail from a crew member on a ves el. When thi news wa shared with the editor of 1\7. L, he in turn printed it in the paper , bringing either adne or relief to hometown connections.

WSL i a fa cinating tudy, not only of whaling in Nantucket and throughout Ma sa huseus, but al o a hi toric chr ni le of island new , island government, marriag s, the live and deaths of re p cted local p ronalities throughout the years, and also period a<lv r­ tisements. Even after the glory Jays of whaling in anrucket had ended, there w r still men from ur island who crewed on hips leaving from other port and men wh till ha I connection to whaling thr ugh hip wner hip or commerce. Reading the newspape1 , I wa tran pOt"t'd through history, both national an I 1 cal, fin Ji ng information about Pre idential elections, men leaving anni k t t find wealth in th alifornia Gold Rush, the ivil War an<l its aftermath .in Nantucket and through ut the nati n, a sa sination , the major shift from the whaling in<lu try to touri t trade on our i land, th building of the ape od anal (a long and expcn ive pr ject), the con truction of the jetties in our wn harbor (an unbelievably expensive feat at that rim and quite an i land event), thee tablish­ ment of the life aving stations along th south hor , and the building of the Nanrucket Railroad - to name WINTER

2005

II E ll U II A N 1, S '

TR AN S ,D R I P T. � A OVEITltt:,tS. Tl lu.n.dco•ffo<•--•lt •t th c■tt,,.uy ra,..

Tlaela»ru,1 J.a. N .......... ,e,,rc■la11o•I• ••• flfi■dpa.l ,1111• ••• IUW••I• .N,w E.aal.£N, u••••l•I it. ,.a.J ,, 11 .... 1 •• ,., ..... ,t1,1■1 t::TA CO.lll'UTI. L1'T orA.JIUIC.V

,,,,ALINO IHll'I. ,ritli 111,1,, •• , ,.,.,.. ...

udll, 11 .. atala-4 f• 1�i•p1,-r.

ju t a few news items that were mentioned. Al o induJ­ cJ in WSL were interesting articles concerning hou e­ holJ hints, rccip ·s, j kc , new books and magazin s available at the time, interviews with aging Nantuckctcrs and whaling captain ab ur "the good old Jays," and also local p ctry. The advertisements are a font of information and quite humorou today. The ad were not onl} for items of whaling interest-provi ions, r pes, harpoons, c:harts, and instruments-but also di play of fa ·hions of the Jay, plant and seed £ r ale, household goods, and, of course, drugs, ointments, and remedies for any ailment known to mankind.

In the six years that it has taken me to c mplete the project, T have learned a great deal about what life was like on Nantucket in the nineteenth century. Items about the preeminen t familie of anrucket-the offins, Folgers, tarbucks, Macys, Hu cys, Gardners, and others-were cited, including plans for family reunion , gift donated to the town, wedding announce­ ments and obituarit: ; but there were also article about how black and ape VerJeans cabli hed a permanent place for themselv , n the island, the imp rtance of the uaker religion and its views n the d,anges taking place n Nantucket, the temperance movement, the building and staffing of ur light hips and lighthou e , the arrival of the steamboat and h w much easier the trip t and fr m the mainland were mad by their er­ vice, thus enabling tourism to get under way, and the establi hm nt and demi e f several newspapers on antucket, all while the Inquirer and Mirror survived ,md became the true lifeline for news about our island and the country.

News of the day about lo al per onalities and inter­ ests also came from WSL. Did you know: that a native Nantucketer was caught embezzling from the Pacific Ill

TORIC

NANTU

KET

ati nal Bank, all tolen moni paid off by his father; that a fortune wa found buried under a house in town when it wa being remodeled, and the townspeople were in quite a stir to find out how the money ended up th re, wh re it came from, and to whom it belonged; that we had a visit by President Grant (one of five Presidents to visit antucket) who thought our i land wa lovely; or that we have our very own sea serpent living in the waters off Tuckernuck, one that has been seen many times throughout the years by people traveling between the mainland and our island? All of these bits of information were included in WSL and made for very int resting reading. The owner and editor, Eben P. Raymond, was a native of the island, and this perhaps explains why so much information about Nantucket appeared in a New Bedford newspaper.

The most remarkable information to come out of thi project is that as much as things change on the island, many thing stay the same. Included in WSL wer articles that are all too familiar in our newspapers today. There were complaints about the huge homes being built. After the end of Nantucket's prominence in whaling, many people resented the influx of visitor as the tourist trade developed, and the rudeness of visitors and their outrageous demands were written about in the newspaper. The overcrowding of our town streets, beaches, and inns because of the tourist trade; the high­ er cost of goods and furnishings as touri m developed; and the steamboats being loaded down with visitors coming just for the day or even for an extended stay were difficult for Nantucketers to accept after many years of the "sleepy town" atmosphere on the island.

Also recorded in the papers was the infighting among the selectmen and the town's lack of appreciation for their elected officials. Lawsuits against the town for

The masthead in 1854.

\Y/ I N T E R

2 0 0 5

15

SUM MER ARRANGEMENT. COllllU E N C I N G .J U N E �ii , 1 8 S.

