Report of the Administrator

6

IS IT POSSIBLE we are on the verge of a new season when only a short time ago we were looking forward to a long winter of planning and getting caught up on so many things? In general, plans for 1975 are similar to last year. All exhibits, including Fair Street, will be open. The Shuttle Trip will make it easy for anyone to get around without a car or bicycle. We expect to grind corn again at the Mill.

Several projects for the Bicentennial Celebration are progressing. Leading these is the Domestic Arts Exhibit on which you already have had a letter. Mrs. Greene has done a tremendous amount of research on Nantucket furniture, artifacts, pictures and manuscripts, and with your cooperation, will make this an extraordinary exhibit. The Audio Visual Documentary, Landmarks Identification and Historical Publications are behind schedule but will soon be underway.

Help is needed in several buildings this summer, both men and women. The hours are from 10 to 5 with two days off each week. Most people find it interesting and rewarding and except for spurts of activity, the work is not too hard. Do you know of anyone who might like to join our staff? Volunteers are also needed. We have set up a repair shop in the Hadwen House basement for polishing furniture and brass and doing all sorts of simple repair jobs. Small groups working together could get fun out of this and make a great contribution at the same time. Then, too, we need hosts and hostesses for short periods during rush hours and at lunch time. Please call me if you would be willing to contribute a couple of hours each week.

We recently had our tenth lecture at the Peter Foulger, free to members and guests. Mr. Stackpole has been the speaker at most of these and no one needs to be told what an outstanding job he has done. These will be continued with him and others sharing the platform. Notices of these meetings are sent to all members known to be on the island. If you are on the island and have not been receiving these please call us at 228-1894 and have us change your address.

Use of the Peter Foulger Research Library has gone from a few students and townspeople to many constantly working there. A sizeable group from the University of Mass. has accounted for some of this increase but there seems to be an accelerated interest by many in the history of this extraordinary island, particularly by people all across the country who can trace their ancestry back to Nantucket.

A new addition to our staff has made it possible for us to sort, file, identify, and index hundreds of old pictures of places

REPORT OF THE ADMINISTRATOR 7

and people. As of today, we cannot guarantee that you can walk into the Peter Foulger and see a picture of your great-grandfather or of his house or place of business, but we are aiming toward making this possible and across the hall we may be able to show you things he wrote or signed, now in our manuscript files. The two young people organizing this material are doing an excellent job.

Should you have identifiable pictures or papers of Nantucket's past that you are willing to give us we would like to add them to our collection. Few) people realize how often these tie in with other information to add to and expand historical records and their full value as a gift to us is probably tax deductible.

A number of very important accessions have been added this winter, too many to include in this report, although we greatly appreciate them all. I should like to recognize an especially outstanding gift of log books and memorabilia received from Mrs. Frank E. Lewis. It is impossible to over-emphasize the importance of such gifts. In our vault they become forever available to scholars and historians, whereas kept among family keepsakes, they may be lost or destroyed, with no possibility of perpetuating the information they contain.

In the past few years we have made tremendous advances in our preservation program. Structural repairs amounting to thousands of dollars have been done with only a few more needed to put all of our buildings in good condition; a sizeable number of portraits and prints have been restored and plans have been made to continue this work; care of written material and pictures is reported above and the cleaning out and making available artifacts from our attics is nearly completed; we are now starting another big project; restoring exhibits of furniture and artifacts. The need for this might go unnoticed by the casual visitor but all exhibits must look good even to the critical eye and we will, as fast as we can, find the money to pay for the work.

I

We are planning to hold the Annual Meeting on July 15th at the Peter Foulger Museum. This probably will be from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and will consist of a brief business meeting and a special program. Your interest and support is urgently requested. Leroy H. True

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In the January issue of HISTORIC NANTUCKET there was an article describing the gift to the Association of the leaves from the logbook of the ship Weymouth of Nantucket. We regret failing to mention that the donor was Mrs. William West, owner of the house at 59 Centre Street where Capt. Moses Harris's logbook pages were found under the floor of a room. We are also indebted to Mrs. John Barrows for making her mother's gift possible. — E. A. S.