University Nantucket History Course

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University Nantucket History Course Conducted 011 the Island

OVER THE SIX WEEKS' period from January 13 through February 21, 1975, a "Nantucket Program" was carried out on the island by the University of Massachusetts — Boston. A group of UMass upper classmen came to the town to take up residence in available rooms and also to reside at the Quaise branch of the university. Since the program is both intensive and informal the enrollment in the 3-credit courses presented had to be relatively small. However, Nantucket residents were invited to attend, and 16 applied for admission and did attend. Three courses were offered by the University, the "Nantucket Program" being funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The courses will be offered again in the fall utilizing the same schedule of study and the same instructors.

The first of the three seminars — "The History and Culture of Nantucket" — involves the social, commercial and political history, from the discovery of the Island to the present. The instructor and lecturer is Edouard A. Stackpole, the Historian of the Nantucket Historical Association. Classes were held in the second floor room in the Coffin School on Winter Street from 9 to 10:15 each morning, with special evening lectures once a week in the main room, featuring guest lecturers from the University of Massachusetts. "The Natural Environments of Nantucket" constitutes the second course. It serves as an introduction to the natural history of Nantucket and to general ecological principles. Taught by Wesley Tiffney and J. Clinton Andrews of the University of Massachusetts Quaise Field Station, it is also held at the Coffin School three days a week, from 10 to 11 a.m., and at the Field Station.

Both these courses feature field trips, during which the classes have an opportunity to study those parts of the Island involved in the several phases of the studies.

The third in the schedule of studies — "Methods of Humanistic Research on Nantucket" — is an introductory seminar on research and methods for humanistic inquiry on Nantucket, utilizing primary source materials and cultural artifacts. This course is under Dr. Barry Philipps, who is the University of Mass. — Boston's Director of the Nantucket Program, with visiting UMass scholars participating in the lectures. Meetings are held on Fridays at 9:00 a.m. until noon, Jan. 31 through April 4.

The Peter Foulger Museum Library has served as the headquarters for study, and each afternoon both the Library room and the Research Room have been utilized fully by the students. The University has expressed its appreciation for the cooperation of the Nantucket Historical Association and the Coffin School, which has made the Nantucket Program both a reality and a significant feature of cultural opportunity on Nantucket in the winter months.