N a u tuckct , llln1·t hn'11 ,· i 11 e , 11rd , C o t ll1 ge Cit y ,

Ollk

B l uf f 11 ,

''i n c y n r d H i g h ­

l a n d , Edga r a o ·w n , K n . t n u 1 0 , '' ioeyn rd

WHALEMEN ATTENTION !

Bomb Guns aml Lance

T I i t:: {" � tl L ll ., H • ' Ctl " " '" ... . . ,

• •• •

,t ,

A '\ l l o n l ' f f ot

r o K /11 \ L II

CUNNINGHAM & COGAN'S CEUBRATED BREECH·LOADINO B D M S BUNS , ALSO

PA'r nNT ll0.11 11 LA NCES A:X 11 CA ltT Hl lll: t'.S cmllll'.I E]).

,r- n- GUJ uf l.unt •tt ff"H•"' V all wli• lwin Mffl •d ua.aaa.,_ lit,••· u I k 101sa1oa u. all •llau luMl. u.S •n r-4M � ,._, ITaOSU'-IT .,.., Tl,,

11 1 ••• l<» l l1" 10l l h •• l! <1 u e r.,rr •II Ol l>f'n, l• l iuu t 1Mr to•a l4 1<1e·lad &a<1 ,l--,,"r•l 'r.EN T :t ll-C E B .A. � NUT E.

I l ll vc11 , \Voo,1� l l :> i ght><.

ll o l l

11 0 11

F a l mo u t h

Leu m c rs N A X TUCK E T , \' I N EY A. U D , llI A R'r l i A ' S a n d ll10N U l l A N ' E'CT w i l l l e a v e < l o l !y , on a n d n f l e r l\J O .S O A Y , J u ne 2J , ( Sun•

Lenve N e w Jlt'tl ford 1'01· C ' o t t11 ,re C' i l r , n t 7 , 1 0 : l 0, A , Jll . , J :45, 4 :45 I ' . ht . lteturn Jenve Cotw g e Cit y M tl : 1 6, n n tl 9 :30 A M . , • 1 nnd 3 l:' , oil , •Does not s tor, u.t V l n e )·nr!l l l l g ll lnncls.

Leave New llc-dfor,1 for N n a t 11 c kct , e.t 7 A . J\Ll n n d 1 : 46 l:'. M . Jlet u l' n , leave N a n ­ tuckot.llt 7 A.. M . , a r11l l:! :30 l' . M .

Lenve N e ,v Bedford fo1· \VoodA R ol l , a t 1 0 :4U A • .'.1.1 . , a n d l : 45 1\11(\ 4 : 45 P . M , lte ­ t u r n , l c a v o W oods ll o l l ot 7 : 10 A. M . , n ml 3 :36 1:'. M .

Le-ave \V ood8 l l o l l for Coltn ge C i t y , nt 1 1 :40 A . AL , U : 1 6 llllrt tJ :30 l:' . M. Ret u rn , leave (.; otLUgo (;lty at G : 1 5 antl O :30 A.. M., and a r . .<\l.

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1111' IIJC .. \ll h.O.: l"tn \,, l • l "•hllt 1. • )lflt l�') •• 1 1r t·•..-••r ,. ... _ • �•.rt h \ lo at.rr •h• • 1 • II I nd " "' flnf'fl•l'I, M_, ,...,, ,....,. hi fl nl.!11•• ... .. , ..,, • .. ...�_., ,.. ,_. W► ,i. u,i.. c.a,1111 , • · •'::!d'" V U 1 C Y O Jt 1, , o u u� , 1 , . ,.,,, m • •• ., .., ... _ .,.., ..,.,.. ,•..,.., • ,,,,.... • • • • • "' ,.., , , 1 1 • r tt• , 1, ,. , • • • 1. f 1 8 ,\ � l10 ll l l I\\ J I 0 \1' 1.\:\ l l , t • _,..,._,. ., 11...... ... 1.....

'I \ , l' Y,\ f" IIT n►;!I UJ,' • t• flli U II A O W U & L ■ 01L ,J . B . I I :\ l ) J , 1: r , C4"'flllP , MJAt.f, ,It • 1 1 1 1• U tU 4 0 IU, K WI , Ml, 1:1 l' A•llt.ll'" Rl, Of l 41' 4 ,i /t(/III"// It f l f. ll T'-IIILT \1 1 11111,i: lll'l' ltl 1 , . W 1 111 11 ,- •• u .... . ■ 1 , , ,. . �• N-1 ' • l'•H ,--..ai.:, ... ..... _ • ....., ,,,,_ u,. , ... . • '-• , . ... . . .. ... ......... .. k.a ...1.,1111. 1 1 ,._ 1,, • .._ ..,._ 'l'Ell ln & 'l'Ol lDA ll ll. tM t ·•

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Lea v e C o nn gc- C i t y for N a u t u e k c- t , nt 0 A . M . , 1,ml t i' . JIJ. R t11 rn , te1L v o � umuck:­ et at 7 A . 111 . , O. l l U U :;JO l'. J\l ,

WILLIAM LEW I S, A.o-ent,

No. 13 Hamilton Streel,

An assortment ofadvertisements found in the \Y/SL /rom 1846 to 1888.

