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History Without Text Books SINCE THE END of World War II Nantucket has experienced a land revolution. Values have increased so drastically that any prophet predicting the trend would have been considered a visionary. The prices on real estate today have reached an all-time high, and the inflationary period keeps them on the pinnacle. All of which brings up the history of Nantucket land transactions; the tracing of changes over the past century; the acquisition of land by the first settlers and the Indian deeds; the guarantee for title by the Colony of New York's Royal Governors; the transfer of these guarantees when the Island was turned over to the Massachusetts Bay Colony; the "sheep war", as a result of which certain wealthy Islanders were granted set-offs from the Proprietors' holdings; the emergence of Nantucket as a summer resort; the efforts of local developers to create building sites near the Town and along the shore; the acquiring of control of the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Land during the early years of this century by an ambitious Boston attorney; the surge of interest in the out-lying land during the past 25 years, and the unfortunate decisions of certain town officials who had decided to sell land of "owners' unknown" to individuals on "John Doe" claims rather than turn the land back to the corporate body of the Town. One may find much material in the records of the Town—tracing the story over the past three hundred years. However, there has been a great deal of information that has been lost-material which would add in valuable details to the bare bones of legal accounts. This means that while we have factual evidence that would provide the skeleton we have lost the muscle and sinew and the heart of the full, the vital story, that brings it alive. The history of Nantucket land during the past 100 years can be told but it is a better story if we interpret the legal ramifications-if we in troduce the narrative that provides the details which makes the whole story fuller and richer. And in our own times the record of developments along the Island's shores brings out a facet of Island history that may well serve as a lesson of how much we have lost to-economics. There is a recognizable dividing line
