17
The Peter Foulger Museum— An Interim Report IN ITS fourth year of full operation, the Peter Foulger Museum may be said to have become an important part of the Nantucket Historical Association, both as an exhibitor of historical materials and as a research center. The dedication of the staff has never been more evident, and the regular functions of the Museum have continued along familiar and satisfactory lines. Mrs. Clara Block continues to serve as custodian of the second floor, while Mrs. Elizabeth Worth, for so many years receptionist at Fair Street and in the early years at the Peter Foulger, serves in that capacity on weekends. Joseph F. Sylvia is completing his second year as a full-time custodian, and Mrs. John A. Stackpole has been the regular receptionist for the first three days of each week during the summer months.
In her second year as Librarian at the Museum's headquarters, Mrs. Louise Hussey has found the transition from the Whaling Museum has worked smoothly, with the transfer of the invaluable logbooks and jour nals, account books and microfilms, as well as the books and pamphlets, being accomplished without incident. The importance of the Library has become more fully recognized as its use increases, but the 1975 year has brought cut as never before its potential. This has been occasioned by the introduction of an under-graduate course in Nantucket History and Culture, under the auspices of the University of Massachusetts-Boston with the vital co-operation of the Nantucket Historical Association and the Coffin School.
Early in January, Professor Barry Phillips arrived from Boston to make arrangements for the housing of twelve students from the University of Massachusetts who comprised this first class. They were joined by sixteen Nantucket residents, completing a class of twenty-eight. The course was divided into two sections, the first being a study of Nantucket History, with Edouard A. Stackpole as the lecturer, and the second being devoted to the natural environment, under the direction of Wesley Tiffney, of the University of Massachusetts' Quaise Station. Classes convened each morning at 9:00 o'clock, at the Coffin School, the first hour with Mr. Stackpole and the second with Mr. Tiffney.