. -

. .

New Bedrord, Mass.

d a m a g es to l o c a l s a n d

t h e i r p r o p e r t i es w e r e also being .filed . Ail this

sou n d s s i milar to what

we read about today i n o u r local p a p ers.

I h a ve t h o r o u g h l y

en j oyed m y time work­

i n g on this pro j ect and

I'm g rateful for the help

I r e c e i v e d from B e t s y

Leave N e w Bed.ford for ,· 1 n .. ynrd l l a • ven , 4 :46 1' . l,l . ltottl l' ll 1 nt 6 :<l.5 A . M . !i1 1J N D A Y 8 .

Commenc i n g Jul y 1 st , l eavo New Rcil fo r<l at O A. l\l .) W oods H o l l , 1 0 : 1 0 A. M . , Cotta g e Clt v nt l 0 : 60 A. M . , fo r N n n tncket. R e t u rn , l eave N a n tucket n t 2 : 1 5 r. llf . , Cot ta g e C i t y , at 4 :45 P. M . , Woods H ol l , at 6 :20 P. lll .

E Z O U . B 8 I O N T I C K ET8,

New Bedford to C o t ta ,.. e C i ty and Re• turn good u n t il Ootober 1st, 1888 . . . . . . , 1 .00 New .u'ea ford to an tuck t and ltetn l'D , g ood until Sept e m ber l�th , l . . . . . . . $Vl0

Freights m u st be on the whnrf 30 m l. n u te3 before ad v e rtlsccl t i m e for ten v l o g.

Tl.le St oam bo:\t Compan y reserves t h o pri v i l ege of h a n g l. n g t he t l m e of ru n n i n g , a l s o tow i n g vessel s o n t h e passages w i th­ out notice .

Appllcatlon fo r tow i n g vessel s or an y other i n formation m a y be mnde to the Cap• t.ain on boa.rd , o r to E D W A RD T. P I ERCE, Agen t .

New Bedford, J u ne 2 1 , 1 f ,

Lowe n s t e i n , L i b b y O l d h a m , " Ra l p h " H e n ke , a n d

Georgen Gilliam Charnes. I truly bel ieve they were as

excited as I was when I was finall y able to sa y that the

work on

\.\7SL

was completed . My ho pe is that peo p le

interested in g en ealogy will fin d a piece of the p uzzle

they ,u-e lookin g for-a better un<lers t a n c.l i .n o of t h e i r

fam i ly m e m ber a n d h i s o r h e r l i fe o n N a n t u cket­

thro u g h an a r t i cl e o r j ust a s h o rt sentence fro m the

\Vhalemen 's Shipping List.

Donna K. Cooper has owned a house on antucket since 1 993 and has been a full-time resident sti1ce 1 996.

She is an avid reader, especially of historical literature, plays golf, and loves to travel and go antiquing. After the death of her father in 1 983, she discovered the satisfaction ofdoing genealogical research. Donna is mam'ed to Karl Schulz and has two daughters and a grandson. l6 11 1 S T O R I C

N A N T U C K E T

I

I

Y1111r A t t �ntlon I s invited l ,1 lh1> fMt hot I n 1•ur­ chawiog &be l:itest i•suo of thl� work , you it• �

A Dictionary

ronl� i n l n it ::000 moro word., an d n early !!O(l() mor l l l u�trut iou s than any other American Dlctiont.ry.

A Gazetteer of the World

, •o n t.M i u i n R OTrr �'i,OOO Titlc,., w i th thnir pn>n un,·i11t iv11 ou•I o \'Rst amou n t of othrr i n CormaLlou, . ( j u!t :i.ddod, 1 811:.) nod

A Biographical Dictionary

• i r i n g pronunciat ion or no.mos i,nd brief fact" con, •nrn i u g nParly 1 0,000 Noted PPrson 1.i al•o udous table 11 i • ill11 valuable in!ormauoo.

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W I

T E R

2 0 0 5

FROM

THE

NHA

CURATORS

Sperm Whale Skeleton in New Whaling Museum

T

I If SKI L[TON OI Tl IL: SPLR I WIIALE TIIAT died on Low Beach in ' con et in January l 998 is now a featured artifact of antucket' new Whaling Mu seum, 13 Broad treet, antucket, openingJ une 4, 2005.

The pcm, whale died on antu ket after Aounder­ ing two day. in the surf off the eastern enc.I f cl1 i land.

A heartbroken community watched as it beached for the last tin1 . Before hundreds of onlookers, the 46-foot bull whale was then examined by marine-mammal exp rts from across the region and, ultimately, tripped of its flesh and blubber by cientist and island volunteers.

In an effort to clean the keleton, the b ne were buried for sc eral month . They were later immersed in antucket harb r in ma sive cage , allowing fi h and other marine creatures to aid in the cleaning pr ce ·. Whale scientist Dan DenDanto, of Bar Harb r, Maine, wa · hired t fini h the dean­ ing pro e s and prepare the skcl ton for articulation. "Dan collected the keleton in April 20� and in talJed it in th Whaling Mu eum ov r the winter," aid ilcs Parker, l lA Robyn and J hn Davis urat r.

With the archit t Martin ok loff of Br kli.ne, Ma sachu etts, Parker and DenDant de ided to di play the whal in a d iving po siti n .

"Vi wers will ee the keleton up d s e and in a dynamic po ition rather than ju t 'flying' overh ad as in o many other museum in tal­ lation , " said Parker.

Nantucket filmmaker J hn tanton has made a eve nteen-minute docum entary film, The Bones of History, about the NHA's sperm whale and the history of whal­ ing on Nantucket. The film will premiere in June 2005 and will be shown daily in the Whaling Museum.

HISTORIC

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Counterclockwise from top: Various stages of the spenn whale installation: out of the truck; in pieces in Gosnell llall­ Dan DenDa11to co11templat1i1ghis next step; takingshape.

Top photograph by Ceal Barron Jensen.

Rema1i1ingphotos by

WlNTER

2005

17

Historic Nantucket Book Section Review by I Black and White Women� Travel Narratives: Frances Ruley Antebellum Explorations

by CherylJ. Fish Karttun en University Press of Florida Gainesville, Florida, 2004

F

IVE YEARS AGO I LA TRU TEE BETTE PRIGG' (a former trustee of the Nann1cket Atheneum) inquired whether Nantucket had once been home to a black family named Prince. he had found among the holdings in the vault of the Nantuck t Atheneum an autobiography of Nancy Prince pub­ lished in Boston in 1850, and the question was what rel­ evance this had to Nantucket history. A look into Nantucket's probate records turned up the 1796 will of Oliver Prince who, however, had no direct heirs. ancy Prince's autobiography revealed that her connection to Nantucket was not through her husband, but through her father, Thomas Gardner of Nantucket.

In 1791 the proprietors of Nantucket's common and undivided land "laid out a piece of land for a Negro man commonly known as Thomas Gardner, in a right that he bought of Matthew Worth ... at a place a little to the westward of Newtown." A census ta.ken the year before described the household of Thomas Gardner as consisting of just two people: hin1self and one woman, no children. An assessor's list of households made in 1796 finds hin1 still on island and liable to taxes, but­ unlike several other men described as black, mulatto, or Indian who had acquired land by purchasing commons rights from Matthew Worth-Thomas Gardner left Nantucket. In 1799 he and his loucester­ bom wife were living in Newb uryport when Nancy was born. Very soon after his daughter's birth, Thomas died of tuberculosis.

After a difficult childhood in which Nancy took responsibility for her siblings and for her increasingly incapacitated mother, Nancy Gardner's marriage to "Mr. Prince" launched her into an unlikely cosmopoli­ tan existence. In the 1820s the couple lived in the czarist court in St. Petersburg. As a widow in the 1840s Nancy Prince went to Jamaica to see what she could do for its

18

HISTORIC

NANTUCKET

newly emancipated black population. She concluded that Jamaican women needed financial independence and that the route to this was a women's inJusnial train­ ing school. Between visit to the i land, he worked the east coast philanthropic circuit, seeking the upport of, among others, ancucket's Lucretia ( 'offin) Mott.

To the best of current knowledge, however, her fund­ raising efforts were concentrated in Philadelphia and Boston, and she did not come to antuckcr. n her homeward voyage from Jamaica after her plans to open a school had failed for lack of support, the ship on which she was traveling made an unsched­ uled and off-course stop in ew Orlcan where, from the relative safety of shipboard, she had the harrowing experience of ob erving An1erican plantation slavery at its mo t oppressive. ancy Prince pent the lru;t years of her life publishing her memoir (in three edition between 1850 and 1856) and speaking on the lecture circuit, mo t notably at the 1854 ational Women's Right onvention in Philadelphia, where he is report­ ed to have told her audience that she understo d "women's wrong better than women's rights."

Her arrative of the Life and Traue!s of Mrs. Nancy Prince is fru tracing, because its author i · parsimonious with date and nan1es. he doe not provide the names of her mother, stepfather, or most of her ibling·, nor doe she mention Mr. Prince' given name. From the e liter' notes to the reprinting of tl1e l 53 edition of her autobiography, one learns his full identity. He was Nero Prince, an influential black Bost nian much older than Nancy and a widower when they were married. In 1791, years before her birth, he had been one of the founding members of the African Grand Lodge of the Masons (generally known a Prince I Iall Masons) in Boston, and in 1808 he had been elected a its second Grand Master.

In one of Ronald \X/alters's footnotes one finds a striking vignette that does not appear in the Narrative.

In 1847 Nancy Prince, "a colored woman of promi­ nence," led a group of black Bostonian in running off a slave catcher who was attempting to recover a fugitive slave from a Boston household, pelting 11in1 with stones WINTER 2005

as he fleJ. Other footnote carry the information that a lecture about court life in imperial Russia by ancy Prince was Jd\'crtiseJ in the Liberator in l 839, and that in 1841 she publisheJ a pamphlet on Jamaica. iven this illuminating background to the life and career of the daughter of a black Nantucketer, it was encouraging to learn in 2000 that he1yl Fish was con­ ducting research for a book about three women travel­ ers in the I eriod before the American ivil War, one of them being ancy Prince. The bo k has now been published, and it adds to our tock of information. Fish reproduces a notice from the ovembcr 12, 1841, issue of the Liberator in which Mrs. ancy Prince ought donations for her prospective school in King ton, Jamaica. Contributions coulJ be left at o. l hapel Place, 25 Belknap Street, or 25 ornhil.1. I Icr pamphlet about Jamaica could be purchased at these places for t\venty-five cems.

Fish also reproJuccs an aJvertisemcnt ancy Prince placed in the Liberator after her return from Jamaica in 1843, giving notice to her former clients that she had resumed her seam tress business at the corner of Belknap and lyrtle treets. Fish lists addre e on Belknap (now Joy), Myrtle, outhac, and arden treets where anty Prince liveJ over the years, pointing out that they are aJI within Boston's hi torical black neigh­ borb d on the west siJe of Beacon Hi.II, the area ur­ rounJing the Africm1 Meeting I Iou e. Although he was complaining of broken health by the mid 1850 , her name continues to appear in resident directorie up through 1859. Then ancy Prince apparently disap­ pears without a trace; Fish has not been able to locate a death recorJ for her. l lcr arratiue lived on, nonethe­ le s. 1n 1894 a women·. club periot!ical reported that copies were stiJJ to be found in the homes of "old resi­ J nts of Bo ton as well a· thcr places all over Massachu ett . '' ne o[ th se places was Nantucket, in the Athcneum collection, wher it resides to thi day.

Fish docs n t eek to retell anc.y Prince' story nor to expand on it. TI1e intention o[ her book is to examine the writings of three unusual women travelers at a time when American and European women's mobility was restricteJ, and when the mobility of nonwhite women was yet more restricted. Nancy Prince's conten1poraries in Fish's project are M ary eacole, a Jamaican woman of African and cottish descent who as a middle-aged widow traveled first to Panama and then to the Crin1ea to practice folk medicine in competition with Florence ightingale' nursing practice in army hospitals; and 1-ll

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Margaret Fuller, a white New England woman and friend of the Transcendentalists, who undertook a jour­ ney in 1843 to the Great Lakes region to observe and write about the settlers of the American frontier as they displaced the indigenous peoples of what was then "the West."

Nancy Prince is the linchpin in Cheryl Fish's book, linking a woman of color who made her way eastward across Europe to serve in a war zone and a white esthete who made her way west in service of her own personal growth. Like Mary eacole, Nancy Prince had to deal with being treated badly because of skin color, and the two women had Jamaica in common. At the san1e time, she came out of the Boston milieu of Margaret FuJJer, and both sbe and PuJJer gave voice to thoughts about race relations and social equity. Toward the end of her book Fish winds up with a tribute to their struggles against the odds: "These women took to the sea and crossed land to exceed what was expected of them, to d1al.lenge boundaries, and to make a difference."

This book is not an easy read. It deploys the vocabu­ lary and the fierce .nonlinearity of current literruy and feminist theory, which I suspect will not enjoy a long shelf life. At the same time, Fish provides invaluable footnotes and bibliography for the next per on coming co the subject of the lives and travels of her three sub­ jects. Reason enough that Cheryl Fish's book should join the Acbeneum's fuse edition of Nancy Prince's autobiog­ raphy and Ronald Wa.lters's lightly an.notated reprinting of the second edition to form a smalJ but important col­ lection about Nancy (Gardner) Prince, a woman whose remarkable life and work deserve more public recogni­ tion on Nantucket, in Boston, and beyond.

Ethnohistoria11 Frances Karttunen is the author of The Other Islanders, a /our-part history of the non-English population of Nantucket, viewable on line at the NHA website, www.nha.org. She is a frequent contributor to Historic Nantucket.

Sources:

Narrative of the Life and Travels ofMrs. Nancy Prince, Written by Herself. Published by the author, Boston, 1850.

A Black Woman's Odyssey Through Russia and Jamaica: The Narrative of Nancy Prince.

With an introduction by Ronald G. Walters of Johns Hopkins University. Markus Wiener Publishing, New York, 1990.

WINTER

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N H A

I

Nantucket Historical Association Long-Range Planning Committee

N EWS

The mission of the Nantucket Historical Association is to pre serve and inte rpret the histo r y of Nantucket Island in order to inspire island residents, both yearround and seasonal, to shape the island's future with I rearer appreciation and respect for their shared her­ � itage, and to foster among all Nantucket residents and visitors a deeper appreciation of the important historical role that the island's people have played in the national and world history.

The NHA is currently reviewing the 2005 Vision Statement and four goals of the current strategic plan in order to establish a b aseline for a new trategic plan.

The 2005 Long-Range Planning Committ ee is cochaired by E. Geoffrey Verney, president of the board of trustees, and Ftank Milligan, executive direc­ tor. Members of the committee are John W. Atherton Jr., Rebecca M. Bartlett, Alice E Emerson, Barbara E. Middle: I Hajim, Melissa D. Philbtick, Christophe1· C. Quick, Festival oj\"(lreaths Nancy M. Soderberg, Jay M. Wilson, Niles Parket, and Trees sponsors. Johanna Richard, and Judith Wodynski The facilitator Bottom left. for thi.s committee is Ann W. Caldwell.

Ann W. Caldwell is president of the MGH Institute Pa11/Clarke, of Health Professions. She has over tw enty-five year Jo-Ann Winn, of experience in academic administration ' fund-raisino t" Joan Clarke, Nonie Slav1iz, teaching, and publishing, and has taught a graduate and Bob Winn course in nonprofit management at Co llege.

Radcliffe al the Festival oj\"(lreaths Ms. Caldwell will lead the preview party. committee through a one­ Greg and Judi Hzll year process.

In February and July wzih Greg's 2005, the t rust ees will snow-scene-in-a-wreath. hold a number of Festival of Trees focus groups, which Preview Party cochairs will give the community DianeAsche of Nantucket an oppor­ tunity to part icipat e in and Chris Hart. planning for the next five years at the NRA.

20

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Festival of Trees and Wreaths

This year's Fe tival of Wreaths, held over Thanksgiving Weekend at the Preservation lnstitute's Sherburne Hall, b roke all kinds of records. More than 1,800 people attended the three-day festival-up from the previous high of 1,600 in 2002-and bidding per wreath was higher than ever before. The amount raised in the silent auction was approximately $15,000 again ·t the previous year's $12,000; and many more raffle tickets ,vere sold for a wreath designed by Sandy Taylo r. "1L was an extremely successful event," said chair Jo-Ann Winn.

"I'm always humbled by the outpouring of support for the festival and tbe man y creative people who donate their time to make a wreath."

The Festival of Trees wrapped up on December 18 at the offin chool at the Egan Institute of Maritime Studies. Over fifty community members set up a glori­ ous display of decorated trees-arrfuUy a1-r,mged by chairs Georg e Korn and Richard Kemble. lt once again proved to be a popular holjday event, kicking off with the sold-out preview party on December 2. "We arc gratefLJ to the Egan Institute for .Jlowing us to use their hisrori c building for the second year," s aid executive director Frank Milligan. "But we are really looking for­ ward to taking the Fe tival of Trees back to the Whaling Museum in 2005."

News from the NHA Research Library

The NHA is graceful for the many new gifts to the Re earch Librruy in the la t few months. Among th m are Ric hard Marshall's images of the Nobadeer Airfield and Leslie Johnston's pho­ tographs of the 1939 Air how and related images and Gerry Bachman ·s i mage docu­ menting the "Florida gams" of Nantucketer· winte6ng down south.

Volunteer i.n the Research Libnuy contin­ ue to hel p with many ongotng anc.! special projects. Pat Belford returned to continue her work updating the subject fil<:s; Donna Cooper finished a six-year project co summarize Nantucket item. in the Whalemen's hipping List (sec art i le on

\X/11 TER 2005

N H A

p. 14) anc.l lent a hanJ to straighten out our collection of tourist guiJes; Helen Did1·iksen has begun to rea d and sWTimarizc a Jiary of Martha Fi h; Dorothy Hesselman h a be n cataJoguing articles from Historic antucket; Barbara Malcolm has recorded information about the topics covered in many of our oraJ-hi cory tapes; Frank Morral has been c anning our ster ograph collection, which contains some of our oldest images; Les Ottinger and Barbara Thomas continue to ummarize log ; and Judy Belash, a new volunteer, is summaiizing the whal­ ing journal of Azubah Cash.

The NHA Research Library will be closed on Wednesdays until June.

Nantucket's Libl'ettist Frances Karttunen, author of The Other Isumders, has been engageJ in a very different writing p roject. he is colibrcttist with composer Lorenzo Ferrero of the

N E W S

opera La Conquista, which will have it premiere in Prague on March 12, 2005. The work commissioned by the Prague ationaJ Opera, re presents the ixteeoth-century con­ At left: HA events manager flict between the Aztec of Mexico and the Spanish forces led by Hernan Cortes.

Stacey Stuart with Ir was the concept of the composer chat the Festival o/Trees cochairs pan iard sing in ixtee n th-centur y Spanish and the natives in what is known as "classical Nahuatl," the lan­ Richard Kemble (left) guage of the Azt e cs. Dona Marina, the woman who and George Korn. interpre ted for ortes, functions in the opera as an Middle: The Co/fin interpreter for the audience and sings inEnglish.

School filled with trees.

Dr. Karttunen i a professional linguist and enjoys an international reputation a a specialist in Nahuat l. Photographs by Ferr ro located her through the Univer ity of Texas at Jeffrey . Allen.

Austin and initially engaged her a a language consul­ Right.· fhe HA staff tant for the ah uatl in the libretto. Their worki ng rela­ gathered at the Research tionship was so fruitful, however, that he oon invited Library 1i1 ear(v October

IN MEMORIAM: MARY MILES Thn i1 a lei/er orii,inalfv sent to the editor of thi' [nquirer and 1irror bv NI IA executive director Frank Milligan 011 December 2.

N

17,e antucket I Ii torical Association con­ ,\NTl:Ud.T JOST ONI' OF ITS C:RI.AT tinued to benefit from Mary's efforts as she voice� this past week. A1111cd ,vith a periodically donated her interview tapes and tape recorder and an insati.ible transcripts to the NHA's Research Library. curiosny, Mary Mib probed the i. land's past Researchers and library visitors are welcome to und came up with a legacy of books and Ii ten to these tapes and hear the voices of the oral history tape that will be treasured for past as her interviewees remember their chi.ld­ years to come. hoo<ls, families, favorite Namucket places, and Maiy began collecting oral histories in the much more. And they'll hear Mary as she 1980s when she wa asked to participate in the mined for memories.

Nantucket 1 Iistorical A o ciation's Oral One of the best things about Mary's work History Project, funded by an Axe-1 Ioughton FoLtJ1dation grant. As she once explained, "I Mary 1i1 ga1111111i1g chair is that he didn't just collect the historic of Nantucket' "old timers." be was curious <lidn 't have to know a lot about anything; about everyone-how newcomers found the island or f just had to ask loads of question . " And a k she did; what young people thought about life on Nantucket. for the next two de ades Mary continued to collect oral She particularly enjoyed talki ng to many generations of histories for Yesterday's Island and for her series of books, one family. To her, everyone had a good story to tell. antucket'1 Voices.

Thank goodness, Mary was there to listen and record.

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

to celebmte the unveiling ofa bench named by an a11011y111ous donor to the C.Op1ial C.0111paig11 in honor of research associate Libby Oldham HA president Geoff Verney read the engraved plaque "TheSeatof Al/Wisdom/ In Honor of Elil.abeth 'Libby' Oldham I From a Friend"-10 a surprised and delighted Libby.

W[NTER 2005

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NEWS

IN MEMORIAM: BOB LEACH

B

OB LEACH'S LOVE FOR Nantucket was thre e hundred and fifty years in the making.

Bob had spent his childhood on Martha's Vine yard, but he later wrote that early on he had learned that "paradise lay to the e ast of Chappaquiddick." Through visits to Nantucket he had become famil­ iar with its landscape and the out­ lines of its story. But it was not until just prior to World War II, a s a recent convert to t he Religious Society of Friends, tha t Bob experienced the co nfluence, or synchronicity as he would have put it, of the deep channels of his faith and of his passion for hi story t hat would bind him to Nantucket for all time.

Always one to march to the beat of a different drummer, Bob threw himself into evety aspect of his life from family and teaching to his self-appointed task of untangling the snarled skein of Nantucket Quaker genealogy from the present day back to the ear­ liest European settlen1ent. For Bob, the seminal Quaker meeting in "Great Ma1y Starbuck's house in 1702 was an event as immediate and vital as last night's dinner, and the rmmoil and ironies of Nantucket's Quaker centuries were sinlply rich manifestations of hw11anity to be relished on both intellectual and spiritual levels. The same generosity of soul and intense curiosity that had made Bob an innovative educator in Switzerland made hin1 an insightful scholar of the history of a smaller, flatter place and he enjoyed traveling among the forgotten realms of antique Friends of all stripes-pious and self-righteous, proud and spiteful, upright and devious.

Bob wanted to induct his students, readers, and friends into a living world of hi.story, and he breathed real life into the world of Quaker Nantucket for me as we prepared our book of the same title. Members of the Society of Friends do not proselytize, but I realized that I was learning a great deal more than details of the island's heritage; I was experiencing at firsthand Bob's faith as well as his genius and passion-and a friendship of no mean dimen­ sions. Above all, I knew that I was in the presence of one whos every action drew upon the truest and most fundamental values of the Society he cherished so intensely. Bob Leach was an authentic Nantucket Quaker of the finest possible kind.

-Pete1·Gow Photo by Beverly Hall, Nantucket Map & Legend Coll,xtirm.

22

H I S T O R I C

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her to share credit and royalties for the libretto.

Collaboration to date has all been long-distance, Ferrero and Karttw1en exchanging CDs and cassettes and Ferrero transmitting snippets of music via email.

They will meet face to fa ce fo r the first tim in early 2005.

Dr. Karttunen will travel to Prague with her hus­ band, Professor Alfred Crosby, at the beginning of March to work with the singers as they prepare for the premiere anc.1 to participate in a week of pecial events co sponsored by the Czech government and t he Mexican embassy in Prague.

Maps and Cha11s Online The NHA Research Library has a rich colle tion of maps and charts of Nant ucket and it surrounding waters. The use f these re ources, however, bas always been less than convenient and requests for copies have also been problematic because with each handling of large and fragile materials there is alway an increased chance of damage. The library has recently acquired twenty-six high-re olution digital images of maps from its collections. These materials were scanned by a Boston organization, the BSC Group, which chose t\venty- ix maps for its own project. In exchange for allowing them to scan the materials, the B Group gave us copies. If you are interested in seeing the maps, visit the image database http://www.nha.org/library­ databases.htm and type BSC Group into the "sin,ple search" field.

News from the Education Department The Education Department kept busy developing and lead­ ing programs for school gr ups thi fall. "With th Whaling Mu ewn under construction, we have had to bee me more creative i11 taking Nantucket history dire tly to tudent , instead of asking them to come to us," said education coordi­ nator Kit· tin Gamble. The result i. a wider array of ch ol programs that can c ntioue to f larvest Fair 2004 be used even after completion of the Whaling Mu cum.

Nantuck t schoolchildren were the primary focus of the Education Department' initiatives. Kind rgartncr at the Nantucket New chool examined arrowheads from th N HA collection and drew pictures of Mashop as part of a unit on Wampanoags. Second- ru1d thirdWINTER

2005

N H A

grade students from the Nantucket Lighthouse School took ru, interactive tour of Nantucket town, traveling through time from a Native American wetu to a Quaker Meeting to a amucket Railroad car. They also ground corn at the Old Mill and baked cornbread over the open hearth at the !Jest House.

Working \\�th the antucket Public chools, inter­ preter Bob Barsanti Ji cu ed the differences between Quake1 · and Puritans w-ith high school juniors reading The Scarlet Let/er. He al o teamed with Advanced Placement J Iistory faculty to develop "J cument-based questio ns," which encourage P students to use and interprct prin1a1y sources available in repositories like the NI lA Research Library.

In addition, off-island chool groups continued to ' vi it the I IA. For the twenty-ninth year I IA muse­ um educators worked with students from the ew anaan Country Day chool, chi ye-.ir leading them in a work hop on scrimshaw. In addition, students from onant I Iigh School, cw Hampshire, took a walking tour an<l listened to a whaling lecture to supplement their reading of In the Hearl of the ea.

Would you like to be a part of Nantucket history?

Can you devote two days a week in the summer to teaching our guests about the rich, diverse culture of our island home? With the opening f the new Whaling Mu cum in.June, the Nl lA is looking to expand its core of dedicawd, year-round museum , taff. If you enjoy working with the public and have excellent communi­ cation skills, then we have the job for you! lntet·preters provide derailed an<l organized tours and lectures about Nantucket history at our Whaling Museum and historic sites, including the Iladwcn Ilouse, Jethro Coffin Hou , and uakcr Meeting I louse.

Museum Educators work with our young guests between the ages of � ur and twelve. Ex[ erience with creative and engaging hands-on activities for children is es ential.

Apprentice Millet-s learn the art ru,d mystery of grind­ ing corn at the ld Mill and actively engage visitors in the operation of this fa cinating eighteenth­ century machine.

Visitor Services Representative sell tickets ru1d provide infonnation about our historic ires and program offer­ ings. Excellent cash-handling skills are required.

If you arc interested, please contact Johanna Richard, Human Resources Manager, at (508) 228-1894, ext.

118, for more details.

Ill

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N E W S

New Administrative Offices In January, the NHA administrative staff was once again housed in the Peter Foulger Museum, 15 Broad Street.

The offices are now located on the first floor but the phone number, fax, and mailing address remain the same. Please stop in for a visit.

NHA Administrative Offices 15 Broad treet P. 0. Box 1016 Nantucket, MA 02554-1016 (508) 228-1894 (ph), (508) 228-5618 (fax) www.nha.org

SAVE THE DATES SPRING & SUMMER 2005 MAY 18-22

NANTUCKET WINE FESTIVAL

MAY 19

NWF/NHA Cl IAR1n· GALA CELEBRATION

MAY22

NWF/NHA WINE AUCTION DI NER

jUNE2

NHA MEMBERS DAY \'vhalmg Museum

JUNE 3, 10, 17

FREE FRIDAYS FOR lsLANDERS \¥1hal,i,g 1'vfttseum

JUNE➔

WHALING MUSEUM OPENS TO THE PuBLIC

JUNE25

GRAND OPENING RIBBON-CurnNG CEREMONY V1hali11g lv1useum

JULY 15

NHA ANNUAL MEETING

AuG.2

27TH ANNUAL AUGUST ANTIQUES SHOW LECTURE

AUG.➔

27TH ANNUAL AUGUST ANTIQUES SHOW

AuG.5-7

27TH ANNUAL AUGUST ANTIQUES SHOW

AuG.6

27TH ANNUAL AUGUST ANTIQUES SHOW DINNER

Nantucket Neu• School

Previcu• Party. Nantucket 1 ew School antucket \ew School

W I N T ER 2 0 0 5

23

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The Nantucket Wine Festival has named the NRA as Charity Partner of the week-long event featuring seminars and tastings with wine and food experts from acros the nation.

JOIN US AT THE WHITE ELEPHANT! Gala Celebration Thursday, May 19 t·•

Wine Auction Dinner Saturday, May 21 Cuisine by

Chef Bob Kinkead - Kinkead:\·. TH.1shingto11 D. C. (Founding Chef at:! I Fee/era/) Chef David Kinkead Sibling Riva/1:1·. Boston Host Chef eil Hudson Bmnt Point Grilf

Wines presented by

Marchese Ferdinando Frescobaldi of Marchesi de· Frescobalcli

Aperitif Champagne presented by Moel & Chane/on t·•

Net proceeds benefit the NHA For NHA event information: (508) 228-1894, ext. O or www.nha.org For more information about the Nantucket Wine Festival:

www.nantucketwinefestival.com